Important Innovations

  eVTOL Very Close to Commercial Launch                              Source:  Volocopter & Paris 2024 Olympics Volocopter Has Key Design & Production Approvals in the EU Electrical take off and landing vehicles - eVTOLs - are one of the hottest sectors of new air mobility and travel vehicle development. Today, a big contender just got a lot bigger.  Germany's air taxi startup Volocopter is buying its long time partner DG Flugzeubau, a global leader in composite aircraft construction.  That acquisition secures Volocopter's compliance with European Union air safety regulator's production standards.  It provides production organization approval with the EU Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the EASA design approvals.  The reason is the two companies have totally co-developed and produced the Volocopter eVTOL. eVTOL First The acquisition makes Volocopter the "first and only eVTOL ...

  eVTOL Very Close to Commercial Launch with Acquisition                              Source:  Volocopter & Paris 2024 Olympics Volocopter Has Key Design & Production Approvals in the EU Electrical take off and landing vehicles - eVTOLs - are one of the hottest sectors of new air mobility and travel vehicle development. Today, a big contender just got a lot bigger.  Germany's air taxi startup Volocopter is buying its long time partner DG Flugzeubau, a global leader in composite aircraft construction.  That acquisition secures Volocopter's compliance with European Union air safety regulator's production standards.  It provides production organization approval with the EU Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the EASA design approvals.  The reason is the two companies have totally co-developed and produced the Volocopter eVTOL. eVTOL First The acquisition makes Volocopter the "firs...

  COVID Vaccines Very Close to Market                                             Source:  Moderna Hope For a COVID Weary World Moderna, headquartered in Cambridge, MA, is seeking US, EU and UK emergency authorization for their COVID vaccine.  The vaccine has proved to be 94% effective.  The company adds it has no serious side effects. Highly Effective More than 1.5 million people have died from COVID.  Moderna says the vaccine is 100% effective in preventing severe cases of COVID.  It also works across demographic groups, including age, gender, ethnicity and race. Second COVID Vaccine Close to Market This is the second vaccine that is now under review for emergency authorization.  The other vaccine was developed by Pfizer and its German biotech partner BioNTech.  That vaccine is 95%.  Both the Pfizer and the Moder...

  European Union May Vastly Expand Wind Power Capacity                                  Source:  German Offshore Wind Farm 2030 and 2050 Green Goals For the European Union, energy produced by wind power generation is now cheaper than that produced by fossil fuels.  As a result, the EU is considering a huge investment in offshore wind power technology and infrastructure. The nearly $Trillion investment is aimed at creating five-times or 60 gigawatts of offshore wind generated energy by 2030.  The current level is 12 gigawatts.  By 2050 the EU is targeting 300 gigawatts.  They are also targeting 60 gigawatts of wave and tidal energy by 2050. Massive Renewable Energy Agenda These renewable energy goals are unprecedented and would require a major change of scale for the energy sectors of the 27 nation European Union.  The cost is estimated at $937 billion....

Looking to Invest Billions SOURCE:  ESA Rocket Launch with Satellite onboard New Tech, New Satellites, New Innovations The European Union is accelerating the investment of more money into its space explorations, satellite communications and rocket launches.  Europe and the European Space Agency (ESA) have been very successful in space.  They want to increase their efforts and keep pace particularly with the US and Chinese space programs.  This, according to European Commissioner Thierry Breton in a conversation with Reuters. EU Space Innovations For the first time, the EU budget will be used to develop new technologies to launch rockets, including reusable rockets like SpaceX has developed.  Breton has several novel ideas to spur space innovation: $1 billion euro Space Fund to support space startups $16 billion euros targeted just for space in the next EU budget Competition to provide free access to launches and satellites for startups. Bo...

New Green Tech from Europe Source: Platio Solar Charging - Green Plus Green From Europe, there's a new technology first. A European Union funded company, Platio of Budapest, Hungary, has just installed the world's first solar driveway for residential use.  The technology and environmental concern behind this new green energy technology is extraordinary. Pavers The system consists of interlocking units called Patio Solar pavers.  Each paver is made from 400 recycled PET  plastic bottles.  According to Platio, the  pavers are more durable than concrete. Multi-Functional You can use the solar driveway pavers for energy to power your electric car.   Or the energy generated by the driveway  can be fed back into your home's power network to provide electricity to your home.  The company claims a 20 square meter driveway will cover the yearly energy consumption for the average resid...

Metro Travel Tickets for Plastic Bottle Recycling Source:  Rome Metro Expanding Environmental Initiative to Reduce Plastic Dumping in the Eternal City Rome is setting a new, global environmental standard that's very practical and doable.  It's offering free Metro tickets to travelers who recycle plastic bottles by using machines set-up in three Rome Metro train stations.  The system is scalable, expandable and is working. 350,000 Recycled Bottles and Counting The program is so popular that 350,000 bottles have been recycled since July 2019.  Rome's public transit company ATAC is now extending the program across the entire Metro network and letting it run through July 2020. Works by Simplicity To participate commuters need to download an app into their mobile phone.  The app counts the number of bottles the person has put into the recycling machines and then registers the number of Metro tickets they've earned.  As an example, 30 bottles equate...

That's the Question in Europe Source:  Intel European Union Votes for 5 G European Union nations have opened their roadways to 5G connected cars.  They also rejected a European Commission recommendation for a Wifi based standard that VW supports.  The 5G vote is considered a win for BMW and Qualcom that support a 5G system.  The vote reversed a EU vote in April that endorsed Wifi over 5G. Split Decisions Telecom and automotive companies are divided over which tech is safer and works better.  The European Commission argued that Wifi, unlike 5G, is available now and would make roads safer.  Wifi basically connects cars to cars.  5G connects both cars and devices in the surrounding environment, including traffic data, navigation and entertainment.  Among the supporters of 5G, Daimler, BMW, Ford, Intel and Deutsche Telecom.  Wifi's supporters include Toyota, Renault, NXP, among others.  The European Union is expected to formalize ...

EU Okays IBM's Red Hat Acquisition Source:  IBM Cloud Deal Creates #1 Hybrid Cloud Provider The European Union just approved IBM's $34 billion acquisition of open source software company Red Hat.  The multinational company is based in Raleigh, North Carolina.  This acquisition will position IBM as the world's #1 hybrid cloud provider, according to IBM CEO Ginny Rometty.  For more details, go to  Important Innovations Collection: EU Okays IBM's Red Hat Purchase : Creates Cloud Computing Behemoth Source:  IBM Cloud $34 Billion Dea l Global tech giant IBM just received the go-ahead from the Euro...

Germany Leads International R&D on Reusable Rockets Source:  DLR Model of Reusable Rocket System FALcon - Catching Rockets in Flight An international consortium from six European Union countries have just launched R&D for reusable space rockets. The program is called FALcon. The effort is being spearheaded by Germany's space agency DLR.  The system includes a chase aircraft that follows the rocket after liftoff and catches rocket stages on descent.  The plane tows the booster to a landing area and releases it so it can glide to earth.  The project starts with a three year study.  For a great news blog on this, go to Important Innovations Collection: Catching Rockets in Flight : Germany Spearheads Reusable Rocket Concept Source:  DLR Model  FALcon Project Six international European Union partners are worki...