The Department of Innovation Announces $53 Million for Small Business R&D Grants

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The U.S. Secretary of Energy, Dan Brouillette recently announced that the U.S. Department of Energy will be awarding 256 grants totalling $53 million to 211 small businesses in 35 states and the District of Columbia. Small businesses play a critical role in U.S. innovation and the creation of jobs. The grants will allow small businesses to advance their innovation capabilities.

Brouillette recognized that, “a cornerstone of the American economy, small businesses play a major role in spurring innovation and creating jobs throughout the country. I applaud our department’s SBIR and STTR programs for awarding over 200 small businesses across 35 states and the District of Columbia a total of US$53 million dollars for R&D projects. Now more than ever, we want to lend support to our country’s small businesses to ensure they are thriving again soon”.

The United States is Becoming a Technology Superpower: The State of Artificial Intelligence

The United States is Becoming a Technology Superpower: The State of Artificial Intelligence

Last year, the Government launched the American Artificial Intelligence Initiative to support AI innovation that will increase prosperity, enhance national security, and improve quality of life for American citizens. This is seeking to invest in AI research and development by collaborating with industry, academia, international allies and partners and other non-federal entities. This is part of the strategic plan to unleash AI resources to enhance access to high quality Federal data, modelling and computing models to maintain and improve privacy and confidentiality.

The initiative is also seeking to remove barriers to AI innovation and train an AI-ready workforce. The US is seeking to empower current and future generations of American workers through apprenticeships, skills programs, and educations in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The President has recognised that, “Continued American leadership in AI is of paramount importance to maintaining the economic and national security of the United States and to shaping the global evolution of AI in a manner consistent with our Nation’s values, policies, and priorities.”

The significant investment in AI research and development will likely promote the US in becoming a technology superpower.

Machine Learning Could be Used to Estimate COVID-19 Seasonable Cycles

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Scientists at Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory are launching a project to apply machine learning methods to a myriad of health and environmental datasets to try and predict COVID-19 seasonable cycles. Berkely Lab Scientist, Eoin Brodie, said that “environmental variables, such as temperature, humidity, and UV [ultraviolet radiation] exposure, can have an effect on the virus directly, in terms of its viability. They can also affect the transmission of the virus and the formation of aerosols”. “We will use state-of-the-art machine-learning methods to separate the contributions of social factors from the environmental factors to attempt to identify those environmental variables to which disease dynamics are most sensitive.”

The research and development will take advantage of the health data available during the COVID-19 pandemic, along with other factors such as climate and weather, to try and predict how these factors can influence the transmission of COVID-19.

The COVID-19 Pandemic is Testing Medical Innovation in the United States

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Despite the issues in the United States health system, health innovation is an area that the U.S. has excelled in the past. The U.S. intellectual property laws and drug approval processes are designed in a way to reward breakthrough threrapies, granting years-long monopolies to companies delivering novel cures and treatments. But the COVID-19 crisis has truly tested the capabilities of medical innovation in the U.S.

U.S. pharmaceutical companies have worked tirelessly to develop treatments for COVID-19, where they have repurposed and combined existing innovation, hoping the right mixture could treat coronavirus infections for those who have already contracted the virus. They have also raced to find a vaccine to prevent people getting sick in the future.

Nonetheless, these positives in medical innovation is coupled with two unavoidable negatives. First, antiviral research has become one of the most neglected fields in pharmaceutical development in the U.S., as companies have not been offered many incentives to pursue it and the work can be time-consuming. Secondly, a disorganized federal government has hindered the ability of companies to develop treatments and vaccinations for COVID-19.

Robin Feldman, Director of the UC-Hastings Center for Innovation, noted that, “unless we think about our long-term incentives structure, we will always be reactive. We’ll never be ahead of the game”. Therefore, although pharmaceutical companies are acting quickly to develop a vaccine for the current pandemic, the U.S. will need to provide further incentives and improve drug development to prepare for the next pandemic.

The Global Pandemic Highlights the Vitality of Innovation and Research & Development

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The COVID-19 Pandemic has generated a myriad of responses in the business community. What has been truly inspirational however, is the response of the private sector in demonstrating strength, resilience, and innovation. As highlighted by James Edwards, the executive director of Conservatives for Property Rights, the private sector medical research and development companies, such as biopharmaceutical companies, have taken the initiative and worked tirelessly to discover vaccines, cures, diagnostics and therapeutics. Medical device companies have also found unique ways to address supply shortages by adapting their business models and manufacturing processes. Edwards recognised that, “At times like these, we do well to take stock of fundamental assets that enable America not only to survive but to thrive amid challenges. These assets include limited government, a republic, private property rights, the rule of law, due process, a free-market economy and popular sovereignty. And sometimes underappreciated as an asset is innovation”.

As the United States battles the coronavirus and economic disruption, it is critical to recognise and acknowledge the true importance of innovation and development to solve social problems and enhance society’s ability to act.

Six Ways that Businesses of all Sizes are Innovating Through the COVID-19 Crisis

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The COVID-19 pandemic has forced businesses to adapt their business models and innovate. Here are a list of six ways businesses have adapted to meet demand during this crisis:

  1. Costovation
    • Vegetarian fast food chain, Clover, faced concerns arising from indefinite store closures and food waste. However, the company repurposed the ingredients it normally uses for its sandwiches into boxes of assorted fruits, vegetables and other supplies
  2. Banding together with others
    • A group of hotels, restaurants and cinema chains have been forced to close. However, a large majority of these staff were shared with Hema, a supermarket chain owned by Alibaba. Due to increase in online deliveries, Alibaba desperately needed help to meet demand for deliveries. By hiring these employees, it is reducing the negative ramifications of unemployment.
  3. Keeping your customers loyal
    • Customer loyalty is critical when everyone is looking for convenience, job security is low, and spenders are holding on tighter to their wallets. A grocery store in Western Massachusetts have sought to achieve this. Each day, the first two hours upon opening are reserved for senior shoppers only.
  4. Spot re-prioritized jobs to be done
    • Companies like Audible have recognised the shift in priorities and have adjusted their offerings to meet these demands. As children are staying home with schools shut, Audible has launched ‘Audible stories’, allowing anyone to listen to over 200 children’s stories for free
  5. Adjust to new consumer habits
    • As consumers are avoiding shopping in stores, countless companies are investing in delivery. Others are offering fully prepared meals, do-it-yourself packages, and grocery collections.
  6. Rethink customer experience
    • ‘The Old Brick Store’ in Vermont have started offering daily rundowns on social media of in-stock produce and hosting virtual pizza nights on Fridays

While this new sense of reality won’t last forever, businesses might realize that a more remote workforce will mean lesser overheads. Companies should consider that these new consumer habits may stick around in the long-term. Having an understanding consumer priorities and needs, along with developing innovative and creative solutions, will go a long way.

U.S. Department of Defense Adopts Ethical Principles For Artificial Intelligence

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In a statement released yesterday, the U.S. Department of Defense officially adopted a series of ethical principles surrounding military applications of Artificial Intelligence. The adoption of these principles follows recommendations provided by the Defense Innovation Board, which resulted from 15 months of deliberation with leading AI experts in the commercial industry, government, academia, and the American public.

The recent adoption of these AI ethical principles closely aligns with the Department of Defense’s AI strategy objective directing the U.S military to consider AI ethics and the lawful use of AI systems. These ethical principles address new challenges faced in the digital era and build upon the U.S. military’s existing ethical framework based on documents such as the Constitution, and existing international norms and treaties.

The Department of Defense recognized the need to “accelerate the adoption of AI and lead in its national security applications to maintain [the United States’ strategic position, prevail on future battlefields, and safeguard the rules-based international order.” Despite this, the adoption of AI ethical principles was still considered necessary. According to the Department of Defense, “AI technology will change much about the battlefield of the future, but nothing will change America’s steadfast commitment to responsible and lawful behavior.”

These ethical principles will apply to both combat and non-combat functions and assist the U.S military in upholding legal, ethical, and policy commitments in the field of AI.

The Department of Defenses’ AI ethical principles encompass five main areas:

  1. Responsible – Department of Defense personnel will exercise appropriate levels of judgment and care, while remaining responsible for the development, deployment, and use of AI capabilities. 
  2. Equitable – The Department will take deliberate steps to minimize unintended bias in AI capabilities.
  3. Traceable – The Department’s capabilities will be developed and deployed such that relevant personnel possess an appropriate understanding of the technology, development processes, and operational methods applicable to AI capabilities, including with transparent and auditable methodologies, data sources, and design procedure and documentation.
  4. Reliable – The Department’s AI capabilities will have explicit, well-defined uses, and the safety, security and effectiveness of such capabilities will be subject to testing and assurance within those defined uses across their entire life-cycles. 
  5. Governable – The Department will design and engineer AI capabilities to fulfill their intended functions while possessing the ability to detect and avoid unintended consequences, and the ability to disengage or deactivate deployed systems that demonstrate unintended behaviour. 

 

Artificial Intelligence is used to Discover a Powerful Antibiotic

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Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have had a major breakthrough in the fight against antibiotic drug resistance.

MIT researchers have harnessed Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology which utilizes a unique algorithm having the capability of analyzing over 100 million chemical compounds in just a few days. The team at MIT trained their AI on 2,500 molecules that included a combination of 1,700 established drugs and 800 natural products. This led the AI to discover an antibiotic compound, halicin, which has proven extremely effective in combatting many types of resistant bacteria in a novel way. Unlike most traditional antibiotics, halicin destroys bacteria by limiting the bacteria’s ability to maintain the electrochemical gradient necessary to produce energy-storing chemicals. The powerful properties of halicin was highlighted when the team at MIT ran tests alongside E.coli; E. coli did not develop any resistance to halicin even after 30 days. Conversely, E. coli developed resistance to a more conventional antibiotic, cipoflozacin, within just three days.

Antibiotic resistance has been referred to by the World Health Organization (WHO) as “one of the biggest threats to global health security and development today”, due to the threat of antibiotics becoming ineffective when they are really needed. Without the discovery of new antibiotics, the WHO has estimated 10 million lives around the world could be at risk each year from infection by 2050.

James Collins, a bioengineer at MIT said, “[halicin] is one of the more powerful antibiotics that has been discovered to date, due to its remarkable activity against a broad range of antibiotic-resistant pathogens”. Collins added, “[as a team, we] wanted to develop a platform that would allow us to harness the power of artificial intelligence to usher in a new age of antibiotic drug discovery.”

This breakthrough highlights the power of computer-aided drug discovery, and AI’s ability to be utilised to fast-forward the early stages of drug discovery to make a substantial impact.

NBA Uses Artificial Intelligence Developed by WSC Sports for Highlight Clips

NBA Uses Artificial Intelligence Developed by WSC Sports for Highlight Clips

With the increasing reliance on social media in today’s society, social media has quickly become an important platform to reach sports fans. The NBA has recognized this, and the ever growing need to create customized content for its fans. Since 2014, the NBA has partnered with Israeli company, WSC Sports, to experiment with artificial intelligence to analyze highlights and key moments of the game.

During All Star weekend, the NBA employed software developed by WSC Sports to create multiple clips and content for every single player on the court. Shaka Arnon, the general manager of WSC North America, described the software as “[using] machine learning or AI to take a combination of visual, audio and data cues to identify big moments in the game, as well as identify each and every play of the game, to create shareable highlights”.

Bob Carney, Senior Vice President of social and digital strategy for the NBA noted that this level of personalized content is something that the NBA would not do in the past, as it was tedious work requiring manual labour to push content out across 200 social and digital platforms across the U.S. Prior to this evolutionary software, it could “take an hour to cut a post-game highlights package”. Now, according to Carney, “it takes just a few minutes to create over 1,000 highlight packages”.

The NBA is pioneering the way in which sport and media can be integrated with technology and innovation to create more personalized content for its fans. By employing WSC Sports’ artificial intelligence software, the NBA is able to provide fans with the content they want to see, when they want at their fingertips.

Toyota Invests $50 million in Autonomous Shuttle Startup May Mobility

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In December 2019, Toyota announced that it will lead a $50 million investment and partnership with May Mobility, a Michigan-based autonomous shuttle start-up.

May Mobility was founded on the premise of discovering innovative solutions to issues caused by population growth, urban density, and immobility. They are the early leaders in autonomous transportation, operating autonomous shuttles services in Detroit, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Providence, and Rhode Island. It operates a fleet of 25 autonomous electric shuttles, and has provided over 170,000 revenue-generating rides. Continuously innovating and learning about driver’s needs, they are pioneering futuristic technological solutions to advance mobility.

May Mobility currently contracts with cities, transit agencies, and corporations to provide short trips on fixed routes in dense urban areas. For instance, they provide self-driving shuttles for Bedrock LLC, the real estate company owned by billionaire Dan Gilbert, by carrying people from its parking garage to offices almost one mile out along the loop that it runs.

Though Toyota and May Mobility have not announced the details of their partnership, it is likely that May’s autonomous vehicle technology will be paired with the Toyota e-Palette to assist in identifying market opportunities. The e-Palettes was unveiled in 2018 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and is described as a “fully-automated, next generation battery electric vehicle[s] designed to be scalable and customizable for a range of Mobility as a Service businesses.” They are envisaged to solve a variety of functions, including ride-sharing and carpooling, mobile office and retail spaces, and medical clinics.

Toyota is hoping to debut the e-Palette at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.