Innovation

• [New] The National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Office will be integral to the federal government's AI efforts for many years to come, serving as a central hub for national AI research and policy for the entire U.S. innovation ecosystem.
• [New] The technology group Wartsila and Grieg Edge, the innovation hub of Norwegian shipping group Grieg Star, are jointly running a project to launch an ammonia-fuelled tanker producing no greenhouse gas emissions by 2024.
• [New] The cell therapy manufacturing industry is expected to experience a great revolution in terms of products launched and customer niches penetrated in the next five years.
• [New] Mobilising some £12 billion of government investment - hoped to spur more than three times as much private sector investment - the key focus was to stop the sale of new ICE vehicles from 2030, some 10 years earlier than the initial deadline.
• [New] Propelled by the disruptions created by the pandemic as well as disruptive digital technologies, the telecom industry is all geared up for innovations and experiments in the year 2021.
• [New] The electric vehicle charging programs announced today will provide economic development opportunities across Massachusetts and support the growth of innovative clean energy jobs.
• [New] Mobile operators are rolling out the Shared Rural Network which will take 4G to 95% of the UK's landmass by 2025, and 5G roll-out will continue in the coming year providing the groundwork for future innovation and an increasingly connected world.
• The mature physics basis for net-energy tokamaks, recent technological innovations, and a burgeoning $2 billion-dollar industry have opened the door for the US to build a fusion pilot plant by the 2040s.
• UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has selected six projects across the UK that will receive a share of £8m in funding to drive progress towards creating the world's first net-zero emissions industrial zone by 2040.
• The Black Country is one of seven strategic industrial clusters across the UK being supported by BEIS and Innovate UK to decarbonise by 2040.
• The automotive landscape faces existential disruption over the next 5-7 years as governments around the world target regulations to achieve carbon neutrality.
• The National Space Plan for 2020-2025 represents the Czech Republic's strategy to further develop space related technologies in industry and academia and to play a more active and visible role within the international community in space and related areas.
• Global spending on AI will double in the next four years, reaching $110 billion in 2024, as companies see an opportunity to boost innovation, improve customer service and automate routine tasks so their employees can focus on more strategic work.
• Biden will invest $400 billion over ten years, as one part of a broad mobilization of public investment, in clean energy and innovation.
• The push across Asia to achieve carbon neutrality - Japan and South Korea are aiming for 2050, with China a decade later - is also a catalyst for innovation.
• India will look to be more innovative in its approach to garner additional investments worth Rs1.75 lakh crore for having 35 GW of renewable power generation capacity in 2021 to meet the ambitious target of 175 GW of clean energy capacity by 2022.
• Good intentions aside, without support from a fully functioning IP system, do not expect America's workers to be in a position to cash in on research and startups or to challenge China's stated goal to dominate in areas of innovation and technology by 2025.
• The EIB's 25-year EUR 21 million financing will further strengthen the academic and scientific excellence of the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca and demonstrates how visionary higher-education investment can both enhance education, research and innovation, and improve energy efficiency.
• With the world's demand for meat projected to double by 2050, cultured meat offers an innovative alternative that will provide nutritional security, drastically reduce carbon emissions, and increase food safety worldwide.
• With an investment of 350 million euros, the Electric Versatility Platform will play a key role in Mercedes-Benz Vans' plans for emission-free transportation, and will offer optimal solutions, including for the U.S. and Canada.
• With innovation and technical progress, In-Orbit services are the object of a renewed interest and could reach a higher level of technological readiness in the coming years.

Last updated: 17 January 2021