Category Archives: Technology

Komatsu is celebratingthecompanys 100thanniversary witha series of activities over the next year centreed aroundthe companyscommitment to its new brand promise ofcreating value together.

Originally established in 1921 in Komatsu City, Japan, to sustain the surrounding community after the closure of a nearby copper mine, Komatsu has spent the past century dedicated to its founding principles of quality first, techology and manufacturing innovation, global reach and people development.Through the years, Komatsus continued investment in core capabilities and strategic acquisitions have connected smart, diverse people and cutting-edge technologies with a shared belief that partnerships are the best way to solve challenges and meet societys needs.

Komatsu is an industry-leading manufacturer and supplier of equipment, technologies and services for the construction, forklift, mining, industrial and forestry markets. For the past century,Komatsu equipment and services have been used by companies worldwide to develop modern infrastructure, extract fundamental minerals, maintain forests and create technology and consumer products. The companys global service and distributor networks supportcustomer operations, tapping into the power of data and technology to enhance safety and productivity while optimising performance.

"In our next 100 years, Komatsu will focus on supporting the mining, construction, forestry, industrial machinery and agriculture industries in their transformations to the digital workplace of the future: equipment and people, connected through smart technologies on an open platform, driving towards zero harm, zero waste and zero emissions. By helping to digitalize jobsites worldwide, our customers can optimize on-site operations towards a carbon-neutral environment.

"Remaining true to Komatsus founding spirit, the company will continue to play an active role in supporting local communities with a specific emphasis on sustainability. As part of that commitment, last year Komatsu launched One World One Komatsu, a new online platform for Komatsu employees that challenges them to be a force for good at work, and at home. One World is a place where employees can take part in sustainability-focused campaigns and competitions, share ideas and engage with colleagues. Through One World, simple individual employee actions amplify Komatsus core business activities to create a collective global movement toward a more sustainable future together."

Link:

Komatsu: celebrating 100 years of industrial innovation | Technology - Mining Global - Mining News, Magazine and Website

The Biden administration is moving to end exemptions that allowed technology developed with U.S. government research funding to be exported for manufacturing overseas, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in an interview.

The change affects billions of dollars of grant money allocated by the Energy Department and is the latest effort to boost the countrys competitiveness with China. It primarily blocks small companies and nonprofitslargely universities and their spinoff businessesfrom exceptions that allowed them to outsource manufacturing of technology developed with federal help, according to the department.

The department is making the change as part of President Bidens supply-chain initiative, a strategy announced last week for boosting domestic manufacturing across high-tech industries. Those include semiconductors, rare-earth elements and large-capacity batteries used in electric vehicles, all industries in which Energy Department grants often feed key research and development.

If were going to pay for your research and development, you need to manufacture it here, Ms. Granholm said. If the seed was planted here, the tree should grow here.

Mr. Biden has proposed a major increase in federal spending, including a $2.3 trillion infrastructure package, to modernize the U.S. economy, prodding it to catch up with China in particular. The goal is to ensure the U.S. becomes a world leader in several nascent or evolving industries, especially clean energy and low-emissions transportation.

See the original post here:

Energy Department Seeks to Keep Grant-Backed Technology Jobs in U.S. - The Wall Street Journal

Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming entrenched in our daily lives, but the technology is still surrounded by misconceptions and skepticism. Ask the public and they may jump to dystopian scenarios where robots have taken over the world.

While this makes for a good sci-fi blockbuster plot, the reality is different and more benign. Those products that Amazon suggested you buy? AI. That TV series you were recommended to watch on Netflix? AI. That self-driving Tesla car you crave to take for a spin? You guessed it: AI.

There is no single industry that is not being re-shaped by technology. Until recently, however, there was one noteworthy exception: global trade. Fortunately, that is slowly changing.

The mechanism that underpins global trade trade finance is an industry that remains largely paper-based and reliant on manual processes. This US$18tn a year industry is now being influenced by a new wave of technological innovation, including AI.

AI refers to the use of computer-aided systems to help people make decisions or make decisions for them. It relies on large volumes of data and models to make sense of information and draw intelligence.

In trade finance, AI is helpful in analysing quantitative data, and the repetitive nature of trade finance means that there is a lot of non-traditional data at our disposal.

This means that when trade finance providers need to assess the risks of funding a transaction, AI models can be a very efficient tool for data analysis and reveal intelligence and risks relating to small companies.

AI helps the industry move beyond traditional credit scoring processes, which are often outdated and remain reliant on historical accounting entries a barrier that prevents small companies from accessing trade finance and has resulted in a $1.5tn global shortfall.

AI can tackle this shortfall by creating accurate credit scoring models. This can include a companys payment history, measure the risks of funding a transaction, identify supply chain risks, and benchmark them against their peer group.

Trade finance providers can use this information to communicate effectively with their SME clients, ultimately helping establish better business relationships.

The adoption of AI has the potential to do a lot of good in the industry, and the industry is in the early stages of radical transformation.

Advances are driven by fintechs as well as a willingness to change. The industry is working together to create new infrastructure for distributing trade finance assets to other investors in a transparent, standardised format.

The creation of infrastructure is possible due to improvements in technology and integrated across the trade ecosystem in cooperation with banks, insurers, and other industry participants.

Its collaboration at its best: together, the industry is using technology to re-shape global trade as we know it.

This article was contributed by Michael Boguslavsky, Head of AI at Tradeteq

Visit link:

AI and the future of global trade | Technology & AI - FinTech Magazine - The FinTech & InsurTech Platform

Jun 19th 2021

EVERY BUSINESS cycle, as it runs out of puff, reveals problems that seem obvious in hindsight. Twenty years ago, when stockmarkets slumped, accounting frauds came to light at Enron, an energy-trading firm, and WorldCom, a telecoms outfit. Less spectacular were the revelations that many companies had cut corners or behaved recklessly. The actions of titanic bosses ruling over General Electric and Vivendi, a French media group, ended up hobbling them for decades. After 2008, the emperors of Wall Street were revealed to be wearing no clothes, with Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and others collapsing under the weight of huge lossesand their bosses giant egos.

Your browser does not support the

Enjoy more audio and podcasts on iOS or Android.

Guessing where tomorrows cautionary tale may lie is not easy. But investors seeking to avoid blow-ups should pay special attention to securities, companies and bosses that encapsulate the boom today. One area of financial risk is the thriving high-yield debt market where underwriting standards have slipped. In the corporate world the prime candidate for a governance conflagration is the technology industry.

One reason is the enduring exuberance for anything with the whiff of tech. The recession caused by covid-19 was a hammer-blow to many parts of the global economy. But a side-effect of the pandemic was to turbocharge Silicon Valley and its various offshoots, amplifying an already unprecedented bull run. All manner of sins, from questionable accounting to imperious executive behaviour, tend to be overlooked in good times. As Warren Buffett famously noted, only when the tide goes out can you see who has been swimming naked.

Another reason to watch tech is the plentiful funding for risky ventures. Investors desperate for returns have been shovelling money at businesses with high valuations, but whose prospects are far from proven. Didi Chuxing, a Chinese ride-hailing outfit, may well receive a valuation of over $100bn in an upcoming share sale, despite amassing $13bn of cumulative losses. Further rum has been added to the punch with the proliferation of special-purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, which are listed pots of money designed to merge with private firms.

The last reason to watch out for tech firms is their bosses. Dotcoms and their corporate cousins are often still run by their founders. Many of them have controlling stakes, thanks to souped-up voting rights. These entrepreneurs tend to have a messianic confidence in their own abilities and a fortune to match. The heady potion of control, wealth and self-belief can lead bosses to brush aside all criticism and to look upon rules as things for other people.

One firm that highlights all of these worries is SoftBank. The worlds biggest tech investor, with a market value of over $120bn, it has been instrumental in fuelling todays ebullience. Some of its bets, including Didi and Coupang, a South Korean e-commerce champion, have been great successes. But as well as backing some hits, and its inevitable share of duds, the Japanese firm has also become mired in firms like Greensill, a British lender that collapsed earlier this year; WeWork, a troubled office company; and Wirecard, a fraudulent German fintech firm.

That raises questions about how SoftBank itself is run. Although a tentacular outfit, the firm is best thought of as the Masa show, where all the big decisions are made by its founder and boss, Son Masayoshi. This includes how to allocate oodles of capitalthe firm is currently spending over $200m a week backing companies.

Risk control at the firm is patchy. Its internal hedge fund, once dubbed the Nasdaq Whale, roiled markets last year, sending shares of various companies berserk. The firm has morphed so many times analysts admit struggling to understand what goes on there. Dealings between the firm, its funds, its executives and its affiliates can create the risk of conflicts of interest.

SoftBank is not alone. There is surely questionable corporate governance in other tech firms, too. Disclosure is patchy at best. At the big tech firms, it is far less demanding than at big banks: Facebooks annual report has 129 pages, compared with 398 at JPMorgan Chase. This week executives at Lordstown Motors, an electric-vehicle startup, resigned after the firm made inaccurate disclosures. Those dual-class shareholding structures often let exalted founders keep control.

In tech, activist investors hold relatively little sway. Their arrival would go some way to improve corporate-governance standards by subjecting management to more rigorous scrutiny (as Elliott has at SoftBank). In their absence, conventional shareholders and creditors should be vigilant. When the tide goes outas one day it willthe investors who paid closest attention during the dizzying days of the boom will be rewarded.

This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline "The benefits of foresight"

Link:

Investors in technology need to pay attention to corporate governance - The Economist

Richard Ernsts parents worried about him. By age 3, he still wasnt talking intelligibly in the Swiss German dialect spoken at the family home in Winterthur, Switzerland.

His language skills finally developed, and he showed promise playing the cello. Then, around age 13, he made a discovery in the familys attic: A box of chemicals left by a late uncle. He began doing experiments and reading anything he could find about chemistry, an obsession that led to a career.

Dr. Ernst won the 1991 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his contributions in nuclear magnetic resonance, the technology best known today for its use by doctors in MRI scanners, allowing detailed views of the bodys interior. The technology also has applications in analyzing complicated molecules and the ways in which they interact with one another. It provides tools to develop drugs and vaccines or determine the molecular makeup of foods and other items. It can even be used to determine the origins of the olives used to make a particular batch of olive oil.

Dr. Ernst, who died June 4 at the age of 87, built on earlier work by scientists including Isidor Isaac Rabi, Felix Bloch and Edward Mills Purcell. The technology involves manipulating subatomic particles by exposing them to magnetic fields and radio waves. The particles movements in response to these stimuli produce radio waves that can be analyzed to reveal the structures of molecules and their motions.

In the late 1950s, when Dr. Ernst was introduced to early magnetic-resonance devices, they were too slow to be of much practical use. With an American colleague, Weston Anderson, in the 1960s he found that the use of short, intense radio pulses could provide much more detailed information about molecules. Dr. Ernst also applied a mathematical method, known as a Fourier transform, for rapid analysis of the subatomic wobbles set off by those pulses.

Read the original here:

Swiss Scientist Refined Technology Used in MRI Scans - The Wall Street Journal

Mitchell Hora pushes farming norms with every pass. The Washington County, Iowa, fields arent just his playground, but how the young farmer is carving out solutions which are key to his vision for conservation.

The soil really hasn't moved. It's all still flat, says Hora as hes exploring soil conditions after planting. But it perfectly rips all this cover crop and residue to the side, and it gives us a perfect little seed bed right there. That planter has really, really worked well for us.

The young farmer isnt afraid to try something new, even with variable rate technology (VRT).

In some of our better, higher organic matter soils we'll bump the population up a little bit, and actually on some of our stuff this year, we put in some ultra-low trials, as well, says Hora.

Testing Extremes

The Iowa farmers ultra-low trials are seeded at 20,000 plants per acre and on poorer clay soils that typically dont push 100 bushel per acre in yield on a typical year.

So, to put 20,000 plants per acre out there, to try to give those corn plants as much opportunity to retain water, and to be able to be competitive as it can, theres no need to spend the extra money on the additional seed, Hora explains.

Hora says as he searches for the perfect planting population with various hybrids, hes also pushing planting populations to see if theres a max.

We're going to see what some of the trials look like at ultra-low populations, and then we had 60-inch corn to that's at 50,000 population in the row, he says.

Farm Journal agronomist Ken Ferrie agrees with Horas trial methodology. He says creating blocks of populations across a field can produce valuable information.

I would recommend that you go 2,000 to 4,000 below where you'd normally go and 2,000 to 4,000 above, as you're setting this test plot up. says Ferrie, owner of Crop-Tech Solution. That gives you some good visuals and send some good data on your own farms.

Testing extremes may also harvest surprises, as Ferrie has seen farmers shocked by what some of the trials in any given field will produce.

I would say one of the bigger mistakes I see in variable rate planting population is farmers don't go low enough on their lighter soils, says Ferrie. It's not a matter of trying to push the heavy soils to a higher high. It's taking those lower soils and lift those yields up and reduce those costs.

Short-Term vs Long-Term Thinking

As variable rate technology can help reduce costs, Ferrie says the exact opposite is what often creates hesitancy.

The biggest obstacles to farmers implementing the technology, of course, number one is cost, Ferrie adds. And what's presumed cost. In so many cases, it's a gain, but the grower looks at upfront cost.

Ferrie says that includes everything from investing in GPS technology to outfitting a planter to be able to adjust planting population on the fly.

It's upfront cost, but I think farmers maybe look too short-term. They don't look at the full value of what the ROI is on this expenditure, says Ferrie.

Farm Journal Test Plot data found variable rate technology can yield anywhere from $63 to $100 more per acre.

The belief is, well this only pays if you have big equipment and big planters, and stuff like that. Boy, that's not the case. The more variability you have in your farm, the higher the ROI, so we can make six and eight and 12 row planters pay back pretty strong, says Ferrie. We did some case studies, for instance, in Pennsylvania in different places and for a 500-acre farmer, if he's got enough variability rate, he can pay for that technology in a very short amount of time.

Data Driven Decisions

Hora says evaluating the ROI, and exploring if its a fit on your farm, is a decision that needs to be driven by the data.

I think the biggest issue that Im seeing that farmers are having in adopting some of this technology is to know how to actually implement it into action, says Hora. So, farmers get soil data, they get yield data they get, they see trial information, but it's taking that data and knowing how to implement that's where there's somewhat of a disconnect.

The key to bridging the disconnect, is technology, says Hora.

I think as farmers, we need to better utilize some of the technology that's out there, utilizing the data not for the sake of more data, but utilizing data for the sake of a better management decisions, adds Hora. And with our variable rate on fertilizer, we found that we can decrease our fertilizer by a significant amount, we've actually decreased our fertilizer by 45% in the last couple of years.

Technology Gaining Traction

As todays higher commodity prices means more farmers may be able to afford to make investments, Ferrie expects the use of variable rate technology to grow.

The number of customers that we see moving into the variable rate both nitrogen and population is picking up steam on a yearly basis, and I think definitely within 10 years, I would say a lot of the Corn Belt is probably going to be picking up on this, says Ferrie. And it will definitely grain traction over the next five years.

Follow and learn more about technology tools here.

Originally posted here:

Talking Technology: Ferrie Says This Investment Can Yield Up to $100/Acre Profits - Agweb Powered by Farm Journal

Fri, 06/18/2021 - 16:14pm | By: David Tisdale

An enhancement of the cutting edge technology employed by the Mississippi INBREs (IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence) Imaging Facility, headquartered at The University of Southern Mississippi (USM), will keep its affiliate faculty and student researchers at the forefront in STEM (Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics) research.

The Mississippi INBRE Imaging Core has upgraded its existing Leica SP8 confocal microscope to the STELLARIS STED super resolution platform, one of the most complete imaging systems in the region. The instrument was acquired through funding from the NIH-supported Mississippi INBRE Imaging Core Facility, as well as an NSF Major Research Instrumentation Program grant whose Principal Investigator (PI) is Dr. Alex Flynt, an associate professor in USMs Center for Molecular and Cellular Biosciences.

The Mississippi INBRE Imaging Facility, directed by Dr. Jonathan Lindner, provides imaging and microscopy expertise to researchers throughout the state, offering access to and training on biomedical research equipment at no cost to users. The facility houses several types of microscopes, as well as a variety of large-scale instruments. The imaging facility also offers computational services and expertise to Mississippi researchers.

The addition of the STELLARIS STED super resolution microscope will enhance the quality and scope of biomedical research in the state of Mississippi, accommodating the varied needs of the INBRE Imaging Core user base. This cutting-edge technology is now accessible to faculty and students at USM and across the state who otherwise would not have access to super-resolution confocal microscopy.

According to Dr. Flynt, while light-based microscopes are indispensable to the advancement of many scientific fields. Unfortunately, he says, there is a lower limit to the size of objects that can be observed due to the physics of light itself, a barrier that impedes investigation of minuscule objects. Fortunately, recent advances have vaulted over this hurdle, yielding super-resolution microscopes such as the STELLARIS STED.

This specific super-resolution technology is well-suited for imaging dynamic objects like those in cells, as well as nanoparticles created in the laboratory, Dr. Flynt said. Areas of research that will be investigated with this microscope include material scientists studying assembly of plastic-like materials, cell biologists, and biochemists investigating cell components important in Alzheimers and genetic tools, and microbiologists who examine bacterial community structures involved in infection and plant-soil interactions.

Dr. Lindner concurs, noting also that researchers from a broad base of biological, chemical, and material science fields, including cellular and developmental biology, virology, biochemistry, high performance materials, and nanoparticle development, can greatly benefit from the instruments unique and powerful capabilities.

Microscopes are essential tools for the investigation of biological and molecular systems, Dr. Lindner said. Access to cutting-edge instruments is vital for cell biology, embryology, biochemistry, and imaging advanced materials.

Further, the addition of the advanced microscope will provide important training opportunities for students, also enhancing Mississippi STEM education.

The Leica STELLARIS STED Super-Resolution Confocal Microscope upgrades the previous confocal microscope to a fully automated platform with a 3D STimulated Emission Depletion (STED) super resolution module. The STED technology enables fluorescence microscopy approaches for visualizing objects smaller than the diffraction limit of light, increasing resolution up to 10 times more than traditional microscopes. For reference, the diameter of a nucleus of an average human cell is approximately 10 micrometers. STED super-resolution imaging is capable of resolution below 50 nanometers, over 200 times smaller than a nucleus. This enables the real-time study of sub-cellular molecular interactions and mechanisms on the nanoscale.

The system is capable of both conventional confocal scanning and resonant scanning for rapid low-light illumination imaging, which is ideal for live specimens. It is equipped with an automated motorized stage with upgraded software for expanded view image stitching options, 3D modeling, FRAP, and co-localization. Additionally, the instrument is outfitted with an Okolab CO2chamber for long term mammalian tissue culture imaging, and a Hamamatsu Flash camera for ultrafast acquisition.

Mississippi INBRE, directed by USM Professor Dr. Mohamed Elasri, is a statewide program supported by an award from the National Institutes of General Medical Sciences. Its mission is to enhance the biomedical foundation in Mississippi and engage talented researchers and students in biomedical research projects that will increase the state's research competitiveness, as well as positively impact the health of the states citizens.

For more information about Mississippi INBRE, visit msinbre.org.

Read more here:

Mississippi INBRE Research Efforts Aided by Technology Upgrade - Southern Miss Now

MOVIA Robotics aims to help children with autism and other special needs.

The extraordinary challenges women face when balancing a demanding career and raising a child with special needs are immense. Yet, some of the most inspiring stories are about how mothers find creative ways to overcome these challenges, especially over the past year with the additional pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic. Recognition of the challenges faced by those who are both mothers and professionals, as well as a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel, is sorely needed.

One company, in particular, thats on a mission to help with this is MOVIA Robotics, a collaborative robotics company building systems and software to help people and robots work together to assist those with special needs. Based in Bristol, Connecticut, and serving families, schools, and clinicians worldwide, MOVIAs team of experts is passionate about making sure both the children and their parents flourish.

The company builds systems tailored to help children on the autism spectrum and with special needs and abilities learn and grow using collaborative robotic technology. Timothy Gifford founded MOVIAan internationally renowned scientist, researcher, and entrepreneur who has worked with NASA led the team that built the first virtual reality exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution and is a sought-after consultant and presenter on Robot-Assisted Instruction, Autism, Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, Collaborative Robotics, Human Perception, and Assistive Technology.

As rates of autism increase, mothers of children with autism are in more need than ever of support, ... [+] and there are seldom enough cost-effective resources readily available to them.

The idea to focus on helping children on the Autism Spectrum came from Gifford wanting to help his wife, an elementary school teacher in West Hartford, CT, one of the leading school districts in the country. She identified how autistic individuals often require a large amount of one-on-one care, which was very difficult for staff in the school system. Gifford then set out to build an effective tool that could help teachers, therapists and parents reach children and help them gain the skills they need to succeed in their lives. Gifford combined his research into human-robotic interaction with earlier work he had done to create virtual characters and build friendly robots that could interact with children engagingly.

He explains that the name MOVIA was inspired by the words movement and motivation, a fitting combo since MOVIA moves families in a positive direction and motivates children to learn by making it accessible and fun. Robot-Assisted Instruction leverages the unique peer bond relationship between a child and a robot to unlock doors for learning.Research has revealed that robots can help children with autism solve problems, verbalize their ideas, and create a communicative bond with the robot.This facilitates growth, both at home as well as in the classroom.

The recent development of cost-effective assistive technologies has been incredibly beneficial to ... [+] parents raising and teaching their autistic children at home.

The recent development of cost-effective assistive technologies has been incredibly beneficial to parents raising and teaching their autistic children at home. For example, assistive technologies can support communication, sensory challenges, activities for daily living, learning readiness, and social skills.

Vice President of Sales, Muniba Masood, shares that Mothers of children with autism are not praised enough for their selflessness in raising a child with special needs. It takes a village to raise a child on the autism spectrum; family, siblings, therapists, teachers, and more, and when that village is stripped away by something like a pandemic, life can become exponentially more difficult for those affected by autism. She continues, I speak every day with some of the most heroic parents who have children with autism and are seeking new methods, and it's so rewarding when I can assist them with opening a new door and unlocking the learning potential of their child.

According to the CDC, in the United States alone, 1 in 54 children have been diagnosed with autism. Autism has been identified in 1 in 34 boys and 1 in 144 girls. Autism Spectrum Disorder is diagnosed across all socio-economic backgrounds and races; autism does not discriminate, yet the causes are unknown. As rates of autism increase, mothers of children with autism are in more need than ever of support, and there are seldom enough cost-effective resources readily available to them. The COVID-19 pandemic has only worsened the situation, as schools have gone to remote learning; many therapists have resorted to zoom calls, and resources have become more scarce, placing yet an additional burden on families of children with special needs.

Research has shown that some autistic children tend to gravitate and are attracted to technology. Robots become a non-threatening, non-judgmental, peer-like entity, opening pathways to learning through which the child can explore a new world. In addition, this innovation is proving to be an invaluable aid for the hardworking mother raising a child with special needs.

Many schools have been bringing Robot-Assisted Instruction into their classrooms, and the ... [+] advancements witnessed in these children are astounding.

Many schools have been bringing Robot-Assisted Instruction into their classrooms, and the advancements witnessed in these children are astounding. Teachers and professionals are amazed at how beneficial the interaction between the robot and child is. The child is immediately drawn towards the robot within the first introduction and excited to learn and interact.

Kebbi, one of MOVIAs robots, was created for both home and school use. Kebbi is an educational robot that integrates artificial intelligence, software, and hardware technology to provide various facial expressions, body movements, and communicative interactions. Kebbi offers a unique set of interactive capabilities that work wonderfully in the home or school environment, providing users with a heartwarming, educational experience.

Kristen Whoolery, a Speech-Language Pathologist in Wallingford, Connecticut, who has been using MOVIAs RAI systems with her students, shared that the robots immediate impact on children with autism makes learning comfortable exciting, non-judgmental, and anxiety-free. It has been life-changing, she said. I have enjoyed seeing the robots interaction with the students and how it has changed their lives.

The company hopes that its helping these hardworking heroes parents, teachers, and of course, autistic individuals making their lives a little less challenging.

However, it is essential never to forget the significant contributions working women raising children with special needs offer their families and society every day and keep moving positively towards a brighter future.

Link:

How One Company Is Leveraging Technology To Support And Educate Autistic Children - Forbes

From artificial intelligence to healthcare to fintech, the latest group of World Economic Forum Technology Pioneers blends entrepreneurial spirit with science and engineering to tackle global problems head on.

The 2021 cohort of young and growing tech companies includes "many future headline makers at the forefront of their industries, says Susan Nesbitt, Head of the Forum's Global Innovators Community, which will facilitate workshops and high-level discussions for the pioneers over the next two years. The social innovators are selected for being cutting-edge players with "great potential to not only shake up their industries but offer real solutions to global problems," she explains.

Launched in 2000, the Technology Pioneer community is composed of early to growth-stage companies from around the world that are involved in the design, development and deployment of new technologies and innovations, and are poised to have a significant impact on business and society.

By joining this community, Technology Pioneers begin a two-year journey where they are part of the World Economic Forums initiatives, activities and events, bringing their cutting-edge insight and fresh thinking to critical global discussions.

Meet the Technology Pioneers cohort of 2021. This year we're bringing together 100 early to growth-stage companies from around the world that are pioneering new technologies and innovations.

Apply here to become a Technology Pioneer of the World Economic Forum.

Ceretai, for example, helps media companies uncover stereotypes and representation gaps by analysing content for diversity and equality. Banyan Nation uses tech to support climate solutions in India. Century Tech personalizes education tools via AI and neuroscience.

FlexFinTx, for example, is building self-sovereign digital identities to help the over 400 million Africans that lack proper forms of identification. Meanwhile, Cambridge Industries is addressing climate change by developing sustainable city infrastructure to support waste-to-energy products.

Gender representation among start-ups has long been a challenge, which is why it's heartening to see the highest gender diversity yet in this year's cohort, with over 30% of companies led by women. The United Arab Emirates, El Salvador, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe are represented for the first time.

Following their selection as Technology Pioneers, this years companies will join an impressive group of alumni that include many household names, such as Airbnb, Google, Kickstarter, Mozilla, Palantir Technologies, Spotify, TransferWise, Twitter and Wikimedia.

Written by

Saemoon Yoon, Community Lead, Technology Pioneers, World Economic Forum

Madeleine Hillyer, U.S. Media Specialist, World Economic Forum

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

Follow this link:

Meet the World Economic Forum's Technology Pioneers of 2021 - World Economic Forum

Jun 15th 2021

PROTECTING THE biological, ecological and genetic diversity that sustains life on Earth is the mission of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. But progress has been slow, to put it mildly. A list of 20 conservation targets, known as the Aichi targets, was drawn up in 2010, with a 2020 due date. In the event, not a single one of the goals was met in full (see chart).

Your browser does not support the

Enjoy more audio and podcasts on iOS or Android.

In 2020, IPBES (the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, a body created to bridge the gap between biodiversity science and policy) published a global appraisal of the state of biodiversity. Written by 145 experts from 50 countries who reviewed 15,000 research and government sources, it offered a sobering message. The health of ecosystems on which we and all other species depend is deteriorating more rapidly than ever, said Sir Robert Watson, chairman of IPBES. We are eroding the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life worldwide.

According to the 2020 Living Planet Report, produced by WWF and the Zoological Society of London, two conservation and research groups, populations of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish shrank by 68% on average between 1970 and 2016. Two years earlier, it had found the decline to be 60% for the years spanning 1970 and 2014, suggesting that losses are accelerating. Human activity is thought to be causing species to disappear around 100 times faster than the natural background rate.

As this Technology Quarterly has shown, an explosion of technology, from nanopore DNA sequencing to global computer models, is expanding human understanding of ecosystems. Yet most biodiversity indicators are still heading in an alarming direction. How can advances in technology be coupled to the policy changes needed to reverse the decline? It will require three things.

The first step is to knit together the various monitoring systems in order to provide a clear picture of what is going on and what needs to be done. The siloed nature of ecological science, in which teams focus on a particular animal, plant or ecological niche, has created a patchwork of initiatives and data rather than a comprehensive, global approach. At the moment it is not even possible to draw up an accurate summary of the number, location and type of different sensors around the world, let alone the species they are monitoring. Wildlife Insights, an online global repository for camera traps, has logged thousands of cameras, but is constantly discovering more. One country recently informed it that it had another 1,000 sensors that had not yet been logged, for example. A survey due to be published later this year by WildLabs, a network of conservation-technology users, found that financing, co-ordination and capacity-building are critical to the development and adoption of conservation technology.

Shared practices, databases and platforms, such as Wildlife Insights, are starting to close the gap. In addition, says Tanya Berger-Wolf, a computer scientist and ecologist at Ohio State University, ecosystem-wide observation networks are needed to measure everything from the structure of a landscape and its climatic conditions, to the location and identity of animal species, and how they interact with each other and with human infrastructure.

The second step is to create more powerful and detailed ecosystem models, so that they can be used to develop and analyse policy changes, for example on land use, fishing rights, farming practices and regulation of pollutants. Computer simulations have been instrumental in deepening the understanding of climate change, projecting future impacts, building public and political awareness, and designing policies. Global ecosystem models are decades behind by comparison. Better models would let policymakers set more specific and effective targets. The 2010 Aichi list was hopelessly detailed in its breakdown of what needed to be done, while remaining vague and qualitative about how targets should be met. Governments are now negotiating a new list, which is due to be signed off at an intergovernmental summit scheduled to take place in October 2021, setting goals for 2030 and 2050. Simple, quantifiable targets and clear methods for measuring success, as exist for climate change, are urgently needed.

Third, once monitoring systems, models and policies are in place, technology can help assess and enforce those policies, and make the case for adjusting or extending them as appropriate. If marine protected areas are expanded, for example, ecosystem monitoring can both measure the impact on fish stocks, and keep an eye out for unauthorised fishing boats.

All this will require funding for monitoring and enforcement. And at the moment, most technology for conservation is developed in rich countries, while most biodiversity is concentrated far away in poorer ones. Even when American or European kit makes it into the hands of researchers, park rangers or land managers, maintenance is a problem. More training, and greater use of open-source platforms that put knowledge in the hands of people on the ground, can help. But ultimately there will need to be broader mechanisms for richer countries to assist poorer ones.

Many of the necessary policies will overlap with those needed to address climate change. But not all of them. Understanding how ecosystems are changing, and measuring the impact and effectiveness of interventions, will be critical to conserving biodiversity. Technology cannot solve the problem on its own. But it is hard to imagine how the problem can be solved without it.

Full contents of this Technology QuarterlyThe other environmental emergency: Loss of biodiversity poses as great a risk to humanity as climate changeSensors and sensibility: All kinds of new technology are being used to monitor the natural worldCracking the code: The sequencing of genetic material is a powerful conservation toolCrowdsourced science: How volunteer observers can help protect biodiversitySimulating everything: Compared with climate, modelling of ecosystems is at an early stageBack from the dead: Reviving extinct species may soon be possible* Bridging the gap: Technology can help conserve biodiversity

This article appeared in the Technology Quarterly section of the print edition under the headline "Bridging the gap"

Visit link:

Bridging the gap: Technology can help conserve biodiversity - The Economist