The road to commercializing autonomous vehicle technology for people has split into two paths.

In one camp, AV developers like Argo AI, Aurora, Cruise, Motional, Waymo and Zoox are aiming straight for full autonomy — a system that can handle all driving within certain conditions and with no expectation for a human to take over. In other words, the passenger can fall asleep or play on their phone.

Startups are a catalyst for economic growth both globally and locally. The value that startups create is nearly on par with the GDP of a G7 economy and the amount of startup funding in 2021 surpassed $600 billion, shattering funding records. The number of unicorns is well past the 1,000 mark and growing exponentially.

While growth for startups is core to their survival, it is equally important for them to develop responsibly. We asked the CEOs of Global Innovators and Technology Pioneers, the Forum's communities of high growth innovative startups, for their views on how they are helping to drive economic recovery while scaling up sustainably and responsibly.

In order for cybersecurity professionals to gain the knowledge they need to thwart the hackers constantly targeting their cloud infrastructure and applications, they need to think like General George S. Patton (or rather like George C. Scott, the actor who won the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of the general in the 1970 film Patton).

The risk of heart disease and stroke can be reduced by lowering your cholesterol levels. Many types of drinks, including coffee, have chemicals in them that can affect your levels.

Most studies on coffee and health show that drinking four cups or less per day is good for your overall health. However, drinking more than four cups has been linked to a higher risk of dying from heart disease.

Despite the fact that brewed coffee does not contain cholesterol, it does contain chemical components that can elevate cholesterol levels.

The wait is finally over and the US-startup Tachyum has now launched its Prodigy universal processor which combines the functionality of a CPU, GPU and TPU in a single processor.

In order to develop its revolutionary new processor, the company first set out to conquer the processor performance plateau in nanometer-class chips and the systems they power.

In addition to being Tachyum’s first commercial product, the Prodigy Cloud/AI/HPC supercomputer processor chip offers four times the performance of the fastest Intel Xeon processor. However, it also has three times more raw performance than the Nvidia H100 on HPC as well as six times more raw performance on AI training and inference workloads.

By: Brian Darmody, Chief Strategy Officer, AURP: Building Communities of Innovation

May, 10,2022

Sometime this September, the US Economic and Development Agency (EDA) will announce its Phase 2 awardees for the $1 billion Build Back Better Regional Challenge award winners.

Thirty or so lucky jurisdictions from across the U.S will receive between $25M -$100 M in EDA funding, although actual funding levels will be smaller to support projects on a regional basis for an industry cluster. These programs will develop or scale regional economies and devote funding to workforce training and support equitable development, including science parks and accelerators.

Thirty other finalists though will not be winners though as EDA only has funds to support thirty awards, much less the hundreds of jurisdictions from across the U.S. that applied for the program. (Five hundred and twenty-nine applicants were received by the EDA.)

But as they say on late night TV: Wait, There’s More

Cures for deadly brain cancer, sight loss and deafness are among the life changing solutions that could result from what are called the ‘disruptive dozen’ technologies.

Sitting down with senior Harvard faculty attached to Mass General Brigham, America’s leading biomedical research body and affiliate of Harvard Medical School, the question being discussed was: which scientific breakthroughs are on the cusp of transforming healthcare in the near future? The answers were then tested using a rigorous selection process developed by Mass before being distilled down to a dozen solutions.

If you’re waiting for a sign confirming electric vehicles have gone mainstream, the 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning ends the wait. The F-150 has been the best-selling vehicle on the planet for over four decades, and when Ford opened the order banks for the all-electric Lightning version last year the automaker had to stop taking orders after 200,000 people signed up. So the electric vehicle revolution is no longer coming soon — it’s here.

The Global Investor Conference (GIC) aims to tackle these tough questions and more next week in Portugal.

This year's Global Investor Conference offers investors and investment enthusiasts an opportunity to learn about the latest trends in private equity and venture investments. In addition, the conference lets clients and guests in on diverse perspectives that can nourish and strengthen their knowledge of global markets. This year's speakers are from Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific (APAC).

Remember just because people don’t comment or like your social media posts doesn’t mean they aren’t noticing them or enjoying your content. It also doesn’t mean that your LinkedIn strategy isn’t working.

That’s because more than 90% of social media users don’t interact with content.

Image: https://www.natlawreview.com

Intel Corp on Tuesday launched a new chip called Gaudi2 focused on artificial intelligence computing, as the chip manufacturer makes a bigger push into the AI chip market currently dominated by Nvidia Corp.

Gaudi2 is the second generation processor by Habana Labs, an Israeli AI chip startup Intel bought in late 2019 for about $2 billion. AI chip startups have been getting huge investments in recent years as AI computing is one of the fastest growing areas for data centers.

Image: Visitors are seen at the Intel booth during the China Digital Entertainment Expo and Conference, also known as ChinaJoy, in Shanghai, China July 30, 2021. Picture taken July 30, 2021. Photo: Reuters / ALY SONG

In building successful businesses, I find that creating a new and innovative product or service is usually the easy part. The hard part is providing the leadership required to align and motivate all the constituents and players – from engineers, to investors, vendors, and ultimately customers. Great entrepreneurs are not just idea people and then managers, they are extraordinary leaders.

Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com

Public market valuations are dropping precipitously. Growth stage venture capital investors are in a state of panic. VC Twitter is awash with projections and predictions that things are going to be tough for a while. Sentiment feels increasingly negative.

For those who have known nothing but a never-ending bull market for their entire professional lives, this is an unsettling time. But the idea that the bull market would never end - despite what a large number of self-serving Twitterati may say - was always fanciful. Markets are inherently cyclical and periods of correction are inevitable.

Most businesses spend big money testing their brand logo, catchy marketing phrases, and demographics, but spend little time training and validating that their employees can and do deliver exceptional experiences to their customers. The result, according to an often-quoted Gallup survey, is 70 percent of workers not fully engaged, and poor customer experiences.

Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com

The past two pandemic summers saw a spike in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and death, but this season may be different.

While health experts expect cases to rise, they don't think there will be a wave as devastating as the previous two summers or the recent omicron surge.

Unlike the previous summers, most of the U.S. population now has some immunity against the coronavirus from vaccines, boosters and previous infections. People also have access to antivirals that can prevent hospitalizations in the unvaccinated.

As the pandemic accelerates our adoption of virtual experiences, most of us are focused on how technology can better connect our world in the future. However, what we aren’t hearing much about is how we plan on connecting everyone in our ultra-diverse world using technology.

Most successful innovations have come from brands that have figured out how to mix multi-disciplinary thinkers for breakthrough ideas. The next wave of meaningful innovation is rooted in inclusion. While having different disciplinary thinkers is crucial, breakthrough innovation will come more quickly and more effectively from companies and brands that incorporate a much broader definition of inclusion.

The metaverse is no longer a vague and futuristic concept. It’s beginning to take shape. During the next few years, these immersive and augmented spaces will change the nature of business and life. People will act and interact in different ways, they will shop and purchase goods in augmented and 3D worlds, and new types of products and services will appear.

Stanford University will receive a $1.1 billion donation to fund a new school dedicated to climate change and sustainability studies, the university announced Wednesday. Other donors have contributed a combined $590 million, making the school’s starting endowment $1.69 billion.

New York-headquartered professional services firm McKinsey has developed a new offering designed to help its clients develop technologies to reduce carbon emissions.

The McKinsey Platform for Climate Technologies is structured around 10 technologies. They are hydrogen, batteries and energy storage, sustainable fuels, carbon removal and capture, natural capital, green construction, renewable energy, circular technologies and alternative proteins and sustainable agriculture.

Traveling solo can be the scariest, most liberating, life-changing experience of your life. It will push you out of your comfort zone. The friendships I was able to make during a recent five-day trip were nothing but unexpected. They showed me the importance of connecting with other women in business and reassured me that there are plenty of self-made amazing women in business who have accomplished extraordinary achievements in their lives.