As Canada begins to understand and navigate the global post-pandemic landscape, our country’s ability to innovate will be an important success factor in its recovery. The pandemic saw massive strides made in innovation. This forward momentum provides an opportunity for Canada to build a more resilient and robust post-COVID economy.

Silicon is one of the most abundant elements on Earth, and in its pure form the material has become the foundation of much of modern technology, from solar cells to computer chips. But silicon’s properties as a semiconductor are far from ideal.

Image: MIT researchers say cubic boron arsenide is the best semiconductor material ever found, and maybe the best possible one. (CREDIT: Christine Daniloff, MIT)

New Zealand company Emrod says it's got the technology to enable efficient wireless energy transfer from orbit. It's proposing a global wireless energy matrix, which would instantly beam renewable energy via satellite between any two points on Earth.

Emrod has just demonstrated its wireless power beaming technology to Airbus and the European Space Agency (ESA) as part of the ESA's new push toward 24-hours-a-day space-based solar power. The idea of space-based solar is not new. 

Image: You don't need space-based solar if you've got a global wireless energy network, says EmrodDepositphotos

The value of U.S. venture capital deals weakened across all stages in the third quarter of 2022 as the economy and startup ecosystem showed more signs of distress.

The Pitchbook-NVCA Venture Monitor First Look (preliminary data) showed a slowdown in the third quarter in the U.S. market, which is the biggest in the world. It was the third consecutive quarter of decline in completed deals.

Image: NVCA and Pitchbook reported Q3 venture investments dropped. Image Credit: Pitchbook/NVCA

Sales of battery electric cars (BEVS) are on the rise across Europe and according to the annual Global Electric Vehicle Outlook, more are sold each week now than in the whole of 2012.

But despite the increasing popularity, shortages of key components for batteries, including lithium, nickel and cobalt, could threaten supply. So, is it time to focus on hydrogen-based energy?

Image: The BMW iX5 Hydrogen prototype model. - Copyright BMW

It’s a rote story by now that many populations around the world are facing rapid decline. Birth rates in many countries are falling, leading to concerns about graying populations engendering imbalanced economies.

That’s true when we consider nation-level populations. It’s also true when we consider the rate at which new unicorns are born, measured by the pace at which global startups reach the $1 billion valuation threshold. Once rare, unicorns became far more pedestrian during the 2020-2021 peak of the last venture capital cycle. What’s old is new again — we’re seeing unicorn formation slow.

In a recent article, I shared why the build-versus-buy decision is more complex than it appears. Many executives rely on TCO (total cost of ownership) as the metric that matters when making the call, but in reality, total business value should really drive technology investment decisions. Ultimately, what matters is whether your technology solutions are driving business value or hindering it.

Tech startups have a reputation for being innovative, scrappy and constantly evolving to get ahead of the competition. However, these qualities aren't just useful in the technology industry. Companies in any sector can apply the "tech startup mentality" to their operations and keep improving.

This year is supposed to be a venture-capital wasteland, especially when compared to 2021’s cycle-topping excess. And yet.

New data from PitchBook providing a first look at Q3 2022 venture capital aggregates in the United States make it a bit hard to square reality with the leading narrative. Data indicate that U.S. venture capital was perfectly healthy in the third quarter, and 2022 has been a good year.

Image: https://techcrunch.com

Microsoft Corp. today open-sourced FarmVibes.AI, a collection of artificial intelligence models that farm operators can use to perform tasks such as planting crops more efficiently.

FarmVibes.AI is one of several technologies that Microsoft has developed as part of an initiative dubbed Project FarmVibes. According to the company, the initiative seeks to use software and connected devices such as sensors to enable more efficient farming. Microsoft eventually plans to open-source all the technologies it has developed as part of Project FarmVibes.

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Microsoft_buildings_EU.jpg

The cancer community is buzzing over a new study that says venom from bees can kill cancer cells.

Scientists at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research in Western Australia tested venom from more than 300 honeybees and bumblebees against two types of aggressive, hard to treat breast cancer: triple negative and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) enriched. They found that a compound in the venom called melittin could destroy breast cancer cells within an hour, without causing harm to other cells.

Image: A compound in the venom called melittin could destroy breast cancer cells within an hour. (CREDIT: Creative Commons)

A team of researchers in the UK has developed a fully automated artificial intelligence-enabled system that can scan retinal images for vascular health, helping identify those at high risk of heart disease and stroke.

The old adage "the eyes are windows to the soul" isn’t that far off when considering how much one can infer about a person’s general health by studying their eyes. Diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and hyperthyroidism can be detected in the eyes, and recent innovations suggest neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s could be diagnosable through retinal scanning.

The last five years have seen large innovations throughout drug development and clinical trial life cycles—from finding a target and designing the trial, to getting a drug approved and launching the drug itself. The recent use of mRNA vaccines to combat covid-19 is just one of many advances in biotech and drug development.

Whether in preclinical stages or in the commercialization of a drug, AI-enabled drug development is now used by an estimated 400 companies and has reached a $50 billion market, placing AI more firmly in the life sciences mainstream.

Italian startup Jetson, the flying electric vehicle producer, has raised $10 million in its latest funding round. Peter Ternström, co-founder and president of Jetson, joined Cheddar News to discuss making the skies available to the public with its personal transport drone. "We intend to make a lot of Jetson One(s)," he said. "We're talking about tens of thousands of units."

Image: https://flipboard.com - From Video

The hottest place in our solar system is not the Sun, as you might think, but a machine near a south Oxfordshire village called Culham. Housed inside a vast hangar, it’s a nuclear fusion experiment called JET, or Joint European Torus. When operating, temperatures here can reach 150 million degrees Celsius – ten times hotter than the centre of the Sun. On December 21st 2021, JET set a new record by producing 59 megajoules of sustained energy through a process known as nuclear fusion.

Image: The JET device has been operating at Culham since 1983. - https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk

Employee engagement has reached frightening lows in just about every industry, which understandably has leaders deeply worried and looking for answers to see them through the Great Reshuffle. All of this trouble started, so the logic often goes, when the pandemic forced many into remote work and we stopped being together. Surely bringing people back to working side by side and returning to in-person gatherings like learning events is the magical solution. Right?

Artificial intelligence presents a major challenge to conventional computing architecture. In standard models, memory storage and computing take place in different parts of the machine, and data must move from its area of storage to a CPU or GPU for processing.

Image: Green laser light illuminates a metasurface that is a hundred times thinner than paper, that was fabricated at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies. CINT is jointly operated by Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories for the Department of Energy Office of Science. (CREDIT: Craig Fritz)

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo announced that the Department’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) is awarding 51 “Build to Scale” grants – totaling $47 million – to organizations that support technology entrepreneurs, catalyze innovation and fuel economic growth.

EDA’s “Build to Scale” program provides annual grants that aim to accelerate technology entrepreneurship by increasing inclusive access to entrepreneurial support and startup capital. The 2022 awardees will leverage an additional $48 million in matching funds from a variety of private and public sector sources. These EDA investments support advanced manufacturing, bioscience, clean energy and blue economy clusters in regions throughout the United States.

The robot was created by college students from Cincinnati to help harbors and marinas clear up debris and hopefully prevent plastic waste from making it to the ocean.

“We have to start removing plastics from the water stream,” said Daryl Henline, harbor master at Point San Pablo. “It’s great if we could get rid of plastics at the source. But we know they end up in the water.”

The device, which has been referred to as a Roomba for the water, was created by the startup Clean Earth Rovers. 

NEW YORK – OCTOBER 6, 2022 – Forbes today unveiled its second annual “50 Over 50” List, produced in partnership with Mika Brzezinski, co-host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” and her “Know Your Value” platform. Expanded since the lists inception, the 2022 list spotlights 200 dynamic female entrepreneurs and leaders over the age of 50 who have achieved significant success later in life, often overcoming formidable odds or barriers.

Image: Forbes Announces 2022 50 Over 50 ListFORBES