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Echion Technologies secures £29 million to help commercialise its sustainable battery technology

Echion, a Cambridge University spinout headquartered just outside the city, has invented and patented a niobium-based anode material, XNO®, for use with re-chargeable lithium-ion batteries. The material enables the lithium-ion batteries to safely charge in less than ten minutes, last for more than 10,000 cycles and not lose power in extreme cold or hot temperatures.  By improving the power density and thermal stability of lithium-ion batteries, XNO® extends their lifespan.…

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Recapping Work/24: The Human Factor

Download the Event Summary Download (PDF) Technology is given undue agency — it shifts, it disrupts, it eliminates. At Work/24: The Human Factor, a virtual summit held May 2, 2024, MIT Sloan Management Review brought together experts in artificial intelligence, change management, workplace culture, and human resources. Their goal: to help leaders understand how teams can thrive in a tech-dominated, AI-fueled world of work. MIT SMR editor in chief Abbie…

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Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries Proposes New Requirements Related to an Employer’s Response to Allegations of Harassment

Quick Hits The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries issued a proposed rule that would impose new requirements for employers responding to allegations of harassment. The proposal introduced five factors for evaluating what constitutes “appropriate corrective action” and “promptly correcting harassing behavior.” Currently, determining whether an employer took an appropriate corrective method depends in large part on whether the harassment stopped, but BOLI’s proposal might open employers to criticism of…

  • Post category:Ogletree Deakins
  • Reading time:5 mins read
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Central Banks Missed Inflation Red Flags. This Pricing Model Could Help.

It’s no secret the Federal Reserve and other central banks weren’t prepared for the swift, steep curve of inflation’s climb after COVID-19 snarled supply chains in 2021 and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent energy prices soaring in 2022.“Central banks are accustomed to working in low-inflation environments.” If central banks had used economic models that account for variations in the speed of firm’s pricing decisions rather than their traditional forecasting tools,…

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Advanced semiconductors for the era of centralized E/E architectures

The next generation of electrical/electronic (E/E) architecture for software-defined vehicles (SDV) is evolving toward centralization. By 2032, McKinsey analysis estimates that 30 percent of all vehicles produced globally will have E/E architectures with zonal controllers (Exhibit 1). Importantly for the semiconductor industry, this shift will require centralized, high-performance compute units. In the next ten years, the market for automotive microcomponent and logic semiconductors is expected to grow to $60 billion…

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Netherlands advanced: Building a future labor market that works

For many years, the Netherlands has enjoyed a robust economy and strong workforce. With a vast active workforce of 9.6 million people (out of a population of 17.6 million), the country has one of the highest employment rates and workforce productivity rates in the European Union. Globally, it ranks fifth for competitiveness, sixth for happiness, ninth for social progress, and tenth on the UN Human Development Index. However, ongoing trends…

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8 AI Security Issues Leaders Should Watch

In this short video, MIT Sloan CIO Symposium speakers and CIO Leadership Award finalists share advice on the AI threat vectors to focus on now. MIT Sloan Management Review June 18, 2024 Reading Time: 1 min  subscribe-icon Subscribe Share [embedded content] At a time when cybersecurity is paramount, artificial intelligence tools introduce even more complexity for IT and business leaders. The AI tools, the large language models that power them,…

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A finance exec on how AI pays off

AI is rapidly being woven into many organizations, and it promises to transform every aspect of work, from boosting personal productivity and creativity to working on behalf of teams and automating business processes. At professional services firm EY, integrating AI required radical changes, like crafting guidelines for employee adoption and building its own AI platform. Marna Ricker is a Global Vice Chair at EY who oversees services delivered by more…

  • Post category:Microsoft
  • Reading time:5 mins read
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What Your Non-Binary Employees Need to Do Their Best Work

When Katherine Coffman presents her research findings about how gender stereotypes shape the behavior of men and women in the workplace, she is often asked: What about non-binary individuals?“People understandably keep asking, ‘What about people other than men and women?’ We know a lot of past [research] hasn’t included everyone,” says Coffman, the Piramal Associate Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. A 2021 Williams Institute study found that…

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Discovery of ‘new rules of the immune system’ could improve treatment of inflammatory diseases, say scientists.

This overturns the traditional thinking that regulatory T cells exist as multiple specialist populations that are restricted to specific parts of the body. The finding has implications for the treatment of many different diseases – because almost all diseases and injuries trigger the body’s immune system.Current anti-inflammatory drugs treat the whole body, rather than just the part needing treatment. The researchers say their findings mean it could be possible to…

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How AI Is Already Transforming Fortune 500 Businesses, According to Their CEOs

At a recent Yale CEO Summit we convened online to mark the 50th anniversary of the invention of the internet in 1974, top Fortune 500 CEOs revealed how they are reinventing their businesses around artificial intelligence (AI), clean energy, and other emerging technologies. The most tangible, impactful implementations of AI are often taking place in traditional business sectors. As one of our speakers, Steve Case, the CEO of Revolution Growth,…

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The Group of Seven: Between Potential and Reality

On June 17, the Valdai Club hosted a discussion on the outcomes of the 50th G7 Summit and its significance in terms of global politics. Andrey Sushentsov, moderator of the event, invited participants to consider how developments in international relations are likely to unfold over the months ahead. Dimitri Simes, Channel One Presenter, Founder and ex-President of the Center for the National Interest (USA), briefly outlined the agenda for the…

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Different School of Thought, Part II: New Title IX Regulations Blocked in Ten States

Quick Hits Federal district courts in Kentucky and Louisiana have issued injunctions blocking the implementation and enforcement of the U.S. Department of Education’s new Title IX regulations in ten states. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky held that the U.S. Department of Education had exceeded its statutory authority by redefining “sex” to include “gender identity.” The federal district court also ruled that the new Title IX…

  • Post category:Ogletree Deakins
  • Reading time:3 mins read
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How to Handle a Toxic Boss

Naomi was troubled by recurrent nightmares. Each night, she found herself trapped in a dark parking lot with no exit, hiding from approaching footsteps. As a shadowy figure with a familiar face loomed closer, Naomi tried to run but her feet felt like lead. She'd wake up, drenched in sweat.Through therapy and coaching, Naomi connected the dots between the subject of her nightmares and her overbearing boss. She realised that the constant…

  • Post category:INSEAD Knowledge
  • Reading time:6 mins read
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The ‘inside out’ leadership journey: How personal growth creates the path to success

Thousands of hours spent working closely with CEOs and other leaders of top corporations and nonprofits have revealed a fascinating business phenomenon: many leaders who have mastered all the right executive skills, including financial acumen, strategic and operational management, and system thinking, still struggle to link their aspirations with the actual performance of their organizations. After a careful analysis of what was holding back these otherwise talented executives, we concluded…

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How banks deal with declining excess liquidity

18 June 2024Tom Hudepohl, Pamina Karl, Tobias Linzert, Benoit Nguyen, Marta Skrzypińska, Lia Vaz Cruz[1] With the reduction of the Eurosystem’s balance sheet, central bank liquidity is declining. As liquidity is unevenly distributed among banks, an effective redistribution and use of market funding are essential. This worked well so far, with limited recourse to Eurosystem’s refinancing operations.During and after the COVID-19 pandemic, the Eurosystem purchased large amounts of bonds and…

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Six Signs of a Parent-Child Dynamic at the Office

For managers and teams, this is an unhealthy rapport. Here’s how to stop rolling your eyes and start treating each other like full-fledged adults. Jennifer Jordan June 17, 2024 Reading Time: 11 min  Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images To prepare for an upcoming program with a global chemicals company, I conducted a series of interviews with the top managers and the people who reported to them. I heard a…

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New tools for innkeepers, weavers and florists: How AI is reaching the farthest edges of Ireland

It was 1:30 p.m., and Andrew Murray, the general manager of the 22-room Doonmore Hotel, had not yet eaten breakfast.  “It’s been one thing after another since I woke up,” he said. “You know, in this job there are an awful lot of moving parts.”   The hotel perches on a cliff on this small island of about 170 permanent residents. It has a restaurant, a bar, and during a week…

  • Post category:Microsoft
  • Reading time:10 mins read
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Swiss Summit on Ukraine: Moscow Hijacked the Agenda

This scenario is quite likely, especially if Russian troops are successful. There are prerequisites for success. The Russian army has clearly seized the initiative and is increasing pressure along the entire front line, expanding it in new directions. It is also important that the Russian proposals clearly look closer to current realities than the “Zelensky plan.”  The fact that Vladimir Putin revealed the essence of proposals for security in Eurasia…

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Six imperatives for credit unions to secure their future

Credit unions in the United States are at a crossroads. Their membership ranks are aging, and young people don’t always see credit unions’ offerings as a good value. That means credit unions need to work harder to attract younger members, or risk fading into irrelevance. (For more details on credit unions—what are they exactly and who can join one—see sidebar, “A brief history of credit unions.”)US credit unions have had…

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Is There a Fault in Fault-Finding?

Failing to identify faults seems to be a prevalent issue nowadays, considering recent reports of quality control problems at Boeing and numerous recalls by car manufacturers, to name a few. Yet, excessive fault-finding occurs when the ability to pinpoint faults, which is a beneficial behaviour, is taken too far. This can become detrimental if not properly managed.Fault-finding happens when someone identifies and points out mistakes, flaws or problems, focusing on what is wrong rather…

  • Post category:INSEAD Knowledge
  • Reading time:7 mins read
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Three Things to Know About Prompting LLMs

Magazine Summer 2024 Issue Radar These research-backed tips can help you improve your prompting strategies for better results from large language models. Kaushik Viswanath June 10, 2024 Reading Time: 1 min  Topics Data, AI, & Machine Learning AI & Machine Learning Radar Brief insights on emerging trends in management from the opening pages of MIT Sloan Management Review’s quarterly print magazine. More in this series subscribe-icon Subscribe Share Getty Images…

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Federal Court Website Accessibility Lawsuit Filings Took a Dip in 2023

By Kristina M. Launey & Minh N. Vu Seyfarth Synopsis: Plaintiffs filed 2,794 website accessibility lawsuits in federal court in 2023 – a 14% decrease from 2022.  After 2022’s record-setting year for website accessibility lawsuits filed in federal court, the 2023 filings dropped by 14%.  The total number of lawsuits filed in federal court alleging that plaintiffs with a disability could not use websites because they were not designed to be accessible and/or…

  • Post category:Seyfarth Shaw LLP
  • Reading time:7 mins read
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Real-Time Feedback Can Be More Productive Than a Formal Feedback Process

The mere mention of “feedback” can make many people’s palms sweat. Whether giving or receiving feedback, it often has a reputation as negative and momentous. But it doesn’t need to be. Certainly, feedback can include constructive criticism, but it can also include gratitude and acknowledgments of positive actions. Similarly, feedback can happen during formal annual reviews and promotion discussions, but it isn’t limited to those situations. In fact, real-time feedback…

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Delivering services to the public—digitally—with Jennifer Pahlka

Jennifer Pahlka is the founder of Code for America, served as the United States government’s deputy chief technology officer, and is author of the book Recoding America: Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better. Jenn joins us to share her personal reflections of her time in government and the path forward. Michael Chui (co-host): Janet, on this podcast we have had a lot…

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Driving transformation: in-house change management strategies from Women In Change – PODCAST

In this episode of Game Changers, join hosts Sophie Brazell-Ng and Stephanie Ho and Women In Change Director, Louise Robey as they discuss innovative strategies for building change capabilities within organisations.Whether you’re a seasoned professional or new to the field, this episode offers valuable insights into fostering a collaborative, adaptable, and forward-thinking workplace. Listen here or read on for an edited transcript. Sophie Brazell-Ng: Welcome today we are back in…

  • Post category:Clarasys
  • Reading time:52 mins read
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The Ripple Effects of the Great Credit Expansion

Getting a credit card these days is, for most people, no big deal. But it wasn’t always so easy or so common. In the 1950s and ’60s, credit cards were mainly used by wealthy people who wanted to pay for goods and services at department stores and restaurants without carrying cash. At the time, women could not get a credit card without a male cosigner. That began to change in…

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Auditing Algorithmic Risk

1. The Ethical Matrix is based on a bioethical framework originally conceived by philosopher John Mepham for the sake of running ethical experiments. For a detailed presentation, see C. O’Neil and H. Gunn, “Near-Term Artificial Intelligence and the Ethical Matrix,” chap. 8 in “Ethics of Artificial Intelligence,” ed. S.M. Laio (New York: Oxford University Press, 2020). 2. C. O’Neil, H. Sargeant, and J. Appel, “Explainable Fairness in Regulatory Algorithmic Auditing,”…

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Webinar: Developments and Strategies in the Current Landscape of DEI Programs

About the Program Join us for the third installment of our DEI Webinar Series: "Developments and Strategies in the Current Landscape of DEI Programs." During this third installment, Seyfarth attorneys explore common DEI programs and practices, including the effects of recent cases and developments. The webinar examines the structure and logistics of these programs, as well as common challenges to implementation. Our experienced panel will analyze different types of DEI…

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  • Reading time:3 mins read
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Scott Johnston on designing and building scalable platforms

In this episode of McKinsey on Building Products, a podcast dedicated to the exploration of software product management and engineering, McKinsey partner Rikki Singh spoke to Scott Johnston, CEO of Docker. They discuss the importance of continual experimentation and adaptation in scaling platforms, the role of internal tools and infrastructure, and the process of building a sustainable, high-performing developer culture. This interview took place in September 2023 as part of…

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What is circularity?

A vine of green ivy growing from an aluminum sardine tin on a light blue background. Ever since the Industrial Revolution, we’ve consumed products in largely the same way. A company will extract or collect the resources to create a product, which consumers then buy, use, and ultimately throw away. This is known as a linear model of mass consumption. We know now that this model of consumption has contributed…

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Avoid ML Failures by Asking the Right Questions

Magazine Summer 2024 Issue Machine learning solutions can miss the mark when data scientists don’t check their assumptions. Adopting a beginner’s mindset in any domain can help. Dusan Popovic, Shreyas Lakhtakia, Will Landecker, and Melissa Valentine June 11, 2024 Reading Time: 14 min  Paul Garland In our collective decades of experience building, leading, and studying companies’ machine learning (ML) deployments, we have repeatedly seen projects fail because talented and well-resourced…

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B3’s AI assistant answers Brazilians’ questions about how to start investing

Brazilians have jumped into investing. A new wave of individual investors has emerged in the heart of Brazil’s bustling markets, ready to navigate the complex world of finance. The number has rocketed to around five million today from about 600,000 in 2017, according to Brazil’s stock exchange, B3 (for Brasil, Bolsa, Balcão). And those who are 25 to 39 – generally millennials – account for almost half of them. To…

  • Post category:Microsoft
  • Reading time:8 mins read
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A new itinerary for the tourism industry

McKinsey spoke with more than 5,000 travelers across geographies and generations as part of a recently published survey that reveals clear differences in behaviors, motivations, and expectations among a diverse set of tourists. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, McKinsey’s Margaux Constantin and Jasperina de Vries speak with editorial director Roberta Fusaro about data that can help travel and tourism companies tailor their offerings and realize more bookings, higher satisfaction, and,…

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Programme for the OPEC+ Ministerial Meeting: Is Geopolitics the New Economy?

The development that OPEC+ will witness will depend in large part on the development of the global system during the coming period, and whether it is favourable or opposed to the grouping of oil-exporting countries. Within this development, the results of the Russian special operation in Ukraine will play a significant role. Russia’s victory in this war will play the role of assistant and accelerator of the transitional process that…

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Organizations Face Challenges in Timely Compliance With the EU AI Act

Topics Responsible AI The Responsible AI initiative looks at how organizations define and approach responsible AI practices, policies, and standards. Drawing on global executive surveys and smaller, curated expert panels, the program gathers perspectives from diverse sectors and geographies with the aim of delivering actionable insights on this nascent yet important focus area for leaders across industry. In collaboration with More in this series subscribe-icon Subscribe Share For the third…

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Can Facts Reverse the Backlash to Globalization?

One of the defining transformations of the 20th century was globalization. Since the end of World War II, countries and cultures have become more interconnected than ever before, through free trade agreements, technology, multi-national corporations, and the creation of structures such as the IMF and the World Trade Organization. Trade economists liked to think that the benefits of globalization—economic growth, more consumer choice, lower prices—had made it unassailable. But cracks…

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Braver, Greener, Fairer

In 2019, ahead of that year’s European elections, my colleague Guntram Wolff, at the time Bruegel’s director, and I edited a collection of essays written by our Fellows for the incoming European Union leadership. We urged the leadership to be bolder in their actions, to aim for greener policies and to safeguard EU cohesion. Now, in the run up to June’s European elections, it is clear is that the last…

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  • Reading time:4 mins read
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3 Savvy Ways to Spend Your Budget Surplus

It’s halfway through the year, and for some companies, the fiscal year is wrapping up, leaving them with an unexpected budget surplus.  While it might be tempting to funnel these extra funds into new equipment or throw after-hours parties, there’s a more strategic opportunity at hand. Investing in initiatives that enhance workplace culture and address common workplace issues can yield long-term benefits.   Determining how to spend your budget As…

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Tech services and generative AI: Plotting the necessary reinvention

Through most advances and innovations in enterprise technology, IT or technology services providers (also known as system integrators [SIs] or managed services providers [MSPs]) have, for the most part, been able to rely on one constant: their customers continuing to look outside their four walls for help stitching together and overseeing the ever-changing, complex web of hardware, software, networking, and storage products that drives their businesses. Now, enterprises are funneling…

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