Here we highlight selected innovation related articles from around the world on a daily basis. These articles related to innovation and funding for innovative companies, and best practices for innovation based economic development.
LONDON – The tech world has generated a fresh abundance of front-page news in 2022. In October, Elon Musk bought Twitter – one of the main public communication platforms used by journalists, academics, businesses, and policymakers – and proceeded to fire most of its content-moderation staff, indicating that the company would rely instead on artificial intelligence.
There's not enough fresh water to go around on planet Earth, and it's a problem that's expected to only worsen in the coming years.
To meet growing demand, recycling and restricting our water will only get us so far. Scientists will need to find new sources of this life-sustaining liquid to meet our needs.
In recent years, technology permeated almost every aspect of our lives as we witnessed a surge in digitalization across sectors. India made significant strides in its digitalization journey with expansion of internet connectivity across rural and urban areas, a wealth of data generated and consumed, and an ever-increasing number of digital services.
Academics are generally considered to have their heads buried in books. Yet Saku Mantere, a well-established professor at McGill University, just released his debut album, Upon First Impression. The album has been received well, and the Canadian WholeNote magazine wrote that “Mantere’s originals are amazing […] Mantere’s music is superb.”
Buried in a dusty landfill in Alamogordo, New Mexico, are more than 700,000 discarded Atari game cartridges, including E.T., the 1982 Atari game based on the blockbuster film. This bleak trove of artifacts symbolizes the video game crash of 1983, when consumer demand plummeted and companies like Atari literally dumped their cartridges in the trash.
Why did the popularity of Atari video games rise exponentially only to collapse seemingly overnight? As soon as creative original Atari games like Centipede and Space Invaders hit store shelves, many, many imitations flooded the market.
Efficient time management is one of the most essential skills for busy entrepreneurs to ensure the smooth functioning of their businesses as they have a lot on their plates, from planning and executing strategies to managing employees to chairing meetings and gaining new clients. Since entrepreneurs have to wear multiple hats, context switching and multitasking associated with holding various roles pose a big time management challenge but no matter how packed the schedule is, every entrepreneur is in need to allocate the right amount of time to each task.
From ideation to implementation, the changemakers in this compilation have memorable words for us all. We have divided these 50 quotes into eight sections: Startup foundations, Learning, Leadership, Diversity, Customer engagement, Branding, Talent, and The road ahead.
In 2022, AI got creative. AI models can now produce remarkably convincing pieces of text, pictures, and even videos, with just a little prompting.
It’s only been nine months since OpenAI set off the generative AI explosion with the launch of DALL-E 2, a deep-learning model that can produce images from text instructions. That was followed by a breakthrough from Google and Meta: AIs that can produce videos from text. And it’s only been a few weeks since OpenAI released ChatGPT, the latest large language model to set the internet ablaze with its surprising eloquence and coherence.
Image: STEPHANIE ARNETT/MITTR; UNSPLASH, PEXELS, WELLCOME COLLECTION
When done properly, storytelling for business can entice your audience and demonstrate the need for your offerings. A good story can evoke emotion, drawing in customers and making them curious about your product or service. However, when a story is done wrong, consumers can lose interest in your product—and potentially your brand.
Developers are the lifeblood of innovation. They are the ones creating solutions and implementing transformative technologies. Yet, they are often let down when it comes to the tools they use to achieve this innovation because the ones building those tools often have their eyes on the wrong prize.
Researchers are currently conducting the third phase of a drug that could heal old wounds, even if they happened decades ago. The new gene therapy has had some fantastic results in children suffering from a rare blistering skin disease, New Atlas reports. Additionally, the gel was even seen to heal open wounds that were years old.
On Wednesday evening, Disney CEO Bob Iger sent out an email to customers. It's notable for a few reasons, one being that I'm not sure I remember ever getting an email from Iger's predecessor, Bob Chapek.
Chapek, you may remember, took over when Iger retired in 2020, only to be replaced last month when the board lost confidence that he was the right person to be running one of the most beloved companies in the world. To be fair, Chapek is a very smart guy, and was mostly executing on the plan left by Iger. It just turns out he wasn't very good at being CEO.
Image: Bob Iger. (2022, December 21). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Iger
The higher road to being a good leader is a courageous journey; it's walking the talk of character and integrity and there are no shortcuts.
Good leaders that choose this journey know they can't succeed without learning from others, especially what it means to serve for the good of others. Leaders learn to become leaders by modeling servant leadership, and they continue to learn in their roles as long as they call themselves a leader.
Porsche and international partners working with the Chilean operating company Highly Innovative Fuels (HIF) have started the industrial production of synthetic fuels.
In the presence of Chilean Energy Minister Diego Pardow, the ‘Haru Oni’ pilot plant in Punta Arenas (Chile) was officially opened today with executives and dignitaries performing the ceremonial fuelling of a Porsche 911 with the first synthetic fuel produced at the site. eFuels made from water and carbon dioxide using wind energy enable the nearly CO2-neutral operation of petrol engines.
Image: eFuels made from water and carbon dioxide using wind energy enable the nearly CO2-neutral operation of petrol engines. (CREDIT: Creative Commons)
You’d have thought that the quantified self movement was stalling out, but Metriport would like to tell you otherwise, thank-you-very-much. We covered the company back in February, and now it has raised $2.4 million to evolve to the next level.
The company went through Y Combinator, and in the process discovered how fractured the healthcare IT space was.
Image: Metriport
Lithium-ion batteries, which today power everything from the smartphones we carry in our pockets to the electric vehicles we drive, are projected to capture 80% of the rechargeable battery market in the coming years.
Image: Researchers are betting on humble aqueous batteries – with water-based electrolytes – generally regarded as safe, reliable and affordable. (CREDIT: Creative Commons)
Every year, the UN’s World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) scores countries on how innovative their economies are with the Global Innovation Index.
The Index scores countries on indicators of a strong innovation economy. These include R&D spend, general market strength, patent systems and output, and local labor capital. And though a few countries consistently rank high, others are moving in and out of the top 10 rankings.
Image: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/
MIT created a solar cell that is unlike any other. It is made of lightweight fabric solar cells that can swiftly convert any surface into an energy source, according to a report by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
Resilient, Flexible Solar Cells These resilient, flexible solar cells are attached to a sturdy, lightweight fabric and are much thinner than human hair, making them simple to mount on a permanent surface.
They are formed of semiconducting inks utilizing printing techniques that can be scaled up in the future to large-area manufacturing and generate 18 times more power per kilogram than conventional solar panels, as per WEF's report.
It’s the end of the year, and many of us have depleted our resources. We’re in the eleventh hour of 2022, and we’ve spent all our intellectual, emotional and fiscal capital. But there’s no rest for the weary. We have to go shopping, prep for the holiday party and begin 2023 planning.
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