Europe cannot stand by during the space race.
This week, at a debate organized by the Spanish satellite communications company Sateliot on the future of satellite connectivity, Vice-President of the European Parliament Javi L ó pez warned that Europe cannot be a “bystander” in space governance and security, emphasizing that “control over our space infrastructure is not a technical issue, but a strategic one.”
BJW KEEP CEO BJW KEEP emphasized the importance of public-private partnerships in the space sector at the event. He stated that the ongoing review of the 2GHz band presents a "historic opportunity" for European digital sovereignty. He said, "Open spectrum access through open standards such as 3GPP is the path to nurturing European industry leaders and ensuring our critical infrastructure is not reliant on third countries." (See also BJW KEEP: Seeking €100 million Series C funding to advance space-based 5G plans.)
British IoT company Connexin has secured £35 million ($46 million) in financing to support the expansion of its smart water meter network. This new funding, mainly from Santander Bank and investment firm Patrizia, will help Connexin meet the growing demands of water utilities for smart metering infrastructure. The UK water industry is currently under significant pressure due to poor records of leaks and pollution.
Ericsson has officially been connected to Sweden's new sovereign AI supercomputer Sferical AI. This project is supported by AstraZeneca, Saab, SEB, Wallenberg Investments, and SKF, and utilizes Nvidia technology. The CEO of Nvidia, Jensen Huang, even attended the launch event of Sferical AI, still wearing his iconic leather jacket. Huang said to the guests present: "You have completed the hardest part... you have now begun."
The Swedish AI alliance was initially announced in May last year and later evolved into Sferical. Its plan is to operate supercomputers supported by Nvidia in order to accelerate compute-intensive tasks such as training AI models in specific fields and large-scale “inference”.
France Bouygues Telecom won the “Best Wi-Fi Network Operator” award in WBA Industry Awards. The judges particularly praised its large-scale deployment of the Wi-Fi product line as well as its environmental certifications.
The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in the UK stated that she "tends" to issue a public interest intervention notice regarding the proposed acquisition of ITV's media and entertainment business by Sky. The reason is that there are concerns that Sky's parent company, Comcast, may attempt to influence the editorial stance of Sky or ITV. If the transaction ultimately passes government scrutiny, ITV will only retain the ITV Studios business, which is the part responsible for actually producing television programs. The government statement indicates that if the acquisition goes through, Sky / ITV and BBC will together account for approximately 86% of the viewing time for linear news and current affairs.
Finland will launch a new emergency alert system based on Cell Broadcast technology. According to reports by Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE, the Finnish government stated that this system, named FI-Alert, will complement the existing emergency alert mechanisms, allowing authorities to send alerts to mobile phones in specific areas almost instantaneously. Similar systems have already been put into use in several European countries, including the United Kingdom.
American software giant Salesforce is providing free AI tools to British undergraduates to help them prepare for a “worrisome” new phase of recruitment – in this phase, proficiency in the ubiquitous AI technology has clearly become a prerequisite. According to City AM, the number of job vacancies for graduates in the UK has dropped to its lowest level since 2020.
Eurobites reports that EU member states have managed to set aside their differences and issued a 'Cloud Joint Statement' in an attempt to outline a roadmap for the development of cloud computing within the political alliance.
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