Green transition at the centre of EU-China tech rivalry
With the geopolitical landscape turning more unstable by the day, EU relations with China are also becoming increasingly turbulent. At the core of the rising tensions lies the quest for…
Max Planck spinout nets €20M to build ‘stellarator’ fusion machine
A German startup has secured new funding for a peculiar twisted-looking reactor that could prove a quicker path to clean, virtually limitless fusion energy. Proxima Fusion has raised €20mn as…
Meta’s AI chief: LLMs will never reach human-level intelligence
There’s no escaping the hype around artificial general intelligence. Barely a day passes without a new headline about the concept, which envisions computer systems outperforming humans at various cognitive tasks.…
TNW Podcast: Jean-David Malo on EU money for startups; quantum without noise
Welcome to the new episode of the TNW Podcast — the show where we discuss the latest developments in the European technology ecosystem and feature interviews with some of…
Italy sets up €1B AI fund, mulls new penalties for the tech’s misuse
Backed by state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), Italy is committing €1bn to AI development over the course of the next five years. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni first announced…
Autonomous vertical farming startup to grow crops in space in 2026
A vertical farming startup from the UK is taking its technology to new heights. The UK Space Agency has awarded Vertical Future £1.5mn to build an autonomous farm in orbit.…
Ukraine launches defence tech accelerator amid sector-wide boom
Ukraine has launched a defence tech accelerator programme for new startups aiming to deliver innovative solutions for military applications. The Defence Builder Accelerator is a four-month-long training programme, which will…
Finnish startup to launch ‘software-defined’ satellite with ESA
Helsinki-based startup ReOrbit is preparing for the first demonstration of its “software-enabled” satellite. This marks the next phase of the ESA’s UKKO programme, which works with ReOrbit to develop and…
Finnish startup Basemark secures €22M to make driving safer with AR
Helsinki-headquartered Basemark has raised €22mn to bring its augmented reality (AR) “toolkit” to automakers across the globe. Basemark’s software, dubbed Rocksolid AR, is an AI-based computer vision system that enables…
Do developers still need to learn programming languages in the age of AI?
If, as a software developer, you want to know what the most popular or best-paid programming languages are in the industry right now, there’s always a constant stream of surveys…
US-China chip war further entangles Dutch semiconductor giant ASML
US pressure to block ASML from servicing the chip-making machines it has sold to China is increasing the Netherlands’ entanglement into an escalating geopolitical race for tech supremacy. Implementing a…
Spotify’s new AI tool creates playlists for any setting or feeling you ask for
Spotify is further tapping AI to boost its services with a new feature that enables users to create playlists using text prompts. Dubbed AI Playlist, the feature is currently in…