As the new year gets into full swing, business leaders continue to become more involved with and concerned about security. The increased attention should come as no surprise, as simultaneously, cyberattacks have skyrocketed, with 65% of cybersecurity professionals saying the volume of attacks has significantly increased since Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago.

With burnout rates at historic highs, businesses are scrambling to find practical ways to retain staff-or at least so they should be.

As burnout continues to burn businesses, the problem is that the strategies that work best often seem backward. Take for example the strangest 'Great Resignation' strategy, which is also the most effective, or Google's wildly simple trick to increase productivity also decreases burnout.

Intrepid explorers of new innovation all over the world constantly think of new ideas and create new ways for people to interact with and experience the world.

We celebrate these endeavors on innovation day, recognizing the changes their work brings about in our future.

Image: 16 February is innovation day. Image: Pixabay

University students have created the world’s cleanest car - so clean it actually removes carbon dioxide from the air. The fully electric car, named “Zem”, is made from 3D printed, recycled plastic, has a dashboard made from cooking oil and an interior made from pineapples.

It is able to remove carbon dioxide from the air via two carbon filters in the front grill, removing around 4.5lbs of CO2 per 20,000 miles. That means  ten cars could remove the same amount of carbon dioxide from the air in a year as three mature trees.

Image: Students in the Netherlands have built a 3D printed car that is fully electric and removes carbon dioxide from the air. - https://www.portsmouth.co.uk

Americans purchased more than 500,000 fully electric vehicles in the first three quarters of 2022, accounting for more than 6 percent of all U.S. vehicle sales. The Biden administration wants that number to exceed 50 percent domestically, and the International Energy Agency projects it to exceeed 60 percent globally by 2030. But getting those cars on the road—and storing increasing amounts of intermittent energy generated by solar panels, hydro plants, and wind turbines—would require a lot of lithium-ion batteries.

Image: Form Energy

We could be on the brink of a major change in shipping. Low- to no-emission cargo ships are poised to take to the seas, reducing carbon pollution and providing alternatives to expensive and polluting air freight.

Startups like Boundary Layer, whose ships utilize hydrogen power and hydrofoil technology, and B9 Shipping, which is pioneering biogas- and wind-powered vessels, are seeking to reduce the negative impact of international shipping operations on the climate.

Image: Photo Credit: Boundary Layer

Around 92 million tons of textiles are discarded every year around the world. Over 85 percent of that waste ends up in landfills, amounting to a garbage truck-full every second, even though much of it could be recycled. But recycling fabrics is a complicated problem, because they are generally blends, and it is hard to tell what a fabric is made of.

Image: https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org

Tech experts, taking a first look at Microsoft's new AI-powered search engine, are learning what happens when you push the system out of its comfort zone.

Why it matters: Two well-known tech columnists describe their experiences with Bing's AI as chilling, scary and mind-blowing.

Ever since ChatGPT became viral, the tech industry has been obsessed with the idea of AI chatbots and how they'll influence us. In fact, Microsoft now integrates a ChatGPT-like chatbot directly into Bing, dubbing it the "new Bing" designed to disrupt Google's monopoly in the space.

We bought a house that needs a lot of work. Qest water pipes. Roof near the end of its lifespan. Kitchen that is (literally, not aesthetically) barely functional. Two unfinished rooms. I can go on and on.

We knew all that when we bought it, but figuring out where to start was surprisingly hard.

The high tech industry is a crucial driver of our economy and global competitiveness. Over the past few years, the industry has faced many challenges, including the evolving geopolitical environment, unforeseen climate catastrophes, as well as new opportunities, including advancements in digital transformation and cloud computing.

The pace of change in today's digital world is dizzying. In the fight for clients, enterprise companies are often blindsided by trends. Because of this, some of them are slow to adapt and suffer the consequences of getting caught in the wrong IT game. To avoid this, let's figure out where we are, where we're going and what we should know to be successful in 2023.

The photovoltaic effect of ferroelectric crystals can be increased by a factor of 1,000 if three different materials are arranged periodically in a lattice. This has been revealed in a study by researchers at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU).

Image: Most solar cells are currently silicon based; however, their efficiency is limited. (CREDIT: Creative Commons)

Shopify was originally an online store that sold only snowboards. Its founders and leaders, frustrated by existing online storefronts, created what they considered an ideal sales platform for their designs. After recognizing that other online retailers had similar growth strategy challenges, however, they leaned into a new opportunity — from just selling snowboards to becoming an ecommerce platform for small business owners. And did that change of strategy ever pay off: Shopify now has a valuation of more than $50 billion.

India is on a mission in the very first year of Amrit Kaal. This mission is technology-driven. Technology will therefore be centre-stage during this phase of socioeconomic growth and development. We are the bright spot in a turbulent world.

However, India is currently 40th in the Global Innovation Index 2022. While we have leapfrogged by 41 counts in a span of seven years, we must aspire to be in the top 25 in the near term and in the top five by India @ 100. The Prime Minister has provided a huge impetus to innovation by adding Jai Anusandhan to the country’s evergreen slogan of Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Vigyan.

At first glance, it seems like a rough time for venture capital, especially in the healthcare industry. Overall, venture investments in 2022 were down 35% from 2021, according to CB Insights, with digital health investments down over 50%. Biopharma investment beat the trend a little bit, according to Evaluate Vantage, down only 23% from the year before.

Image: Dimension founders Zavian Dar, Adam Goulburn and Nan LiDIMENSION

Expectations signal a difficult macro environment for the U.S. in 2023. Yet while venture markets are likely to be challenged in the near term, long-term opportunities remain. Here's a look at the economic factors shaping our outlook, what actions founders can take to navigate the challenging capital raising landscape and what J.P. Morgan is thinking about a potential turn in the exit environment from my article in the PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor Q4 report.

Last year was another tumultuous year in the workplace, with continued high employee turnover rates, evolving return-to-office policies, inflation, and more. In 2023, amid a looming economic downturn, organizations will continue to face significant challenges — and how they respond could determine whether they are an employer of choice. Several authors from Gartner’s HR practice predict nine trends that organizations will have to confront this year.

Organizations across the globe are pivoting their workplace technology strategy and many employers are grappling with big questions about which tools are needed to create a thriving hybrid environment in 2023.

Based on a JLL survey of over 1,000 companies worldwide, a vast majority expect to make significant changes to their tech stack over the next three years. Download the infographic highlighting the workplace technologies that were consistently mentioned by employers as top priorities and discover why those technologies are prioritized and how they change workplace.

After years of frenzy and soaring valuations, U.S. venture capital investment levels and returns came crashing down in 2022 as the world economy faltered.

The official year-end report by Pitchbook and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) showed that 2022 saw only $71.4 billion in total exit value generated, which is a 90.5% decline from 2021’s record of $753.2 billion and the first time this figure has dipped below $100.0 billion since 2016.

Image: VCs raised more money than ever in 2022. Image Credit: Pitchbook/NVCA