The technology landscape is always changing, that much is a given, but since the week has started there have been significant shifts in regulation and application. In the United States, it was revealed that President Trump had signed an executive order to boost investment into artificial intelligence (AI). The order came about amidst concerns about competition with China – a report released by the United Nations revealed that while the US was still in the AI lead, China was catching up fast.
Trump said: “Continued American leadership in Artificial Intelligence is of paramount importance to maintaining the economic and national security of the United States.” [as reported by The Register]
In the UK, a new £8 million facility has been proposed to form part of Nottingham Trent University’s dual-site Medical Technologies Innovation Facility. The project has yet to be approved, but the goal is to accelerate the development of medical technologies that could transform health and innovation in a field that is currently seeing significant global investment.
Technology innovation is also being used by some of the world’s largest brands as a way of measuring their impact on deforestation and look for a way to harvest palm oil responsibly. Nestle, Unilever, and Mondelez are working with new satellite technology that provides them with a ‘big brother’ bird’s eye view that can potentially help them police tree felling more effectively.
While on the topic of legalities and compliance, it was revealed that Karan Bhatia, the vice president of global public policy and government relations at Google, has asked for there to be increased ‘convergence’ around global technology regulation. While the one size fits all mantra has never worked for either technology or clothing, there is a need to develop more ‘common rules of the road’ that allowed for improved collaboration, protection and compliance.
On the flip side, Apple is currently being sued by Fundamental Innovation Systems for its infringement on multiple patents that pertain to USB charging and communication technologies. Apple has stated that it believes the patents to be invalid, saying as much in a latter to the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board. In spite of potential licensing deal meetings, Apple filed a declaratory judgement action on February 07. Where to from here, nobody yet knows.
A quick roundup of news also includes technology being used by the Kremlin to force self-employed tax payers to cough up, a new technology that could potentially stop school shootings before they start, a new technology that can protect drinking water from the toxins present in Lake Erie, engineers developing a room temperature, two-dimensional platform from quantum technology, and how technology can potentially have a negative impact on domestic violence victims.
