Linnea is the senior editor at TNW, having joined in April 2023. She has a background in international relations and covers clean and climat Linnea is the senior editor at TNW, having joined in April 2023. She has a background in international relations and covers clean and climate tech, AI and quantum computing. But first, coffee.
Italy is the latest country looking to quickly shore up domestic development of an AI ecosystem. As part of its Strategic Program for Artificial Intelligence, the government will “soon” launch a €150 million fund to support startups in the field, backed by development bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP).
As reported by Corriere Communazione, Alessio Butti, Italy’s cabinet undersecretary in charge of technological innovation, relayed the news of the state-backed fund yesterday. While he didn’t provide specific details on the amount to be made available, government sources subsequently told Reuters the figure being discussed in Rome was in the vicinity of €150 million.
“Our goal is to increase the independence of Italian industry and cultivate our national capacity to develop skills and research in the sector,” Butti said. “This is why we are working with CDP on the creation of an investment fund for the most innovative startups, so that study, research, and programming on AI can be promoted in Italy.”
Navigating regulation and support
Indeed, the AI boom is here in earnest. Yesterday, Nvidia became the first chipmaker to hit $1 trillion in valuation. The boost to stocks followed a prediction of sales reaching $11 billion in Q2 off the back of the company’s chips powering OpenAI’s ChatGPT (which, coincidentally got off on a bit of a bad foot with Italy).
Those who do not yet have their hands in the (generative) AI pie are now racing to be part of the algorithm-driven gold rush of the 21st Century.
While intent on regulatory oversight, governments are also, for various reasons, keen on supporting domestic developers in the field of artificial intelligence. Last month, the UK made £100 million in funding available for a task force to help build and adopt the “next generation of safe AI.”
Italy is also looking to set up its own “ad hoc” task force. Butti stated, “In Italy we must update the strategy of the sector, and therefore the Department for Digital Transformation is working on the establishment of an authoritative group of Italian experts and scholars.”
Part of national AI strategy
Italy adopted the Strategic Program for Artificial Intelligence 2022-2024 in 2021 but, of course, the industry is evolving at breakneck speed. The strategy is a joint project between the ministries for university and research, economic development, and technological innovation and digital transition. Additionally, it is guided by a working group on the national strategy for AI.
The program outlines 24 policies the government will have implemented over the course of the three years. Beyond measures to support the domestic development of AI, these include promotion of STEM subjects, and increasing the number of doctorates to attract international researchers. Furthermore, they target the creation of data infrastructure for public administration and specific support for startups working in GovTech and looking to solve critical problems in the public sector.
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BMW has partnered with Swiss gaming platform AirConsole to bring in-car gaming to its new all-electric 5 Series.
Drivers and passengers can play the games to kill time while the vehicle is charging, for example. Sadly, but probably for the best, you can’t play while the car is moving.
In addition to the new BMW 5 Series, which debuted this week, the AirConsole app will be rolled out in other BMW vehicles. The service has been available on TVs for some time, but this is the first time it has been available in a car.
To use the gaming app, players need their smartphone, which acts as a controller, and the BMW Curved Display, which acts as a TV. After booting up the AirConsole app in the car, users simply scan a QR code to link their phones to the screen and then get gaming.
Around 15 titles are initially available including Go Kart Go, Golazo, Music Guess, and Overcooked, with the list expected to be continually expanded. While not exactly catering to the hardcore gamer, the console should provide enough entertainment for families or anyone partial to smartphone games.
To celebrate the launch of in-car gaming, BMW is presenting the electric i5 version of the 5 Series with a gaming wrap, featuring large pixels as a homage to the iconic 8-bit era of computer games.
Credit: BMW
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Dutch aviation startup ELECTRON Aviation has inked an agreement with Twente Airport, in the next step of its plans to launch a zero-emissions short-haul flight service from 2027.
The startup’s planned fleet of electric air taxis will transport up to four passengers at a time to various European cities within a 500km radius of the airport.
“To be clear, that gets you to Berlin, London, or Paris, all in under 2 hours,” said Josef Mouris, CEO and co-founder of ELECTRON.
The startup’s Electron5 plane, which is still in the prototype phase, will fly at around 300km/h with a max range of 750km on a single charge. By aiming for smaller aircraft, the company hopes to build out its fleet at pace.
“To fly meaningful distances within this decade, we had to compromise on the aircraft size, limiting ourselves to five seats. Which, if you think about it, is the perfect size for our on-demand business model,” said Mouris.
An artist’s impression of the Electric5 air taxi. Credit: ELECTRON Aviation
The startup plans to provide a quick, easy service akin to the Uber of planes — offering a faster and greener way to travel between major European centres. The plane needs 800m of airstrip to take off, which means it can launch from most regular airports, the startup said.
Previously, Josef was quoted saying that a 400km trip in one of his air taxis would set you back around €225. However, in a press release yesterday, the CEO said the “low operating costs” of the aircraft (in comparison with other low-emissions alternatives like hydrogen) would eventually enable the startup to “match or beat” the price of an economy-class plane ticket.
The startup is part of Electric Flying Connection (EFC), a Dutch consortium of companies that recently submitted a funding application to the Dutch Growth Fund to scale battery-electric flying in the country.
Jan Schuring, CEO of Twente Airport, which joined the consortium this year, said that demand for improved connectivity in the region was high, both within the Netherlands and for cross-border travel to Germany, France, and the UK.
By bringing in ELECTRON aviation as the second operator, Twente Airport looks to position itself as the airport of choice for electric air taxi startups looking to launch their services in the country.
ELECTRON also signed a similar agreement with Groningen airport in 2021 and plans to roll out a fleet of battery-electric, zero-emissions aircraft at both airports in 2027.
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London has been named the world’s most high-tech city, according to Z/Yen Group’s seventh edition of the Smart Centres Index, published today.
The British capital secured the top spot for its world-leading financial services, deep talent pool, quality of its business environment, and international reputation.
Climbing from second place, London was joined in the top five by New York, San Francisco, Zurich, and Lugano. Oxford came in seventh place, putting four European cities in the top 10.
The news that London has taken the top tech title from New York will undoubtedly be welcomed by British PM Rishi Sunak, who has on multiple occasions expressed his desire to make the UK as a whole a tech and innovation superpower.
In a rather humourous speech recently Sunak even labelled the country “Unicorn Kingdom,” in a not-so-subtle nod to the fact that the UK has so far birthed 162 startups valued at $1 billion or more.
While the PM definitely shouldn’t forge a career in comedy, he does have a point. During 2022, UK tech firms raised £24bn in funding, more than France (£11.8bn) and Germany (£9.1 bn) combined, making it the world’s third-largest tech sector.
Leading this investment is London, which is currently home to a number of up-and-coming tech firms including Deliveroo, Revolut, and Wise, as well as emerging startups like AI research lab DeepMind and metaverse developer Improbable.
The top 20 most high-tech cities in the world. Credit: Z/Yen
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Thomas is a senior reporter at TNW. He covers European tech, with a focus on deeptech, startups, and government policy. Thomas is a senior reporter at TNW. He covers European tech, with a focus on deeptech, startups, and government policy.
Microsoft’s appeal against a veto of its Activision Blizzard takeover offers a chance to “find a third way” in the feud, say legal experts.
The Xbox maker on Wednesday formally appealed a UK regulator’s decision to block the $69bn (€64bn) deal. The shock intervention was a potentially fatal blow to the bid for Activision, which owns the Call of Duty, Candy Crush, and Warcraft franchises.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had concluded that the purchase would give Microsoft an unfair edge in the nascent cloud gaming market.
The decision made the CMA an international outlier among antitrust regulators — and anathema to Microsoft. The tech giant’s president, Brad Smith said the move was “bad for Britain” and Microsoft’s “darkest day” in its four decades of working in the country. He promised to appeal the ruling.
That promise has now been fulfilled. A Microsoft spokesperson has confirmed that a formal appeal was lodged on Wednesday — the deadline for filing one.
Gareth Mills, a partner at law firm Charles Russell Speechlys, said Microsoft’s rhetoric shows the company is taking “an extremely robust approach” to the appeal. He added that the company is willing to use its “considerable resources to test the CMA’s resolve.”
That resolve is already under significant strain. In addition to enduring heavy pressure from Microsoft, Activision, and countless gamers who support the deal, the CMA has become increasingly isolated.
In the last fortnight, both China and the EU have approved the deal. According to Microsoft, the takeover has now been cleared by 37 countries, which collectively represent more than two billion people.”
In the appeal against the CMA veto, the EU’s decision could be particularly influential.
“The EU’s approval of the Activision acquisition (albeit with conditions attached) may give both parties an opportunity to find a third way,” says Mills, “although such would represent a considerable change in tone and attitude from those currently being expressed.”
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Experts estimate around 60% of buildings that will exist in 30 years’ time have yet to be built. This equals constructing a city the size of Stockholm every week until 2050. However, the construction sector currently doesn’t have the people or the skills to deliver the infrastructure and homes we need at the pace required. But what if we could offload some of the work to robots?
Enter 3D concrete printing — an emerging technology that uses 3D printers to create all manner of structures, from bridges and sculptures to houses and even whole neighbourhoods. These huge printers work much like their desktop equivalents, but instead of using ink, they extrude concrete. A giant robotic arm deposits the concrete layer by layer, like a tube of toothpaste, according to plans laid out in a digital blueprint.
This application of 3D printing technology has caused quite a stir in recent years, captivating millions on social media. Just take Aiman Hussein, director of printing at US-based startup Alquist 3D. His TikTok videos of 3D concrete printers building homes have racked up tens of millions of views and scored him over 60K followers.
But while the process of a robot depositing layer after layer of smooth concrete might be mesmerising to some, the real buzz around 3D concrete printing is in its potential to make construction faster, cleaner, and greener.
Building better
Construction is one of the oldest professions on earth and is vital to our everyday lives: it builds the houses we live in, the infrastructure we travel on, and the schools our children learn in. But, the sector is plagued by cost overruns, chronic inefficiencies, and labour shortages. What’s more, it has a gargantuan environmental impact — the built environment is responsible for almost 40% of global CO₂ emissions and accounts for a third of all waste generated in the EU.
“If we are to deliver the homes and infrastructure we so desperately need over the coming decades — in a way that is sustainable and cost-effective — something drastically needs to change,” Rob Wolfs, professor in structural engineering at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), tells TNW.
Wolfs is one of the foremost global experts on 3D concrete printing. “This technology can help tackle some of the greatest challenges facing the construction industry today,” he says, as we zip down the escalator into the basement of TU/e’s built environment department.
Located down a narrow concrete stairwell behind a set of wooden doors is the department’s R&D lab. It smells like sawdust, fresh concrete, and potential. This is where bright ideas go to get tested and validated. It’s also home to the university’s very own 3D concrete printer. For almost a decade, the printer (which sadly doesn’t have a cool nickname) has been used to refine and develop 3D printing technology and has laid the foundation of knowledge for many of the commercial-scale projects we see today.
Rob Wolfs stands in the shadow of TU/e’s 3D concrete printer during TNW’s visit to the university’s built environment lab.
3D printing offers the ability for mass customisation that was previously too challenging or costly to achieve using traditional methods. Want to create a bespoke house design or a unique building component or even an artificial coral reef with complex twists and shapes? 3D printing offers that freedom of design. “You can really make everything unique, everything optimised, tailored to a specific application,” says Wolfs.
But crucially, because 3D printing is an “additive” process, building a product layer by layer, it can build structures using only the exact amount of material required. Numerous studies have shown that 3D printing in construction can reduce waste by 30-60%.
The efficiency of the process also means less concrete is needed overall: Finnish startup Hyperion Robotics claims that its 3D printing micro-factories can reduce concrete use by 75%. If concrete were a country it would be the third largest emitter of CO₂ — so the less we use it the better.
“Robots do the hard work, so you don’t have to.
3D printing automates many of the tough tasks involved in construction, such as bricklaying, reducing the number of people needed on site. Given the chronic lack of workers entering the industry, many consider automation and robotics to be the only solution to delivering the infrastructure we need at the pace and scale required.
“Robots are not going to take people’s jobs,” says Wolfs. “They’re going to do the dirty, hard labour, freeing up people to do safer, more skilled work.”
Automation also increases speed and efficiency, with some 3D printing companies claiming they can print the entire structure of a house in 24 hours.
So 3D printing in construction has the potential to produce complex designs, boost efficiency, reduce waste, improve sustainability, and address workforce challenges. But can it deliver?
Taking shape
In 2021, Dutch couple Elize Lutz and Harrie Dekkers, retired shopkeepers from Amsterdam, became Europe’s first inhabitants of a 3D-printed house in Eindhoven. Their new home, which cost €1,400 per month to rent at the time, is the first of five houses under Project Milestone — a collaborative effort between TU/e, the government, and the construction industry to validate and scale 3D construction printing. Here’s some pics of their new abode:
Construction company Weber Beamix printed the boulder-shaped house, which consists of 24 separate concrete elements, at its facility in Eindhoven. The elements were transported by truck to the building site, bolted together and secured to the foundation, after which the roof and frames were added and the finishing touches applied — the whole process took around 120 hours. The partners aim to construct the next four houses completely onsite using one giant printer.
Weber Beamix has been working closely with TU/e for years, to bring its research to market. So far the company, a subsidiary of French construction giant Saint Gobain, has printed all manner of structures: a 30-metre-long bridge in the Dutch city of Nijmegen, a 9-metre-tall pigeon tower in Qatar, and a skate park in Eindhoven.
But that’s just a drop in the ocean. In the last couple of years, 3D-printed structures have been popping up all over the show, with some seriously ambitious projects in the works.
In 2021, Germany’s first ever 3D-printed house was unveiled in the town of Beckum. In 2022, a two-storey apartment building, also in Germany, was 3D-printed in just 72 hours by a two-person crew and is now occupied by five households. In the same year, French 3D printing startup XtreeE successfully constructed five social homes in the city of Reims.
Germany’s first 3D-printed house. Credit: PERI AG
Perhaps the world’s most ambitious 3D-printed affordable housing project is in the small town of Accrington, England. The £6m Charter Street scheme, developed by Irish architecture firm Harcourt Technologies and local social housing provider Building for Humanity, will house homeless veterans and low-income families in 46 eco-homes that can each be printed in weeks. Full planning permission has already been secured for the site, and construction is set to begin imminently.
At the time of writing, Danish manufacturer of 3D concreteprinters, COBOD, is working with humanitarian foundation Team4UA to 3D-print a school in Ukraine. Over 2,000 schools have been damaged or destroyed since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, and it is hoped that 3D concrete printing can expedite reconstruction efforts.
A prototype wind turbine base being printed by GE Renewable Energy using the world’s largest 3D concrete printer developed by Danish startup COBOD. Credit: COBOD/GE
But it’s not just 3D-printed buildings that are making the headlines. The design freedom afforded by 3D concrete printers means they can create just about anything, from staircases and protective sea walls, to septic tanks and even wind turbine foundations.
According to Henrik Lund-Nielsen, CEO at COBOD, the technology can deliver its “biggest bang for the buck” not in housing but in industrial projects where reinforced concrete makes up a much larger part of the project’s total cost.
These applications are not just bound to Earth either. In December 2022, NASA awarded US startup ICON a $57m contract to develop 3D-printing technology to build roads, launchpads, and homes on the moon’s surface, as part of NASA’s Artemis program, which plans for long-term human exploration of the moon. ICON is currently developing a large 3D printer that could be transported to the moon, using lunar materials instead of concrete to print the lunar base.
ICON has been collaborating with NASA on a number of projects. Here they are printing the structure for NASA’s Mars Dune Alpha, where volunteers will spend a year simulating life on the Red Planet. Credit: ICON/NASA
More and more big players are entering the 3D construction printing space, lured by its potential benefits. COBOD, which claims to be the largest provider of 3D printers to the construction industry, is backed by a number of global industrial giants, including General Electric, which recently built the world’s biggest additive construction facility to 3D print concrete bases for wind turbines.
Yet despite the impressive progress to date, according to a recent report, there are currently only 130 completed 3D-printed buildings globally. Clearly then, the 3D printing in construction is making its mark, although its true potential is not so concrete.
Beyond the hype
“When this technology arrived on the scene around 10 years ago, people thought we were going to 3D print everything in the future — but it hasn’t quite turned out that way,” Wolfs told TNW.
Wolfs’ insights on the development of 3D printing nod to Gartner’s Hype Cycle, which outlines the five distinct phases of a technology’s lifecycle.
Gartner’s Hype Cycle offers a view of how a technology or application will evolve over time.
As Wolfs pointed out, around 10 years ago, 3D printing as a whole was in the hype phase, or the ‘peak of inflated expectations’. Startups were popping up all over the place, VC capital was flowing, and 3D printers were expected to be busily cranking out all the tools, human organs, and automobiles anyone could ever want or need.
Then came the inevitable descent into the ‘trough of disillusionment’ somewhere around 2015 — flaws in the technology emerged, early adopters encountered performance issues, and there were low returns on investment.
Fast forward to the present day, and 3D printing as a whole appears to be on the up again, as kinks get ironed out, early adopters start to see returns, and the technology matures. However, there is a great disparity between different applications of 3D printing as to where they sit on the Gartner Hype Cycle.
“Almost all dental implants these days are 3D printed. The technology is now mainstream because it’s proven to be the best way to manufacture that product,” says Wolfs. “However, in construction, we’re not there yet, not even close.”
“3D printing won’t solve the housing crisis on its own.
Perhaps the biggest buzz around 3D construction printing lately has been its potential to solve the housing crisis. As countries worldwide face a shortage of homes, proponents believe houses that ‘can be printed in a day’ could be the solution. Wolfs is not so sure.
“3D printing won’t solve the housing crisis on its own — that issue is far too complex and is not just a technological problem,” he says. “It doesn’t make sense to replace all the traditional building methods with 3D printing either, but to find applications where 3D printing really makes sense.”
There are two key areas that could propel 3D construction printing up the ‘slope of enlightenment’, according to Wolfs: standardising the technology and making it more sustainable.
“We have to come up with ways to assess and guarantee the quality of our printed structures and move towards standardisation of this technology. It is moving so quickly it risks getting in its own way,” he said.
Will a 3D-printed home last as long as a traditionally built home? Will it be structurally sound and safe in the event of a fire or natural disaster? Since the development of the technology has outpaced updates to widely used codes and standards, it has left builders with few answers.
At TU/e, researchers are undertaking strength and material testing on a smaller scale in order to validate on a larger scale, with the idea that eventually the results will become enshrined in standards like the Euro code. For now, 3D concrete printing pioneers have to hope that their designs will pass building codes written up for structures built using traditional methods.
In 2021, Italian startup WASP 3D-printed these two homes using local earth instead of concrete. Credit: WASP
Then there’s the sustainability aspect. While 3D construction printing cuts waste, it still relies heavily on cement. The scaling of low-emission cement alternatives — like those infused with graphene or made from local clay — will be key to ensuring 3D printing can meet its environmental credentials.
Key to all of this is trial and error. As research advances, more projects break ground, and big players enter the industry, it seems only a matter of time before 3D construction printing can cement its place in the market.
Printing the future
Despite an apparent decade-long inertia, the digital transformation of construction is now in full swing, with technologies like Building Information Modelling (BIM), digital twins, drones, robotics, and blockchain helping contractors deliver structures more efficiently and sustainably.
Going forward, Wolfs predicts that 3D printing will become part of this ‘toolbox’ of technologies, as construction moves toward increasing levels of automation and digitisation.
As the technology continually develops, opportunities will emerge to print bigger, better, and stronger than ever before. One day, 3D printers might even be able to print multiple materials from the same nozzle, allowing the construction of not just concrete walls but steel frames, windows, and insulation, in one sweeping motion.
There is also the possibility that future structures will be printed by ‘teams’ of 3D printing robots of different sizes — one large printer for the structure, multiple smaller ones for elements like doors and windows, and swarms of flying 3D printing drones for the finishing touches.
3D printing in construction, then, is not so much of a revolution as an evolution. Either way, it seems likely that the buildings of the future will, in some part, be 3D printed.
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In conjunction with a visit of CEO Sundar Pichai’s visit to Stockholm yesterday, Google announced the launch of the second Google.org Social Innovation Fund on AI to “help social enterprises solve some of Europe’s most pressing challenges.”
Through the fund, Google is making €10 million available, along with mentoring and support, for entrepreneurs from underserved backgrounds. The aim is to help them develop transformative AI solutions that specifically target problems they face on a daily basis.
The fund will provide capital via a grant to INCO for the expansion of Social Tides, an accelerator program funded by Google.org, that will provide cash support of up to $250,000 (€232,000).
In 2021, Google put up €20 million for European AI social innovation startups through the same mechanism. Among the beneficiaries at that time was The Newsroom in Portugal, which uses an AI-powered app to encourage a more contextualised reading experience to take people out of their bubble and reduce polarisation.
Mini-European tour ahead of AI Act
Of the money offered by the tech giant this time around €1 million will be earmarked for nonprofits that are helping to strengthen and grow social entrepreneurship in Sweden.
During his brief stay, Pichai met with the country’s prime minister and visited the KTH Royal Institute of Technology to meet with students and professors.
Googles vd Sundar Pichai gästade KTH och pratade om artificiell intelligens. Han konstaterar att det är ok att vara rädd om rädslan används till någonting vettigt. https://t.co/imbtxxbSVnpic.twitter.com/oWal43dc2a
— KTH Royal Institute of Technology (@KTHuniversity) May 24, 2023
Sweden currently holds the six-month-long rotating Presidency of the European Union. Pichai’s visit to Stockholm preceded a trip to meet with European Commission deputy chief Vera Jourova and EU industry chief Thierry Breton on Wednesday.
Breton is one of the drivers behind the EU’s much-anticipated AI Act, a world-first attempt at far-reaching AI regulation. One of the biggest sources of contention — and surely subject to much lobbying from the industry — is whether so-called general purpose AI, such as the technology behind ChatGPT or Google’s Bard should be considered “high-risk.”
Speaking to Swedish news outlet SVT on the day of his visit, Pichai stated that he believes that AI is indeed too important not to regulate, and to regulate well. “It is definitely going to involve governments, companies, academic universities, nonprofits, and other stakeholders,” Google’s top executive said.
However, he may be doing some convincing of his own in Brussels, further adding, “These AI systems are going to be used for everything, from recommending a nearby coffee shop to potentially recommending a health treatment for you. As you can imagine, these are very different applications. So where we could get it wrong is to apply a high-risk assessment to all these use cases.”
The EU is going head to head with Apple and Ireland once again in a high-stakes courtroom battle which could have a lasting impact on how multinational firms are regulated in the bloc.
EU competition regulators appealed to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg today to override a lower tribunal decision and make Apple pay back Ireland €14.3bn in taxes plus interest.
The case is the most high-profile of EU watchdog chief Margrethe Vestager’s campaign against so-called ‘sweetheart’ deals that offer multinationals favourable tax terms in EU states.
According to the Commission lawyer Paul-John Lowenthal, the outcome of the case “will determine whether member states may continue to grant multinationals substantial tax breaks in return for jobs and investments,” reports Reuters.
A seven year dispute
The case dates back to a European Commission probe in 2016 which found that two tax rulings in 1991 and 2007 issued by the Irish revenue service to Apple had “substantially and artificially lowered the tax paid by Apple in Ireland since 1991”. Apple’s effective tax rate in Ireland was as low as 0.005% in 2014.
The Commission believed that such arrangements constituted illegal state aid, giving Apple an unfair advantage over its competitors. In 2016, the Commission found the tech giant guilty of underpaying taxes totalling €13.1bn between 2003 and 2014 and ordered it to pay the money to Ireland along with €1.2bn worth of interest. The money was subsequently recovered from Apple and placed in an escrow fund.
Apple and Ireland appealed the decision and the case was heard in the EU’s General Court over two days in 2019.
They won the case, and the court overturned the judgement. The EU’s second-highest court said the Commission had not succeeded in “showing to the requisite legal standard” that the tech giant had received an illegal economic advantage in Ireland over its taxes. However, the money remained in the escrow account in case the EU decided to appeal — which they did.
The commission did not accept the decision and in September 2020 announced that it would lodge an appeal, which was heard today.
Broader implications
At the heart of the debate is exactly where value is created and where it should be taxed. Apple argues that key decisions on its products are made at its Silicon Valley headquarters and that profits should be taxed there. Daniel Beard, a lawyer for Apple, told the court today that “the commission just got the facts wrong about what activities went on in Ireland,” Bloomberg reports.
The Commission however believes that the activities of two of Apple’s units — Apple Sales International and Apple Operations Europe — should be taxable in Ireland due to the fact that the majority of the profits from these units is generated from outside the US.
If the Commission wins, the money, which is roughly equal to Ireland’s entire annual healthcare budget, will be paid over to the Irish State. Although its track record is not looking too peachy so far.
The Commission has failed to persuade EU courts of the merits of its policy in a number of high profile cases before the courts over recent years, including a €30m claim against Starbucks, a €250m demand on Amazon and the €30bn pursuit of back taxes from Fiat Chrysler.
The danger for Vestager and the wider Commission is that defeat before Europe’s highest court would embolden member states in the use of special tax arrangements to encourage foreign direct investment.
CJEU Advocate General Giovanni Pitruzzella will give a non-binding opinion on 9 November, followed by the Court’s ruling.
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Ioanna is a writer at TNW. She covers the full spectrum of the European tech ecosystem, with a particular interest in startups, sustainabili Ioanna is a writer at TNW. She covers the full spectrum of the European tech ecosystem, with a particular interest in startups, sustainability, green tech, AI, and EU policy. With a background in the humanities, she has a soft spot for social impact-enabling technologies.
Krijn de Nood, Julie Hawkins, and Stephanie Klein Nagelvoort-Schuit will be speaking at TNW Conference, which takes place on June 15 & 16 in Amsterdam. If you want to experience the event (and say hi to our editorial team!), we’ve got something special for our loyal readers. Use the promo code READ-TNW-25 and get a 25% discount on your business pass for TNW Conference. See you in Amsterdam!
Renowned university spinouts such as chip designer Arm in the UK and immunotherapy pioneer BionNTech in Germany have proven the importance of bringing scientific innovation to real-world industries. But the road from academia to enterprise is no bed of roses.
Back when I was in uni, I was part of a project that I hoped would place me and my fellow team under the “tech startup to watch” radar. But my dreams were quickly shuttered when I asked the leading professor if he would consider commercialising our tool outside of the university. His answer was succinct: “It’s far too complex.”
With outstanding academic institutions, Europe has the potential to emerge as the most attractive spinout ecosystem in the world — especially in the fields of computing, engineering, bioscience, and deep tech.
Although the number of spinouts on the continent has increased over the years with many deep tech startups in particular having strong university roots, it seems that founders still have to tackle considerable challenges: from high equity demands and a long spinout process, to securing later stage funding and cultivating entrepreneurial skills.
At TNW Conference, navigating the challenging journey from academia to startup gets the spotlight it deserves. On day one of the event, a group of leading experts and entrepreneurs will take the stage to discuss the crucial steps needed to bring academic innovations to market.
These are Krijn de Nood, CEO of Meatable, the trailblazing lab-grown meat startup; Julie Hawkins, General Partner at UK early-stage VC firm Local Globe; and Stephanie Klein Nagelvoort-Schuit, VP at University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) and founder of abcdeSIM, an e-learning spinout company from the Erasmus University Medical Center.
De Nood, Hawkins, and Klein Nagelvoort-Schuit will explore success stories of university spinouts and delve into some of the most significant challenges these startups face, such as bridging funding gaps and developing go-to-market strategies.
So if you’re a potential founder who wants to learn about the unique hurdles associated with university-born ventures and aspires to usher your own spinout into commercial success, make sure not to miss their talk! I know I won’t — and perhaps I’ll get inspired to go into academia again.
Navigating the spinout process is among many startup growth topics that will be explored at TNW Conference. You can find more on the event agenda — and remember: for a 25% discount on business passes, use the promo code READ-TNW-25.
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German mobility startup FlixBus is best known for its fleet of big green buses that whisk passengers around mainland Europe at affordable prices — akin to Greyhound in the US.
But there is also a rail-bound version of FlixBus dubbed, you guessed it, FlixTrain. The service began operations in 2018, following the opening of German rail lines to private competition five years earlier.
By mid-2022, the company serviced over 70 stations along many of Germany’s main rail routes. Flix also recently expanded its train network to Sweden.
Now, FlixTrain has its sights set on expanding into the Netherlands. This week, Flix notified the Dutch Consumer and Market Authority (ACM) of its intentions and applied for track capacity at ProRail — essentially asking for permission to run its trains on Dutch lines.
The company is targeting a start date of November 10, 2024, for an open-access connection from Rotterdam to Oberhausen, Germany. The train will also stop at Arnhem, Utrecht, Amsterdam, and The Hague, according to FlixTrain’s application to the ACM.
The applied-for route covers two train pairs per day, with around 500 to 700 seats per train, depending on the season (longer trains will be used in summer than in winter).
FlixTrain is an open-access operator meaning that the company takes full commercial risk, operates on infrastructure owned by a third party, and buys access to chosen routes. This differs from state-owned enterprises like Deutsche Bahn (DB) in Germany and Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) in the Netherlands which own and operate much of the key infrastructure themselves.
FlixTrain has become the main competitor to DB in recent years, partly thanks to its comparatively low fares. The company is often 50% cheaper than DB, with a ticket from Cologne to Berlin costing as little as €9 compared to around €45 from the national provider.
They can offer such low fares because their rolling stock is essentially made up of old DB trains painted green. FlixTrain is also assumably being propped up by its more profitable sister company FlixBus, as it attempts to grow its share of the private rail market. However, it is to be noted that DB still has a 97% market share in Germany.
Competing with NS won’t be easy either. Despite the fact that the Netherlands opened up its rail network to private competition in 2019, NS still has a monopoly on the rail network and benefits from generous concessions and government subsidies.
While FlixTrain would like to operate across Europe in the future, according to Arthur Kamminga, an expert on legal affairs and public affairs at Flix, concessions like the one afforded to NS present a major hurdle. “When you are competing with someone who gets a subsidy and priority on capacity — there is, by definition, no level playing field,” he told industry publication RailTech.
Kamminga is also a representative of AllRail, a lobby group campaigning for the introduction of ‘fair competition’ in Europe’s rail market. According to the group, Europe’s rail sector must become more competitive in order to encourage innovation, lower prices, and ‘create a more attractive low carbon transport option.’
For now, FlixTrain’s application sits with ProRail, who will decide if the private train operator can share the tracks with NS.
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Thomas is a senior reporter at TNW. He covers European tech, with a focus on deeptech, startups, and government policy. Thomas is a senior reporter at TNW. He covers European tech, with a focus on deeptech, startups, and government policy.
Jinhua Zhao and Shashi Verma will be speaking at TNW Conference, which takes place on June 15 & 16 in Amsterdam. If you want to experience the event (and say hi to our editorial team!), we’ve got something special for our loyal readers. Use the promo code READ-TNW-25 and get a 25% discount on your business pass for TNW Conference. See you in Amsterdam!
Urban transport systems are straining under unprecedented pressure from population growth, fiscal challenges, and environmental harm.
Living in London, I feel the impact every day. The roads are horribly polluted, the metro is the world’s most expensive, and the buses are constantly in traffic jams. Indeed, the commute’s so bad it was named the most stressful in Europe — and it had serious competition.
At TNW Conference, the potential meets reality. On day two of the event, transit leaders will expose the next wave in urban transport: integrating mobility ecosystems.
Jinhua Zhao, Professor of City and Transportation Planning at MIT, and Shashi Verma, Director of Strategy and CTO at Transport for London, will reveal the latest trends in urban transit tech.
For anyone who’s been in sweaty metros, overdue buses, or gridlocked roads, it could be a glimpse into a better tomorrow. As someone who desperately needs the hope, I’ll certainly be there — as long as my train isn’t late.
Transport tech is among many innovations that will be explored at TNW Conference. You can find more on the event agenda — and remember: for a 25% discount on business passes, use the promo code READ-TNW-25.
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Thomas is a senior reporter at TNW. He covers European tech, with a focus on deeptech, startups, and government policy. Thomas is a senior reporter at TNW. He covers European tech, with a focus on deeptech, startups, and government policy.
It’s been a rough start to 2023 for European startups. In the first quarter of the year, dealmaking decelerated, valuations flattened, and exits remained subdued, according to new research.
Analysts from PitchBook, a financial data firm, found that investor priorities have shifted from growth at all costs to profitability.
After a boom in VC activity that trickled into early 2022, reports of lower growth rates, workforce reductions, and tougher funding conditions have emerged. As a result, due diligence processes have lengthened, with revenues, valuations, and runways under heightened scrutiny.
Nalin Patel, the report’s author, noted that investors across the board have become more selective.
“We are seeing declines across financing stages, sectors, and geographies,” Patel told TNW.
Deal value and count for unicorns fell, respectively, 87.5% and 65.5% from Q1 2022.
Rays of hope were hard to find in the report, but a few shone through the gloom. Angel valuations were robust, with the median pacing at €3.7 million—above the €3m figure registered in 2022.
Early adoption may be tougher for startups in the current climate, but Pitchbook expects less mature companies to be protected from the turbulence affecting companies with high costs.
Indeed, current market conditions could force investors to focus on ideas with the potential for long-term success.
Consequently, Patel believes that seed and early-stage companies in long-term industries such as clean energy could remain appealing investments. Overall, however, the financial landscape remains treacherous.
“Companies are not growing at the same rate during the past few years, and valuations are cooling across the market,” said Patel. “We expect more colour on valuations to emerge as funding needs persist this year.”
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