WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Tomorrow’s aircraft will be battery powered, but future generations of aircraft could do away with the batteries entirely.   While Elon Musk is invested in getting humans to different places, whether it’s from one side of the planet to the other in rocketships, or to...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Every market has its successes and failures and just like any investment ICO’s can gain and loose value too, making due diligence as important as ever.   Anyone who reads any sort of business newspaper will know that cryptocurrency projects have been popping up left,...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF At some point in the future humanity will become an interplanetary species, and several billionaires want it to be sooner rather than later.   Blue Origin, the space company run by Jeff Bezos, who wants to one day use the service to deliver goods to...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Today plastics are the scourge of the environment so now companies around the world are racing to create environmentally friendly alternatives, and plastics made from true glue could be near the top of the list.   Plastic’s fall from grace in the past couple of...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF There are times when seeing through walls is useful, for example in hostage negotiations, search and rescue, and to see when mum and dad are about to bust in on your gameplay.   Recently we’ve seen camera developments from both China and MIT that help...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF There are an increasing number of billionaires who believe heavy industry should be moved off of Earth and onto the Moon, and Bezos might be one to help make it a reality.   Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is convinced that one day “we are going...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The faster autonomous vehicles hit the roads the faster the transportation industry’s going to flip, and it’s clear that there are companies that want it to happen sooner rather than later.   Chinese tech and internet giant Baidu has begun volume production of China’s first...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Any technology like Quantum Radar that renders all traditional stealth obsolete is a game changer.   Hot on the heels of China’s announcement last year that they’d managed to create the world’s first working Quantum Radar, a technology that would render military stealth technologies nothing...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As more companies become interested, and invest, in flying taxi’s, companies like Airbus and Uber are keen to be at the forefront of the revolution.   Stout cylindrical towers that cars can fly inside and stacked landing pods are among the proposals that architects and...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The convergence of biological intelligence with robotics will be an area of increasing interest in the future.   It’s not something you do every day, put a worms brain into a Lego robot… but then again you’re probably not a scientist. This is the promise...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to monitor the health of soliders in battle will help keep them at peak efficiency, and military robot surgeons will help save lives on the battlefield.   Keeping soldiers healthy has always been a struggle but there may soon be a high tech solution after US...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The most powerful quantum computers in the future will be the ones not necessarily with the most Qubits, but be the ones that are the most accurate, and that’s what Microsoft is focusing on.   At Microsoft’s Dutch research facility at the Delft University of Technology,...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Over time we will all be interacting more and more with AI, as a result companies are trying to “humanise” it.   BabyX, the virtual, artificially intelligent creation of Mark Sagar and his company, Soul Machines, who also bought us Ava, a life-like digital avatar that’s...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF In the future our sports events could be dominated by robot and drone warriors battling it out for supremacy, and at some point this could present companies with a new market opportunity.   Later this week, the world’s first autonomous race car company Roborace will make history...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The best technology is invisible and frictionless to use, and virtual reality still has a way to go before the experience is simple and seamless, but these gloves could help bring more users into the sector.   Bringing a user’s hands into a Virtual Reality...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Retail will soon be going through another disruption, one where personalised products are made on demand in the back of stores, and the sportswear industry are leading the charge.   We’re facing a retail revolution, another one, and this time it’s not e-commerce, one where...

WHY THIS MATTERS As the cost of powerful DIY gene editing kits continue to fall bioterrorism is going to be on the rise, so we need a way to defend against it.   Recently I gave a talk on the “Future of Cybersecurity” in the Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) sector...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to turn human cells into powerful, living computing systems will revolutionise computing, energy, and healthcare, along with a myriad of other industries.   Today’s computer hardware is about to get softer, a lot softer, after a research team in the US announced they’ve...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As lasers become more efficient, and as the battery packs needed to power them become more dense and powerful, we’ll continue to see the miniaturisation and deployment of increasingly powerful laser weaponry.   Artificially intelligent “fire and forget” cruise missiles, quantum internet and  quantum radar,...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The world is changing faster than many organisations anticipated and the pace of technological change is now many CEO’s primary concern, the result of which is that innovation labs are now a business necessity, not a luxury.   The global pace of disruption and transformation...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Industrial Control Systems (ICS) that enable the safe and efficient operation of our CNI assets are becoming increasingly smart and connected, making them more vulnerable to attack, and new technologies bring  new challenges.   Firstly, thanks to James for inviting me to be the keynote...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF People with paralysis or nervous disorders could soon be regaining their movement thanks to a revolutionary new form of wireless brain machine interface.   Imagine if a tiny matchstick sized brain implant could circumvent damaged spinal cords and help paralysed people, and anyone for that...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As the world starts to move away from fossil fuels we need to find new ways to squeeze more power from our batteries, and innovations like this one help us achieve that.   In the latest battery breakthrough claim researchers from the University of Waterloo...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As our optical technologies improve we’re increasingly able to see the universes building blocks in ever more minute detail.   If you paid attention in science class you know that atoms make up everything. They’re the smallest unit of matter, and everything you’ve ever touched,...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The art of debating often helps humans learn new things and see topics from new perspectives, so an AI that can debate with humans on a vast range of topics could be incredibly useful.   Checkmate is a simple concept. It’s a final, decisive move...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As more materials become capable of producing and storing their own energy companies will be able to wean themselves off fossil fuels faster, and develop innovative new products.   Transparent solar cells and films that can be applied to any type of surface, even windows,...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Today there is no way you can control who uses or shares your information, despite regulations like GDPR, but Self-Soverign ID systems like this one gives users the power to control their own online information.   It looks almost inevitable that Facebook will be punished,...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As we continue to endeavour to read the mind of today’s so called black box AI’s there may be more than one way to do it, and while turning to biology is unconventional, it works.   The deep neural networks that power today’s Artificial Intelligence...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Today AI’s that are involved in film production are, for the most part, really awful, but over time they’ll improve and one day they’ll go head to head with the best human directors.   Benjamin is a genius who may have created a film that’s...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As supercomputers become increasingly powerful they will increasingly help us realise new breakthroughs in everything from drug discovery and energy generation, through to materials and space travel, and everything in between.   It’s the most powerful computing platform on Earth, for now at least –...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF There are very few companies that can say they are a hundred years old, and even fewer that are still at the pinnacle of their industry, Bentley is one of those exceptions.   Bentley was founded in 1919, and as they begin to celebrate their...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Nuclear batteries last for thousands of years without ever needing to be recharged, and they have applications in aerospace and healthcare.   Imagine only having to replace the batteries in a device once a decade, or even once a century, or more… Nuclear batteries could...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Computer chips are prized assets, but now reverse engineering them and spotting state sponsored built in security “Trojans,” are easier than ever before.   Peering inside semiconductor chips using X-Ray imaging isn’t new, but the technique hasn’t been especially good or easy to accomplish. New...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Today’s ships use huge amounts of energy and fuel to move through the water because of the amount of drag on their hulls, this new coating could reduce fuel use by between 40 and 80 percent.   Shipping is one of the most polluting industries...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Storing and processing huge amounts of data requires huge power hungry hyperscale datacenters, which could all be replaced with DNA and Molecular computers the size of a table, powered by a car battery.   This week Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), a group within...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The future will be powered by AI and Machine Learning, and it could also be powered by a new type of chip, an “Intelligence Processing Unit,” which is the next evolutionary step after the GPU.   What comes after the CPU and the GPU? The...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Solid state batteries charge faster, , don’t catch fire, last longer and and are cheaper to make than their liquid Lithium Ion cousins, making them a game changer.   Recently technology giants like Dyson, Samsung and Total have collectively invested $65 million in Ionic Materials, a company...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF There’s no doubt that China’s AI in education initiative will bring a wide range of benefits and improve educational outcomes, but questions remain about the best way to deploy it.   Last year China unveiled their ambitious plan to become the world leader in Artificial Intelligence...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As the race to build quantum computers heats up it could be the company who has the most accurate quantum computer, not the one who has the largest, that wins the game.   The hype that has been building around quantum computing, a potentially revolutionary technology...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF When large quantum computers come online circa 2025 over 70 percent of the world’s encryption will be at risk, so companies need to adopt new method to protect themselves and their data.   As quantum computing becomes an increasingly “real” technology, moving out of the...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Wired headphones get tangled, wireless headphones need charging, so why bother with headphones at all?   When Apple introduced the iPhone 7 they removed the headphone jack and spun it as a win for consumers who could now use wireless headphones, obviously preferably Apple branded...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As Connected Home devices become more capable and popular they will give insurers new insights into previously private user behaviours, and fundamentally change how insurance is sold.   Connected home devices, that range from Alexa to smart fire alarms, lighting, security systems, thermostats, TV’s and...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Tomorrow’s materials will be lighter, stronger and more flexible than todays, and that opens up a whole host of new applications.   The world’s lightest 3D printed structure, a Graphene Aerogel, is so lightweight that it can be placed on top of a cotton ball...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Carbon fiber’s light weight and superior strength make it idea for many applications, but up until now it’s been expensive and very difficult to work with to create products, that’s all about to change.   Modern carbon fibre bikes, stiffer and stronger than their metal...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The advent of powerful AI tools, adaptable neural networks and the democratisation of hi definition rendering have taken fake news to a new level and this program aims to unmask the fakes.   We’ve all seen that video where Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered algorithms make it seem like Barack...