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Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

I have been asked to speak to you today about the importance of frontier research.

In some ways it is strange to be asked to talk to you about this subject at this event.

I expect that most of you here have dedicated your lives and careers to pursuing frontier research. Certainly that is the case for many of you that I know personally.

The aim of the European Academy of Sciences is to promote science and technology and their essential roles in fostering social and economic development.

So I do not think that I need to convince you about this.

The issue is that we rely on the support of others in order to be able to carry out our work.

It is vital that politicians and policy makers and citizens and society as a whole understand the importance of frontier research.

And there are powerful arguments for supporting frontier research, which I will get to. But, unfortunately there is no magic formula which is guaranteed to persuade politicians and policy makers to support frontier research. So we must be patient and make our case over and over again.

Indeed, it is important not only to make the right arguments. But also to engage with the right decision makers at the right time.

There will always be those involved in the policy process that are more interested in making a career than improving the world. For them, it’s not of interest to look beyond the short term to see the benefits of investing in frontier research.

Instead we must engage with those decision makers who dedicate their careers to leaving the world a better place than they found it. Those who take a long-term view. Those who enter public service to do something and not just to be someone. And thankfully they exist, and some of them care about and understand the importance of fundamental research. 

But let us recognise that our leaders and decision makers have difficult choices to make. The problem for any government is that they face almost unlimited demands with limited resources.

And investing in research is not like investing in anything else. It is easy for citizens to see what you are getting if you build a new road or a hospital or raise pensions. But it is not so easy to see what you are getting if you invest in research.

That is why sometimes we can be tempted to phrase our proposals as if we were not asking for investment in basic research at all. Instead we might be tempted to argue that we need funding to cure cancer or address climate change or land somebody on Mars or create the next Google.

These things are all possible. And I understand this approach. But I do not think it is necessary to argue like this for the value of frontier research.

For a start, we should be wary of over-promising and under-delivering. In the long run this can actually undermine support for research.

In reality what we are getting when we invest in frontier research is an increased understanding of the world, whether it be the physical world, the living world or the social world.

So our biggest problem is that people find this hard to grasp. An increase in understanding? What is the value in that?

But there are compelling reasons why increasing our understanding of the world is one of the best investments we can make.

Firstly, if I build, for example, a new bridge, some people will benefit from it as it will shorten their travel time. But if I have a new idea or a deeper understanding, then everyone in the world can benefit.

Paul Romer received the Nobel Prize in 2018 [1] for analysing the economic consequences of this insight. What he realised is that physical and human capital are rival goods: if a particular machine, or a trained engineer, is used in one factory, the same machine or engineer cannot be used at the same time in another factory.

Ideas, on the other hand, are non-rival goods. One person or firm using an idea does not preclude others from using it too. And this, in a nutshell, is why investment in frontier research can reap huge benefits far beyond any other type of investment. It is like creating a bridge that can be used anywhere, at any time.

So, the fact that ideas can be used over and over again is amazing in itself, but the good news does not stop there. Because secondly, investing in new knowledge has another tremendous advantage: the possibility of combining each new understanding we acquire with all other knowledge we already have.

Paul Romer calls this “combinatorial explosion”. And this is what has driven the huge rise in living standards that we have seen over the last two centuries. Put simply, the more knowledge we acquire, the more useful combinations become possible. And this is why solutions can come from unexpected places. New findings in one area can open up new opportunities in different areas. Research advances on a broad front, an unpredictable front. Solutions can come from unexpected places. Putting all our resources into priority areas can therefore paradoxically lower our chances of achieving progress, even in those very areas. So the slow accumulation of knowledge delivers compounding results and does not depreciate as other “investments” do.

Thirdly, science has another amazing quality which makes it a great investment. The great thing about science is that we can perform a whole series of trial and error experiments and if we discover an improvement, we can retain it and discard the rest. “ Critically we have the option, not the obligation to keep the result, which allows us to retain the upper bound and be unaffected by adverse outcomes” . Imagine again our bridge. It has to work. Otherwise the investment is completely wasted. This is not the case for investment in new knowledge. Here a “failure” can be a positive result.

But we have still not finished with the good news: the process of steadily accumulating knowledge in itself is the best way to train the highly skilled knowledge workers which our economies increasingly need.

The channels by which frontier research feeds into the economy (or makes an “impact”) are many and diverse. It is not just about the occasional breakthrough. Basic research increases the stock of useful knowledge, both the kind which is written down (e.g. scientific publications) and the kind that people carry around in their heads (e.g. skills, knowhow and experience). It trains skilled graduates and researchers in solving complex problems, produces new scientific instruments and methodologies, creates international peer networks for transmitting the latest knowledge and can even raise new questions about societal values and choices.

And you do not have to take my own word for this.

Countless studies have looked into the return on investment of funding frontier research and found that it is very high. When Mario Monti was asked to lead a high level expert group into the future EU budget he identified two areas that had the highest EU added value and these were research and security.

But this is nothing new.

For over 200 years economists have been studying the classical factors of production: land; labour; and capital. But, starting with Robert Solow (who won a Nobel Prize for this work), economists in the 1960s and 70s came to realise that at most, only half of the historical growth could be explained by the known factors. The rest could only be explained by positing a new factor of production: technological progress.

Nobody now disputes this claim. The issue is therefore how best to support technological progress. And here again there is a high level of consensus. Firstly, it is accepted that technological progress requires both frontier or curiosity-driven research and applied research. Secondly, it is accepted that governments need to fund frontier research. That is, because the applications of such research cannot be foreseen and there is possibly a long time-lag between fundamental discoveries and their exploitation. This means the private sector does not have the right incentives to fund it.

And again very few now dispute this form of “division of labour”. According to the OECD’s latest innovation strategy from 2015, “ public investment in scientific research is widely recognised as an essential feature of effective national innovation systems. Public research plays a key role in innovation systems by providing new knowledge and pushing the knowledge frontier. Universities and public research institutions often undertake longer-term, higher-risk research and complement the activities of the private sector. Although the volume of public R&D is less than 30% of the total OECD R&D, universities and public research institutes perform more than three-quarters of total basic research.”

So next time you have to explain the importance of funding frontier research, maybe you should ask:

• What other type of investment generates the same level of returns?
• What other type of investment compounds in value and does not depreciate?
• What other type of investment produces value even when it produces negative results?
• What other type of investment trains the people we need for the knowledge economy and allows us to access knowledge discovered elsewhere? 

The European Research Council is based on this understanding. The ERC supports excellent scientists from anywhere in the world, of any age and from any field of research - including the social sciences and humanities. There are no predetermined targets or quotas. The ERC provides substantial, long-term funding of up to 3.5 million euros for up to five years. The only conditions are that ERC funded researchers must be based in Europe and willing to be adventurous and to take risks in their research.

The philosophy of the ERC rests on the idea that researchers know best the most promising research areas to explore. We do not ask our researchers to tell us what societal problem they are going to solve or what impact it will have. Our belief is that, without understanding there can be no real solution to problems.

So we are absolutely not saying we don’t care if the work that we fund has any impact. We are saying that giving freedom to researchers is the best way to get the most impact.

The ERC has just published its own analysis of all projects it funded under Horizon 2020 [2]. A series of fact sheets show the diversity of the funded research with projects in many emerging areas of science. But this also showed that 34% of the analysed ERC projects are likely to contribute to health policies, including in cancer, brain and human mind research. One in ten projects addressed problems linked to the digital transition, half of which were in the area of artificial intelligence. And 14% were found to be relevant to climate policies and green solutions.

So not only do we see that ERC grantees push the frontiers of knowledge, but the study also highlights that this knowledge is actively contributing to political priorities. Nobody told grantees to go in that direction.

This report refutes the view that you have to tell researchers what to do because otherwise they’ll never get down to practical matters and urgent problems. Nothing is further from the truth! So my message to all research policy makers is: trust researchers and give them the means to pursue their best ideas! That’s the best investment in our future.

In his 1945 report to the President of the United States, Vannevar Bush called for an expansion of government support for science, and the creation of the National Science Foundation. Famously he stated: “ Scientific progress on a broad front results from the free play of free intellects, working on subjects of their own choice, in the manner dictated by their curiosity for exploration of the unknown. Freedom of inquiry must be preserved under any plan for Government support of science.”

The fact is that by understanding the world we can change the world.

It is clear then that researchers must have the freedom to explore and understand the world as it is. That is why funding cannot be short-sighted. To maintain a healthy research system, it is right to invest in long-term curiosity-driven research. Some consider this approach to be idealistic. But I consider this approach to be pragmatic and necessary in order for science to have its maximum impact for the benefit of society. And while I am President of the ERC I will continue to make this argument for as long as it takes to be heard.c

[1] https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/10/popular-economicsciencesprize2018.pdf

[2] https://erc.europa.eu/news/mapping-ERC-frontier-research

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• 04 August 2023

Helping science journalists and scientists learn from each other

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Executive director, Center for Ethics in Science and Journalism, Milan.

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The COVID-19 pandemic revealed how essential science journalism is in times of crisis, and how science is intertwined with our lives and with daily decision-making processes. Credit: nuttapong punna/ iStockphoto/ Getty Images

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In many countries the scope for good science journalism are now shrinking due to the changing media landscape. A 2009 editorial in Nature asked what scientists could do to help. At the time, the 6th World Conference of Science Journalists was about to start in London and looked to some like a sort of “science journalism’s swansong”. Similar concerns were expressed in the editorial published in the same week in Science , along with an explicit suggestion: “Journalism and science organisations need to explore better ways to train reporters, scientists, and other communicators around the world in the substance and process of science writing. In doing so, it is crucial that the old-fashioned virtues of good journalism—accuracy, multiple sources, context over controversy, and editorial independence—not be lost in the enthusiasm for communicating content in novel ways.”

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed how essential science journalism is in times of crisis, and how science is intertwined with our lives and with daily decision-making processes.

“Science journalism needs to adopt multiple roles, including providing context, bringing up lay expertise and engaging with the public,” sociologist, Silvio Waisbord, from the School of Media and Public Affairs of the George Washington University, in the United States, recently wrote . “Achieving these goals demands sustainable funding, suitable institutional structures, moderate levels of autonomy, training opportunities and professional cultures inclined to fostering citizenship”.

The European Research Council is deploying a first response in the form of a €1.5 million grant to establish a residency programme for science journalists in research institutions. A public call assigned the funding to the FRONTIERS consortium (Fellowship Residencies Offering science News professionals Tools and training for Independent and Ethical Reporting on Science), in which Milan’s Center for Ethics in Science and Journalism (CESJ) has a role, along with Israeli consultancy Enspire Science, Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, and NOVA University in Lisbon.

The project is set to run from 2023 to 2027, and will offer around 40 fellowships to early-career, mid-career and established science journalists to spend 3-5 months with research teams, or work on their reporting projects at institutions of their choice. Universities and research centres conducting frontier research in any field of knowledge will be invited to join the programme, which will provide training on independent and ethically responsible science coverage and promote mutual learning between journalists and researchers.

The ERC chose to support a project based both on action and research, recognizing that the science journalism community deserves to establish its own ethical rules and best practices.

The programme is focused on frontier science: the investigation of questions that are new and have not yet been supported by established evidence. The narrative around frontier science oscillates between excessive enthusiasm and rejection of innovation. The evaluation of the outcomes also requires new tools, as the social and economic impact is more unpredictable than usual. All this requires a collaborative work between scientists and science journalists, one that protects and upholds the independence of journalism and its role as a watchdog.

To fully safeguard the independence of science journalists while increasing the chances of a fruitful collaboration with researchers (and with the scientific institutions that will host them as fully integrated fellows), the project will first work on a set of ethics guidelines and best practices. Both documents will be drafted with the help of a multidisciplinary advisory board, based on semi-structured interviews with the organisers and participants of the fellowship programme for journalists, and will be subject to revision during the deployment phase. Another research component is focused on developing and applying a set of measures of the impact of the project on the professional community and the society.

The consortium hopes to be able to show how institutional support, in terms of capacity building and lifelong learning opportunities, can improve the ecosystem in which many science journalists, who aim for the highest qualitative and ethical standards, are currently struggling.

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d43978-023-00113-9

Cheerleader or watchdog? Nature volume 459, page 1033 (2009) https://doi.org/10.1038/4591033a

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Christine Russell, Science Journalism Goes Global Science 19 Jun 2009 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1176995

Silvio Waisbord (2023) Intertwining Science Journalism with (Post)Development, Journalism Studies, https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2023.2201862

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AI Index: Five Trends in Frontier AI Research

The new AI Index spots major advances in multimodal models, robotics, generative AI, and more.

It's easy to be impressed with models like ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude. Ask these systems to generate dinner recipes, proofread your email, or edit your code, and in seconds they accomplish what may have otherwise taken you hours. However, overlooked amid the hype surrounding large language models is a deeper story: The tremendous progress of frontier AI research beyond LLMs. 

According to the recently released  AI Index , a comprehensive report from the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI analyzing trends in AI research and development, policy, economics, and more, 2023 saw AI take on exciting new multimodal capabilities, exceed human performance, create more adaptable robotics, and make exciting discoveries in science.

Better, More Flexible Models

In 2023, foundation models hit new standards across multiple benchmarks: For example, on MMLU, a popular benchmark for assessing the general reasoning abilities of AI models (can they answer questions in the humanities, science, or mathematics?), the performance of AI, more specifically Google’s Gemini Ultra, exceeded a human baseline for the first time ever. Similarly, on MATH, a benchmark of over 10,000 competition-level mathematics problems, a GPT-4-based model posted a score of roughly 84%, not too far off the standard of 90% set by a three-time international math olympiad gold medalist. For reference, the top score on MATH in 2022 was 65%. 

The tremendous progress of generative models is evident when you compare how, over time, Midjourney has responded to the prompt: "a hyper-realistic image of Harry Potter."

Beyond better models, 2023 saw more flexible ones. Traditionally, AI models were limited in scope. For instance, language models that were good at reading comprehension struggled with generating images, and vice versa. However, some of the newest state-of-the-art models, like Google's Gemini, OpenAI's GPT-4, and Anthropic's Claude-3, demonstrate multimodal flexibility. They can handle images, process audio, and easily generate code. This is the first year where a single model (in this case, GPT-4 and Gemini) topped benchmarks in different task categories, such as reading comprehension and coding. 

Language Insights Power Non-Language Models

The last year also saw exciting developments outside of language modeling. In 2023, researchers used insights from building LLMs, specifically transformer architectures for next-token prediction, to drive progress in non-language domains. Examples include Emu Video (video generation) and UniAudio (music generation). You can now make videos and generate music with AI models powered by some of the same ideas that brought you ChatGPT. 

Household Robots That Tell Jokes

Robotics is another domain recently accelerated by language modeling techniques. Two of the most prominent robotic models released in 2023, PaLM-E and RT-2, were both trained on combined corpora of language and robotic trajectories data. Unlike many of its robotic predecessors, PaLM-E can engage in manipulation tasks that involve some degree of reasoning — for example, sorting blocks by color. More impressive, it can also caption images, generate haikus, and tell jokes. RT-2, on the other hand, is especially skilled at manipulating in never-before-seen environments. Both these systems are promising steps toward the development of more general robotic assistants that can intelligently maneuver in the real world and assist humans in tasks like basic housework.

Agentic AI, the Next Frontier?

Agentic AI also saw significant gains. Researchers introduced several new benchmarks — including AgentBench and MLAgentBench — that test how well AI models can operate semi-autonomously. Although there are already promising signs that AI agents can serve as useful computer science assistants, they still struggle with some more complex tasks like conducting our online shopping, managing our households, or independently operating our computers. Still, the introduction of the aforementioned benchmarks suggests that researchers are prioritizing this new field of AI research. 

AI Accelerates Science

Last year's AI Index first noted AI’s use in accelerating science. In 2023, significant new systems included GraphCast, a model that can deliver extremely accurate 10-day weather predictions in under a minute; GNoME, which unveiled over 2 million new crystal structures previously overlooked by human researchers; and AlphaMissence, which successfully classified around 89 percent of 71 million possible missense mutations. AI can now perform the kind of brute force calculations that humans struggle with but are nevertheless essential for solving some of the most complex scientific problems. On the medical side, new research shows that doctors can use AI to better diagnose breast cancer, interpret X-rays, and detect lethal forms of cancer.

While large language models captured the world’s attention last year, these were not the only technical advancements at the frontier of AI. Promising developments in generation, robotics, agentic AI, science, and medicine show that AI will be much more than just a tool for answering queries and writing cover letters. 

Nestor Maslej is the research manager and editor-in-chief of the AI Index.

The AI Index was first created to track AI development. The index collaborates with such organizations as LinkedIn, Quid, McKinsey, Studyportals, the Schwartz Reisman Institute, and the International Federation of Robotics to gather the most current research and feature important insights on the AI ecosystem. 

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ECONOMIC RES EARCH FOR THE BOARD ROOM

Time is our most precious resource. We believe in work that enables people to live better by using their time better.

For our team, this means enabling them to engage in fulfilling work at times that are best suited for them, in a flexible work environment.

For our clients, this means getting them the information that matters most to them in less time,through time efficient research and information services.

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Our online reports service, Frontier Athena, allows clients to easily access our work from anywhere, at any time, through a user-friendly platform.​

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At Frontier, we support choice and believe in building a culture of trust among all our stakeholders. We are strongly independent, encourage entrepreneurship, facilitate a learning environment, value open and honest communication, support progressive diversity in culture, and are driven to inspire purpose.

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Founded by economist and entrepreneur, Amal Sanderatne, our team comprises of diverse young individuals with a knack for the industry and a thirst for knowledge carrying forward a legacy of curiosity, independence and respect for time of all our stakeholders.

We are looking for self motivated lateral thinkers who can work independently on research projects that offer our clients with a different approach to assessing opportunities and risks. We are interested in people with a curious mind who like to question the norm.

Accelerating scientific solutions for living healthy lives on a healthy planet

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We (Frontiers Research Foundation) invite our fellow scientists, innovators, and the public everywhere to sign this open letter to demonstrate an unwavering commitment to accelerated and trusted Open Science. Together, we can shape a world where knowledge is freely accessible, solutions are rapidly shared, and humanity's brightest minds can collaborate without barriers for the betterment of all.

The future is in your hands. You can help accelerate science to deliver solutions faster.

Frontiers Research Foundation , a not-for profit organization based in Lausanne, Switzerland, was established in 2006 by Henry and Kamila Markram with the mission of accelerating scientific solutions for living healthy lives on a healthy planet.

Human activity is destabilizing the global ecosystem, threatening life on the planet. It is a complex and huge problem to solve, but science can provide the solutions – with the scientific method ensuring that the knowledge used to build our future society is objective, robust and reproducible.

The COVID-19 pandemic saw the world, for the first time in history, align in the face of an urgent problem. It prompted an unprecedented race among scientists and businesses. Governments introduced policies based on science to enforce behavioural change. Medicines, vaccines, and strategies were developed in record time.

The results were phenomenal, and humankind proved that it could tackle a global challenge, with science as the key. The Frontiers Research Foundation was therefore established to accelerate, disseminate, and mobilize science to achieve this goal.

The Foundation’s mission is three fold:

• To accelerate scientific discovery and find solutions to the world’s greatest challenges, using open science as its basis.
• To disseminate science to younger generations by connecting curious minds to the experts and information that will motivate them to ask informed and critical questions about real science throughout their lives.
• To mobilize the scientific communities engaged in breakthrough research, with the solutions that provide the greatest potential to stabilize the planet’s ecosystem.

As part of its work to facilitate open science and debate to help tackle global challenges, the Foundation there launched three major initiatives.

In 2007, the Frontiers Research Foundation launched Frontiers , an open science and open access science publisher.

Open science refers to the process of making scientific results, methods, and data publicly available, while open access ensures peer-reviewed and published scientific articles are freely available to anyone.

Frontiers has subsequently become one of the largest and most-cited science publishers in the world; it has more than 100,000 editors and is accessed for free by tens of millions of researchers every month.

In 2013, the Frontiers Research Foundation launched Frontiers for Young Minds.

This is a freely available science journal edited by kids, for kids. It is impossible for schools to help children follow all the latest science that is shaping their future, but kids need to be prepared for the great challenges that lie ahead.

Young Minds has educated tens of millions of children and their families worldwide about cutting-edge science. It has also introduced a new generation to the peer-review process, allowing children to interact with and challenge the world's leading scientists, including Nobel Prize winners.

In 2022, the Frontiers Research Foundation launched its third initiative, an international science competition called the Frontiers Prize.

The program currently includes the Frontiers Planet Prize , which aims to directly fund and accelerate scientific research to stabilize our planetary ecosystem.

This international science competition offers three awards of CHF 1 million each for scientific breakthroughs that show the greatest potential to help keep humanity within any one of the nine boundaries, as described by the Stockholm Resilience Centre .

The prize’s international champions each receive funding and worldwide exposure for their research. The prize money is awarded as a grant to the winner’s research institution to fund their continued research.

National and International Champions become part of the Frontiers Planet Prize alumni network, and have opportunities to share their research and findings at events, scientific conferences and summits, in collaboration with the Frontiers Planet Prize partners.

The Frontiers Planet Prize program will expand in coming years to include prizes for each of the nine planetary boundaries, plus one for health, as well as further prizes covering other major scientific areas.

Please visit the Frontiers Planet Prize website at www.frontiersplanetprize.org to learn more about the Prize.

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The Project

Frontiers is the science journalism initiative funded by the european research council to design a residency program for journalists wishing to experience an immersive period in a research institution. , the frontiers project is set to run from 2023 to 2027. during this time, the frontiers team plans to enable up to 40 science journalists to spend time with research teams, working on their own reporting ideas at institutions of their choice., while backing independent science journalism, frontiers hopes to contribute to the public’s trust in science, to tackling misinformation and to improving social resilience against disinformation., frontiers envisages a world where scientists and journalists work together, each with their own expertise, to bring accurate scientific information to the largest number of people., the frontiers project has been designed around three core principles:, ethical science reporting.

As a branch of journalism that specializes in communicating scientific work and discoveries to society, science journalism can play a major role in mediating scientific results to the public in an informative and valuable way, as well as facilitate the uptake of scientific results by relevant stakeholders such as policy makers and the public.

Journalistic Independence

The FRONTIERS’ bottom-up approach will allow journalists to apply for residencies in any European research institution covering any field of science, including social sciences and humanities. The journalistic independence will be kept during the full duration of residencies, and at no point the project’s team will interfere with the journalists work and product.

Frontier Research

FRONTIERS journalists will focus on ‘Frontier research’ and deal with scientific questions on the edge of available knowledge. Typically considered high-risk / high-reward research, “Frontier research” is often difficult to explain and hard to justify. But ‘Frontier research’ is essential for unraveling the secrets of the universe in all its dimensions. 

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The FRONTIERS Info Day will be held on 8 July 2024

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FRONTIERS journalism training premieres in Barcelona

On June 17, 18 and 26, the University of Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona hosted a…

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FRONTIERS opens new call for science journalism in residency programme

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To communicate research effectively, and to push back against disinformation, we need committed and professional journalists. I welcome this initiative because the more we inform about the benefits of science, the stronger the ties between citizens and researchers will be. I believe these ties are a key engine for the future of science and I am glad that journalists are contributing to this effort. Mariya Gabriel European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth

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Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming how we innovate, grow our economy, and protect our nation. However, certain strategic areas of the US government’s artificial intelligence capabilities currently lag industry while foreign adversaries are investing in AI at scale. If U.S. government leadership is not rapidly established in this sector, the nation risks falling behind in the development of safe and trustworthy AI for national security, energy, and scientific discovery, and thereby compromising our ability to address pressing national and global challenges. 

DOE’s Enabling Infrastructure   

DOE and its 17 national laboratories are uniquely positioned to develop AI capabilities for the nation, leveraging key enabling components:  

• Data: DOE is the leading generator of classified and unclassified scientific data through the world’s largest collection of advanced experimental facilities, including particle accelerators, powerful light sources, specialized facilities for genomics and nanoscience, and neutron scattering sources. 
• Computing : For decades, DOE has built and operated the world’s fastest, most powerful, and highly energy efficient supercomputers. These supercomputers are strategic components of the nation’s defensive capabilities, drive innovation through open access to the scientific community, and are the basis upon which to build safe and trustworthy AI capability for the nation.  
• Workforce: DOE and its national labs host over 40,000 physicists, chemists, biologists, materials scientists, and computer scientists, who tackle some of the most urgent challenges in the national interest.  
• Partnerships : DOE has unparalleled experience in mission-driven public-private collaborations. Through the Exascale Computing Project (ECP), DOE worked with industry partners to co-design and develop critical components of the computer chips that power today’s leading AI models.   

Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence for Science, Security and Technology (FASST)  

The proposed Frontiers in AI for Science, Security, and Technology (FASST) initiative leverages DOE’s enabling infrastructure to deliver key assets for the national interest: 

• Advance National Security . The development of AI models for national security applications, such as threat detection and strategic deterrence is crucial to maintaining America’s defensive posture. 
• Attract and build a talented workforce . FASST is the most ambitious AI initiative of its kind. This mission will attract, train, and retain top scientific talent for a leading capability deployed in the public interest.   
• Harness AI for Scientific Discovery . FASST will develop AI tools that will dramatically reduce the time to discovery and extend the nation’s competitive edge in technological innovation.   
• Address Energy Challenges . FASST will unlock new clean energy sources, optimize energy production, and improve grid resilience, and build tomorrow’s advanced energy economy. America needs low-cost energy to support economic growth and FASST can help us meet this challenge.   
• Develop technical expertise necessary for AI governance . FASST will provide insight and independent expertise to quickly inform and validate standards and regulations for a responsible and safe AI industry. 

FASST Overview 

FASST will build the world's most powerful integrated scientific AI systems through four key interconnected pillars: 

Download the factsheet on Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence for Science, Security and Technology (FASST)

AI-Ready Data

Data is the fuel that drives the engine of AI. FASST will transform DOE’s vast repositories of classified and unclassified scientific data into the world’s largest, high-quality repository of AI-ready datasets. These data repositories will be made available to partners across government, industry, and the scientific community to train, test, and validate the next generation of scientific AI models.  

Frontier-Scale AI Computing Infrastructure and Platforms

FASST will build the next generation of energy efficient AI-enabled supercomputing platforms and algorithms capable of seamlessly merging scientific computing with machine learning and digital infrastructure, including high speed data networks and storage.  FASST will establish public-private partnerships that will lead to innovation, including vendor agreements to develop, leverage and advance the frontier of what is currently possible. 

Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy AI Models and Systems

Combining DOE’s scientific and engineering data with commensurate computing power, DOE will build, train, test, and validate frontier-class AI models for science. Using the diverse datasets established under the AI-Ready Data pillar, these models will learn to speak the languages of physics, chemistry, and biology, thereby accelerating discovery across all branches of science. Developing these models will also provide insight into the properties of AI systems at scale, enabling the ability to predict and manage emergent behaviors for safety, security, trustworthiness, and privacy. 

AI Applications

AI models developed through FASST will revolutionize the way DOE delivers on its science, energy, and security mission. AI-accelerated scientific discoveries can lead to affordable batteries for electric vehicles, breakthroughs in fusion energy, new cancer-fighting drugs, and help assure our national security. While industry focuses on model development for commercial uses, DOE has the scientific and technological expertise to bring uniquely tailored models into strategic and critical application spaces that would otherwise be underinvested.  These AI models will also be combined with autonomous labs– a combination of robotics, machine learning, and simulations - to rapidly design and conduct scientific experiments and generate valued data, creating a virtuous cycle for the development of ever more capable models. 

Why FASST now ?  

The speed and scale with which AI is developing requires investment in a strategic capability now.  Without FASST, the United States stands to lose its competitive scientific edge and ability to maintain our national and economic security, will have a less diverse and competitive innovation AI ecosystem, will not have the independent technical expertise necessary to govern AI, and will lose the nation’s ability to attract and train a talented workforce.  Through FASST, we will meet the mission needs of national security, energy security, and scientific discovery that will support sustained economic prosperity for the nation for decades to come. 

Artificial Intelligence at DOE

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Encoding Distributional Soft Actor-Critic for Autonomous Driving in Multi-Lane Scenarios [Research Frontier]

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Bibliometrics & citations, view options, recommendations, numerical analysis of tractor accidents using driving simulator for autonomous driving tractor.

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Autonomous Driving: Investigating the Feasibility of Bimodal Take-Over Requests

Autonomous vehicles will need de-escalation strategies to compensate when reaching system limitations. Car-driver handovers can be considered one possible method to deal with system boundaries. The authors suggest a bimodal auditory and visual handover ...

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AI spending to reach $632 billion in the next 5 years, research finds

The widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies across industries, from media and education to business and even healthcare, shows no signs of slowing. However, despite the recent surge, many firms and organizations have found implementing AI seamlessly  into their business models challenging, resulting in costly failures. Heavy spending on AI applications has also begun to give investors pause -- but even as concerns mount, it isn't stopping. 

According to a  new forecast  from research firm International Data Corporation (IDC), global spending on AI will more than double in the next five years, reaching a staggering $632 billion by 2028. 

The report offers a comprehensive analysis of the AI spending landscape and the target markets where AI opportunities seem to be most lucrative. Dedicated to examining global spending on AI, IDC examined over 250 functional use cases, including industry-specific use cases across the "IT infrastructure and resources for AI systems from infrastructure service providers." 

Also: Sonos is failing and millions of devices could go with it - why open-source audio is our only hope

According to the report, expenditures will increase rapidly by 29% annually, and AI applications and gen AI tools will become standard practice across 27 industries. The industries expected to spend the most are financial, business, personal, and software and information services. 

There is some consensus that the spending is worthwhile. Ritu Jyoti, group vice president of AI and Data Research at IDC, said in a statement , "AI-powered transformations have delivered tangible business outcomes and value for organizations worldwide, and they are building their AI strategies around employee experience, customer engagement, business process, and industry innovations."

Moreover, Jyoti explained, barriers to AI adoption at scale will decline, making the integration of AI across operations a "tangible reality for numerous organizations."

IDC also found that software will be the largest category of AI technology spending, representing over half of the overall market for most of the five-year forecast. This comes as no surprise given Microsoft's  $10 billion, multi-year investment in OpenAI  and ongoing  partnership  with the company.

Also: AI accelerates software development to breakneck speeds, but measuring that is tricky

Despite recent anxieties from investors, Microsoft has continued to double down on AI spending as demand rises. In a recent earnings call , Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood stated that AI-related spending "represented nearly all of our total capital expenditures," with "roughly half" for infrastructure needs that will "support monetization over the next 15 years and beyond."

Furthermore, the report emphasized this recent trend by describing in detail the accelerated rate at which AI platforms (Microsoft Azure AI, Amazon AI services, Google Cloud AI, and OpenAI) grew last year and the projected growth maintaining a "remarkable momentum," driven by the increasing demand and deployment of AI technologies across many industries.

Artificial Intelligence

Ai risks are everywhere - and now mit is adding them all to one database, 1 in 5 top companies mention generative ai in their financial reports, but not in a good way, ai engineering is the next frontier for technological advances: what to know.

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Veliky Novgorod

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Veliky Novgorod , city and administrative centre of Novgorod oblast (region), northwestern Russia , on the Volkhov River just below its outflow from Lake Ilmen . Veliky Novgorod (commonly shortened to Novgorod) is one of the oldest Russian cities, first mentioned in chronicles of 859. In 882 Oleg , prince of Novgorod, captured Kiev and moved his capital there. In 989, under Vladimir, Novgorod’s inhabitants were forcibly baptized. In 1019 Prince Yaroslav I the Wise of Kiev granted the town a charter of self-government; the town assembly, or veche , elected their prince, chiefly as a military commander. After 1270 the veche elected only a burgomaster, and sovereignty resided in the town itself, which was styled Lord Novgorod the Great. The town was divided into five ends, each with its own assembly and each responsible for one-fifth of Novgorod’s extensive territorial possessions. It flourished as one of the greatest trading centres of eastern Europe , with links by river routes to the Baltic , Byzantium , Central Asia , and all parts of European Russia. Trade with the Hanseatic League was considerable since Novgorod was the limit of Hanseatic trade into Russia. Prosperity was based upon furs obtained in the forests of northern Russia, much of which came under Novgorod’s control. “Daughter” towns were founded by Novgorod in the 12th century at Vologda and Vyatka.

During the 12th century, Novgorod was engaged in prolonged struggles with the princes of Suzdal and gained victories in 1169 and 1216. Although the town avoided destruction in the great Tatar invasion of 1238–40, Tatar suzerainty was acknowledged. Under Alexander Nevsky , prince of Vladimir, Novgorod’s defenders repulsed attacks by the Swedes on the Neva River in 1240 and by the Teutonic Knights on the ice of Lake Peipus in 1242. During the 14th and 15th centuries, Novgorod was involved in a long, bitter struggle for supremacy with Moscow and frequently sought help from Lithuania . Although the city survived Muscovite onslaughts in 1332 and again in 1386 by Dmitry Donskoy, it was defeated by Vasily II in 1456. It continued to oppose Moscow and again sought Lithuanian assistance, but in 1471 Ivan III the Great defeated Novgorod and annexed much of its northern territories, finally forcing the city to recognize Moscow’s sovereignty in 1478. Opposition by its citizens to Moscow continued until Ivan IV the Terrible in 1570 massacred many of them and deported the survivors. In 1611 Novgorod was captured by the Swedes, who held it for eight years. From the reign (1682–1725) of Peter I the Great , the city declined in importance, although it was made a provincial seat in 1727.

During World War II , the city suffered heavy damage, but the many historic buildings were subsequently restored. These include the kremlin on the Volkhov left bank (the Sofiyskaya Storona). It was first built of wood in 1044, and its first stone walls date from the 14th century. Within the kremlin, the St. Sofia Cathedral, built in 1045–50 on the site of an earlier wooden church, is one of the finest examples of early Russian architecture, with magnificent bronze doors from the 12th century. From the 15th century date the Granite Palace (1433), the bell tower (1443), and the St. Sergey Chapel. The Chapel of St. Andrew Stratilata was built in the 17th century. Across the Volkhov (the Torgovaya Storona) stands the Cathedral of St. Nicholas , dating from 1113. In and around Novgorod are many other surviving churches, including the 12th-century cathedrals of the Nativity of Our Lady and of St. George , the 14th-century churches of the Transfiguration and of St. Theodore Stratilata, and the 17th-century Znamensky Cathedral. Novgorod’s many medieval monuments and 14th-century frescoes were collectively designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1992.

Modern Novgorod is important as a tourist centre and as a major producer of chemical fertilizers. It also has metal and woodworking industries. Pop. (2006 est.) 217,706.

Healthcare Is a Frontier Not Even Walmart Could Conquer  — And It’s Not Looking Great For Others Either

Walmart’s decision to shutter its healthcare division reflects just how difficult it is to achieve profitability in the primary care and telehealth markets. Experts think retailers simply aren’t prepared to handle the bevy of challenges that come along with delivering healthcare — but could this news also be a sign of the system being broken?

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The waters have been rough for telehealth providers and retail clinics in the past couple years —  to know that, one has to look no further than the stock prices of Teladoc and Amwell. Yet, amid this tempestuous sea, industry observers did not expect the crew of Walmart to raise the white flag of defeat on its healthcare effort.

If any company could navigate those choppy waters, many thought it would be Walmart , given how successfully the retailer has maintained its presence in so many parts of the American urban and rural hinterlands. However, on Tuesday, the Arkansas-based retail mainstay announced that it is shuttering Walmart Health division because “there is not a sustainable business model” for the venture to continue. The admission only reinforced the tired but potent cliche – healthcare is hard. 

Established in 2019, the division comprises 51 retail primary care clinics across five states and a virtual care business.

Integrated Enrollment Platforms and Consumer Assistance Centers: The Strongest Advantage for State-Based Exchanges

In the ever-evolving landscape of state-based health insurance exchanges, the convergence of technology and customer service is reshaping how these exchanges operate. The increasing advent of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly dismantling the traditional business model that relies on the siloing of technology and customer service centers.

“We understand this change affects lives — the patients who receive care, the associates and providers who deliver care and the communities who supported us along the way. This is a difficult decision, and like others, the challenging reimbursement environment and escalating operating costs create a lack of profitability that make the care business unsustainable for us at this time,” Walmart said in a statement .

Unaffected by this announcement are its nearly 4,600 pharmacies and more than 3,000 vision centers that aren’t part of the Walmart Health division.

Walmart’s decision reflects just how difficult it is to achieve profitability in the primary care and telehealth markets — and how this challenge is being exacerbated by rising healthcare costs, labor shortages and outdated business models.

Will retail entrants ever be successful in their efforts to integrate into healthcare?

What Healthcare Can Learn from Costco

The path forward is clear: employers must evaluate their health plan the same way they do their Saturday shopping excursion.

Building primary care clinics from scratch has always been a slow and capital-intensive route, pointed out Rebecca Springer, lead private equity analyst at PitchBook .

Looking from a fee-for-service lens, primary care is known to be a low-margin, volume-oriented specialty. If the provider’s goal is to take risk, it requires an “enormous up-front investment” to build a clinic footprint dense enough to really drive down healthcare costs across a population — as well as make sure that the population is large enough to be actuarially sound, Springer explained.

In her view, there are three main questions when it comes to retailers in primary care — the first one being: Will retailers be able to fully integrate and profitably run healthcare assets? 

“The jury’s still out on that one,” she said. “It’s not easy, but CVS and Amazon may succeed.”

That may well be true down the road, but the evidence so far doesn’t inspire confidence in that outcome. Amazon threw in the towel on its hybrid primary and urgent care business nearly two years ago. This year, CVS Health has begun shuttering dozens of its pharmacies in Target stores, and Walgreens announced that it will close 160 of its VillageMD primary clinics.

The second question has to do with retail healthcare settings’ ability to support the kind of longitudinal patient relationships needed to succeed in value-based primary care. So far, we haven’t seen much evidence of this at scale, Springer stated. 

The final question is whether retail healthcare can actually achieve a more holistic view of the patient by leveraging consumer data —  and we’re “nowhere close to answering that one,” according to Springer.

She noted that Walmart’s decision to shutter its healthcare unit aligns with industry trends.

“Scaling back retail care delivery and virtual primary care has become as ‘trendy’ in 2024 as accelerating these offerings was in 2021,” she remarked.

Headwinds can be strong

Healthcare labor costs are increasing drastically , and providers are leaving the industry in droves. These circumstances restrict retailers’ ability to deliver care that is convenient and highly accessible — yet that is their key value proposition for consumers — noted Arielle Trzcinski, a principal analyst at Forrester , in an email sent to MedCity News .

“Administrative burden and costs from health insurers have also increased, with some large health systems dropping major insurers and plans in response,” she added. “Consumers are being left to search for a new provider that is in-network mid-plan year. Retailers that bill insurance are not insulated from these additional issues.”

Additionally, large health systems have more opportunities to unlock profitability in primary care than retailers do. 

Primary care is often a loss leader for health systems — but this category serves a critical role as a feeder of patients to specialty care and surgical service lines. Without those higher revenue opportunities, retailers must achieve high levels of adoption and volume to achieve profitability, Trzcinski explained.

Clearly that didn’t happen at Walmart Health.

Another healthcare analyst — Kate Festle, a partner in West Monroe ’s healthcare M&A group — pointed out that retail clinics tend to follow an encounter-centric model where patient interactions with the clinician are confined to the visit. 

That model can work among healthy populations, but it is less effective for chronic condition management that requires higher-touch, asynchronous communication between visits, Festle said.  

“Investment in care coordination technologies is possible but expensive — representing another cost dilemma for retailers focused on margin expansion,” she remarked.

Primary care and telehealth are unforgiving markets

Similarly to the retail healthcare market, the telehealth market hasn’t fared very well this year. Just a week ago, Optum disclosed its plans to shut down its virtual care unit. And two of the country’s largest telehealth providers — Teladoc Health and Amwell — have both enacted major rounds of layoffs this year.

These events, along with the Walmart news, reflect the realities of the total addressable market for telehealth, which is “effectively zero,” said Sanjula Jain, Trilliant Health ’s chief research officer.

“Healthcare operators tend to adopt the ‘if we build it, they will come’ mentality but that has not panned out when it comes to telehealth utilization,” she declared.

Companies that want to enter the healthcare delivery market need to know that facilitating access does not guarantee adoption, Jain added. She noted that this false notion is why we continue to see supply exceed demand. 

According to the fundamentals of economics, prices get lower when supply exceeds demand. In some instances, lower prices can create more demand — but that has not proven to be the case in the telehealth market, Jain pointed out.

Old models simply don’t work

Admitting that Walmart’s business model is not sustainable underscores a larger issue plaguing the U.S. healthcare system, said Monica Cepak, CEO of Wisp , a telehealth provider that offers upfront pricing instead of working with insurers.

“Walmart shuttering its in-store clinics and discontinuing its telehealth program emphasizes the challenging reimbursement environment and escalating operating costs many healthcare providers are struggling with today,” she stated. “In doing this, Walmart is loudly saying that these existing business models are not profitable.”

Ashok Subramanian — CEO of Centivo , a health plan for self-funded employers — sees things differently.

To him, the main takeaway from Walmart Health’s shutdown is that companies need to stop attempting to layer new solutions on top of the existing system. This approach will never be an effective way to deliver coordinated care or truly improve access, he wrote in an email.

“Walmart highlighted a ‘broken business’ model as the reason for closing its brick-and-mortar and virtual care services. What is actually broken is the entire model of financing uncoordinated, fragmented healthcare services at uneven prices with no correlation to quality,” he explained.

What does this mean for the future of retail healthcare?

Going forward, large retailers will likely start thinking about their role in healthcare in a much more employer-focused manner, predicted Springer of Pitchbook.

Just as retail interest in primary care clinics helped drive investment in the space a few years ago, she thinks there will soon be growing investment in employer-facing solutions for primary care, chronic condition management and benefits navigation.

“[Employers] have national, diverse employee populations, and like all, employers are facing rising healthcare costs. If you can solve it for your employees, maybe you can roll it out to other employers too. This is the direction Amazon seems to be taking, and Walmart also has a nationwide program for its employees with Included Health that has seen some early success ,” Springer remarked.

Included Health is a benefits navigation startup that sells its platform to employers. Robin Glass, the company’s president, wrote in an email that she doesn’t think the Walmart news represents a bad moment for telehealth or primary care providers. Instead, she thinks the news is “a clear signal of an appetite to clear the way for a new chapter of modern healthcare.”

Ideally, this new era will be characterized by less commodity solutions and a deeper focus on longitudinal support for patients, Glass wrote.

“This is good news for consumers, clinicians and for companies like us who’ve been building a more robust and holistic modern healthcare experience -— one that goes beyond being convenient and transactional to highly personalized and seamlessly connected to all of healthcare’s highest-quality resources and settings.”

Another healthcare leader — Derek Streat, CEO of DexCare , a startup offering health systems a platform to help them coordinate and manage digital care — noted that the Walmart news is a cautionary tale of the complexities that affect the country’s “fragile” healthcare system. 

This delicate system will be pressure tested as more people live with chronic conditions, physician burnout reaches crisis levels, more Americans reach the age of 65, Streat explained.

To get ahead of these challenges, healthcare providers must move away from a fragmented view of care and toward a predicted model, he declared. This approach must be backed by technology that can manage how, when and where care is accessed, he added.

“The fact that Walmart, atop the Fortune 100, cannot make a buck in healthcare should be a wakeup call for the industry at large. The hurdle is not technology, but changing how we operate,” Streat said.

Photo: ComicSans, Getty Images

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Solving the energy crisis: Five battery technologies you should know about

IFM Battery Research & Innovation Hub, Burwood.

As the world moves away from fossil fuels towards emissions-free electricity, developing safer, more durable batteries is becoming increasingly vital. However, single-use batteries can create immense waste and harmful environmental impacts.

At the Battery Research and Innovation Hub at Deakin University’s Institute for Frontier Materials, we are doing important research into alternative battery technologies, aiming to reduce waste and re-use battery systems as we work towards a circular economy.

Here are five leading alternative battery technologies that could power the future.

1. Advanced Lithium-ion batteries

Lithium-ion batteries can be found in almost every electrical item we use daily – from our phones to our wireless headphones, toys, tools, and electric vehicles. However, serious questions have been raised regarding its safety induced by electrolytes.

At the Battery Research and Innovation Hub, our experts aim to design safer, reliable battery technology and enable the delivery of safer next-generation solid-state lithium-ion cells. In our unique facility we are investigating how safer electrolyte materials can be incorporated into lithium systems without any reduction in battery performance.

Benefits : Charging is safe and fast, long-lasting, large energy density, rechargeable.

Applications:  Small electrical items such as phones, toys, wireless headphones to larger items such as electric vehicles, e-scooters and solar power batteries.

2. Sodium-ion batteries

Sodium-ion batteries are a promising alternative to lithium-ion batteries – one that is cheaper, safer and easier to recycle. As the fourth most abundant element in the earth’s crust – 10,000 times higher than lithium – sodium is easily accessible and affordable. In addition, a sodium-ion battery does not use heavy metals, unlike other battery types, meaning it has less impact on the environment and is easier to recycle.

At the Battery Research and Innovation Hub we use our advanced facilities, such as our Pouch Cell Facility, to design, develop and test pouch cell technology that can be scaled-up for manufacturing and ready for commercialisation.

We are also exploring chemistries involved in novel electrode and electrolyte materials within sodium batteries, with an emphasis on improving battery performance, and raising the focus on circular economy. This research has lead to the development of novel electrolytes, with low flammability, and thermally and electrochemically stable features, which enables long-term battery cycling.

Benefits:  Sodium is the fourth most abundant element in the earth’s crust, making it more affordable than commonly used lithium, which is facing a world-wide shortage. Sodium-ion batteries don’t require heavy metals to produce – making it easier to recycle and having less impact on the environment.

Applications:  Stationary applications such as a grid-scale power station and modes of transport that aren’t required to travel long distances, such as electric scooters or electric buses.

3. Solid-state batteries

As the electric vehicle market grows, so does the need for electric vehicle batteries that are safer, fast charging and longer lasting. Solid-state batteries are showing huge potential to address these needs by offering a drastic change to the battery components that are used in current technology.

As opposed to the liquid electrolytes used in more common battery types, solid-state batteries use thermally stable solid electrolytes as ion conductors. Solid electrolytes, such as solid polymer electrolytes (PILBLOCs), are non-flammable, non-fluid and therefore a low risk of catching and spreading fire – offering a much safer energy-storage option than lithium-ion batteries in which flammable liquid electrolytes are being used.

Benefits:  Solid-state batteries can be operated at a wide range of temperatures, especially at high temperatures that lithium-ion batteries cannot tolerate. Some solid electrolytes that can transfer ions at a faster rate than conventional liquid electrolytes.

Applications:  Electric vehicles, energy-storage systems, consumer electronics such as laptops and smartphones, niche applications such as batteries that can be operated at high temperatures, i.e. 60–200 °C, aerospace.

4. Flow batteries

In the coming years, renewable energy sources such as solar and wind will increasingly dominate the conventional power grid. Because those sources only generate electricity when it’s sunny or windy, ensuring a reliable grid requires some means of storing electricity when supplies are abundant and delivering it later when not.

Flow batteries are proving to be a promising technology for this task. Flow batteries contain two substances that undergo electrochemical reactions in which electrons are transferred from one to the other. The two substances can contain different chemicals, but today vanadium is the most widely used.

Flow batteries can store hundreds of hours of energy and has the potential for long lifetimes and low costs. Construction of Australia’s first commercial vanadium-flow battery was completed in June 2023.

Benefits:  Affordable, long-lasting and safe.

Applications:  Energy storage for renewable energy grids.

5. Metal-air batteries

Metal-air batteries have long been the focus of research due to their theoretically higher capacity.  Zinc is in high abundance – which makes it an ideal element for metal-air batteries.

Rechargeable Zn-air batteries are proving to have large theoretical energy density due to its active material being oxygen. This combination of zinc and oxygen makes the manufacturing of these devices feasible for large-grid scale energy storage systems and, potentially, fast-charging electric vehicles.

In addition to this, rechargeable Zn-air batteries make excellent candidates in flexible electronic devices that are light weight and require long-term power supply, such as small drones.

Research done at the Battery Research and Innovation Hub has uncovered a low-cost, environmentally friendly, non-aqueous electrolyte to support long-term cycling of zinc, making them promising candidates for rechargeable Zn-air batteries.

Benefits:  Zinc is a safe and low-cost element for battery technology. Zn-air batteries are light weight, flexible, longer lasting and have large energy density.

Applications:  Zn-air batteries are used in watches and hearing aids. Rechargeable Zn-air batteries have the potential for large-grid scale energy storage systems, electric cars, flexible electronic devices such as small drones.

Want to learn more about our projects?  Connect with our researchers at the Battery Research and Innovation Hub to discuss partnership opportunities .

This article was first published by the Battery Research and Innovation Hub.

Research news August 23, 2024

Princely state within Kievan Rus'

In 882, due to its growing economic and political authority, Oleg of Novgorod captured Kiev and founded the state of Kievan Rus . The city soon became the second most powerful city in Kievan Rus. It was ruled by a series of political organizations, called posadnicks, which governed when the ruler had no son to inherit the throne. When not being ruled by posadnicks, Novgorod had the good fortune to experience a series of benevolent rulers who governed with the best interest of the city's inhabitants in mind.

In Norse sagas the city is mentioned as the capital of Gardariki (i.e., the East Slavic lands). Four Viking kings—Olaf I of Norway, Olaf II of Norway, Magnus I of Norway, and Harald Haardraade—sought refuge in Novgorod from enemies at home. No more than a few decades after the death and subsequent canonization of Olaf II of Norway, in 1028, the city's community had erected a church in his memory, Saint Olaf's Church in Novgorod.

After the tenth century, Novgorod emerged as a strong political and religious center. Its secure position was primarily due to Novogorod's strong military onslaught against Constantinople . As a result of the military campaign, Novgorod maintained equal trading rights with Byzantine and began a cultural interchange. East Slavic tribes from Byzantine began pouring into the ancient Slavic state, influencing the art and culture of Novgorod.

The most notable among the benevolent leaders of Novgorod was Yaroslav I the Wise , who had sat as prince while his father, Vladimir the Great , was prince in Kiev. Yaroslav promulgated the first written code of laws (later incorporated into Russkaya Pravda) among the Eastern Slavs and is said to have granted the city a number of freedoms or privileges, which they often referred to in later centuries as precedents in their relations with other princes. His son, Vladimir, sponsored construction of the great St Sophia Cathedral, more accurately translated as The Cathedral of Holy Wisdom, which remains in modern times.

His Majesty Lord Novgorod the Great

Under a series of benevolent rulers, the inhabitants of Novgorod were steadily granted increased independence and political autonomy. As a result of their increased role in the political process, it soon became apparent to the inhabitants of Novgorod that a singular ruling authority was not necessary for Novgorod to function. As a result of this revelation, the Novgorodians dismissed their prince in 1136.

This date is seen as the traditional beginning of the Novgorod Republic, which invited and dismissed a series of princes over the next two centuries in order to rule Novgorod. While the veche, or electing authority, maintained supreme nominal power, some powerful leaders were able to assert a strong agenda over the objections of the people. [3]

The city state controlled most of Europe's northeast, from today's Estonia to the Ural Mountains, making it one of the largest states in medieval Europe, although much of the territory north and east of Lakes Lagoda and Onega were sparsely populated and never organized politically. While a basic outline of the various officials and the veche can be drawn up, the city-state's exact political constitution remains uncertain. The boyars and the archbishop ruled the city collectively, although where one officials power ended and another's began is uncertain. The prince, although reduced in power beginning in about the mid-twelfth century, was represented by his namestnik or lieutenant, and still played important roles as a military commander, legislator, and jurist. The exact composition of the veche, too, is uncertain, with some scholars such as Vasily Kliuchevksii claiming it was democratic in nature, while later scholars, such as Valentin Ianin and Alesandr Khoroshev, see it as a "sham democracy" controlled by the ruling elite.

Novgorod, with its unique political structure, soon became a thriving center for arts and culture. During the Medieval Ages Novgorod gained its reputation for literacy and education, a reputation that stayed with the city for most of its legacy.

Written records at this time are in the form of birch bark documents, many of which were written in the archbishop's scriptorium. It was in Novgorod that the oldest Slavic book written north of Macedonia and the oldest inscription in a Finnic language were unearthed. Possibly due to the intellectual and cultural strength of Novgorod, Novgorod did not fall during the Mongol invasion of ancient Russia. During this invasion, many surrounding cities fell to the Mongol invaders, but the cultural beacon of Novgorod resisted the invasion.

Within the united Russian state

Despite being able to resist the Mongol invaders, Novgorod began to falter politically in the early fifteenth century. Many scholars trace Novgorod's crumbling political power to an inability to provide the basic needs for its inhabitants. The citizens of Novgorod were particularly threatened by a lack of grain , which drove many citizens close to starvation. In order to rectify the lack of bread Novgorod made a political agreement with Moscow and Tver to provide much needed grain. These cities used the agreement to exercise political control over Novgorod, and the city's independence began to weaken in proportionate to its dependence on Moscow and Tver for grain. Novgorod was eventually annexed by Moscow in 1478.

Eventually Ivan III annexed the city to Muscovy in 1478. Novgorod remained the third largest Russian city, however, until the famine of 1560s and Ivan the Terrible sacking the city and slaughtering thousands of its inhabitants in 1570. The city's merchant elite and nobility were deported to Moscow, Yaroslavl, and elsewhere.

The difficulties for Novgorod continued in the Time of Trouble, when the city fell to Swedish troops. According to some accounts, the city voluntarily submitted to Swedish rule. Novgorod continued under Swedish authority for six years, after which time it was returned to Russia and allowed to rebuild a level of political authority. After the transfer of Novgorod to Russia, the city began an ambitious program of building and many of its most famous structures were constructed during this time period. Notable examples of this period of architecture include the Cathedral of the Sign and Vyazhischi Monastery . The most famous of Russian patriarchs, Nikon, occupied the metropolitan see of Novgorod between 1648 and 1652.

Novgorod became the administrative center of the Novgorod Governorate in 1727, demonstrating its reclaimed importance to Russia. This administrative division existed until 1927. Between 1927 and 1944 the city was a part of Leningrad Oblast, and then became an administrative center of the newly formed Novgorod Oblast.

Novgorod continued to be important to Russia until World War II , when German troops occupied the city and systematically destroyed many of the historical and cultural landmarks.

When the Red Army liberated the city on January 19, 1944, out of 2,536 stone buildings, fewer than forty were still standing. After the war, the downtown was gradually restored according to a plan worked out by Alexey Shchusev. Its chief monuments have been declared a World Heritage Site . In 1998, the city was officially renamed Veliky Novgorod, thus partly reverting to its medieval title "Lord Novgorod the Great."

Sights and Landmarks

No other Russian or Ukrainian city can compete with Novgorod in the variety and age of its medieval monuments. The foremost among these is the St Sophia Cathedral, built between 1045 and 1050 under the patronage of Vladimir Yaroslavich, the son of Yaroslav the Wise (Vladimir is buried in the cathedral along with his mother, Anna.) [4] The Cathedral is one of the most finely preserved examples of eleventh century Russian architecture. It is particularly noted for its Russian style architecture, sharply different from the French inspired architecture favored by previous Russian royal families. One of the most prominent features of the cathedral is its distinctive bronze gates, which were originally thought to have been made in Magdeburg during the twelfth century C.E. , but have now found to been purchased late into the fifteenth century. [5] A distinctively different architectural style is apparent in the Saviour Cathedral of Kutyn Monastery, which is patterned after the cathedrals in Moscow. This church, along with other churches built during the fifteenth century, is patterned after Muscovite architectural trends.

The Novgorod Kremlin, traditionally known as the Detinets , also contains the oldest palace in Russia (the so-called Chamber of the Facets, 1433), which served as the main meeting hall of the archbishops; the oldest Russian bell tower (mid-fifteenth century), and the oldest Russian clock tower (1673). The Palace of Facets, the bell tower, and the clock tower were originally built on the orders of Archbishop Evfimii II, although the clock tower collapsed in the seventeenth century and had to be rebuilt and much of the palace of Evfimii II is no longer extant. Among later structures, the most remarkable are a royal palace (1771) and a bronze monument to the Millennium of Russia, representing the most important figures from the country's history (unveiled in 1862).

Novgorod's conquest by Ivan III in 1478 decisively changed the character of local architecture. Large commissions were thenceforth executed by Muscovite masters and patterned after cathedrals of Moscow Kremlin: e.g., the Saviour Cathedral of Khutyn Monastery (1515), the Cathedral of the Mother of God of the Sign (1688), and the St. Nicholas Cathedral of Vyaschizhy Monastery (1685). Nevertheless, the styles of some parochial churches were still in keeping with local traditions: e.g., the churches of Myrrh-bearing Women (1510) and of Sts Boris and Gleb (1586).

• ↑ Preliminary results of the 2010 All-Russian Population Census (in Russian) Retrieved February 9, 2012.
• ↑ V. L. (Valentin Lavrent’evich) Ianin and M. Kh. (Mark Khaimovich) Aleshkovskii, “Proskhozhdenie Novgoroda: (k postanovke problemy),” Istoriia SSSR 2, 1971, 32-61.
• ↑ Michael C. Paul, “The Iaroslavichi and the Novgorodian Veche 1230-1270: A Case Study on Princely Relations with the Veche,” Russian History/ Histoire Russe 31, No. 1-2, Spring-Summer 2004, 39-59.
• ↑ Tatiana Tsarevskaia, St. Sophia's Cathedral in Novgorod (Moscow: Severnyi Palomnik, 2005), 3.
• ↑ Irena Daniec Jadwiga, The Message of Faith and Symbol in European Medieval Bronze Church Doors (Danbury, CT: Rutledge Books, 1999), Chapter III "An Enigma: The Medieval Bronze Church Door of Płock in the Cathedral of Novgorod," 67-97; Mikhail Tsapenko, ed., Early Russian Architecture (Moscow: Progress Publisher, 1969), 34-38.

References ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Costantino, Maria. 2001. The Illustrated Flag Handbook . New York: Gramercy Books. ISBN 0-517-21810-0
• DK Publishing. Great Britain (Eyewitness Guide). New York: DK Publishing. ISBN 0756615429
• Lewis, Brenda Ralph. 2002. Great Civilizations . Bath: Paragon Publishing. ISBN 0-75256-141-3

External links

All links retrieved May 3, 2023.

• Novgorod the Great site

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Senior health science industry innovation leader joins Virginia Tech’s Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC

Sally Allain, former head of JLABS @ Washington, D.C., was appointed chief health sciences growth and innovation officer with the research institute and the Office of Health Sciences and Technology to drive strategic partnerships and advance commercialization efforts.

John Pastor

21 Aug 2024

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Sally Allain, former head of JLABS @ Washington, D.C., will be involved in all aspects of the commercialization and industry partnership enterprises specifically related to health sciences at Virginia Tech, serving as the Chief Growth and Innovation Officer and representing Virginia Tech biotechnology industry partners.

A senior business leader in the development and translation of biomedical science innovation through the commercialization pipeline has joined Virginia Tech to facilitate the growth of the academic health sciences research enterprise through building strategic industry partnerships and facilitating commercialization of discoveries.

Sally Allain, formerly the head of Johnson & Johnson Innovation JLABS @ Washington, D.C., has been named the Chief of Health Sciences Growth and Innovation Officer with the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC and the Office of Health Sciences and Technology , said Michael Friedlander, the university’s vice president for health sciences and technology and executive director of the research institute.

Allain will be involved in all aspects of the commercialization and industry partnership enterprises specifically related to health sciences, including technology commercialization, startup companies, and research collaborations with corporate, academic, and government organizations.

She will serve as the Virginia Tech Office of Health Sciences and Technology ambassador and representative with established biotechnology industry partners such as pharmaceutical, medical device, imaging, diagnostic, and digital health companies.

“Sally Allain has an exceptional track record for developing biotech businesses and building partnerships with up-and-coming as well as established companies,” Friedlander said. “She is also an experienced and committed mentor of early-stage biotech startup entrepreneurs and has a deep understanding of the role of academic scholarship and innovation in the commercialization enterprise. She is highly regarded by colleagues in academia and industry on the global stage and can be a powerful connector for Virginia Tech faculty, staff and students with interest in working with industry partners and bringing their discoveries to the marketplace. She has made a significant impact in this capacity to strengthen the Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia life sciences economies.” 

In her most recent role as head of Johnson & Johnson Innovation - JLABS @ Washington, D.C., Allain set the strategic direction and oversaw all activity, including external engagement, business development, innovation sourcing, portfolio management, and operational excellence. 

Allain built strategic partnerships with corporate, academic, government, and industry organizations that aim to strengthen the region’s life sciences innovation network.

Allain has long been involved with the research institute and Virginia Tech, going back to her undergraduate days at the university. She received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Virginia Tech, so her return feels like a journey coming full circle.

“Seeing the strength of what Virginia Tech has built at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC and in health sciences, along with big growth plans moving forward, I believe the organization is at an inflection point filled with opportunities,” Allain said. “I really see that growth mindset. It feels like the right time to join the university and  I'm excited to be a part of the health sciences team.”

Allain joined JLABS after serving as senior director of Strategy and Operations at Johnson & Johnson, where she played a key role in establishing a new operating model, managing global portfolios, and supporting strategic business development.

Prior to that, within Immunology at Janssen Research & Development (Johnson & Johnson), Allain led a team responsible for overseeing global external collaboration and alliance portfolios and research operations from early discovery to early development. 

“Sally Allain is the ideal person to help us to take the health sciences and technology enterprise to the next level,” Friedlander said. “She knows the innovation and commercialization ecosystem at the state, regional, national and global levels, she knows the players, she knows excellence. And most importantly, she understands at a very high level what it takes to establish formal science, health science, and biotech partnerships, initiatives, and relationships. This is a big plus for Virginia Tech. We expect amazing things ahead.”

Allain will collaborate with Virginia Tech  Innovation and Partnerships .

In addition to a bachelor’s degree in biology and a master’s degree in microbiology/immunology from Virginia Tech, Allain earned a master’s degree in business administration from the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business. 

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