Technology News Era

A group of over 23 VCs across Europe and the US have joined forces this week to guide startups and their early-stage investors towards net zero, in an effort to decarbonise the global economy and the venture capital industry. The Venture Climate Alliance (VCA) consists of both generalist and climate-focused firms, and its members manage a combined $62.3 billion in assets, according to Crunchbase figures. To begin with, participating VCs pledge to inventory their Scope 1-3 emissions and, in turn, reach either net zero or negative emissions for their own operations (such as office energy consumption and employee commuting) by… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/lwyefZV

Barcelona’s food tech startup Heura has unveiled its new patent-pending technology aimed at producing meat substitutes without the lengthy and sometimes off-putting ingredients list. The company says it is the first scalable technology of its kind to add “superior” nutritional value to plant-based foods.  The data is abundantly clear – if we are to have any chance at halting global warming, we need to revolutionise our food systems. Approximately 14.5% of all anthropogenic greenhouse gases come from the raising of livestock. Furthermore, research has shown processed red meats to be carcinogenic. This means that what we choose to put on… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/EAilvxg

The UK’s competition regulator has blocked Microsoft’s $68.7bn acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the maker of world-renowned games including Call of Duty and World of Warcraft. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it’s concerned that the deal would tamper with the future of the rapidly-growing cloud gaming market, resulting in reduced innovation and fewer choices for UK gamers. According to the CMA, Microsoft, which already accounts for an estimated 60% to 70% of the global cloud gaming market, would further increase its advantage by making some of the world’s most popular games exclusively available on its own platforms. The regulator… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Microsoft from The Next Web https://ift.tt/NQOntwj

Netflix’s password sharing crackdown has cost it one million users in Spain during the first quarter of 2023, a new study by market research group Kantar has found. This translates to an approximately 15% decrease of its total users. The streaming platform introduced the new measures in Spain in early February, asking for a €5.99 monthly fee from users sharing their passwords with other households. According to Kantar, this is directly linked to the decline of the country’s user base. Out of the one million users who opted out of Netflix, two-thirds were benefiting from password sharing. One-third were actually… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Netflix from The Next Web https://ift.tt/RIngHt8

The EU’s latest crackdown on big tech is taking shape. The bloc yesterday released a list of companies that must adhere to the strictest rules of the landmark Digital Services Act (DSA). The 17 platforms and two search engines reach at least 45 million monthly active users. All of them have four months to comply with the full obligations of the DSA. The services are now mandated to mitigate their systemic risks and establish robust content moderation (this means you, Elon). They range from banning ads that target sensitive user data to special risk assessments for mental health impacts. Violations… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/Mn1q5Om

A startup claims to have launched a world-first AI speech-to-speech translation system. The tool, called Aivia, was developed by Interprefy, a Zurich-based provider of translation services. The firm focuses on interpreting meetings and events — a market being turbocharged by globalisation.  As interactions spread across borders, they can become harder to understand. Although English is the language of international business, it’s only spoken by an estimated 17% of the world. The remainder is often excluded from the conversation. Interprefy supplies a way to remove this language barrier — and the demand seems strong. In the eight years since the company… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/cg36u0h

A Dutch startup has been awarded a contract to install floating solar panels at an offshore wind farm in the North Sea.  Oceans of Energy secured the contract from CrossWind, a joint venture between Shell and Eneco. The renewable energy startup has been tasked with building a 0.5MW floating array between wind turbines at the 750MW Hollands Kust Noord wind farm, located 18.5km off the coast of the Netherlands.   According to the startup, which was founded in 2016 by Dutch engineer and entrepreneur Allard van Hoeken, this would be the first offshore solar farm in the world to be connected,… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/0i3eHIG

The UK will splash an initial £100m in funding to establish a government-industry AI taskforce, dedicated to boosting the country’s sovereignty and competitiveness in the field. The taskforce will develop foundation models — systems that train on large amounts of data such as ChatGPT and Google Bard — with the aim to benefit from their applications in public services and across the UK economy. According to the government, the technology is estimated to contribute billions of pounds to the country’s GDP, which based on the predictions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is expected to drop by 0.3% this year.… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/UGgHj8S

Assumed remote work was here to stay? Not so fast. Three years ago, lockdowns confined everyone to their homes, eager bosses rolled out policies to support WFH-ers’ wellbeing and the office was being gleefully denounced as a relic from the past. WFH was the “new normal.” Two years ago, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon famously took issue with that: “It’s not a new normal. It’s an aberration that we are going to correct as quickly as possible.” Fast forward to 2023 and the reckoning is happening. Leading the charge to correct that “aberration” is Disney’s chief executive Bob Iger who… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/bk0i2zB

Everyone is talking about the potential of generative AI as buzzworthy tools like ChatGPT and DALL-E make the headlines. But just what is generative AI and is there actually a use for these tools within the tourism sector? First of all, it’s important to note that, although ChatGPT is one of the most popular examples of generative AI on the market right now, there are many examples of tools employing this technology. Second, while the adoption of AI in general has been growing, this technology represents a new leap forward. Generative AI is seen as a breakthrough within the AI… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/K0JpeVU

Swedish startup H2 Green Steel has announced its plans to raise more than €1.5bn in equity funding to build steel plants that emit virtually no emissions. The startup, backed by high-profile investors such as Mercedes, Maersk, and Spotify’s chief executive, is constructing a ‘green steel’ manufacturing plant in Boden, north Sweden.  Construction of the plant will be financed through more than €5bn in debt and equity. The startup said in October that it had received support from European financial institutions for €3.5bn in debt financing, making it one of the most capitalised climate tech projects in Europe.  H2 Green Steel… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/8A2zK6j

An Irish startup has teamed with CERN to develop a new form of insulation for superconducting cables, which are designed to accelerate the green energy transition. Named SuperNode, the company has invented energy transmission cables that can transfer immense power across long distances. As the system requires less space and voltage than conventional copper-based cables, the environmental impact is reduced. These benefits derive from superconductivity. This phenomenon occurs when certain materials are cooled below their critical temperature — typically -180°C for high-temperature superconductors. As a result, superconductors can offer a hefty power density and zero electrical losses. To harness this potential,… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/J1PtbON

Reykjavik-based Akthelia Pharmaceuticals and the University of Iceland have been awarded a €6m grant by Horizon Europe to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites evolve and no longer respond to medicines, making infections harder to treat. AMR is listed among the WHO’s most pressing health threats of our time, with the potential to give rise to the next global pandemic as “pan-drug”-resistant strains emerge. It’s also estimated that AMR associated infections already contribute to approximately 5 million deaths per year — more than AIDS/HIV or malaria. Now, the EU-funded IN-ARMOR project, led by Aktelia… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/GyXouaW

Despite the tech startup funding landscape appearing gloomier than in many years, there are a few potential bright spots. Long-term climate targets in Europe and beyond are creating new opportunities for cleantech developers and investors.  While there may be a recent dip in activity, funding has practically catapulted the past couple of years. In order to recover from our addiction to fossil fuels, it is going to take a fundamental shift of the current paradigm. And there are significant amounts of money being thrown at the problem.  As reported by Bloomberg, the total global investment into the energy transition, private… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/vtPMnjJ

SpaceX’s giant Starship rocket may have exploded during launch this week. However, that does not mean that Elon, or humanity for that matter, is not determined to enter a new era of space exploration.  To reach further out into the universe, we will need to not only figure out how to send people to Mars, but also how to upgrade our life-support systems and accommodations.   To that end, European aerospace manufacturer Airbus has dreamt up LOOP, a “multi-purpose orbital module” meant to replace the ageing International Space Station (ISS). According to Airbus, it has designed LOOP to “make long-term stays… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/hin7tZr

Alphabet has merged the UK-based DeepMind and US-headquartered Google Brain into a single AI research unit. Imaginatively named “Google DeepMind,” the new group unites two camps that had developed an internal rivalry. “Combining all this talent into one focused team, backed by the computational resources of Google, will significantly accelerate our progress in AI,” said Google CEO Sundar Pichai in a Thursday blog post. The new unit will be led by Demis Hassabis, the co-founder of DeepMind and a UK government AI advisor. Born in London, Hassabis is a former child chess prodigy who finished high school two years early and… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Google from The Next Web https://ift.tt/Y6Htdhq

Wherever you fall on the quantum sceptic spectrum, you cannot deny that the potential of the technology is fascinating. Don’t worry, we will admit to not understanding it fully yet either, but the founders of QuiX Quantum do.  Together with scientists from the Leibniz University Hannover, the team has demonstrated a fully-integrated quantum light source on a chip smaller than the size of a one-euro coin.  The study, called “Fully on-chip photonic turnkey quantum source for entangled qubit/qudit state generation,” just FYI, was published in Nature Photonics this week. Its results could reportedly prove a game-changer for technologies such as… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/FsqZOC6

It turns out you don’t need a rocket to explore the edge of space.  French startup Zephalto has just announced plans to send eager tourists to the stratosphere in a space balloon by 2025. Starting at €120,000 per person, the six-hour round trip would offer “unparalleled views” of Earth and a fine dining experience from the comfort of a luxurious pressurised capsule named Celeste.       “We choose 25 km high because it’s the altitude where you are in the darkness of space, with 98% of the atmosphere below you so that you can enjoy the curvature of the Earth in the… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/6L5U0kH

The popularity of motorsports shows no sign of waning. With its reach amplified by the Netflix hit show Drive to Survive, Formula One in particular has gained an entirely new audience platform. What its electric car Formula E sister league may lack in characteristic sound profile (and on-screen drama), it makes up for in environmentally friendlier engineering.  With new battery technology, Formula E cars might soon beat those of F1 for speed. Furthermore, the experience gleaned from the tracks could also be applied to enhance commercial EV batterylife and performance. Ultra-high performance platform on display in Bologna This week, WAE… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/1WvIpuo

A new EU-backed project aims to help quantum tech startups and SMEs move faster to hardware production, enter this very competitive field early, and remain within the union’s borders. Dubbed Qu-Pilot, the €19m project aspires to solve a pressing challenge of the European industry: transitioning innovation from lab to market. The ultimate goal is to accelerate the time-to-market of the bloc’s industrial innovation in quantum technology and help establish a trusted supply chain. Qu-Pilot will remove a significant barrier for companies, namely piloting, which requires considerable cost, infrastructure, and time investments. The project will leverage existing piloting infrastructure, primarily spread… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/wLtuFv0

A Spanish hospital has successfully completed what is believed to be the world’s first fully robotic lung transplant.  Surgeons at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona used a four-arm robot dubbed ‘Da Vinci’ to carry out the procedure. The patient was a 65-year-old man called Xavier, requiring a lung transplant due to pulmonary fibrosis, a life-threatening lung disease.   Typical lung transplants are highly invasive: a 30 cm incision must be made in the chest and multiple ribs broken. This allows surgeons to access a patient’s lung, remove it, and replace it with a healthy lung from a donor.  But… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/PL9XwYS

Following its European expansion in Dublin, London, and Berlin in the past few years, Reddit is now opening its first regional sales hub in Amsterdam. Centrally located in the wider European market, adjacent to countries with a strong customer base such as Germany and France, and breeding a competitive talent pool, the Dutch capital emerged as the perfect location to further drive the growth the US-based company has seen in Western Europe. The hub’s mission is to bring together the platform’s EMEA markets in a central location and support a wide array of customers spread across Europe in meeting their… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Reddit from The Next Web https://ift.tt/4n9C1kJ

ChatGPT has had anything but a triumphant welcome tour around Europe. Following grumbling regulators in Italy and the European Parliament, the turn has come for German trade unions to express their concerns over potential copyright infringement.  No less than 42 trade organisations representing over 140,000 of the country’s authors and performers have signed a letter urging the EU to impose strict rules for the AI’s use of copyrighted material.  As reported first by Reuters, the letter, which underlined increasing concerns about copyright and privacy issues stemming from the material used to train the large language model (LLM), stated,  “The unauthorised… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/dC41lLa

The European Space Agency (ESA)’s Euclid satellite has taken another step on its journey to explore the dark universe. On 15 April, Euclid set sail for a port near its launch location in Cape Canaveral, Florida, the ESA announced today. The spacecraft is expected to reach the take-off site at the beginning of May. The launch is due to take place on a SpaceX Falcon 9 in July. After lift-off, Eulic will travel 1.5 million km from Earth to the Lagrange point L2, an auspicious location for studying deep space. From L2, it will start investigating the dark universe. ESA… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/c5LtQ31

EU member states reached a provisional agreement on Tuesday for a €43 billion plan to bolster domestic production of semiconductor chips — essential components in everything from phones to cars and refrigerators. The EU Chips Act, proposed by the Commission in February of last year, looks to double the bloc’s global market share in semiconductors from 10% to 20% by 2030.  The act also seeks to build resilience in Europe’s semiconductor supply chain, which is highly dependent on a limited number of foreign suppliers. “Chips are essential for all our digital and digitised products,” said Margrethe Vestager, Danish politician and… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/TzkuXtJ

It’s been a tough start to the year for tech investments. According to a new report, European VC fundraising is on pace for its lowest annual total since 2015. Research by PitchBook, a financial data firm, found that European VC funds raised over €20bn in each of the past four years — but only €3.4bn in Q1 2023. Total VC deal value fell 32% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) to €11.8bn. Deal count, meanwhile, dropped 19%. Pitchbook called the quarter “the first substantial decline” from the pace set in the past four years. “The VC ecosystem could finally be displaying the effects of… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/xKzLq4H

Everybody can breathe out. Next generation artificial intelligence isn’t the existential threat to tech jobs the AI doomers imagined it would be. In fact, Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google Bard, and Bing Chat are not only revolutionising how we access and share information, they’re shaking things up in tech recruitment, too. This fast-changing landscape is spawning tons of new opportunities, and among them is the highly specialised role of the prompt engineer. The prompt engineer is at the coalface of generative AI, responsible for designing the instructions that feed AI tools such as ChatGPT, the… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/fpWDmt8

The UK has been told it won’t have to pay for the two years it had been out of the EU’s Horizon research programme — removing a big barrier to rejoining the €95.5bn scheme. Britain had been locked out of Horizon because of a post-Brexit dispute over trade in Northern Ireland. The recent Windsor Framework deal had opened the door to reentry, but talks have stalled over the financial terms. The British government argues that its contributions to the seven-year innovation scheme should be cut, because its late entry has reduced the potential returns. A key concern involved the payments… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/pFDLOz2

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year, work stopped at thousands of Ukrainian businesses – including carbon capture-focused startup Carbominer.  As tanks approached the capital Kyiv, inhabitants of the city, including employees of the company, were forced to flee for their own safety. Among them was Viktoria Oseyko, chief marketing officer, and her father Nick, founder and chief executive officer of Carbominer. But Ukraine soon retook control of the area. “When the Russian forces were kicked out of the Kyiv region, it was like three or four weeks and the managing team decided to get back,” explains Oseyko. Nick… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/dZ23jrV

The European Commission has announced the results of the second round of Women TechEU — a programme designed to help women-founded deep tech startups scale.   The round, which has a budget of €10m, saw applications from 467 women-founded deep tech startups from across Europe, 134 of which have been selected to participate. It follows on from a successful pilot in 2021 which featured 50 startups. The startups selected for the second round will now each receive an individual grant of €75,000. The female founders will also be offered mentoring and coaching under the European Innovation Council (EIC) Women Leadership Programme,… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/lRvquXJ

This story is syndicated from the premium edition of PreSeed Now, a newsletter that digs into the product, market, and founder story of UK-founded startups so you can understand how they fit into what’s happening in the wider world and startup ecosystem. The burgeoning industry around space technology is based heavily on hardware, but the materials that hardware is built from need to undergo rigorous testing on Earth before they’re sent out into orbit and beyond. Space DOTS is a startup that wants to transform material testing in the space industry by skipping the tests down here, and sending the… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/cLzACGk

Under the European Union’s new Digital Markets Act (DMA), which aims to increase competition, large online platforms, including Apple, must open up their devices to third-party app stores. The DMA also requires these online platforms to permit sideloading, i.e., letting users install software that they download from the Internet. These platforms have until 2024 to comply with the DMA. Passed in 2022, the goal is to prevent dominance of so-called “gatekeepers” within the market and ensure a level playing field for all EU businesses. In particular, EU regulators have been concerned about the advantage Apple currently has in the market… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Apple from The Next Web https://ift.tt/nKbHoi9

The ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer mission — ‘Juice’ — successfully launched today from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.     The launch was supposed to take place yesterday but was postponed due to poor weather conditions.  Today, the stars aligned and Juice was successfully blasted into orbit at approximately 14:19 CEST. It took only two minutes for the Ariane 5 rocket to transport Juice into space, shortly after which it separated from the satellite, which now begins its 8-year journey to Jupiter.   Juice will make the 6.6 billion km trip to study three of Jupiter’s 92 known moons: Ganymede,… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/Z986VUK

Anyone who has ever experienced phantom ringing in their ears knows that it is a nuisance to say the least. Those who have tinnitus – hearing continuous ringing, buzzing, humming or even roaring sounds – often experience anxiety and depression as a result.  The condition affects approximately 15% of the global adult population. However, treatment has remained elusive, with those afflicted left to find their own ad hoc mitigation solutions.  Neuromod, a medtech startup from Ireland, is looking to change that. The company has just received €30 million in funding to further commercialise its tinnitus treatment device, Lenire.  A different… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/U8dnxyo

Intel’s plan to construct a massive chip plant in Magdeburg, Germany, is arguably the centrepiece of the EU’s strategy to ramp up domestic production of semiconductors.  But cash flow has proven to be a major stumbling block for the mega-project. Intel attributes this to rising costs, partly a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.  To close the funding gap, last month, the US semiconductor giant requested an additional €4-5 billion euros in subsidies to construct the plant. But German officials want Intel to meet them in the middle — they will consider boosting subsidies, but only if the company is… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Intel from The Next Web https://ift.tt/IePrHSA

Fossil-free though it may be, hydropower comes with its specific set of challenges. It has a high initial cost, and can often be invasive and destructive to local communities and biodiversity. Furthermore, it will, in all likelihood, become increasingly susceptible to droughts. But what if we could harness the power of the oceans themselves? This is what Scotland-based Orbital Marine Power is aiming to do with its 2MW+ O2. Its developers say it is the world’s most powerful tidal turbine under commercial operation and a result of 15 years of refinement.  Now, Orbital has just won an Option Agreement from… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/KQtplE9

Seeking to modernise the UK’s energy system and maximise the potential of renewables, the British government has awarded £30 million to three pioneering companies to develop new energy storage technologies. According to the government, accelerating the uptake of these technologies will not only save billions of pounds in energy costs, but also help balance the National Grid, and increase the country’s energy security. The funding will help the businesses test and prepare their technology for the market, encourage private investment, and create new jobs across the UK. The selected companies are the following: Invinity Energy Systems The battery maker will… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/YGgsRbc

Oh, to be an innocent young techie in the ’90s again. Merrily downloading Metallica albums from Napster, joyriding from bird’s eye views in GTA 1, and praying that 30-second porn clip would buffer before mom got home in four hours. It was a golden era — I mean, that’s what my friend told me. One thing we both enjoyed, however, was the magical world of Winamp. A skeuomorphic design resembling shelf stereos, gorgeous visualisations that matched audio frequencies, cutting-edge features like the colour-changing volume slider… and the customisations. Oh, the customisations. Not only were there endless skins to transform the… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/NxC2dMX

Last month, Italy became the first Western country to temporarily ban ChatGPT within its borders. Prompted by a data breach that occurred on March 20, the Italian data protection agency, known as Garante, accused OpenAI of “unlawful” collection of personal data — against the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) — and the absence of an age verification system for minors. Correspondingly, it ordered the US-based company to cease offering access to ChatGPT in the country. Now, Garante has announced nine measures OpenAI must comply with for the ban to be lifted. These can be summarised in five main demands:… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/oOgMh8r

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer mission — ‘Juice’ — is ready to embark on its journey to the solar system’s largest planet. Juice is scheduled to launch today, April 13, at 14:15 CEST (13:15 BST) from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.  Juice will make the 8-year, 6.6 billion km trip to study three of Jupiter’s moons: Ganymede, Callisto and Europa. Each of these worlds has an ocean of water hidden underneath an icy shell — an important target for astronomers searching for life beyond Earth.    ESA will stream the launch live on its website… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/WVtUmLP

For the first time ever, Europe has surpassed the US in private spacetech investment, according to new research. A study by Seraphim, a leading spacetech VC firm, found the European sector attracted $565m in the first quarter of this year. The whole of North America, meanwhile, raised $456m. Asia followed, with investments of $306m, while the rest of the world totalled around $29m. The figures made Europe the world’s biggest market for private spacetech funding. The quarterly investment in Europe hit almost 50% of the entire previous year. In contrast, US investment has fallen further compared to 2022. Asia was the… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/oj14ORC

When TNW Conference first took place in 2006, the digital disruption was still in its early stages. The conference served as a platform for forward thinkers to explore what a tech-enabled future could, and eventually would, look like. Today, technology has transformed everything. Yet somehow, the future used to feel more promising than it does now. There’s no need to elaborate on the emotions that come to mind when thinking about the future in a time of such uncertainty and anxiety. As one of the premier tech events and media brands in Europe, we are acutely aware of the power… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3FzHkVw

Flying across the world from Europe to Australia currently takes around 20 hours in a regular passenger jet. But Swiss startup Destinus is looking to slash that time to just four hours — by taking jet travel to hypersonic speeds.  Founded by Russian-born physicist and serial entrepreneur Mikhail Kokorich, Destinus is developing a prototype hydrogen-powered aircraft capable of travelling at Mach 5 and above. That’s five times the speed of sound: over 6000 kph.  This would take you from Frankfurt to Sydney in just over four hours. London to New York? 90 minutes.   To achieve such speeds the aircraft would… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/E7UhlHJ

The UK’s proposed alternative to the EU’s Horizon research programme has failed to sway support for the bloc’s funding scheme. Named Pioneer, the programme provides a backup plan in case the UK doesn’t rejoin Horizon. A recent trade agreement for Northern Ireland had opened the door to reentering the EU scheme, but negotiations over Horizon’s terms have stalled. Pioneer will be activated if a deal is not agreed upon. “We hope our negotiations will be successful, and that is our preference, but it must be on the right terms,” said Michelle Donelan, Britain’s minister for science and technology. “We must ensure we… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/X7ItuA8

Cambridge-based climate startup Levidian is expanding its operations to the EU. The company is bringing its next-gen decarbonisation device targeting methane emissions — the second biggest contributor to climate change after carbon dioxide — to Luxembourg. Using a proprietary low-temperature, low-pressure method with no additives, the so-called LOOP device breaks down and converts methane into its component atoms: hydrogen and carbon, which is stripped in the form of wonder material graphene — the thinnest and strongest material ever discovered. Luxembourg-based construction company Stugalux will use LOOP to process biomethane gas produced from food and agricultural waste. The resulting hydrogen will… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/RpjqZmP

The digitisation of cars has made comparisons to “data centres on wheels” so common that they’ve become clichéd. It’s also built a booming market for tech firms — few of which have capitalised as adeptly as Arm.  Often described as the UK’s leading IT company, SoftBank-owned Arm designs energy-efficient computer chips. The company’s architectures are found in endless applications, from smart cities to laptops, but they’re best-known for powering mobile devices. Around 95% of the world’s smartphones use Arm’s technology. In recent years, however, the company’s fastest-growing division has been the automotive unit. Arm has reportedly more than doubled its… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/iCxUloH

There was plenty of excitement late last year when Alphabet, Google’s parent company, announced a European testbed for its drone delivery subsidiary, Wing. Wing’s delivery drone network is already being tested at scale in Australia and, last October, a small suburb of Dublin was selected for its first trials in the EU. It signalled a vote of confidence from the Big Tech giant for the region’s drone ecosystem, with a spokesperson from Wing citing “the progress on drone regulations” in the EU as a reason for moving forward with tests there. Ireland has already served as a successful launchpad for… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/me4ZxQJ

Next time you board a bus in Scotland and it’s driving itself, don’t freak out — this is all part of a government plan to bring self-driving tech into the mainstream. Five fully autonomous buses will be taking to the streets near Edinburgh next month, announced Stagecoach, the UK’s largest bus and coach operator, who will be managing the fleet. The UK government said the project, named CAVForth, would be the world’s first full-size, self-driving public bus service. CAV stands for “connected and autonomous vehicles.” The service, which aims to transport 10,000 passengers weekly, will initially run a 22.5km circuit… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/waNmdj5

Digital twins — virtual replicas of real-world things — are already commonplace in manufacturing, industry, and aerospace. There are highly complex digital models of cities, ports, and power stations — but what about people?  The idea of digital doppelgängers has long been confined to the realm of science fiction. But a new book presented at London’s Science Museum last week suggests the concept could be coming to life.   In Virtual You, Peter Coveney, professor of chemistry and computer science at University College London, and Roger Highfield, science director at London’s Science Museum, show how far researchers have already got in… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/1bxZIvj

For 16 memorable years, TNW Conference has been at the center of Amsterdam’s tech ecosystem, but on March 30 and 31, TNW València brought — for the very first time — the heart of tech to Spain’s east coast. But we didn’t choose Valencia simply for its bright blue sea, delicious paellas, or sunny weather. The vibrant city is Spain’s fastest-growing entrepreneurial ecosystem, and has the most startups per capita of anywhere in the country — transforming itself into Mediterranean’s startup powerhouse. “Valencia’s tech ecosystem is a breath of fresh air,” says Myrthe van der Erve, TNW’s CEO. At València’s… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/dG2Ecux