Forbes released its list of the Most Valuable Brands of 2017 recently. Huawei ranked 88th with a brand value of $7.3 billion, up by nine percent year on year, and was the only Chinese brand making the list.
Forbes selects 100 most valuable brands every year from a pool of over 200 international brands. This year, the top 100 on the list spread among 15 countries, with the United States taking the lead with 56 spots, followed by Germany, France and Japan with 11, 7 and 6 spots respectively.
Technology is the hottest industry of all, taking 18 spots of the list, and nine out of the top 15 are technology companies. The list saw 13 brands from the financial sector while 12 consumer goods companies made the cut.
Huawei outperformed the industry in 2016 by a vast lead. The first quarter of 2017 saw this momentum continue as Huawei’s smartphone shipments grew steadily. According to statistics from research institutes like IDC, SA and Trendforce, Huawei smartphone shipments ranked third globally and the first in China, ramming down its position in the top segment internationally.
On brand development, Huawei has also integrated top world-class marketing resources and kept innovation in marketing plans. After the launch of Huawei P10 series, Huawei partnered with fashion magazine Vogue and launched a campaign to “reproduce iconic photos” with the Huawei P10 series, highlighting the phone’s Leica Portrait photo quality.
Gene Jiao, president of Consumer Business Group for Middle East and Africa, said: “Thanks to the growing global recognition of Huawei products and the Huawei brand, Huawei Consumer Business Group’s influence has further increased as a high-end brand in 2017.”
He added: “Moving forward, Huawei Consumer Business Group will be focused on improving customer service, and building up its presence within sales channels, retail, branding, marketing, services and other sectors, to proactively streamline operations and enhance the overall customer experience. Meanwhile, Huawei Consumer Business Group will continue to develop artificial intelligence (AI) products and innovations. These will provide users with excellent experiences and cement Huawei as a leader in emerging technologies while establishing the company as a cultural technology brand loved by consumers the world over.”
Huawei listed on Forbes’ Most Valuable Brands of 2017
Huawei listed on Forbes’ Most Valuable Brands of 2017
Jameel Observatory-CREWSnet advances climate resilience in Bangladesh
The Jameel Observatory Climate Resilience Early Warning System Network, an initiative co-founded by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Community Jameel to reinvent climate change adaptation in vulnerable communities into a proactive, integrated and evidence-based process, announced the launch of its Adaptation Fortress initiative, transforming existing cyclone shelters and providing protection from heat waves in Bangladesh for the first time.
The first Adaptation Fortress is under construction in Satkhira district, southwest Bangladesh. If this pilot is successful, the initiative will open a pathway, with additional funding, to scaling up to 1,250 Adaptation Fortresses providing heatwave relief to half a million of the region’s most vulnerable residents.
More than 30 million people live in southwestern Bangladesh. Between 2019 and 2021, including in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, multiple cyclones hit the region, devastating land, homes and entire communities. The threats posed by climate change — rising sea levels and more extreme weather — mean that people living in this region are likely to face similar crises in the years ahead. In addition to cyclones, extreme heat is a growing threat, putting people at risk of dehydration and heatstroke. In 2024, the UN found that heat waves caused nationwide school closures for two weeks, with some schools closing for six to eight weeks due to the combined impact of heat waves and flooding.
In Bangladesh, the Jameel Observatory-CREWSnet has used its mid-century climate projections and analysis of local human systems to design a pilot for a multi-purpose, multi-objective structure called an Adaptation Fortress.
By engaging extensively with local communities, the Jameel Observatory-CREWSnet, which includes among its partners BRAC, a global nongovernmental organization established in Bangladesh, is demonstrating a new model of climate adaptation that repurposes schools that are also cyclone shelters to serve as sanctuaries during extreme heat events.
The climate resilient shelter model is the first of its kind in Bangladesh and serves as a blueprint for infrastructure development across South Asia. Designed to protect the most vulnerable community members during government-declared heat emergencies, Adaptation Fortresses feature solar power generation and battery backup systems to ensure the shelter is resilient to outages during extreme heat conditions. The site also includes rainwater harvesting capacity and is designed so that excess energy generated when air conditioning is not in use is made available for community use.
Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel KBE, founder and chairman of Community Jameel, said: “The Jameel Observatory-CREWSnet’s construction of this first pilot Adaptation Fortress marks a milestone for Bangladesh and the region. It lays the foundation for a proactive response to cyclones and heat stress — emergencies that the team has projected will become frequent events, threatening the lives of millions in Bangladesh. By adapting infrastructure today, we are building the resilience needed for tomorrow.”
Professor Elfatih Eltahir, lead principal investigator of the Jameel Observatory-CREWSnet, said: “Bangladesh built a vast network of cyclone shelters that have been effective in protecting vulnerable populations. For the first time the Jameel Observatory-CREWSnet is introducing the concept of shelter from heat waves as well as cyclones in southwest Bangladesh. This integrated and proactive initiative will significantly improve climate resilience in a region with some of the highest risks from climate change.”
Dr. Deborah Campbell, executive director of the Jameel Observatory-CREWSnet, said: “Bangladesh is getting hotter and will experience more frequent and severe heat waves, leaving many people very vulnerable to heat stress and lacking the resources to adapt. The Adaptation Fortress initiative will provide shelter for the most vulnerable community members in southwest Bangladesh and has the potential to serve as a model for similar proactive climate resilience infrastructure development across Bangladesh and South Asia.”
Dr. Md Liakath Ali, principal investigator of the Jameel Observatory-CREWSnet at BRAC, said: “BRAC is proud to partner with the Jameel Observatory-CREWSnet in pioneering the Adaptation Fortress initiative, an important step toward protecting vulnerable communities from the growing risks of extreme heat in coastal Bangladesh. By transforming existing cyclone shelters into multi-purpose, climate-resilient infrastructure, we are demonstrating how locally grounded solutions can address emerging climate hazards while strengthening community well-being. Alongside the pilot, we are committed to engaging policy makers so that future heat and climate risks are integrated into national planning processes. The lessons from this initiative will not only support communities in the southwest, but also inform long-term, scalable strategies for resilience across the country.”
