What's Emerging mid-September 2022
A newsletter on interesting stuff that is emerging around the world so you can think about strategy
Welcome to our mid-September newsletter.
In the next few weeks, Paul will be continuing work with Save the Children on their strategic planning and finalise the scanning and foresight report for the Future of Livestock Farming Conference that he helped organise. He also continues to participate in a global research project led by Simon Wardley from the UK and is continuing a year-long foresight advisory role with Vision Australia. He will also be presenting at the Tasmanian Forest Products conference and presenting to the CEO Institute Future CEOs Group on De-Risking Global Supply Chains.
Please Contact Us if you want to talk about any of these approaches for your organisation or industry or want a presentation for your organisation or conference.
The Emergent Futures Team
In case you missed it. The most popular link from the last edition:
US regulators will certify first small nuclear reactor design
Small modular reactors have been promoted as avoiding many of the problems that have made large nuclear plants exceedingly expensive to build........….. Read more
What are we Writing About?
Paul participated in the Wardley Mapping Community Event on the use of Wardley mapping in foresight by doing a pre-record of a presentation. You can view all the videos at the YouTube Channel although at the time of writing this newsletter Paul’s presentation was not yet up due to some video quality issues which will hopefully have been fixed by the time you read this
What’s Emerging
Billionaire No More: Patagonia Founder Gives Away the Company
Rather than selling the company or taking it public, Mr. Chouinard, his wife and two adult children have transferred their ownership of Patagonia, valued at about $3 billion, to a specially designed trust and a nonprofit organization. They were created to preserve the company’s independence and ensure that all of its profits — some $100 million a year — are used to combat climate change and protect undeveloped land around the globe.……read more
DARPA to Build, Test & Demonstrate First NOMARS USV
DARPA is moving into Phase 2 of the No Manning Required Ship (NOMARS) program, which seeks to build and demonstrate a new Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel (MUSV). The agency selected Serco Inc.’s design to move forward at the conclusion of Phase 1. The aim is to build a platform that can perform maritime missions with unprecedented reliability and availability, while carrying a significant payload..... Read More
UNSW researchers develop high speed motor that could boost EV range
A group of researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney have taken inspiration from a bridge in South Korea to develop a new magnetically driven “very-high-speed” motor which significantly reduces the use of rare earth materials and delivers improved power density.......……. Read more
Ideon Technologies Raises US$16M Series A to Accelerate Supernova-Charged Subsurface Imaging Solution for Critical Mineral Discovery
Ideon leverages the natural energy generated by supernova explosions in space – in the form of subatomic particles called cosmic-ray muons – to provide x-ray-like visibility up to 1 km (0.6 miles) beneath the Earth’s surface. Paul Huh?...……read more
France clamps down on delivery depot 'dark stores'
Faced by growing protests from local people as well as city authorities, President Emmanuel Macron's government has decreed that the stores be classified as warehouses, rather than as shops - meaning that in Paris and other cities most will probably be forced to close..…..Read more
AI-enabled fish gate filters invasive salmon out of Norwegian waterways
The effort consists of a mechanical gate placed in an upstream channel of Norway's Storelva River, which fish are funnelled into when swimming upriver from the sea. Real-time video from an underwater camera located in a passage leading to the actual gate is analyzed by an artificially intelligent algorithm, which is able to differentiate between Atlantic and Pacific salmon with an accuracy rate of 91 percent..........…..Read more
Protein from gorse bushes could feed millions of people, says expert
The gorse bushes that have invaded many Scottish landscapes could produce enough protein to feed millions of people, according to the leader of a Scottish government research programme.........….. Read more
Landmine-hunting drones
Canadian drone-maker Draganfly is supplying demining groups in Ukraine with a handful of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) decked out with a suite of sensors designed to map areas with suspected mines......…. Read more
French tax officials use AI to spot 20,000 undeclared pools
French tax authorities using AI software have found thousands of undeclared private swimming pools, landing the owners with bills totalling about €10m. The system, developed by Google and Capgemini, can identify pools on aerial images and cross-checks them with land registry databases. Launched as an experiment a year ago in nine French departments, it has uncovered 20,356 pools....…..Read more
China's new "sky train" floats under an elevated track, using magnets and AI
The experimental Red Rail can suspend a train in the air with 88 passengers, using no power..........….. Read more
U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Again in ‘Historic’ Setback
The decline during the pandemic is the sharpest in nearly 100 years, hitting Native American and Alaska Native communities particularly hard...….….Read more
Hong Kong Upgrading Traffic Lights to Project Down on Distracted Texters, Keep Them From Walking Into Cars
As part of a six-month trial at four different busy intersections in Hong Kong, the city has installed traffic light upgrades in the form of LED lamps that project a bright red light down onto the curb, on either side of a crosswalk, when the don’t walk signal is illuminated. Distracted pedestrians staring down at their smartphones, who may not notice they’re heading into the street, will be bathed in red light, as will the screen they’re staring at.....…… Read More
Sony’s racing AI destroyed its human competitors by being nice (and fast)
What Gran Turismo Sophy learned on the racetrack could help shape the future of machines that can work alongside humans, or join us on the roads.......…. Read more
Cirrus Vision Jet Pilot Pulls Chute in Florida
A pilot and two passengers are okay after the Cirrus Vision Jet went down after deploying the CAPS (Cirrus Airframe Parachute System), apparently while on approach to Kissimmee Gateway Airport (KISM) in Florida on Friday. Paul - note the video is in a simulator but the story is about a real-world incident.....…. Read more
DeepPicarMicro Crams NVIDIA's PilotNet Autonomous Vehicle Neural Network Into a Raspberry Pi Pico
A trio of scientists from the University of Kansas have published a paper on DeepPicarMicro, an autonomous vehicle testbed, which crams a fully-functional convolutional neural network (CNN) onto a Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller board...……. Read more
Business Tips
How to use Google Keep as your virtual to-do list maker
Google Keep is an overlooked gem that keeps track of your seemingly never-ending grocery list, work tasks, or travel agenda. Here's how to make it your master to-do list that always goes with you..…… Read more
Reddit's Favorite Products in One Place
Looria analyzes Reddit posts and comments to find the most popular products. Paul: This looks super useful, especially for some obscure stuff……Read more
Galaxy Buds 2 Pro vs Pixel Buds Pro vs AirPods Pro: The battle of the best earbuds
Your options for truly wireless earbuds have never been better, but which pair should you go with? Paul: this is for one particular reader of the newsletter (you know who you are) who complains about the lack of noise cancelling on my Pixel Buds, maybe I should upgrade.....…. Read more
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