10 ENGINE ROOM WINTER EDITION Energy pricingand extreme weather are major risk concerns for almost 1inevery 3 Australian businesses. Top 5 risks for doing business in Australia over the next decade The World Economic Forum’s 2017 Global Risk Report asked respondents to select the five global risks they’re most concerned about for doing business in their country within the next ten years. The share is the percentage of respondents selecting the risk among the five of highest concern.2 Asset bubble 46% Fiscal crisis 43.7% Cyberattacks 34.5% Energy price shock 32.2% Extreme weather events 31% POWERING BIGDATA IN AUSTRALIA The exponential growth of big data makes data centres one of the greatest sole users of energy. The International Data Corporation predicts worldwide revenues for big data and business analytics to almost double by 20201 . The world’s digital economy is evolving; investment in big data analytics hardware, software, services, and artificial intelligence is growing. Data science and education is also evolving. The need for reliable, secure, critical, continuous power is therefore growing. As the energy needs of the data centre industry continue to grow rapidly, demand for reliability and security are crucial. Australia is faced with a critical energy crisis. Pressure is mounting to find alternative solutions that are less demanding on the grid, particularly when electrical demand is high and unforeseen outages can occur. 1. Estimated to reach more than $203 billion by 2020 from $103.1 billion in 2016. International Data Corporation, Double-Digit Growth Forecast for the Worldwide Big Data and Business Analytics Market Through 2020 Led by Banking and Manufacturing Investments, According to IDC, 3 October 2015, viewed 14 December 2017. 2. World Economic Forum 2017 Global Risk Survey.