Important Innovations Collection

   DAILY INNOVATION BRIEF                                                                                                          By Journalists Edward Kane & Maryanne Kane TOP TECH LEADERS WARN OF AI'S POTENTIAL RISKS                                                                         Source: Stock Images Dozens of the worlds leading technologists, including Elon Musk, are calling for a 6-month pause by AI labs in the development of large, powerful AI systems Th...

   DAILY INNOVATION BRIEF                                                                                                  By Journalists Edward Kane & Maryanne Kane BMW TO UNVEIL HOT, NEW CONCEPTS IN MAY                                                                               Source:  BMW BMW has several automotive surprises planned for May, including a spectacular 2-seat sports car and a very angular, aerodynamic sedan BMW calls the sports car an "elegantl...

Hypersonic Hyperplane Destinus from Switzerland                                                  Source:  Destinus Future of Global Travel in Hyperplanes Switzerland-based Destinus SA is developing a hypersonic, hydrogen powered jet/rocket capable of reaching any destination in the world in one to two hours. The founder and CEO of the company is Mikhail Kokorich, who is a highly successful entrepreneur and called the "Elon Musk of Russia".  The vehicle is a hybrid rocket and jet aircraft, that combines a hydrogen, air breathing jet engine with a rocket engine.  The Chairman of the Advisory Board of Directors of Destinus is Philipp Rosler, who is the former German Minister of Economics and Technology and former Vice Chancellor of Germany.  He believes Destinus will help provide Europe with leadership in aerospace technologies...

Switzerland's The Jet - Hydrogen Powered Hydrofoil                                                  Source: The Jet The Jet to be Manufactured in Dubai The Jet is a new form of hydrogen powered transportation.  The "flying boat" is powered by two hydrogen fuel cells that convert hydrogen into electricity and produce no emissions.  The vessel is a hydrofoil that glides three feet above the water at a top speed of 46 mph.  It can carry 12 passengers and a captain. It makes its water journey in silence and in harmony with the environment.  It is the innovative creation of Switzerland-based startup The Jet ZeroEmission, which will manufacture the hydrofoil in Dubai. New International Innovation Collaboration The hydrogen powered flying boat uses hydrofoils underneath the vessel to give it lift. It is a distinctively designe...

Robots Using UV Light to Sanitize Aircraft                                                            Source: UVeya Test Trials Now Underway Swiss startup UVeya is testing its new robots armed with COVID-19 killing UV light on Swiss passenger planes at Zurich Airport.  The test trials are taking place onboard Embraer jets from Helvetic Airways.  Helvetic is a charter airline service, owned by Swiss billionaire Martin Ebner.  In 2020, Hevetic's business dropped 75% due to fears of flying because of COVID-19.  The hope is that the robot cleaners will reduce people's fear of flying as COVID continues to spread.  The target for the robot is the airline industry. Antidote to COVID on Planes One UVeya robot can disinfect a single aisle plane in thirteen minutes.  Larger planes take longer....

Top Inventions from Europe 2020's                                    https://amazon.com/author/ekane Now on Amazon and Kindle My latest book "Europe: The Global Innovation Leader" has just been published on Amazon and Kindle.  In the annual Global Innovation Index, Switzerland and Sweden top the list.  8 of the 12 innovation nations are in Europe.  My book showcases the fascinating new innovations behind Europe's top ranking. For a preview, go to  https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B08MSDR7JZ&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_kJbPFbTK8W0AJ ... ...

Big Innovation Coming from Europe                             Source:  Energy Observer Hydrogen Vessel Zero Emissions Passenger and Cargo Vessels Big changes are ahead for the passenger and cargo ship industries. To meet United Nations targets for the shipping industry's carbon footprint, the first net zero, green ships will have to enter the global fleet by 2030.  Experts say that ships powered by hydrogen will be the key part of the mix . But, because hydrogen requires more fuel storage capacity than other fuels, the first hydrogen powered ships will be vessels on short voyages.  Europe is leading the way in the innovation of new, hydrogen powered vessels. European Innovation Wave Switzerland based technology group ABB believes that passenger and shipping vessels will be the first users of hydrogen fuel cell systems.  ABB is currently working on a fuel cell based power and propulsi...

Switzerland and Sweden Leading the Way                                                                 Source:  Stock Image of Innovation 2020 Global Innovation Index (GII) The 2020 Global Innovation Index ranks Switzerland and Sweden as the #1 and #2 Innovation countries in the world.  For Switzerland, this is the 10th year of ranking number 1.  Europe has clearly become the global epicenter of innovation.  Eight of the top 12 leaders in innovation are European countries:  Switzerland #1, Sweden #2, UK #4, Netherlands #5, Denmark #6, Finland #7, Germany #9, France #12.  The US came in #3 in this year's annual ranking of 131 nations using 80 metrics to evaluate the level of innovation around the world. COVID-19's Impact The GII experts say COVID-19 is "severely pressurin...

New Travel Innovation: E-Urban Mobility Vehicle                                                  Source:  KOMMA Part Car and Part MotorBike KOMMA is a brand new electric vehicle for city travel from innovators in Switzerland. The startup says it is an alternative to conventional means of city transportation.  The KOMMA Urban Mobility Vehicle (UMV) is a crossover between a conventional car and a motorbike.  It's electric, has the comfort and safety of a car but with a much smaller footprint.  It's being billed as a brand new means of travel around and between urban areas. KOMMA's Approach and Mantra Could Be Transformative KOMMA's mantra is to create better ways to move around cities than by cars and vans.  The approach of their new technology is by blurring the lines between travel vehicles as we know them.  Their ...

Neutral Nation's Value of Self-Reliance                                       Source:  Swiss Hornet Fighter Jet Extremely Close and Innovative Vote For the Swiss, armed neutrality is a long standing tradition.  In an extremely close vote, Swiss voters have backed a government plan to buy top of the line innovation in jet fighters, to the tune of $6.5 billion. The vote in favor was 50.2% and it is binding.  It's a sign of our globally turbulent times. And, for the Swiss, this is a case of the virtue of self-reliance in the supersonic and coming hypersonic age of fighting jets. Virtue of Self Reliance in Defense Supersonic jets and fighter jets can traverse Switzerland in under ten minutes.  The Swiss government argued that it is now necessary to replace their aging fleet of 30 F/A-18 Hornet jets that go out of service in 2030.  Switzerland is a neutr...

New Partnership for 2020 Prototype Source:  Porsche AG Electric VTOL Vehicle US airplane manufacture Boeing and VW's luxury sports car unit Porsche are joining forces to develop an electric flying vehicle.  The goal is to develop a vehicle that can transport people in urban locations. The team will operate out of the US, Germany and Switzerland. VTOL The team is focused on a prototype for an electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle.  Essentially the flying car would take off and land like a helicopter.  Porsche says it's moving into the "third dimension of travel" - flying - by becoming "a leading brand for premier mobility". 2-Seater The vehicle will be a 2-seater to start and will include different flight modes from manual to autonomous.  Boeing and Porsche expect to present a fully developed prototype in 2020. Porsche believes this form of urban mobility will really gather steam from 2025 onwards.  And, it's already a very hot sect...

SoftBank's Vision Fund Investing Big in the Swiss Startup Source:  Solar Vault computer rendering Storing Solar and Wind Energy for 24/7 Use Switzerland's energy storage technology company Energy Vault has received a $110 million investment from SoftBank's Vision Fund, one of the world's largest technology investors.  The company stores wind and solar energy in a huge tower of concrete blocks.  It uses software to autonomously control the energy tower's operations including a 400 foot, 6 armed crane that stacks the energy storage blocks.  And it uses algorithms to account for changes in energy supply and demand, weather, grid needs and other factors.  Storing renewable energy is the biggest challenge facing the green energy industry.  Energy Vault has a very innovative solution that SoftBank's Vision Fund is betting on. Global Expansion Energy Vault relies on low cost materials like cement blocks to provide energy storage.  It says it's a m...

Mictic Wearable - World's First Body Instrument Source:  Mictic Music in Motion Mictic, headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, has created the world's first body instrument.  The Mistic wristband detects the wearer's gestures and transforms the movement into music.  The company says this is the world's first audio augmented reality device and is a new way to express music and motion.  Also, it is a very immersive way to experience music. Motion into Music The system's basis is a pair of Bluetooth enabled wristbands.  The bands contain accelerometers.  They track the wearer's motion and transmit it to an app and smartphone.  The app converts the motion to sound.  The musical choices are piano, drums, electronica and cello.  The charge lasts for four hours.  And, up to four wristbands can be paired with a smartphone.  For a free Kindle borrow of my book "How to Use AR and AI", go to  amazon.com/author/ekane https://ww...

Ring Shaped, Bicopter Drone Source:  EPFL - Samir Bouabdallah & his Ring Drone Flybotix This new, novel drone Flybotix can fly twice as long as conventional models, including a quadcopter of the same size.  The drone is only a foot wide and flies with two, counter-rotating propellers that are stacked inside the body of the drone.  It also has an advanced, algorithm-based stabilization mechanism that enables it to double the flight time of conventional drones. The propulsion system is modelled after helicopters. Swiss Invention The drone was developed by the startup FLYBOTIX.  The founder and inventor is Samir Bouabdallah, who worked at ETH Zurich and EPFL for over twenty years, developing drone technology.  The propellers in his "bicopter" are longer than what's used in a similarly sized quadcopters.  That gives the drone more lift and greater battery energy efficiency.  It appears to be an ideal drone to inspect hard to reach and fragi...

To Roam the Moon, Mars and Asteroids Source:  ETH Zurich Dynamic Walking & Flight Phases The Spacebot, a quadruped robot, was created by students at the ETH Zurich and ZHAW Zurich, Switzerland.  It's designed to travel in low gravity environments like the Moon, asteroids and Mars.  It travels by "Dynamic Walking" similar to the travel methods used by the original lunar explorers, the Apollo 11 crew, who used a hopping gait in the low gravity environment of the Moon, 50 years ago. Dynamic Walker The bot travels by leaping.  All four legs leave the ground and leap to heights over six feet.  This allows for full flight phases with all legs off the ground.  The lower the gravity the longer the flying time.  The Spacebot is currently being tested at the European Space Agency (ESA). The Swiss team says the robot basically behaves like a mini-spacecraft.  They add, this type of dynamic walking is more efficient and saves energy in low gra...