Category Archives: Technology

Within a few days the Union cabinet will give the go-ahead for 5G auctions. Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi has last week made clear that the government will support the roll-out of 5G as an important step toward self-reliance in critical and modern technology, the timelines are going to hold.

Given that, it is important now that the telecom regulator, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), the group of secretaries, the Digital Communications Commission (DDC) and the Union cabinet get the prices and the range of airwaves offered to the industry just right. India ...

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First Published: Wed, May 25 2022. 06:02 IST

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The 5G leapfrog to 6G: New technology needs a whole-of-govt ecosystem - Business Standard

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tebra, a leader in practice growth technology and cloud-based clinical and financial software, today announced that its Senior Vice-President of Product, Andrea Kowalski, was named in The Healthcare Technology Reports list of Top 25 Women in Healthcare Software for 2022. The annual list recognizes the most accomplished women executives celebrating the accomplishments at their companies and their impact on the broader healthcare IT industry.

This years list comprises a broad range of women with impressive experience, all of whom had a profound contribution on making healthcare more agile and accessible. An extensive process was run to evaluate the nominees this year. Read the full report here.

Andreas positive energy is infectious to everyone that works with her, and she is a powerful ambassador of Tebras vision and culture, Dan Rodrigues, CEO for Tebra, said. Andrea continues to challenge the status quo and is in constant pursuit of creative solutions and innovation. We are lucky to have her as part of our team.

Its such an honor to be in the company of such an esteemed list of hard-working women, Kowalski said. The recognition also highlights the teams passion for healthcare, product development and the companys mission of being the digital backbone of practice success.

About Tebra

In 2021, with a combined mission to unlock better healthcare, Kareo and PatientPop joined forces to form Tebra the operating system for the connected practice of the future. With an all-in-one, purpose-built platform to drive practice success and modernize every step of the patient journey, Tebra provides digital tools and support to attract new patients, deliver modern care, get paid quickly, and operate efficiently. To learn more how Tebra is committed to improving the success and well-being of both patients and providers, visit http://www.tebra.com.

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The Healthcare Technology Report Names Andrea Kowalski on List of Top 25 Women in Healthcare IT in 2022 - Business Wire

We like to think of technological innovation as a gradual, steady, and fairly linear process. However, this is not necessarily the case. Archaeological excavations throughout the world reveal that, once in a while, ancient civilizations developed inventions that were decades if not centuries ahead of their time.

It is sometimes said that these inventions rival or outmatch modern science. This, too, is a misconception. While many ancient super technologies from Roman concrete to Damascus steel were once lost, they have since been recreated by present-day researchers. Usually, any difficulty in recreating them stems from the lack of original instruction rather than an inability to comprehend the invention itself.

Equally erroneous is the notion that ancient civilizations stumbled upon these technologies by accident, or that they were designed by idiosyncratic geniuses who were not representative of their day and age. Although many inventors mentioned in this article were indeed considered geniuses, they cannot and should not be separated from their surroundings. Their work is not anachronistic, but a testament to the ingenuity and scientific potential of their respective civilizations.

When the Muslim fleet of the Umayyad Caliphate attempted to lay siege to the Byzantine city of Constantinople in 674, their ships were doused in flames. At first, the Muslims were not alarmed; fire was often used in naval warfare and could be put out easily with cloth, dirt, or water. This, however, was no ordinary fire. Once ignited, it could not be extinguished, and after the entire fleet had burned down, even the sea itself was set ablaze.

The Umayyad Caliphate met its doom at the hands of a new military invention known as Greek fire, Roman fire, liquid fire, or sea fire, among many other names. No recipe survives, but historians speculate it might have involved petroleum, sulfur, or gunpowder. Of the three, petroleum seems the likeliest candidate, as gunpowder didnt become readily available in Asia Minor until the 14th century, and sulfur lacked the destructive power described by Arab observers.

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However, what makes Greek fire so impressive is not the chemistry of the fire itself but the design of the pressure pump the Byzantines used to launch it in the direction of their enemies. As the British historian John Haldon discusses in an essay titled Greek Fire Revisited, researchers struggle to recreate an historically accurate pump that could have propelled its content far enough to be of any use during naval battles, where enemy ships may be dozens or even hundreds of meters removed from one another.

The Antikythera mechanism was found off the coast of Antikythera, a small Greek island located between Kythera and Crete. Its discovery occurred in 1901, when divers in search of sea sponges stumbled upon a deposit of sunken wreckage from classical antiquity. The titular contraption was incomplete and in poor condition, but seemed to have consisted of some 37 bronze gears stored inside a wooden box.

Scholars initially speculated that the Antikythera mechanism, which was found to be over 2,200 years old, had functioned as an ancient computer. This hypothesis was written off as being too improbable, only to be reaffirmed by more detailed studies from the 1970s. The current consensus holds the mechanism was an orrery: a model of the solar system that calculates and tracks celestial time.

CT scans reveal the contraptions mindboggling complexity. A 2021 attempt at replicating the Antikythera mechanism referred to it as a creation of genius combining cycles from Babylonian astronomy, mathematics from Platos Academy, and ancient Greek astronomical theories. It could calculate the ecliptic longitudes of the moon and sun, the phases of the moon, the synodic phases of the planets, the excluded days of the Metonic Calendar, and the Olympiad cycle, among a myriad of other things.

Damascus steel swords originated in the Middle East during the 9th century and were renowned for their appearance as well as their durability, being multiple times stronger and sharper than the Western swords used during the Crusades. Their name, derived from the Arabic word for water, references not only the Syrian city from which they hailed but also the flowing pattern that adorns their surface. This pattern was created during a unique forging process where small ingots of wootz steel sourced from India, Sri Lanka, or Iran were melted with charcoal and cooled at an incredibly slow rate.

The demand for Damascus steel remained high for centuries, but gradually diminished as swords were replaced with firearms in armed conflicts; by 1850, the secrets of its production process appeared lost.

Interest in the swords was revitalized by C.S. Smith, a metallurgist who worked on the Manhattan Project. Unfortunately, Damascus steel can never be recreated authentically as wootz steel is no longer available. Since the 1960s, however, researchers have tried to develop new forging techniques that achieve similar results. This development is still ongoing; one study from 2018 claims adding small levels of carbide-forming elements like Vanadium (V) is the way to go.

Created almost 2000 years ago, the Houfeng Didong Yi holds the honor of being the worlds first seismoscope. Its place of origin was China, a country that has been plagued by earthquakes for as long as its inhabitants can remember. Its creator was Zhang Heng, a distinguished astronomer, cartographer, mathematician, poet, painter, and inventor who lived under the Han Dynasty from 78 to 139 AD.

The design of the Houfeng Didong Yi is as functional as it is aesthetically pleasing. The mechanism consists of a large, decorated copper pot. The pot was fitted with eight tubed projections that were shaped to look like dragon heads. Below each dragon head was placed a copper toad with a large, gaping mouth.

Zhangs seismoscope, one 2009 study from Taiwan explains, is respected as a milestone invention since it can indicate not only the occurrence of an earthquake but also the direction to its source. While primary sources are unclear as to how the seismoscope actually worked, researchers suggest that vibrations caused a pendulum inside the pot to swing, causing a small ball to release through a dragon head and into the mouth of its corresponding toad, indicating the direction of an earthquake.

Many architectural projects of ancient Rome would not have been possible without Roman concrete. Also known as opus caementicium, Roman concrete was a hydraulic-setting cement mix consisting of volcanic ash and lime that, in the words of Pliny the Elder, bound rock fragments into a single stone mass and made them impregnable to the waves and every day stronger.

The earliest-known reference to Roman concrete dates to 25 BC and comes from a manuscript titled Ten Books on Architecture, written by the architect and engineer Vitruvius. Vitruvius recommends builders use volcanic ash from the city of Pozzuoli in Naples, called pozzolana or pulvis puteolanus in Latin. Pozzolana should be mixed with lime at a ratio of 3:1 or 2:1 if the construction is under water.

When Vitruvius wrote his Ten Books on Architecture, Roman concrete was still considered a novelty and used sparingly. This changed in 64 AD, when an urban fire destroyed two thirds of the imperial capital. As the survivors set out to rebuild, Neros building code called for stronger foundations. The switch to Roman concrete which, true to Plinys words, does not crack enabled the construction of architectural projects like the Pantheon, the worlds oldest and biggest unreinforced dome.

Archaeologists use the term Baghdad battery to refer to a ceramic pot, copper tube, and iron rod that were found in Iraq near what was once the capital of both the Parthian and subsequent Sasanian Empire. They believe the three distinct objects once fitted together to create a single device. The purpose of this device, which seems to have been capable of generating electricity, remains unclear.

Wilhelm Knig, director of the Iraq Antiquities Department the same organization whose employees first found the battery originally theorized that it was used as a galvanic cell to electroplate objects. This theory, though widely accepted upon its initial publication, does not hold up as no electroplated objects from the same time period and region have been discovered so far.

In 1993, Paul Keyser from the University of Alberta in Edmonton formulated a different, less anachronistic and therefore more plausible hypothesis. The battery, he argued, functioned not as a galvanic cell but a local analgesic that could relieve pain through transmitting an electrical charge. In doing so, it would have replaced electric fish, which in Greco-Roman societies were sometimes used to treat headaches, gout, and other conditions.

Originally posted here:

Ancient technology that was centuries ahead of its time - Big Think

Parents play a major role in whether teens use of digital technology is healthy or puts their mental and physical health at risk, according to a new study from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.

The large, nationwide study was led by Dr. Megan Moreno, professor of pediatrics and head of the Social Media and Adolescent Health Research Team at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and adolescent health physician, UW Health Kids. Researchers looked at the digital media use and family dynamics of nearly 4,000 pairs, each consisting of a parent and a teen.

Emily Kumlien608-516-9154ekumlien@uwhealth.org

They found that about 63% of teens fell into the family engaged group and had a healthy relationship with technology. The other 37% were categorized as at risk. Those risks included that their parents did not set a good example with their own social media use, had rules that only revolved around screen time or had no rules at all for digital media use.

Although some device features make screen time easy for parents to measure, based on findings of the study, Moreno cautions against using screen time as a sole indicator of whether technology use is healthy.

We found that [household] rules that focused on the content of technology, that focused on ongoing communication with parents those rules were more effective than rules around screen time, said Moreno.

As with all parenting topics, its important for parents to be guided by an understanding of the unique needs of their child, and to realize the impact they have as role models, she explains.

Our study illustrates that the risks and benefits of technology use are not the same for every individual adolescent, said Moreno. Parents set the tone for healthy technology use, and this includes how parents use their own phones.

These results were published during a pandemic when digital communication is more central than ever for teens. In fact, about 95% of those surveyed have their own smartphone and 88% have access to a computer at home.

The researchers surveyed the teens and their parents separately using an online tool, then correlated the answers. They measured parental involvement by whether the household had media rules, how much parents used social media, and the parent-child relationship. Health outcomes for teens included physical activity, sleep, problematic internet use and mental health. Well-being was measured by mental wellness, communication and empathy. They also asked whether the family-owned technology devices or whether the teens did.

The researchers used a method called Latent Class Analysis to sort teens into two groups. The family engaged teens were more likely to have family-owned devices, household media rules centered on content, positive parent relationships and lower parental social media use. These teens reported better health outcomes and well-being indicators. For example, 70% of this group showed healthy attitudes toward their body image. They were also more likely to co-watch content with their parents.

The at risk teens reported higher rates of personal ownership of devices. They also had higher rates of depression (56%), anxiety (69%), unhealthy body image (84%) and fear of missing out (85%). Their parents tended to use social media more frequently than parents in the engaged group.

According to Moreno, there are three key behaviors associated with better well-being around technology use.

Other members of the research team are Dr. Yalda Uhls, of UCLA, and Kole Binger, Qianqian Zhao, Dr. Jen Eickhoff, and Matt Minich, of UW-Madison.

The study was published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research: Parenting and Pediatrics.

Read more:

UW Study: Most teens actually have healthy relationship with digital technology - University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health

What happened

The stock market is taking a big downturn on Thursday and technology and growth stocks are some of the hardest hit. Investors are worried about rising interest rates, a slowing economy, and the fallout from the Federal Reserve pulling back its asset-buying, which is known as quantitative easing.

Three of the hardest hit were Zoom Video Communications (ZM -7.47%), DocuSign (DOCU -8.56%), and Okta (OKTA -7.75%), which are all major enterprise software-as-a-service (SaaS) stocks, fell dramatically in today's trading. Zoom fell as much as 8.9%, Docusign was down 10.6%, and Okta dropped 8.8% at its low. These stocks closed the day down 7.5%, 8.6%, and 7.8% respectively. While it may be hard to stomach, this is starting to look like a buying opportunity for companies like this.

Image source: Getty Images.

Yesterday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the Federal Reserve is not considering rate hikes higher than 50 basis points this year after raising rates by exactly that amount to 0.75% to 1% for short-term Treasury bonds.

Interest rates on everything from mortgages to corporate bonds have gone up as a result and when combined with negative gross domestic product in the first quarter of 2022 there's a concern the U.S. could be headed for a difficult economic year.

Investors will often sell off riskier assets, like growth and tech stocks, in this kind of environment and that's what's happening here.

What's important to understand about the current market is that everything is down and that means good stocks are being thrown out with the bad. Zoom, DocuSign, and Okta specifically are critical business tools that have high gross margins and positive free cash flow. That's a good position for investors to be in during a downturn because these are going to be among the stronger companies in the market.

ZM Revenue (Quarterly) data by YCharts

While operations are relatively strong, it's unclear when these stocks, or the market overall, will bottom. Investors have known about news like rising interest rates and inflation for months, but seem to be selling both the rumor and the news.

As hard as it seems right now, I think these are great buying opportunities for durable long-term businesses. Zoom is a go-to name in video calls, DocuSign is a critical tool for businesses around the world, and Okta is a huge name in digital security. I think long-term investors should see falling prices as an opportunity to get great companies for lower prices than these stocks have seen in years.

With that said, this may not be the bottom for stocks. If the U.S. economy is indeed in a recession and interest rates do go up, it could be a long year for investors.

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Why Technology Stocks Crashed Today - The Motley Fool

Europe as it is today has been forged in times of crisis. The European Union (EU) was created in response to the ravages of World War II. The fall of the Berlin Wall marked the start of a period of economic catching up by economies in Central and Eastern Europe. The 2008 financial crisis and the eurozone crisis that followed led to more financial cooperation among European countries. The COVID-19 pandemic then triggered a higher level of fiscal coordination through the NextGeneration EU fund.

Most recently, the Russian invasion of Ukrainenot only is a humanitarian catastrophe but has exposed a range of fragilities, from food security and energy to defense. The war has accentuated the reality that resilience depends on a strong economy with strategic autonomy in these critical areas that has long been taken for granted.

Technology is pivotal, too. Unless Europe catches up with other major regions on key technologies, it will be vulnerable across all sectors on growth and competitivenesscompromising the regions relatively robust record on sustainability and inclusionas well as security and strategic strength, hindering long-term resilience. Given seismic events within its own continent, a robust Europe is arguably needed more than ever. Yet to make that a reality will require the region to address a slow-motion competitiveness crisis that has quietly been unfolding for two decades, centered on its corporate and technology gap with other major regions. That is the topic of this article. Confronting this gap will require leaders to show the same resolve and collaboration as they initially displayed in their response to the war in Ukraine.

Although Europe has many high-performing companies, in aggregate European companies underperform relative to those in other major regions: they are growing more slowly, creating lower returns, and investing less in R&D than their US counterparts. This largely reflects the fact that Europe missed the boat on the last technology revolution, lagging behind on value and growth in information and communications technology (ICT) and on other disruptive innovations.

ICT and other tech sectors have spawned a range of transversal technologies, which are spreading horizontally across sectors and determining competitive dynamics. This research looks at ten transversal technologies and finds that Europe leads on only two of the ten. If Europe is not successful in competing in these technologies, it could also lose its strongholds in traditional industries. To give just one example, Europe has been a leader in automotive but could become a laggard in autonomous driving.

The stakes are high. We estimatethat corporate value added of 2 trillion to 4 trillion a year could be at stake by 2040value that could generate wages, employment, investment, and economic growth to the broader benefit of society. To put the estimated value at stake into perspective, that would be equivalent to 30 to 70 percent of Europes forecast GDP growth between 2019 and 2040, or one percentage point of growth a year; six times the gross amount needed in Europe to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050; and about 90 percent of all current European social expenditure, or 500 monthly universal income for each European citizen.

Unless tackled, this crisis will handicap Europe on many dimensions, including growth, inclusion, and sustainability, and its strategic autonomy and voice in the world. Europe can continue to build on its strengths. Its socioeconomic model has served well thus far. But if companies are to play at the scale and speed needed to compete in a world in which technology disruption is spreading everywhere, often with winner-takes-most dynamics, a reevaluation of long-held beliefs and trade-offs may be needed. An integrated package of initiatives could create an environment that enables them to do soin the process helping to ensure that todays high quality of life for many of Europes citizens is preserved for the long term.

Continuing to better the lives of all Europeans over the long haul requires sustainability, inclusion, and growth. The three reinforceor can undermineone another; it is not a question of or, but and. Where does Europe stand? (See sidebar, Europe: Geographic scope of research).

Europe is a leader on sustainability and inclusion, at least in Northern and continental Europe, our analysis shows (Exhibit 1). When Europe works, it works well. However, the regions performance on growth is less strong. As in the United States, per capita GDP growth was sluggish over the past two decades. The per capita GDP of Europe today is 30 percent below that of the United States. That gap had been narrowing but is no longer doing so.

Exhibit 1

On sustainability, Europe has 2.4 times lower CO2 emissions per capita than the United States, and 1.8 times lower CO2 emissions per unit of GDP. Both emissions per capita and emissions per unit of GDP have decreased faster in Europe than in the United States since 1990. Europe has also pledged to achieve net zero carbon emissions before other regions.

On inclusion, Europe leads on most dimensions, including equality, social progress, and life satisfaction. Income inequality as measured by the Gini index is only 30. It is 41 in the United States. On social mobility, all top ten countries in the Social Mobility Index published by the World Economic Forum are European. Europe overall has the highest life expectancy in the world: the EU-27 average is 80 years (80.3 for the EU-30); it is 79 in the United States and 77 in China.

On growth and prosperity, Europe tracked other advanced economies sluggish growth of per capita GDP at a compound annual rate of 1.2 percent, similar to 1.1 percent in the United States, between 2000 and 2019. However, the United States has been growing in total GDP terms at 1.9 percent a year, compared with Europe at 1.4 percent annually, reflecting higher population growth. Europes per capita GDP is still some 30 percent lower than that of the United States. Forty percent of this gap is due to consciously different labor choices (for instance, earlier retirement ages and more vacation and parental leave). An additional 30 percent is driven by persistently large divides between different regions of Europe. Still, along the income distribution, earnings are higher in the United States for the first nine deciles, while only the bottom 10 percent of Europeans have higher income than those in the United States.

Corporate Europes long-standing weakness in tech is ever more evident in todays figures. This gap has long been considered a result of specialization and competitive advantage elsewherethat Europe is strong in other sectors such as chemicals, materials, and fashion, for instancemeaning that the weakness is therefore not something to worry about. However, this is no longer true. Technology is now permeating all sectors via transversal technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), the Bio Revolution, and the cloud.

Technology is now permeating all sectors via transversal technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Bio Revolution, and the cloud.

Data show that Europes corporate performance is underwhelming in aggregate. To understand differences in corporate performance, we used McKinseys Corporate Performance and Analytics Tool (CPAT) to examine a sample of more than 12,000 companies around the world with revenue of more than $1 billion.

Between 2014 and 2019, large European companies were 20 percent less profitable (measured by return on invested capital, or ROIC), grew revenues 40 percent more slowly, invested 8 percent less (capital expenditure relative to the stock of invested capital), and spent 40 percent less on R&D than other companies in the sample.

Most of the differences are observable in technology-creating industries, specifically ICT and pharmaceuticals. Together, these sectors account for 90 percent of the ROIC gap, 80 percent of the investment gap, 60 percent of the growth gap, and 75 percent of the R&D gap (Exhibit 2).

Exhibit 2

ICT used to be a sector; now it is everywhere. The technology base built in ICT has spawned a range of transversal technologies that are spreading horizontally across most vertical sectors. Value creation is shifting to these horizontal areas, with winner-take-most dynamics and network effects in technology creation and scale advantages in technology adoption. The World Economic Forum estimates that 70 percent of the new value created in the whole economy over the next ten years will be digitally enabled, a momentum further accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic (Exhibit 3).

Exhibit 3

The fact that Europe did not keep pace with the United States in the first technology wave centered on the internet and software now means that Europe is in a weakened position in transversal technologies across sectors. Our analysis looks at ten such transversal technologies on which Europes future performance and prosperity hinge. Europe leads on only two of the ten (Exhibit 4).

Exhibit 4

To give just a few examples, in quantum computing, 50 percent of the top ten major tech companies investing in this transversal technology are in the United States, 40 percent in China, and none in in the EU. In 5G, a key element of the future of connectivity, China captures nearly 60 percent of external funding, with the United States at 27 percent and Europe at 11 percent. In AI, the United States captured 40 percent of external funding in 201520. Europe captured 12 percent and Asia (including China) 32 percent. In biotech, Europe has a strong science base and a robust pool of talent, and it proved during the pandemic that it can innovate. However, investment in biotech varies among regions. In 201820, the United States spent $260 billion, Europe $42 billion, and China $19 billion.

The fact that Europe did not keep pace with the United States in the first technology wave centered on the internet and software now means that Europe is in a weakened position in transversal technologies across sectors.

In cleantech, Europe is more ambitious than most other regions on targets for the reduction of carbon emissions by 2030 but is losing ground in the next wave of cleantech. European players hold 38 percent more cleantech patents than firms in the United States, and more than double the number in China, and have more installed mature technologies per capita. Overall, however, Europes prospects of leading on cleantech are fading. China leads on cleantech production in nearly all areas, often with market shares of more than 50 percent, and the United States leads on most breakthrough technologies.

Europes lack of scale in transversal technologies jeopardizes its position in nearly all sectors, including current strongholds like automotive and luxury goods. In automotive, US manufacturers account for close to 70 percent of all kilometers made by level 4 fully autonomous vehicles.

At stake are not only the performance of Europes companies, its tech prowess, and its economic growth and prosperity, but also its progress thus far on sustainability and inclusion. Although there are debates over whether lower growth is needed to achieve sustainability and arrest climate change, the opposite argument is compelling: growth strengthens confidence and creates a healthy investment climate to generate sustainability-related innovation and new income streams that are needed to pay for the energy transition. Lagging growth could, moreover, undermine inclusion by limiting the pool of funds available to spend on social programs.

If Europe is not able to improve on transversal technologies, European firms could miss out on a value-added opportunity of 2 trillion to 4 trillion a year by 2040value that could translate into higher wages, better healthcare, more sustainability investments, and so on. The value at stake equates to 30 to 70 percent of Europes forecast GDP growth in GDP between 2019 and 2040, or one percentage point of growth a year. For further context, this would be equivalent to six times the amount needed to transition to net-zero emissions. And it would amount to about 90 percent of all current social expenditure in Europe (Exhibit 5).

Exhibit 5

There has been much discussion about energy dependence and autonomy, but global economic shifts accentuate the need for strategic autonomy on critical technologies. Technological autonomy is compatible with open economies and global collaboration. It can be achieved via multiple independent global sourcing options as well as a strong footprint of globally leading firms in Europe. But it will also require capability buildup by, and scaling of, European firms. Today, for instance, semiconductors produced in Europe meet just 9 percent of European demand, and European companies have only about 10 percent of the market across the semiconductor value chain. And Europe has no market player with a market share in infrastructure-as-a-service of more than 1 percent.

Much discussion has been taking place about energy dependence and autonomy, but geopolitical shifts also accentuate the need for strategic autonomy on critical technologies.

Europe can, and should, continue to leverage its many strengths. They include its high-quality education systems, which produce leading science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) talent as well as some of the most productive vocationally educated workers. Europe is also the most open and connected large economy in the world. However, the stakes are so high for Europe that decision makers may want to consider breaking new ground and reevaluating trade-offs in a way that has been uncomfortable heretofore.

As the sources of competitionand growthshift toward disruptive innovation and intangibles, a winner-takes-most dynamic emerges in which scale, speed, and established tech ecosystems are increasingly vital. A changing geopolitical landscape complicates and deepens that challenge.

In this context, a range of challenges put Europe at a disadvantage. Among them, four stand out and mutually reinforce one another: fragmentation and lack of scale; lack of established technology ecosystems; less developed risk-capital funding; and a regulatory environment that could be more supportive of disruption and innovation.

These challenges are well known among Europes leaders, who keenly appreciate what needs to be done at the institutional level. Many initiatives are being designed and launched. In the EU, the 95 billion Horizon Europe program, the Smart Specialization initiative, the Important Projects of Common European Interest framework, and the Digital Decade program are but a few recent examples.

Yet if Europe wants to address its corporate performance gap and avoid a slow-motion crisis unfolding over the years ahead, it could usefully consider one question: does the sum total of all the initiatives under way and planned not only match the scale of what leading regions are doing but exceed it, and therefore enable catch-up from todays weaker position?

As a thought starter, we offer 11 initiatives that could form part of an integrated package to change the rules of the game for European firms and overcome a range of handicaps (Exhibit 6). They would enable firms to build scale and attract scale-up funding, operate at higher speed and with greater degrees of freedom, and level the playing field with other regions and established firms. Many have been topics of long-running debates and come with major trade-offs, yet this diagnostic suggests revisiting the current stance on them. The initial response to the invasion of Ukraine shows that Europe can leverage its scale and move rapidly when faced with a severe challenge. A similar approach will also be needed to address its slow-motion technology and competitiveness crisis. We invite comments and collaboration to progress these initial ideas.

Exhibit 6

Even if policy and regulation create a more enabling environment in which European firms can compete, they, too, need to step up, developing scale and agility in order to grow and succeed not only on the national and regional levels, but globally. Options to consider include the following:

European countries have been leaders on sustainability and inclusion. They are now concerned with the security of supply chains, energy, food, and defense. How much should the region also worry about its corporate and technology gap, which is jeopardizing future growth and strategic autonomyand when? Can the momentum of common action triggered by war in Ukraine now also provide the impetus to make the trade-offs needed for technology and competitiveness that have long felt difficult?

More work will likely be needed to determine how to tackle Europes gaps in corporate performance and innovation in detail and in practice, technology by technology and sector by sector, building resilience into the European model for the long term. This article marks the start of a McKinsey initiative to gather insights across Europe in an effort to make a contribution to addressing these questions.

See the article here:

Addressing Europe's corporate and technology gap - McKinsey

STOW, Ohio, May 05, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AtNetPlus, an IT Managed Service Provider based out of Stow, Ohio, has been taking Northeast Ohio by storm. The company, which has been in business for over 23 years, has seen one of the biggest growth spurts in its history over the past year.

In the midst of all of the changes that the pandemic brought to small businesses, AtNetPlus has continued to be a local name that resonates throughout the community and serves as the technology pillar of many local organizations such as the Akron Rubber Ducks, the Akron Zoo, and the Greater Akron Chamber.

AtNetPlus has also recently been recognized by local institution Case Western Reserve University on its Weatherhead 100 list of 2021, Ohio Business Magazines Ohio Success Awards 2022, and CRNs MSP500 list of the top 500 Managed Service Providers in North America in 2022.

This success couldnt be achieved without AtNetPluss service employees who provide this award-winning service to its clients. Our service values are incredibly important to our hiring process and employee retention. We pride ourselves on offering fast, reliable service with a smile you can hear through the phone. Our brilliant team provides brilliant service. Emily Ray, Office Manager.

Are you interested in kickstarting your IT career with a growing company? AtNetPlus is currently hiring for multiple positions:

https://atnetplus.com/careers/

About AtNetPlus, Inc.

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AtNetPlus is Making Waves A Technology Company with a Lot of Heart - GlobeNewswire

Dr. Francis CollinsActing Senior Science Advisor to the PresidentWashington, D.C.May 5, 2022

AS DELIVERED

Thank you, Mr. President, for the opportunity to provide keynote remarks at the 7th Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals.

Ministers, distinguished delegates, and colleagues, the United States is delighted to speak about the future of science, technology, and innovation for development in these challenging times.

Over two years ago, the world faced a new highly contagious virus that led to a global pandemic. The interconnectivity of our world hastened the spread of the virus across borders, but it also enabled the rapid sharing of scientific information to support treatments and prevention efforts.

We all should be proud of the success of the scientific community in combatting COVID-19. At the same time, we must recognize that we have all struggled to protect those most in need of our assistance and have encountered many setbacks. We must all bring humility and learn from those missteps to ensure we do better in future pandemics.

As the Director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, I was privileged to work closely with international colleagues in an unprecedented program to develop vaccines in record time, test dozens of therapeutics, and develop new diagnostic tests for home use.

Now as we observe new Omicron sub-variants, most recently BA.4 and BA.5, leading to a rise in new infections, we are reminded of the focused attention the COVID-19 response still requires.

Our efforts to track and respond to the pandemic have truly been a global effort. I would like to recognize the extraordinary contributions of scientists in South Africa, Botswana, the United Kingdom, and Israel to share information expeditiously about emergence of recent variants and effectiveness of vaccines.

We are focused on ending the acute phase of this pandemic and building enduring capacity to address COVID-19 variants and future pandemics. We are grateful to scientists and researchers around the world who have contributed so much to the response.

Remarkable though the development of COVID-19 vaccines has been, we recognize that access to those vaccines has not been equitable. Without a true and urgent commitment to vaccinating the world, the pandemic will continue to threaten our safety, our economies, and our future.

The United States has committed to donating 1.2 billion doses of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine to the world, more than any other nation on earth. To date, we have shipped over 530 million doses around the world, both bilaterally and in partnership with COVAX all for free.

Significant challenges remain. We must ensure that vaccines reach the highest-need populations by using evidence-based interventions to create demand and provide accurate information about the safety and efficacy of vaccines. We urgently need to ensure access and financing for tests and lifesaving treatments; free up supply chain bottlenecks; and combat misinformation and disinformation.

We know that the future holds more health emergencies, including the potential risk of pandemics. We must prepare now to build, sustain, and finance the global capacity we need for emerging variants and future health crises.

The United States will continue to convene foreign governments, including the G7s 100 Days Mission, to keep preparedness against future pandemics on the top of the global agenda.

Bolstered by our common desire to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic, we must refocus our efforts together to move forward to advance a positive vision for the future of science, technology, and innovation as we build back better.

The United States will continue to lead but we will also listen and learn.

20th Century scientific cooperation delivered tremendous advances in medicine, industry, and productivity. The challenges of the 21st Century the prospect of new pandemics resulting from closer interaction of human society and nature, the threats of climate change can only be faced if we redouble that same cooperation and collaboration across borders.

We can listen and learn from countries like Costa Rica and Rwanda, about how to build public health systems that can achieve better outcomes and lower costs.

We can learn from countries like India and Uganda, about how to extend clean energy and make modern power grids more efficient and resilient.

There is no better place or time than a Forum on STI for development, to renew a commitment to global cooperation, rooted in inclusivity, multi-stakeholder engagement, and respect for the international rule-based order.

The United States believes in the continued relevance and importance of a focused, efficient, and effective United Nations. We will redouble our efforts to promote the deployment of science, technology, and innovation for building back better from the COVID-19 pandemic.

I cannot overstate the importance of good-faith cooperation based on values we share as scientists: openness, humility, diversity, and yes dissent.

I know that science can struggle to live up to these values, and I understand some countries, including my own, sometimes fall short.

But we must persist. The United States values diversity because scientific, technological, and innovative progress depends on listening and learning from others who bring a different lens, different experiences, different questions, and different passions to the table.

And we value dissent because progress in science and frankly, so many different aspects of the human experience depends on challenging ideas and theories to see if they stand up to scrutiny.

Values of openness and transparency, where scientists and innovators can voice contrary opinions without fear of reprisal, where decisions are informed by data, are therefore fundamental to achieving solutions to our collective challenges.

And finally, over the next two days, let us reflect on how far we have come in utilizing science and technology to promote and enable development, democracy, human rights, and peace and security.

But I would be remiss if I did not address the man-made threats that threaten to move us backward instead of building back better.

Russias war of choice in Ukraine, facilitated by Belarus, is an affront to the values and principles we seek to affirm our work to promote closer ties, our belief in collaboration across the boundaries of nations, religion, ethnicity, and creed, and our efforts to advance science, technology, and innovation for global benefit.

We must remain vigilant to ensure that access to scientific cooperation flows from mutual respect of all parties for the underpinning values and principles of the United Nations.

Our partnership with, and commitment to, the people of Ukraine is steadfast and enduring. The United States will continue to stand with Ukraine and its people in this crisis.

In closing, our goal is clear: to build strong networks of countries, companies, and universities, connected by shared values and a shared commitment to conduct science, to design and deploy technology for the benefit of all people, to strengthen open and interoperable systems, and to encourage freedom of thought and expression, which is at the heart of science, technology, and innovation, and of course, democratic values and principles.

If we focus on this today, tomorrow, and in all our shared endeavors together we can shape the global evolution of science, technology, and innovation in a manner consistent with these values and realize the promise that they bring to build back better from COVID-19.

Once again, thank you very much for the opportunity to speak with you.

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By United States Mission to the United Nations | 5 May, 2022 | Topics: Highlights, Remarks and Highlights

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Keynote Remarks at the 7th Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology, and Innovation for the SDGs (STI Forum) - United States Mission to the...

PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)--University of Phoenix celebrates the success of alum Dr. Fernando De La Pea Llaca in bringing holoportation technology to medicine in space. De La Pea Llaca, CEO & President, AEXA Aerospace, and his company were industry partners collaborating with NASA scientists to enable the use of the technology which provided holoportation as an innovative 3D version of telemedicine for astronauts on the International Space Station in October 2021.

I have 28 years of experience leading technology companies; however, space exploration has always motivated me, shares De La Pea Llaca. Astronauts spend months in social isolation: they live in a closed Space Station for up to a year; they don't socialize with their families or friends. We lived during the COVID-19 pandemic and saw and experienced how isolation is linked to side effects including a loss of performance. While holoportation is new in space, it may relieve some of the side effects during long-term isolation, especially during missions to the Moon or Mars.

The current uses for holoportation technology are in medicine, engineering, business, and as a communications tool. De La Pea Llaca and AEXA Aerospace plan to launch the application to be commercially available by the third quarter of 2022, with the goal that anyone on this planet and in space will be able to use the application as communication tool.

De La Pea Llaca established AEXA Aerospace in 2012, at the same time he began his master's degree at University of Phoenix. AEXA Aerospace developed a training application for astronauts and payload specialists that uses holograms to overlay existing hardware and deploys avatars of other users working remotely. This is the technology that enabled the holoportation experience with the ISS.

In 2016, AEXA successfully demonstrated a training application for NASA in their undersea habitat for training astronauts and testing new technologies for future use in space, with a NASA surgeon in Houston, Texas, assisting an astronaut remotely under the sea in Florida. The mission was a success; however, the NASA surgeon told De La Pea Llaca that not everyone is happy dealing with avatars in this metaverse and asked what else would be possible. De La Pea Llaca responded, We can holographically teleport you to the International Space Station; your essence will be there. The NASA surgeon agreed and supported the effort, and the result was the successful October 2021 testing of the holoportation technology.

As an undergraduate engineering student, Fernando completed and patented a spacecraft engine propelled by anti-matter, and received additional patents, for example, a space launcher employing magnetic levitation. He received a Discovery Channel Prize in 2010 for his work developing the Mexican Space Agency.

De La Pea Llaca completed his masters in information systems with University of Phoenix in 2013 and returned to earn his doctorate, which he completed in early 2022; his dissertation, Holographic teleportation in space and astronauts stress," focused on defining the best practices and use of holoportation technology to alleviate social isolation and stress for astronauts. My learning at the University of Phoenix helped me tune my mind into research mode and be more analytic to deploy better solutions for long-term applications, shares De La Pea Llaca. My mentor, Dr. Phillip Davidson, was crucial in this process to make me succeed not only in the dissertation but also in the holoportation as I implemented my lessons learned at the university in my current projects with NASA.

De La Pea Llaca is the former President of the National Contract Management Association (NCMA) Space City Houston chapter at NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) and former Chairman of the JSC Small Business Council. He serves on the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership Board of Directors (BAHEP) and chaired the Communications Committee of the JSC National Management Association. He is also the aerospace liaison of the Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce. He also serves as Chief of the Infragard Defense Industrial Base SIG in Houston, a cross-sector council as part of a worldwide industrial complex. De La Pea Llaca is a past recipient of the Small Business Administration award, Small Business Champion of the Year, Houston District.

About University of Phoenix

University of Phoenix is continually innovating to help working adults enhance their careers in a rapidly changing world. Flexible schedules, relevant courses, interactive learning, and Career Services for Life help students more effectively pursue career and personal aspirations while balancing their busy lives. For more information, visit phoenix.edu.

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University of Phoenix Alum Dr. De La Pea Llaca's Holoportation Technology and Expertise Featured in NASA Project - Business Wire

Today, President Biden will sign two Presidential directives that will advance national initiatives in quantum information science (QIS), signaling the Biden-Harris Administrations commitment to this critical and emerging technology. Together, the two directives lay the groundwork for continued American leadership in an enormously promising field of science and technology, while mitigating the risks that quantum computers pose to Americas national and economic security.

The United States has long been a global leader in the development of new technologies, like QIS. QIS is a broad field of science and engineering.Quantum computers, one of the many promising applications of QIS, are not a replacement to traditional computers. Rather, they are a fundamentally different kind of computer, with the ability to analyze information in ways that traditional computers cannot.While QIS itself is not new, recent breakthroughs in QIS have shown the potential to drive innovations across the American economy, from energy to medicine, through advancements in computation, networking and sensing.Breakthroughs in QIS are poised to generate entirely new industries, good-paying jobs, and economic opportunities for all Americans.

President Biden will sign an Executive Order to foster these advances by furthering the Presidents commitment to promoting breakthroughs in cutting-edge science and technology.It does so by enhancing the National Quantum Initiative Advisory Committee, the Federal Governments principal independent expert advisory body for quantum information science and technology. The EO places the advisory committee directly under the authority of the White House, ensuring that the President, Congress, Federal departments and agencies, and the general public receive the most current, accurate, and relevant information on quantum information science and technology to drive forward U.S. policymaking and advance our technological edge.

The President will also sign a National Security Memorandum outlining the Administrations plan to address the risks posed by quantum computers to Americas cybersecurity.Research shows that at some point in the not-too-distant future, when quantum computers reach a sufficient size and level of sophistication, they will be capable of breaking much of the cryptography that currently secures our digital communications on the Internet.To address this risk, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will publish new quantum-resistant cryptographic standards that can protect against these future attacks. However, the process to transition Americas most vulnerable IT systems to these new standards will take time, resources, and commitment. America must start the lengthy process of updating our IT infrastructure today to protect against this quantum computing threat tomorrow. NSM-X lays out a plan to get us there.

Specifically, the National Security Memorandum:

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FACT SHEET: President Biden Announces Two Presidential Directives Advancing Quantum Technologies - The White House