All posts tagged: strategic

Strengthening a longstanding strategic Horizon Europe partnership

Strengthening a longstanding strategic Horizon Europe partnership

Published by skeptic

European Commission Spokesperson Thomas Regnier explains why Canada joining the Horizon Europe programme is an important step forward in the EU’s longstanding relationship with the country. In July 2024, Canada officially joined Horizon Europe – the European Unions’ (EU) key funding programme for research and innovation. The agreement, which was jointly signed by Iliana Ivanova, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, and François-Philippe Champagne, Canadian Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, offers Canadian researchers and organisations the chance to participate in the Horizon Europe programme on equal terms with their EU counterparts. This is another milestone in Canada’s longstanding strategic partnership with the EU, which dates back as far as the late 1950s. Canada has joined the Horizon Europe Programme under Pillar II, ‘Global challenges and European industrial competitiveness’, which supports research relating to societal challenges and reinforces technological and industrial capacities through six clusters. It sets missions with ambitious goals to target some of the world’s biggest problems and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to enhance lives and safeguard the planet. It also …

Hampshire firms eyeing future innovation with strategic tie-up

Hampshire firms eyeing future innovation with strategic tie-up

Published by skeptic

Hampshire firms Barnbrook Systems Ltd and Electrogear (Fareham) Ltd have unveiled a strategic tie-up to combine their existing products and services to deliver new solutions. Barnbrook creates and supplies cutting-edge systems for the aerospace, defence, maritime, rail and commercial industries, while Electrogear is an electrical/electronics manufacturer with many years of experience in all fields of electro mechanical, electrical, electronic, radio frequency, prototype, manufacturing, installation and commissioning. READ MORE: Fareham Innovation Centre nears full capacity in 2024 Darrin Laishley, business development director at the latter said: “This partnership gives both Electrogear and Barnbrook the power to transform their existing products while delivering innovative solutions for existing and emerging markets. “We are looking forward to working closely together on gamechanging technology and providing an even greater service for both of our customer bases.” He also added: “We are always looking to support local suppliers and partners. It makes great business sense to improve local development and employment in the area.” Meanwhile, Andrew Barnett, managing director of Barnbrook, added: “Collaboration is the key to delivering high-quality, innovative solutions …

The Hunter Biden Pardon Is a Strategic Mistake

The Hunter Biden Pardon Is a Strategic Mistake

Published by José

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. President Joe Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter is a done deal. The president has not only obviated the existing cases against Hunter; the sweep of the pardon effectively immunizes his son against prosecution for all federal crimes he may have committed over the course of more than a decade. This pardon is a terrible idea—“both dishonorable and unwise,” in the words of the Bulwark editor Jonathan Last—and, as my colleague Jonathan Chait wrote yesterday, it reflected Biden’s choice “to prioritize his own feelings over the defense of his country.” But it was also a tremendous strategic blunder, one that will haunt Democrats as they head into the first years of another Trump administration. The Constitution vests American presidents with the power to pardon anyone for crimes against the United States. (They cannot pardon people for offenses at the …

Strategic spatial plan to transform UK energy infrastructure

Strategic spatial plan to transform UK energy infrastructure

Published by skeptic

The UK Government is accelerating its mission to become a global clean energy superpower by developing a comprehensive plan to reshape the nation’s energy infrastructure. This strategic move to optimise UK energy infrastructure is designed to fast-track the transition from fossil fuels and create a robust, sustainable energy system that benefits both the economy and the environment. Minister for Energy Michael Shanks explained: “To help drive growth and investment in our clean energy future, we need to provide investors with the long-term certainty and stability that they have been crying out for. “That’s why we need a more strategic approach to our energy system, ensuring we can quickly scale up investment in the right infrastructure where we need it to keep costs down and speed up our transition to clean power. “Delivering the country’s first-ever spatial plan will be a major milestone for our new public energy body.” Long-term stability for investors and communities To ensure the UK’s energy transition is smooth and sustainable, the newly formed National Energy System Operator (NESO) has been tasked …

6 key abilities of strategic thinkers (you can learn them)

6 key abilities of strategic thinkers (you can learn them)

Published by skeptic

Sign up for the Smarter Faster newsletter A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people Notice: JavaScript is required for this content. Strategic thinking has always been a critical skill at the top: Leaders must be able to recognize emerging challenges and opportunities, establish the right priorities, and critically mobilize their people to adapt to the many changes that are going on. Michael Watkins, author of The 6 Disciplines of Strategic Thinking, has defined six key mental disciplines that underlie our ability to recognize, prioritize, and mobilize.  Want to become the smartest person in the room and a better leader at work? Implement these six core skills to master your mind. MICHAEL WATKINS: I’m often asked, are great strategic thinkers born or are they made? And my answer is always yes. It’s like so many important and valuable human capabilities, a mixture of nature and nurture and experience. You’re not going to become a world-class marathoner if you don’t have the right physiology, the right muscles, the right lungs, but you still …

China’s Xi Visits Europe, Seeking Strategic Opportunity

China’s Xi Visits Europe, Seeking Strategic Opportunity

Published by Sam

On his first visit to Europe in five years, the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, appears intent on seizing opportunities to loosen the continent’s bonds with the United States and forge a world freed of American dominance. The Chinese leader has chosen three countries to visit — France, Serbia and Hungary — that all, to a greater or lesser degree, look askance at America’s postwar ordering of the world, see China as a necessary counterweight and are eager to bolster economic ties. At a time of tensions with much of Europe — over China’s “no limits” embrace of Russia despite the war in Ukraine, its surveillance state and its apparent espionage activities that led to the recent arrest in Germany of four people — Mr. Xi, who arrived in France on Sunday, wants to demonstrate China’s growing influence on the continent and pursue a pragmatic rapprochement. For Europe, the visit will test its delicate balancing act between China and the United States and will no doubt be seen in Washington as a none-too-subtle effort by Mr. …

The Interlocking Of Strategic Paradigms

The Interlocking Of Strategic Paradigms

Published by skeptic

Authored by Alastair Crooke via the Ron Paul Institute, Theodore Postol, Professor of Science, Technology and National Security Policy at MIT, has provided a forensic analysis of the videos and evidence emerging from Iran’s 13th April swarm drone and missile ‘demonstration’ attack into Israel: A ‘message’, rather than an ‘assault’. The leading Israeli daily, Yediot Ahoronot, has estimated the cost of attempting to down this Iranian flotilla at between $2-3 billion dollars. The implications of this single number are substantial. Professor Postol writes: “This indicates that the cost of defending against waves of attacks of this type is very likely to be unsustainable against an adequately armed and determined adversary”. “The videos show an extremely important fact: All of the targets, whether drones or not, are shot down by air-to-air missiles”, [fired from mostly U.S. aircraft. Some 154 aircraft reportedly were aloft at the time] likely firing AIM-9x Sidewinder air to air missiles. The cost of a single Sidewinder air-to-air missile is about $500,000”. Furthermore: “The fact that a very large number of unengaged ballistic missiles could …

OpenAI inks strategic tie-up with UK’s Financial Times, including content use

OpenAI inks strategic tie-up with UK’s Financial Times, including content use

Published by skeptic

OpenAI, maker of the viral AI chatbot ChatGPT, has netted another news licensing deal in Europe, adding London’s Financial Times to a growing list of publishers it’s paying for content access. As with earlier OpenAI’s publisher licensing deals, financial terms of the arrangement are not being made public. The latest deal looks a touch cozier than other recent OpenAI publisher tie-ups — such as with German giant Axel Springer or with the AP, Le Monde and Prisa Media in France and Spain respectively — as the pair are referring to the arrangement as a “strategic partnership and licensing agreement”. (Though Le Monde’s CEO also referred to the “partnership” it announced with OpenAI in March as a “strategic move”.) However we understand it’s a non-exclusive licensing arrangement — and OpenAI is not taking any kind of stake in the FT Group. On the content licensing front, the pair said the deal covers OpenAI use of the FT’s content for training AI models and, where appropriate, for displaying in generative AI responses produced by tools like ChatGPT, …

Discussing Sonia Sotomayor’s retirement is not sexist – it’s strategic | Arwa Mahdawi

Discussing Sonia Sotomayor’s retirement is not sexist – it’s strategic | Arwa Mahdawi

Published by skeptic

Sexism and Sonia Sotomayor A month ago Josh Barro (a man) at the Atlantic wrote a piece headlined Sonia Sotomayor Should Retire Now. Around the same time the Guardian’s Mehdi Hasan (a man) similarly opined that “for the sake of all of us, Sonia Sotomayor needs to retire from the US supreme court.” The University of Colorado Boulder law professor Paul Campos (a man) also went on CNN to argue that 69-year-old Sotomayor should consider stepping down as a justice in order to give Joe Biden time to fill the seat with another liberal judge should the worst happen. And pundit Nate Silver (you guessed it … another man) said much the same thing. It is a truth universally acknowledged that once you can count at least three instances of something, then, congratulations, you’ve got a trend. In this case, various commentators proclaimed, an extremely gendered trend. The fact that a bunch of men were clamouring for a high-profile woman to retire immediately sparked cries of sexism. In Slate, for example, Dahlia Lithwick pointed out …

Open Strategic Autonomy for plasma therapies in the EU – POLITICO

Open Strategic Autonomy for plasma therapies in the EU – POLITICO

Published by skeptic

There is broad political consensus that a prosperous and stable Europe depends on the EU’s attainment of open strategic autonomy and improved competitiveness. This consensus has only deepened with recent geopolitical instability and the EU’s determination to be better prepared for future health threats. Achieving these goals relies on the existence of resilient and diversified supply chains, along with a robust and well-performing industrial base. Accordingly, EU institutions, governments and businesses are working to better understand potential vulnerabilities and opportunities in key value chains, and to shape policies to ensure an industrial ecosystem that can deliver on this aspiration. Biotechnology is a core focus, given the crucial role this sector plays in ensuring citizens’ access to critical medicines and technologies. In this context, ensuring a resilient supply of plasma and plasma-derived medicinal products (PDMPs) is a major imperative, recognizing that better solutions are needed at the EU and national level to achieve this. The unique nature of PDMPs — with the starting material coming from donated human blood plasma — requires a thoughtful, tailored and …