All posts tagged: innovation

Innovation nation, emerging leaders, graduate recruitment

Innovation nation, emerging leaders, graduate recruitment

Published by Miika Tikkanen

This week on the podcast we discuss the ambition to make the UK the world’s leading innovation nation. With plans to devolve innovation funding, build globally significant clusters in every region and strengthen collaboration, what role will universities play in delivering the government’s vision? Plus we discuss new research from Wonkhe and Advance HE revealing why emerging higher education leaders feel confident in their own abilities but frustrated by their institutions’ capacity to manage change. And we consider the latest developments in graduate recruitment and international student visas. With Charlotte Corrish, Head of Public Policy at the Office of the Independent Adjudicator, James Coe, Associate Editor at Wonkhe and Research Agenda, and Mack Marshall, Editorial Coordinator at Wonkhe, and presented by Debbie McVitty, Editor at Wonkhe. Innovation nation, emerging leaders, graduate recruitment | RSS.com During times of transformation emerging leaders need to be inside the leadership tent A slightly better outlook for graduate jobs You can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, Spotify, Acast, Amazon Music, Deezer, RadioPublic, Podchaser, Castbox, Player FM, …

Advancing next-gen AI with materials science innovation

Advancing next-gen AI with materials science innovation

Published by Miika Tikkanen

Delivering these gains depends not only on advances in chip design and system architecture, but on advances in the materials that enable them to perform under extreme conditions. As AI continues to push the physical limits of semiconductors and data center infrastructure, advanced materials are no longer simply supporting innovation in this area; they are defining the limits of what is possible. Performance first Advanced materials exist to solve performance challenges. As AI raises the bar, these challenges are becoming more demanding. Manufacturing a semiconductor chip today requires thousands of tightly controlled process steps, with almost no room for error. Tiny variations in temperature or chemical instability can create defects that reduce yield and drive up manufacturing costs. With every new generation of semiconductor chips, manufacturers seek advanced materials that can deliver greater purity, higher chemical and plasma resistance, and better stability under increasingly harsh operating conditions. These are familiar engineering challenges being pushed to new extremes. And it’s here that materials innovation makes the difference with continuous advances in polymers, elastomers, specialty fluids, and …

Horizontal Innovation Requires More Than Novel Outputs

Horizontal Innovation Requires More Than Novel Outputs

Published by Jenni Sidey

In his recent Mind Matters News article, “What AI Has and Hasn’t Solved Recently in Math,” Robert J. Marks argues that recent advances in AI-driven mathematics exemplify horizontal rather than vertical innovation. While I agree with his distinction between these two forms of innovation, I believe the article attributes horizontal innovation to the wrong entity. I agree with the article’s distinction between horizontal and vertical innovation. As the article mentions, vertical innovation occurs when an entirely new method is invented to solve a problem. Horizontal innovation, however, occurs when someone recognizes that two or more existing disciplines, techniques, or ideas can be combined in a way that was not previously appreciated. In horizontal innovation, the novelty is not in inventing entirely new methods, but rather in realizing that existing methods are compatible and can work together to produce better results. Regardless, both vertical and horizontal innovation result in a new method — that is, a new algorithm — that can solve a problem more effectively. We can refer to this as algorithmic novelty. Where I …

UK Institute Is Hunting for Dangers Lurking in AI

UK Institute Is Hunting for Dangers Lurking in AI

Published by Miika Tikkanen

On a recent Tuesday in an Edwardian government building along Parliament Square in London, four artificial intelligence experts were busy tricking an A.I. chatbot into sharing instructions for making the deadly bioweapon anthrax. In various ways, the experts asked the chatbot to give a list of needed ingredients. When the system declined — “I’m sorry I can’t help with that” — they used a custom algorithm to bombard the A.I. tool with thousands of automated questions and prompts. Eventually, the A.I. caved. It provided a detailed list of materials and equipment, along with a step-by-step recipe for making the lethal mixture at home. (The New York Times agreed to withhold the name of the A.I. system for safety reasons.) “There are some questions that you definitely don’t want the model to give the answer to,” said Xander Davies, a 25-year-old American who leads what is known as a red team at Britain’s A.I. Security Institute. “We try really hard to get the answers out.” Mr. Davies and his red team, who simulate attacks on A.I. …

A Bird’s IQ, a Book on Intelligent Masters of Innovation

A Bird’s IQ, a Book on Intelligent Masters of Innovation

Published by Jenni Sidey

Birds are amazing animals. They are highly diverse in size, shape, color, and lifestyles, and detailed research continues to show that they are intelligent, emotional, and sentient beings, so being called a birdbrain is actually a compliment rather than a dismissive insult.1 These are among the many reasons why I was thrilled to learn about a new book titled A Bird’s IQ: Innovation, Intelligence, and Problem Solving in the Avian World, written by one of the world’s leading avian biologists, Dr. Louis Lefebvre. This gem of a book is a must-read encyclopedia packed with the latest science and vivid storytelling. The book’s description tells it all: “Blending his decades of scientific research with engaging anecdotes, Lefebvre examines the evolutionary forces that have shaped avian intelligence. He explores how birds adapt to urban environments, innovate in response to challenges, and pass down knowledge across generations. This goldmine of bird behavior yields an ‘innovation quotient’ (like our human IQ) widely used by researchers to measure and rank how innovative a bird species is.” Here’s what Lefebvre had …

Fostering breakthrough AI innovation through customer-back engineering

Fostering breakthrough AI innovation through customer-back engineering

Published by Miika Tikkanen

“A solution would have been a lot harder in an ecosystem without a lot of high-quality data,” says Agrawal. “But when you combine a rich data ecosystem with agentic tools, you move from incremental fixes to high-velocity transformation.” By investing in AI data and tools and focusing on rapid experimentation, Agrawal says the cycle of deploying solutions can be accelerated. Teams learn that if they meet customer needs and iterate on a wider range of solutions much faster, then the entire innovation cycle speeds up. For example, Capital One used customer insights to build a state-of-the-art, multi-agent AI framework called Chat Concierge to enhance the customer experience for car buyers and dealers. In a single conversation, Chat Concierge can perform tasks like comparing vehicles to help car buyers decide on the best choice and scheduling test drives or appointments with salespeople. Agrawal explains that car buyers can engage with Chat Concierge directly through participating dealer websites. Dealers can access and can take over the chat through Navigator Platform. The AI assistant consists of multiple logical …

RSAC’s Innovation Sandbox is where cybersecurity’s next giants are born

RSAC’s Innovation Sandbox is where cybersecurity’s next giants are born

Published by Miika Tikkanen

Presented by RSAC For two decades, the RSAC Innovation Sandbox contest has been the industry’s most reliable crystal ball. With over $50.1 billion in investments and more than 100 acquisitions across its alumni, the contest has an extraordinary track record of spotting cybersecurity’s future leaders before the rest of the world knows their names. The contest’s track record also offers a story of generational innovation that speaks for itself, says Cecilia Marinier, vice president of innovation and scholars at RSAC. “We see one founder buying another founder buying another founder,” Marinier says. “Think about the amount of accumulated knowledge, and how powerful it is to continue to build on such solid foundations.” It’s a pattern that repeats throughout the Sandbox’s alumni network. Last year, Donnchadh Casey and James White, CEOs of Calypso AI sold their company to F5, whose current Chief Product Officer is Kunal Anand. Anand was on the RSAC 2016 Innovation Sandbox stage as co-founder of Prevoty. His company was bought by Imperva, which was the winner of the contest in 2007. It’s …

Innovation on the move | MIT Technology Review

Innovation on the move | MIT Technology Review

Published by Miika Tikkanen

Choe in particular has been at the center of this push as the agency’s chief of staff since 2023, a position in which she took the lead in revamping organizational culture. She wrapped up her tenure at the T to become CEO of Virginia Railway Express (VRE) in January, but before leaving, she spoke to MIT Alumni News extensively about her role. Describing it as “owning everything and nothing at the same time,” Choe explained: “I’m here to make things happen. I find places where we have a sticky organizational knot that needs to be untied.” Dullea, the MBTA’s senior director of service planning, is in charge of the team responsible for planning and scheduling every bus route in the system as well as the Red, Orange, Green, and Blue Lines. Her group also determines where buses operate and adapts both train and bus service patterns as the region changes. Subramanian, the MBTA’s senior director of rider tools, leads a team that manages the agency’s digital ecosystem: the website, real-time signage, and the MBTA Go …

Investing in sustainable food innovation

Investing in sustainable food innovation

Published by Miika Tikkanen

The European Commission’s investment proposals aim to accelerate innovation in sustainable food production, as part of the new Strategy for European Life Sciences. The European Commission is moving to harness biotechnology, sustainability, and capital investment to transform food production across Europe. As part of its recently unveiled Strategy for European Life Sciences, the EU is targeting sustainable food systems — including precision fermentation, advanced fermentation, and bio-based solutions — as key drivers of competitiveness, resilience, and climate-friendly growth. These efforts aim to support the 2025 Bioeconomy Strategy, which is designed to strengthen Europe’s position in global food and life sciences markets. Why food innovation is a strategic priority for Europe Europe’s food and agri-food systems face mounting social and environmental pressures. Climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, and resource scarcity are increasingly affecting agricultural productivity, while dependence on imports and commodity supply chains creates strategic vulnerabilities. European policymakers see biotechnology and life sciences, including sustainable food technologies such as precision fermentation, as integral to enhancing food security, reducing environmental impact, and fostering economic resilience. This production …

Former xAI Staffers Say They Were Burned Out by the Company’s Carelessness and Lack of Innovation

Former xAI Staffers Say They Were Burned Out by the Company’s Carelessness and Lack of Innovation

Published by José Betancourt

Earlier this week, two cofounders of Elon Musk’s xAI abruptly announced their departure, meaning that half of the startup’s original 12 cofounders are now officially out. And while Musk has since made the case that he was shaking up the company’s ranks as part of a “reorganization,” which “unfortunately required parting ways with some people,” several former staffers told The Verge that the reality is they grew frustrated with the company’s ethical carelessness and stagnating technological progress. One source, who left earlier this year, told the outlet that xAI was “stuck in the catch-up phase” and struggling to differentiate itself from the competition. “Although we were iterating really fast, we were never able to get to a point like, ‘Oh, we’ve made a step function change over what OpenAI or Anthropic or other companies had released,” he told The Verge. The source also accused the company of putting safety last, calling it a “dead org at xAI.” “There is zero safety whatsoever in the company — not in the image [model], not in the chatbot,” …