• Windfall tax on energy firms wins support from MPs but government resists

    Labour has said that scrapping VAT from energy bills for one year, while increasing the 'Warm Homes' discount to 9.3 million people, would alleviate the anticipated extra costs imminent for the poorest people. The average household would pay £200 less on their bills if the government adopted Labour’s plans, the party said. Labour’s motion for a new tax on the profits of North Sea producers to fund a support package for families and business was approved in the Commons last night by 192 votes to zero, majority 192. However, Conservative MPs abstained and the government is not compelled to act by the result given that the motion is non-binding. The division list showed five DUP MPs, the Green Party’s Caroline Lucas (Brighton Pavilion) and Alliance’s Stephen Farry (North Down) were among…

  • UK announces £1.4bn strategy to boost defence presence in space

    Defence secretary Ben Wallace said it was “crucial” that Britain pushes the “frontiers of our defence space ambitions” in a bid to stay “one step ahead of our competitors”. As part of the public investment, £968m will be committed over the next 10 years to deliver a multi-satellite system – known as the Istari programme – to support greater global surveillance and intelligence for military operations, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced yesterday. A further £61m will explore cutting-edge laser communications technology to deliver data from space to Earth at a speed equivalent to superfast broadband. The defence space strategy follows on the back of the UK's national space strategy , which was published in September. The MoD’s document outlines how it plans to protect the UK’s national…

  • VAT policy on public electric car charging is ‘unfair’, says campaign group

    Currently, VAT on domestic electricity is 5 per cent, whereas motorists using on-street chargers must pay 20 per cent. But new campaign group FairCharge – which aims to remove barriers to the transition to electric cars – described the policy as “unfair”. The group is being led by automotive journalist and former 'Top Gear' presenter Quentin Wilson, who co-founded fuel price lobby group FairFuelUK in 2010. He said owning an EV must be “affordable and practical for hard-pressed families and businesses”, but some government decisions “have done nothing to help expand EV use beyond the wealthy”. Wilson added if the UK were to increase EV uptake, then we would need to have far-sighted fair government policies that make EVs appealing to everyone. Not only is the policy unfair for those…

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  • View from India: Budget creates roadmap for next 25 years

    Omicron may be in the news, but the Budget seems to have some relief moments as technology enablers have been put in place across key contributory sectors. This may have a multiplier effect, which could be seen as job creation, with probably better pay packs and a digitally updated workforce. For instance, the Budget has chalked out measures for seamless multimodal movement of goods and people. This is how it is planned: the data exchange among all mode operators will be brought on the Unified Logistics Interface Platform, designed for application programming interface; this will provide for efficient movement of goods through different modes, reducing logistics cost and time, assisting just-in-time inventory management, and eliminating tedious documentation. The aim is to provide real-time…

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  • ‘Oratio Project’ aims to empower homeless people in gaining financial freedom

    The unique initiative will offer homeless individuals access to contactless NFC cards to help them raise donations and spend vouchers at accredited Oratio vendors, along with a 'digital PO box' temporary address in shelters to help them apply for ID and more traditional banking solutions. The project aims to address some of the fundamental problems caused by being homeless in the UK and help and empower individuals to take control of their future by giving them access to some of the core requirements to break the cycle of homelessness. Having access to a contactless payment solution and a temporary address will help individuals to collect financial donations, acquire a widely recognised ID, source a bank account, and potentially start applying for job opportunities. More than 11,000 people…

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  • Success in booming EV market hinges on readiness

    The electric vehicle market in the UK is expanding rapidly, with more than 190,000 new battery electric vehicles (BEVs) sold last year, despite the government’s decision to cut grants. With demand set to increase further - ahead of a planned ban on the sale of new internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles in 2030 - consumers are eagerly awaiting more options to choose from. Focusing on the commercial vehicle space, UK-based newcomers such as Tevva and Volta are planning to release new all-electric trucks and passenger vehicles to the market in 2022. Other well-funded up-and-coming companies are developing world-class technologies that are now approaching market readiness. Will their new offerings make it to market in time to capitalise on the rapid uptick in demand? For new entrants, the…

  • Driver awareness systems in autonomous vehicles easily cheated, study finds

    Driver monitoring systems typically use either a camera or steering wheel to detect when a driver is distracted when a vehicle is running autonomously. Currently, all vehicles with a level of autonomy are required by law to have an alert driver ready to take the wheel at any moment. However, real-world testing by AAA found that the systems using a driver-facing camera are the best at keeping motorists focused on the road, but the technology is not foolproof and a driver determined to cheat the system can still defeat it. “The key to a safe, active driving-assistance system is effective driver monitoring that can’t be easily tricked,” said Greg Brannon, automotive engineering director at AAA. “Vehicle technology has the potential to improve roadway safety, but the last thing we want are…

  • Social media firms could face fines if banned users set up new accounts

    A report from the cross-party Petitions Committee calls for the government to bolster the Online Safety Bill with extra duties for social media companies. The committee also wants the bill to challenge the attitudes that fuel such behaviour and ensure abusive users face legal sanctions where appropriate. “Social media platforms should be required to give users the option to link their account to a form of verified ID on a voluntary basis and block interactions with unverified users, as a way of tackling abuse posted from anonymous or ‘throwaway’ accounts,” the report said. It suggested that firms should demonstrate they have taken proportionate steps to protect adult users from the risk of facing legal but harmful abuse on their platforms. The long-delayed Online Safety Bill was finally…

  • Royal Mail unveils barcode stamps

    The move from Tuesday (1 February) follows a successful trial and aims to connect letters with the digital world. Customers can scan the barcodes in the Royal Mail app and will eventually be able to watch videos, information about services, or even birthday messages and other greetings from senders. App users can currently view a video featuring Shaun the Sheep, created exclusively for Royal Mail by animation studio Aardman. It is the first in a series of planned videos to be released during 2022 that will allow customers sending stamped mail to choose which one the recipient can see when they receive an item of mail. Image credit: Royal Mail/PA Media “Introducing unique barcodes on our postage stamps allows us to connect the physical letter with the digital…

  • Permanent magnet developer wins 2022 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering

    The 2022 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering (QEPrize) has been officially awarded today to Japan’s Dr Masato Sagawa for his work on the discovery, development and global commercialisation of the sintered Neodymium Iron Boron permanent magnet - the world’s most powerful permanent magnet - which has been transformational in its contribution towards enabling cleaner, energy-saving technologies. Dr Sagawa was announced as the winner of the 2022 QEPrize – awarded annually to celebrate the critical role that engineering plays in global society – by Lord Browne of Madingley, chairman of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering Foundation. Dr Sagawa pioneered the development of a sintered rare-earth permanent magnet, the sintered neodymium-iron-boron (Nd-Fe-B) magnet. His breakthrough innovation…

  • Parents’ online habits could sway digital experiences of children

    A year-long study by online safety group Internet Matters into the impact of technology on parents and children in the same household found that children who say their parents are on their phones “quite a lot” when they try to talk to them had more negative experiences with technology. The study’s researchers created an index to measure the digital wellbeing of young people in the UK, based on the impact being online had on the developmental, emotional, physical and social wellbeing of children. “We’re proud to launch the first index of its kind, that we hope will shape how we help children navigate their digital world amid the rapid pace of change in technology and any hurdles along the way,” said Carolyn Bunting, chief executive of Internet Matters. The study found that children with…

  • Turning green ‘blah, blah, blah’ into real carbon reduction

    Nvidia recently announced that it is developing a digital twin of the Earth to aid humanity in its battle against climate change. It’s a neat idea, but not all attempts to combat the climate crisis need to be so grandiose in order to be effective. If we really want to tip the scales, we need small actions from the majority rather than bold gestures from the few. There is no panacea for climate change, as the COP26 summit in Glasgow underlined, but if you’re a business owner with sustainability on your mind, and you want to make changes that aren’t dismissed as blah, blah, blah, the technology to make a difference is already at your disposal. When it comes to the climate, carbon is a cost. What if you could intelligently price-in the carbon footprint of every single operational decision…

  • Social housing to get hybrid boiler upgrades in low-carbon heating trials

    The electricity distribution firm is launching its ‘Right to Heat’ project which also includes the installation of solar panels and batteries in up to 25 low-income homes across South East England. It hopes the project will create a template for green heating in social housing that will boost adoption of hybrid boilers which use both gas and electricity. The project is a partnership between UK Power Networks, Stonewater, Social Energy, Passiv UK, and SGN and follows calls from charities last year for the government to offer upfront grants to low-income households to cover the cost of installing low-carbon heating. The government’s latest figures show up to 3.9 million people around the UK live in social housing, and these homes account for 15 per cent of the UK’s total greenhouse gas…

  • Chancellor reportedly looking at how to ‘abate energy costs’

    Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak have thus far resisted calls from both senior Conservatives and opposition parties to ditch plans to raise National Insurance rates from April in order to fund extra health spending. The Prime Minister and the Chancellor both committed to imposing the 1.25 percentage point hike in a joint article in The Sunday Times, published at the weekend, but Johnson has separately signalled that support could be coming down the line to help consumers with soaring energy bills. Ofwat, the UK's energy regulator, is expected to announce the steepest-ever rise in the energy price cap later this week - a move widely expected to push energy bills for millions of households to around £2,000. The cap is scheduled to rise in the Spring, potentially increasing bills by 50 per cent…

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  • EasyJet to recruit 1000 pilots as Ryanair struggles with passenger numbers

    The firm has launched a recruitment ad campaign with a particular focus on encouraging more women to become an airline pilot to address the gender imbalance in the industry. Last year, it was estimated that less than 5 per cent of UK pilots were female. The recruitment drive follows a major round of job cuts by the budget airline in May 2020, just a few months after the pandemic saw a drastic fall in passenger numbers worldwide. It cut around 30 per cent of its staff - roughly 4,500 jobs - as it attempted to scale down its operations in the face of reduced demand for air travel that is expected to last until 2024 at the earliest. EasyJet CEO Johan Lundgren said he was “delighted” that his firm was reopening its pilot training programme for the first time since the pandemic hit. “EasyJet…

  • Food-tracking AI system to reduce malnutrition in care homes

    It is estimated that more than half (approximately 54 per cent) of residents of long-term care homes are either malnourished or at risk of malnutrition. At present, food intake is primarily monitored by staff who manually record estimates of consumption by looking at plates once residents have finished eating. This approach is laborious and subjective, limiting clinical inference capabilities. A new smart system, developed in Canada by researchers at the University of Waterloo, the Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging and the University Health Network, uses artificial intelligence software to analyse photos of plates of food after the home's residents have eaten. The researchers proposed a novel deep convolutional encoder-decoder food network with depth-refinement (EDFN-D) using an…

  • Net zero goals need solutions from broader range of sectors, report says

    The Landscape Decisions Programme, led by the University of Leicester, has called for more involvement from those knowledgeable in the arts, business owners, farmers, landowners, developers and investors, the study says. The UKRI-funded report stresses the potential negative impact of existing pathways to net zero climate targets, which include losses in the benefits of biodiversity, human wellbeing and cultural knowledge of the landscape. The UK government has previously set a net zero target of 2050, through a proposed reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and better management of so-called ‘carbon sinks’, such as peatlands and forests , and with new carbon capture technologies. Recommendations made by the interdisciplinary group include a greater focus on locally devolved decisions…

  • View from India: Neuroscience taps into AI to engender brand loyalty

    Technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning can be leveraged to create personalised experiences. The marketing and advertising industries are relying on them for that. “Brands can build intelligent machines and make it learn using machine learning. This can generate customer data which can be fine-tuned for their preferences. Customer engagement can happen through chat and voice bots, speech recognition, computer vision and natural language processing or NLP,” said Santosh Bhat, head of data science, PolicyBazaar.com, speakingat the ASSOCHAM 'Virtual Summit on Branding and Marketing'. Customer preference may be followed by customer engagement, but not necessarily brand loyalty. People may not be loyal to a particular brand in the digital age. It’s then crucial to use…

  • Network Rail warns of climate change risk to rail network

    In its third 'Adaption Report', Network Rail sets out the progress made from 2016 to 2021 on making the network more resilient to extreme weather conditions caused by climate change and what further actions can be taken as these events increase in frequency. The impact of the changing climate has been increasingly evident in recent years, with the railway suffering more frequent and more severe extreme weather events, the report states. Weather trends also point towards an increased frequency of extreme drier periods, followed by prolonged and extreme wet weather, in the coming years. These factors accelerate the “deterioration of earthworks and put pressure on drainage systems and other rail infrastructure,” the report said. Network Rail has deployed a 'Weather Risk Task Force', which…

  • Aberdeen Harbour gets £30m to expand in support of new offshore wind facilities

    The expansion will be the largest marine infrastructure project in the UK and will include greater land and water access for offshore wind developers. The increased capacity will also play a role in delivering the supply chain benefits from the recently announced ScotWind leasing round which saw 17 new offshore wind projects approved with an eventual generating capacity of 25GW. Adjacent to the new development will be  Aberdeen’s Energy Transition Zone (ETZ), which is helping the area to move away from fossil fuels. Following the discovery of significant oil deposits in the North Sea during the mid-20th century, Aberdeen became one of Europe’s most significant oil hubs. The number of jobs created by the energy industry in and around Aberdeen has been estimated at half a million but the…

  • Environmental impact of e-waste targeted by sustainable electronics research

    The amount of electronics produced is expected to increase considerably in the coming years, with the use of raw materials in the sector expected to double by 2050. The amount of electronic waste has also almost doubled over the past 16 years and only 20 per cent of this waste is collected efficiently. The EU is calling for more sustainable solutions from the electronics industry. The VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is helping to develop them by combining printed electronics, bio-based materials and ecodesign thinking. The environmental load of the electronics industry can be significantly reduced by moving from traditional manufacturing processes to printed electronics and from fossil-based materials to bio-based materials. By using printing processes, up to 90 per cent of fossil…

  • National Trust buys up land for Bath ‘green corridor’ that links centre to the outskirts

    By connecting towpaths, parks, woodlands and green spaces the conservation charity aims to remove barriers that might prevent people from inner city neighbourhoods feeling like they can access large green areas. Bath residents will benefit from a new three-mile recognised route connecting the historic city to the surrounding green spaces. While the first confirmed corridor will be in Bath, the organisation eventually wants to take the concept to other cities in the UK. The announcement follows two years after the National Trust’s director-general, Hilary McGrady, first announced its ambitions to create 20 accessible 'green corridors' across England, Wales and Northern Ireland by 2030.  McGrady said: “These routes will improve access to nature for those living in urban areas who may…

  • Robot successfully performs surgery on a pig without human assistance

    The project was designed by a team of Johns Hopkins University researchers who believe their Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot (Star) it is a significant step toward fully automated surgery on humans. “Our findings show that we can automate one of the most intricate and delicate tasks in surgery: the reconnection of two ends of an intestine,” said senior author on the study Axel Krieger. “The Star performed the procedure in four animals and it produced significantly better results than humans performing the same procedure.” The robot excelled at intestinal anastomosis, a procedure that requires a high level of repetitive motion and precision. It involves connecting two ends of an intestine in gastrointestinal surgery, typically requiring a surgeon to suture with high accuracy and consistency…

  • Are you doing enough to hang on to your workers?

    Staff retention is one of the biggest concerns for businesses across the UK in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, as demand for workers continues to hit new records. According to the Office for National Statistics, there were 1,172,000 vacant jobs in the UK  between August and October 2021. The competition for labour created by this increased demand means that employees are likely to switch jobs to pursue new opportunities that their current company doesn’t offer. According to a survey by recruitment firm Randstad UK, 24 per cent of workers are planning to change their employer in the next few months. As the UK pursues its ambition to 'build back better’, construction and engineering will play a key part in economic recovery, with roles in the oil, gas and renewables sector being pivotal…

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