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A few months ago, at the SmallSat Symposium, a panel issued a sobering warning to space startups: do not chase defence dollars at the expense of long-term sustainability. Why? Because companies, particularly in the space sector, might be tempted to follow the money rather than focus on producing valuable products and services with broader, longer-term applications. It’s of course true that any company should be wary of “leaning in” too closely to what seem like passing fads. But the warning overlooks an important reality: the shift towards defence investing is not a trend. It’s a transformation in space and space…

Qubits, entanglement, superposition, trapped ions, Schrödinger’s cat. These terms sound strange because the world of quantum mechanics — where things can exist in multiple states at once — is strange.  Thankfully, a group of students from TU Delft are bringing these powerful sub-atomic phenomena to life at TNW Conference through an exhibition of abstract artworks. Their project, Emergence Delft, blends science and creativity into a mind-bending exploration of quantum reality. A centrepiece of the exhibition is Coexist — a mesmerising light installation that captures the elusive nature of quantum mechanics through colour, interaction, and design. At its heart, Coexist tackles…

Two years ago, German startup Proxima Fusion emerged from stealth with big ambitions to make a little-known stellarator fusion machine a serious contender in the race for commercial fusion energy. Today, the Munich-based company secured Europe’s largest-ever private investment in fusion power — a €130mn Series A funding round from big-name investors including Balderton Capital, Cherry Ventures, and Plural.  Daniel Waterhouse, partner at Balderton Capital, said he now thinks Proxima has taken its place as the leading “European contender” in the global race to commercial fusion. Proxima was the first company to spin out from the Max Planck Institute of…

A spacecraft developed by European scientists and companies has captured unprecedented new views of the Sun’s south pole. Built by Airbus in the UK, Solar Orbiter was developed as part of a joint mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA. The probe launched on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 411 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida in 2020. A number of European tech firms also contributed to the mission. One of them is Dublin-based Enbio, which developed a protective coating for the probe using crushed animal bones. It’s one of the more unusual materials ever flown into space…

This week on TNW Backstage, we’re heading into the fast lane — and straight into the climate debate. In the final episode of the podcast, we revisit a divisive bet on sustainable motorsport: Extreme E, the all-electric racing series. The events sent SUVs hurtling through some of the planet’s most fragile ecosystems. Supporters said they raised awareness about environmental issues, while detractors called it a classic case of greenwashing. At last year’s TNW Conference, we were guided through the twists and turns by Ali Russell, then the managing director of Extreme E. In his talk, Russell laid out his vision for…

A small town in Finland is about to ditch fossil fuels in its heating network thanks to a sand-filled energy storage tank the size of a house. Finnish startup Polar Night Energy recently turned on the so-called sand battery in the municipality of Pornainen, an hour north of Helsinki.  The machine, which uses dirt to store excess renewable energy as heat, will warm the homes and businesses in the town of 5,000 people. It is expected to replace natural gas and oil in Pornainen’s district heating network entirely, slashing emissions by an estimated 70%.   “This project is a powerful example…

Tinny music plays in a dimly lit basement as we watch a teenager pull football shirts off a nearby clothing rack and hold them up to the camera. He describes each item monotonously — the team, season, colour, and condition — before sticking on a numbered label and transferring them to another rack. Each item gets less than a minute in the limelight. Bid rates and prices are listed at the bottom of the screen with eager buyers swiping a yellow bar to bid, while exchanging questions, comments, and emojis in the live chat box. When a buyer wins a…This story continues at The Next Web

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said it is time to “push past” concerns that AI poses a threat to human jobs — contradicting the concerns of some of tech’s biggest players. Speaking at London Tech Week today, Starmer called for industry to embed AI throughout the UK economy, from healthcare to education.  By taking on administrative tasks, Starmer argues that artificial intelligence tools can free up people to focus on the “human work.” For this reason, he said, “AI will make us more human.”   Starmer’s assertion that AI is not here to replace humans, but to relieve them, is…

British fintech Wise said this week it would shift its primary listing from London to New York, joining a growing list of firms snubbing the London Stock Exchange. UK chip designer Arm opted for a New York IPO in 2023, while food delivery giant Just Eat Takeaway quit the LSE for Amsterdam in November.  Sweden’s Klarna has confirmed plans to go public in New York, following in the footsteps of fellow Stockholm-based tech darling Spotify, which listed on the NYSE in 2018.  The draw? Bigger valuations, deeper capital, and more appetite for risk. “The US economy continues to perform far…

Two satellite heavyweights are about to form a European rival to Starlink. But they’ll face an uphill battle to compete with Elon Musk’s firm. Luxembourg-based SES’ proposed $3.1bn takeover of Intelsat is set to get the green light from EU officials, Reuters reports. A final verdict is expected by June 10.   SES first announced plans to acquire Luxembourgish-American rival Intelsat in April 2024, calling it a “transformational merger” that could reshape the satellite internet market. The merged company would have a fleet of more than 100 geostationary and 26 medium Earth orbit satellites. Intelsat would contribute 75 of those probes,…