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Crypto crashes, money laundering, and digital fraud — the EU’s financial watchdogs have had enough. Regulatory bodies need to keep up by rolling out tighter regulations aimed at strengthening consumer protections and stabilising the market. As EU lawmakers scramble to protect consumers, others worry they are smothering growth. Case in point: in 2024, the FCA fined HSBC £6.2mn for not properly...
You’ve spent a lifetime building skills, learning lessons, nurturing relationships, and developing a perspective as prescient and powerful as your personal drive. You’ve poured it all into your business. Now, you have five minutes (or less) to communicate an irresistible vision for the world and convince a panel of respected — and sometimes disrespectful — judges that you can make the vision real...
It’s harvest day at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. As sunshine bathes the leafy university campus, scientists inside the labs work under cool fluorescent light. Clad in green protective gear, they tend meticulously to test tubes within hermetically sealed cleanrooms. The containers hold the fruits of today’s labour: mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). Each cell is barely a quarter the width of...
Imagine drones that map disaster zones today and scout military targets tomorrow. Or seismic activity sensors built for construction that go on to detect submarines underwater. These ideas represent the promise of dual-use technologies that serve both civilian and military purposes. For the first time, the European Commission is explicitly proposing to fund them through programmes such as Horizon...
Roei Samuel, founder of networking platform Connectd, has been hiring at speed — 14 roles in six months. But he’s begun to wonder if candidates’ answers are genuine, even on video calls. “I can see their eyes shifting across the screen,” he says. “Then they come back with the perfect answer to a question.” The trust gap between employer and jobseeker is widening, and it’s fast becoming one of the...
Elon Musk’s Optimus demo at Tesla’s We Robot event made one thing clear: when it comes to humanoids, the spotlight still belongs to the United States. Then there is Asia — with China’s rapid developments and Japan and South Korea’s deep legacy in robotics. Headlines still gravitate toward billion-dollar budgets, rapid hardware iterations, and slick simulation reels. Behind the noise, though,...
While the US has largely pursued AI development with minimal regulatory oversight, Europe has taken a markedly different approach. The Data Protection Act, the GDPR, and the recent AI Act — aligned more closely with local workers’ laws and unions — have set the continent on a separate path. A recent joint study from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and Poland’s National Research...
Dutch startup Lalaland, a pioneer of AI-generated fashion models, has been snapped up by software firm Browzwear for an undisclosed sum. Based at TNW City in Amsterdam, Lalaland quickly made waves — and sparked debate — after launching its customisable, realistic AI avatars in 2019. They’re pitched as a way for brands to save money while showcasing more diversity in their advertisements. ...
UK-based fintech Cleo, known for its AI-powered budgeting app, has launched its most advanced product to date. Dubbed Cleo 3.0, the new version introduces features such as voice interaction, long-term memory, and improved reasoning capabilities. Barney Hussey-Yeo, Cleo’s founder and chief executive, said Cleo 3.0 is less chatbot and more “conversational AI money coach.” Users can now have real-...
Proton VPN has become the UK’s most downloaded free app, as Britons rush to bypass a new law requiring users to verify their age before accessing websites hosting adult content. Proton VPN reported a staggering 1,400% surge in UK sign-ups almost immediately after the Online Safety Act came into effect. It is now Britain’s most downloaded free app, overtaking ChatGPT, according to Apple’s App...