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Jennifer L. Schenker
Innovator Founder and Editor-in-Chief |
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Microbial carbon capture is emerging as a promising strategy to control atmospheric CO2 and mitigate global warming while simultaneously producing various products with significant market potential, such as fuels, fertilizers and animal feed. To achieve this, researchers are developing microorganisms –including bacteria and microalgae – that use sunlight or sustainable chemical energy to absorb and transform gases. Once this technology scales companies could generate new products for the market instead of paying between $50 and $100 per ton of CO2 to offset their emissions. It is one of ten emerging technologies identified by the World Economic Forum in its annual report featuring developments poised to have the greatest impact on societies and economies in the next three to five years. The report, which was released on June 25 during the Forum’s Annual Meeting of The New Champions, was compiled with the help of Frontiers, a publisher of peer-reviewed, open access, scientific journals, and the expertise of over 300 world-leading academics from the Forum’s Global Future Councils. Read on to learn more about this story and other important technology news impacting business. |
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| Ten years ago, in 2014, I was appointed as the World Economic Forum’s Chief AI Ethics Officer. Sadly, far too few organizations have followed the Forum’s lead.
The number of companies with a designated head of AI position has almost tripled globally in the past five years, according to social network LinkedIn. And The White House announced U.S. federal agencies were required to designate chief AI officers “to ensure accountability, leadership, and oversight” of the technology.
While that may sound encouraging organizations are still putting more emphasis on improving workforce efficiency, identifying new revenue streams, and mitigating cybersecurity risks, than on ensuring AI is being used responsibly.
Indeed, a poll taken as part of The Artificial Intelligence Index Report 2024, which was published April 15 by the Institute for Human-Centered AI at Stanford University in California, is a case in point. The report cites a Responsible AI (RAI) survey of 1000 companies to gain an understanding of RAI activities across 19 industries and 22 countries. A significant number of respondents admitted that they had implemented AI with only some -or even no- guardrails in place.
It is a big mistake to let RAI becoming an afterthought or press release talking point. Many companies which surged ahead without thinking about RAI are now finding themselves in a costly re-wind process to meet regulatory requirements– a cautionary tale for all.
Against this backdrop I spoke to Steve Mills, Chief AI Ethics Officer and Managing Director & Partner at Boston Consulting Group, as part of a series of conversation I am having with individuals who are leading the way in helping organizations derive benefits from AI while also ensuring responsible design, development and use of AI.
Click to read the rest of Kay Firth-Butterfield's column. |
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Who: Rob Wolcott is adjunct professor of innovation at the Booth School of Business, University of Chicago, and adjunct professor of executive education at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. He is co-author, along with Kaihan Krippendorff, of the new book Proximity, How Coming Breakthroughs in Just-in-Time Transform Business, Society, and Daily Life, which was published in May by Columbia University Press.
Topic: His new book
Quote: "Digital technologies push the production and provision of value (products, services, experiences) ever closer to the moment of demand in time and space. This is what Kaihan and I call proximity in our book. We are not talking about better supply chain management. We are talking about the kind of things that dramatically impact the production or the provision of products and services: how we work, eat, create and produce, prevent and cure...All leaders must ask, what will proximity mean for my company, customers, citizens, and even society."
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| Fero Labs’ AI-powered manufacturing optimization software helps decarbonize the steel, chemicals, cement, and petroleum industries, which are responsible for producing 66% of the world’s annual CO2 emissions, by predicting outcomes and then recommending actionable adjustments in real-time, reducing waste and energy use in industrial settings. Customers include ABB, Henkel and Ford. The New York City-based company was recently named a 2024 World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer. |
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Amount Europe's biggest carmaker said it would pump into Rivian, an American electric vehicle manufacturer launched in 2009, as part of a venture to share EV platforms and software.The tie-up is the latest shift by Volkswagen from a go-it-alone strategy to bringing in expertise via partnerships in key areas for electrification, from batteries to EV platforms to software. The deal underscores the struggle of traditional automakers to build battery-powered vehicles and advanced software and raises questions about the future of Volkswagen's own software subsidiary, Cariad, which has experienced years of delays and losses."Cariad should and will disappear," Jefferies analyst Philippe Houchois, told Reuters, adding that no legacy carmaker had managed to build a competitive software offering alone. Responsibility and resources for developing a unified operating system for vehicles across the Volkswagen Group - dubbed the "2.0" software architecture or "software-defined vehicle" - will be centralized in the joint venture, bringing in expertise from Cariad. The U.S. automaker's upcoming R2 SUV will be the first vehicle to use software from the venture. Volkswagen vehicles, including its Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini and Bentley brands, will follow.
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