Ioanna is a writer at SHIFT. She likes the transition from old to modern, and she’s all about shifting perspectives. Ioanna is a writer at SHIFT. She likes the transition from old to modern, and she’s all about shifting perspectives.
On January 13, 2023, Spaceport Esrange — mainland Europe’s first satellite launch facility — will be inaugurated in Sweden. This marks a critical milestone for the continent’s space industry.
At first, the spaceport will be used to launch satellites into orbit.
“Satellites are decisive for many functions of the daily lives of today’s modern world, and the need for them will only increase in the years to come with space playing an even more important role,” Stefan Gardefjord, CEO of the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC), said in a press release.
According to the SSC’s data, around 10,000 new satellites are expected to be launched over the next few years. By 2040, their total number could reach 100,000 — a 1,900% increase compared with the operational satellites in orbit today.
Spaceport Esrange under construction in November 2021. Credit: Copyright SSC
Spaceport Esrange will also host testing of the ESA’s Themis program, which is Europe’s initiative for reusable rocketry. Themis’ reusable space launcher will start first-stage tests, seeking to achieve vehicle liftoff and recovery.
Finally, the facility will be used for suborbital test launches of various next-gen rockets.
Thanks to the above, Spaceport Esrange will help establish the continent’s resilience in space. As per Gardefjord, it will enable a “secure, competitive, and sustainable Europe.”
The launch of Spaceport Esrange will also be a huge positive for startups working in this sector. Not only will there be ample business opportunities, there’s also the question of talent. Having a launch facility will require skilled operators, many of whom will move into different companies, spreading their expertise across the whole continent and helping accelerate and grow Europe’s space sector.
At the moment, Spaceport Esrange is trying to attract satellite owners and orbital rocket manufacturers for potential partnerships. The first satellite launch is expected late 2023.
Ioanna is a writer at SHIFT. She likes the transition from old to modern, and she’s all about shifting perspectives. Ioanna is a writer at SHIFT. She likes the transition from old to modern, and she’s all about shifting perspectives.
As part of the 2022 European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator program, the Commission selected 78 startups and SMEs to receive up to €470 million in funding.
Depending on its needs, each company will get up to €17.5 million in grants and/or equity investments.
The latter will be made through the EIC Fund, which is now “fully operational” after appointing Luxembourg-based Alter Domus as an external fund manager to streamline the equity payment process and avoid past delays.
The selected companies span across 17 EU and EEA nations, with the addition of Israel and the UK.
Among them, 17% of startups and SMEs are located in Germany, 14% in the Netherlands, and 12% in France and Spain, respectively. These countries combined make up 53% of the total selection.
Below you can see a detailed graph of the number of companies selected in each country:
And you can observe on the map below, the selected startups are mostly located in Western and Northern Europe, while Eastern countries in the EU/EEA aren’t represented at all:
Notably, the sector that attracts most funding by the EIC is health — with 51% of the selected companies offering technologies for medical solutions. Other industries include mobility, climate management, energy storage, agriculture, manufacturing, and AI.
Here are three notable examples of the finalists:
Spanish Inbrain Neuroelectronics is engineering graphene for the development of neural interfaces, seeking to revolutionize the treatment of neurological diseases.
Estonia-based Efenco is aiming to reduce natural gas needs and carbon emissions in industrial usage by enabling the industry’s transition to hydrogen with HERC, a novel plasma-assisted combustion (PAC) technology.
Energy Dome in Italy is working on a long-duration battery energy storage system based on a closed thermodynamic loop that uses CO2 as working fluid. Thanks to the properties of carbon dioxide, the system can store energy efficiently and cost effectively.
These 78 companies will join the 314 selected for funding by the European Innovation Council so far. This is bound to grow, as the EIC’s Accelerator fund has secured €1.13 billion for 2023.
War has decimated much of Ukraine’s economy, but a notable exception is the IT sector. As of November, the industry’s annual export revenues had hit a record $5.5 billion — 13% more than in the same period last year.
Since Russia invaded in February, 58% of Ukrainian tech firms have processed new orders from clients. Despite brutal assaults, martial law, and general mobilization, 85% have restored their pre-war business activities. That’s according to Lviv IT Cluster, a community of companies, universities, and local authorities.
“Ukraine’s tech industry is not only showing the ability to operate fully, but it’s demonstrating growth,” says Stepan Veselovskyi, the group’s CEO. “The export of IT services grew by 9.9% compared to last year, and brought in more than $6 billion in revenue, surpassing the 2021 figure by $542 million.”
Veselovskyi (center) at the IT Arena conference, which his organization runs. Credit: Lviv IT Cluster
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Getting to the heart of the European tech and startup scene
This triumph over adversity has been indispensable for Ukraine. While conflict ravages the country’s coffers, the sector provides wages for workers, taxes for the economy, and technical support for the war effort. Tech provides the military with encrypted communications, UAVs, and cyber defenses, and civilians with digital IDs, air raid alerts, and online payments.
IT will also be integral to the post-war recovery — but getting there will be tough.
It can be mutually beneficial.
A summer survey by Lviv IT Cluster found that over 50,000 IT workers had relocated since the invasion, while a further 7,000 had joined the armed forces. Those that remain now endure blackouts caused by attacks on infrastructure. Some fear that empathy from clients will dwindle as war fatigue sets in.
As the challenges mount, help from overseas becomes increasingly crucial. But the benefits of support extend far beyond altruism.
“Charity is good, but you can also work with companies. It can be mutually beneficial,” says Oleksandr Yatsenko, managing partner at BRISE Capital, a Kyiv-based investment firm.
Yatsenko (far right) also works for the Ukrainian Startup Fund and software firm Finmap. Credit: Lviv IT Cluster
Indeed, Ukraine’s tech ecosystem has a unique blend of assets. The country’s rich history in computer science laid the foundations for a thriving sector. Today, it encompasses over 200,000 IT specialists and one of the world’s biggest pools of tech talent. Stellar programming skills, a high level of English, and a timezone that overlaps well with both the US and Europe comprise a compelling package.
These attributes have made Ukraine a global hub for IT outsourcing. Now, the country wants to turn its expertise into domestic tech giants.
President Zelensky’s administration has made bold moves to bring these ambitions to reality. this future. In 2019, his government established the Ministry of Digital Transformation. By 2024, the department aims to put every public service online, expand access to high-speed Internet; teach 6 million Ukrainians digital skills, and increase tech’s share in GDP to 10%. It currently accounts for around 4.5%.
Industry is united with government.
To reach these goals, the government has championed business-friendly policies: low taxation, minimal paperwork, and massive deregulation, alongside extensive anti-corruption reforms and funding initiatives, such as the Ukrainian Startup Fund.
This program has been bolstered by collaboration between the public and private sectors. War has made both sides appreciate their interdependence.
“The world should know that industry is united with the government and they help each other,” says Ivan Babichuk, chairman of the supervisory board of Lviv IT Cluster. “And it makes [Ukraine] a protective and secure place to run a business — despite the whole security issue around the country.”
Babichuk (right) in conversation with Ukrainian official Alex Bornyakov. Credit: Lviv IT Cluster
The hardships of war have added further qualities. Ukraine’s digital infrastructure and economy has been remarkably resilient since the full-scale invasion, while the workforce has acquired a rare blend of courage and adaptability. New skills in crisis management, leadership, teamwork, and efficiency have been forged in conflict.
“Most companies have retained customers and the volume of their contracts,” says Alex Bornyakov, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation. “Ukrainian developers have shown that they are capable of doing their job well even under extreme conditions. For the whole world, this is an indicator that Ukraine is a reliable partner and an attractive investment destination.”
We’ve become more active — and stronger.
Some tech businesses have thrived since the invasion. Take Mosqitter, which won the prestigious IT Arena Startup Competition in 2021. While the conflict escalated, the company grew its team and developed a new product line.
“Difficulties bring you opportunities and possibilities for growth,” says Olga Diachuk, the company’s COO. “It shows you who you really are, what you are made of, and how smart you are.”
Digital businesses also typically require fewer physical resources — which makes their revenues increasingly important to Ukraine. Brick-and-mortar stores, for instance, are now more likely to close due to safety concerns than e-commerce sites.
Nonetheless, tech firms face immense challenges of their own. Investment from overseas will be crucial a component of their future fortunes.
“It’s very important to keep the support of the local tech ecosystem from outside as Western-based funds do,” says Joachim Laqueur, General Partner at VC firm Acrobator Ventures.
“Technology is such a long-term beneficial force. Now we’re seeing the first wave of successful companies breaking the ground. Even during the time of war, these people, these companies are able to address problems that are not restricted by borders.”
Laquer (second from right) was on the jury for the 2022 IT Arena Startup Competition, which was won by WRAP, an app that automates video production flows. Credit: Lviv IT Cluster
People who already invest in Ukraine note that war is fostering a unique set of skills. For example, thousands of volunteer hackers have joined the IT army, an organization that’s defending Ukraine against Russia’s vaunted hacker groups.
Members of the group have attained unparalleled experience. Mykhailo Fedorov, the country’s Minister of Digital Transformation, describes the conflict they’ve withstood as “the first world cyber war.” The volunteers now want to share their expertise with international allies.
“Ukrainian tech companies are strengthening their cyber defense capabilities, and can help other countries better understand the nature of modern cyberattacks,” says Veselovskyi, the Lviv IT Cluster CEO.
The First World Cyber War. The first IT Army in the world. 270K of angry IT-warriors of cyber frontline. Rutube shutdown. AI tech & identification of war criminals. And many more cases to disclose after the victory. You are free to join, by the way. pic.twitter.com/3PDP075nU5
— Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) May 26, 2022
Despite these strengths, the potential of Ukraine’s tech sector will only be fulfilled through support from the international community. For Veselovskyi, the simplest way they can help is by cutting all ties with Russia.
“The next step is motivating your local governments to support Ukraine and get involved with Ukraine’s fundraising initiatives,” he says. “The future safety and economic prosperity of Europe depend on the victory of Ukraine on the battlefield. You can start working with Ukrainian companies already today through our B2B platform Lviv Tech.”
To forecast the sector’s future, Veselovskyi’s team surveyed over 5,000 tech industry representatives. In the most positive scenario, which presupposes European integration and liberalization of the economy, 78% of the respondents would remain in Ukraine. A further 12% would try to move abroad, while another 10% are yet to decide.
The best way to help Ukraine is to invest in Ukraine.
This outcome can provide the foundations for a flourishing post-war industry. To build this, continued support from Europe will be essential. Government officials have sought to spread this message at IT events around the world.
“We tell them one specific thing: the best way to help Ukraine is to invest in Ukraine,” says Bornyakov, the Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation. “Work with Ukrainian companies, give money to Ukrainian startups, and if you are able to hire Ukrainian freelancers, do it.”
The stakes are extremely high. IT remains the only industry in Ukraine that still shows growth. If it shrinks, the whole country will suffer. If it expands, however, the sector can help Ukraine not only survive, but flourish.
Ioanna is a writer at SHIFT. She likes the transition from old to modern, and she’s all about shifting perspectives. Ioanna is a writer at SHIFT. She likes the transition from old to modern, and she’s all about shifting perspectives.
As we’re moving towards an EV-dominated future, efforts to introduce wireless on-road charging systems are increasing.
Now, Germany’s famous Autobahn will welcome its own wireless charging system — although it won’t be available to individual EV drivers. Instead, it will power a public bus transporting passengers to the city of Balingen.
The technology will be provided by Israeli wireless charging company Electreon, which will collaborate with German EnBW — an EV charging infrastructure provider — for the realization of the project.
Electreon will deploy 1km of Electric Road System (ERS) along a stretch of the Autobahn, providing dynamic wireless charging while the bus is in motion. This will be accompanied by two static charging stations placed at stops along the bus route.
The project consists of two phases: firstly, the deployment of a 400-meter-long route with two static charging stations. Secondly, the expansion of the electric road by another 600 meters.
Notably, this endeavor follows a successful pilot of the two companies in the Germany city of Karlsruhe. An electrified road was installed at the EnBW training center, powering a local public bus at peak hours.
“We have already shown in our joint Karlsruhe project with EnBW how effective, safe, and easy to deploy wireless dynamic charging is. We hope this is the start of many more projects on public and private roads in Germany,” Dr. Andreas Wendt, CEO of Electreon Germany, said in the press release.
The Israeli company has run wireless on-road charging projects in Italy and Sweden as well.
But although Electreon and severalUS-basedcompanies are testing the tech, only a few European companies are active in the field. These include Italian Enermove, German-based Magment, and Swedish Elonroad.
Wireless on-road charging could play a pivotal role in eliminating range anxiety and the inconvenience of long charging times at stations. This, in turn, will facilitate the transition to electric vehicles.
On the downside, it requires a tremendous change (and investment) in infrastructure, which, by the time it is realized, might turn out to be obsolete as a result of technological advancements in conventional charging stations. Perhaps, the European industry is taking a wait-and-see approach before shelling out all that cash.
Thanks to the convergence of several trends and changes across different markets and industries, automation is becoming a critical factor in the success of businesses and products. Advances in artificial intelligence, in parallel with the accelerating digitization of all aspects of business, are creating plenty of opportunities to automate operations, reduce waste, and increase efficiency.
From managing your Information Technology (IT) bill to finding bottlenecks in your business processes and taking control of your own network operations, here are three areas where companies can gain from applying automation.
1. IT automation
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Practically every large organization has IT. Even small companies that don’t have in-house IT staff may pay for another company to do it for them. The growing demand for IT can put extra strain on professionals who must deal with the ever-expanding and changing landscape of application and compute platforms.
“I’ve never met an IT person or CIO who said they have so much time and budget that they can do everything the business asks and more. There’s always a shortage of ability to drive projects through IT,” says Bill Lobig, Vice President of IBM Automation Product Management.
The talent shortage is highlighting the need to provide automation tools to IT staff so they can manage application uptime and keep IT operations stable.
Fortunately, advances in artificial intelligence are helping companies move toward smart automation by gathering and processing all sorts of structured and unstructured data.
“We’re seeing companies have more confidence in applying AI to a broader set of data, including log files and metrics and information that are spinning off of the systems that are running in your business (databases, app servers, Kubernetes, VMs),” Lobig says.
Previously, IT experts may have optimized their infrastructure through informed judgments and overprovisioning their resources. Now, they can take the guesswork out of their decisions by using AI to analyze the data of the IT infrastructure, find patterns, estimate usage, and optimize their resources.
For example, J.B. Hunt, a logistics and transportation company, uses IBM Turbonomic software to automate the scaling of its cloud and on-premise resources. For their on-premises environment, J.B. Hunt is automating all non-disruptive actions 24×7 and scaling non-production actions during a nightly maintenance window.
“Workloads scale and spike—it’s not static. No matter how much performance testing and capacity you put into sizing an application deployment, it’s a guess, albeit an educated one. You don’t really know how your customers’ workloads are going to vary across different times,” Lobig says.
In their public cloud environment, the J.B. Hunt team has been using a combination of recommendations and automated actions to manage their resources. Over the course of 12 months, Turbonomic executed nearly 2,000 resizing actions which—assuming manual intervention requires 20 minutes per action—freed up over 650 hours of the team’s time to focus on strategic initiatives.
2. Business processes
Business processes are another area that can gain from advances in AI and automation. The previous wave of automation in business processes was mostly driven by robotic process automation (RPA). While RPA has had a tremendous effect on productivity, like other solutions, it has limits too.
RPA only addresses tasks that you think need automation. It can automate a poorly designed process but can’t optimize it. It also can’t handle tasks that can’t be defined through deterministic rules. This is where “process and task mining” enter the picture. According to Lobig:
RPA executes scripts to automate what you tell it to do. It’s very deterministic and rigid in what it can do, automating highly repeatable tasks. Process and task mining find inefficiencies you can’t see.
Process and task mining can answer questions such as, is your business really running the way you think it is? Is everyone completing processes in the same way? What should you optimize first? It helps you get past the low-hanging fruit and find the hidden inefficiencies of your business that can also be addressed with automation.
3. Networking
In the past, networking was a specialized hardware-based discipline largely controlled by big telecommunications companies. Today, the networking ecosystem is more complex as enterprises now require ubiquitous application distribution in a hybrid multi-cloud environment, from customer prem, to edge, to private and public clouds.
The challenge is deploying and connecting all application endpoints at scale. Networks must be agile and dynamic to maintain application performance, availability, security and user experience. Today’s networks, however, face unprecedented challenges that can render them unresponsive and unadaptable to change. Enterprise and service providers can address those needs, delivering custom enterprise network value with self-service enterprise control.
Organizations can now own and manage their networking functions and end-to-end connectivity without being experts in switches, routers, radio-access networks, and other hardware.
“Networking has become just another part of the application supply chain (like databases, VMs, and containers) that companies are already running. Why not have your network be part of your full IT landscape so that you can apply AI to optimize it?” Lobig says.
For example, consider a large multinational bank that provides its customers access to their accounts overseas through ATM machines. The company previously outsourced network connectivity to a big telco. When the telco faced an outage in one country where the bank provided service, the customers could not access their funds. Although the bank didn’t have control over the networking service, it was fined for the outage.
Now, thanks to software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) and automation and orchestration tools such as IBM’s AIOps solutions and IBM SevOne Network Performance Management, the bank can assume control of its own software-defined network, instead of shifting such an important responsibility to another company. New application-centric network connectivity can enhance those capabilities. This can drive enhanced security, intelligent observability, and service assurance, while providing a common way to manage networks across the diversity of infrastructure, tools, and security constructs.
Another area of networking that will provide new opportunities for automation is 5G.
“A lot of people think about 5G as a faster networking technology. But 5G is going to transform and disrupt B2B use cases. It can really bring edge computing to the forefront,” Lobig says.
There’s an opportunity for organizations to leverage software-defined networking and 5G to unlock new business models where high-bandwidth, low latency, and local connectivity is crucial.
An example is DISH Wireless, a company that’s working with IBM to automate the first greenfield cloud-native 5G network in the US. DISH Wireless is using IBM’s network orchestration software and services to bring 5G network orchestration to its business and operations platforms. One application they’re working on is enabling logistics companies to track package locations down to the centimeter, thanks to edge connectivity, RFID tags, and network management software.
“We’re helping them do this with our telco and network computing automation, edge computing automation, and enabling them to set up state-of-the-art orchestration for their customers. These unexpected industries can use 5G to really transform how business gets done across different areas,” Lobig says.
Where is the industry headed?
Automation is quickly evolving and we’re bound to see many new applications in the coming months and years. For companies that are at the beginning of their automation journey, Lobig has a few tips.
In the business automation space, look at process and task mining. Do you really know where the time is being spent in your enterprise? Do you know how work is getting done? If you use this technology, you’ll be able to identify the patterns and sequence of events that go into good outcomes and those that go into bad outcomes. Armed with these insights, you can redesign and automate the processes that have the biggest impact upon your business.
Lobig also believes that IT automation will be a bigger theme in 2023 as the world faces an energy crisis and electricity costs potentially become an escalating problem. IT automation can help organizations to use the capacity they need, which may translate into savings.
IT automation can also be important in tackling the climate change crisis.
“These days, you can tell whether your organization’s data center or workload is running on a renewable energy source,” Lobig says. “With that data, IT automation has the potential to automatically move workloads from cloud to on-prem and back and across hyper-scalers to optimize for costs and efficiencies.”
As for the future, Lobig believes that low-code/no-code application platforms will play an important role in automation by enabling more employees to build the automations that can enhance productivity.
As the new year approaches, many of us are thinking of moving into a new role or career in 2023. It’s an exciting time to try something new. But, don’t let the labor shortage fool you, the job market is more competitive than ever.
While there are plenty of opportunities out there, particularly in the tech sector, the rise of remote working also means that job seekers in 2023 will be competing against a global talent pool.
Two candidates may be equally qualified, but one will have the edge over the other because they know how to present that experience in the most effective––and relevant––way. Along with nailing the perfect CV, there are lots of steps you can take to maximize your employment chances.
Here are five tricks to help you land your dream job.
1. Get to grips with ATS keywords
While it might not be true that recruiters only look at a CV for six seconds, there are other challenges to getting your application noticed. Enter: Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS).
Businesses are using this software to filter or rank applications (99% of Fortune 500 Companies are believed to use ATS) and, if your application doesn’t contain the right search terms, it may not be picked up.
ATS keywords are specific words or phrases that employers have identified as requirements for a role. Keep them in mind as you tailor your application to each job you apply for. Match keywords and job titles from the job listing and keep the formatting of your CV simple and clear.
2. Focus on specifics
Whether it’s on a CV, an application, or in an interview, get specific about your achievements. Identify the headlines, as it were, of your job experience. It could be that successful project, that key client win, or that growth in revenue that helps you stand out.
You don’t have to embellish what you’ve achieved, this is about contextualizing it for potential new employers. Having topline stats, achievements, or successes to share can also highlight your transferable skills if you’re hoping to move into a new area.
3. Update your online presence
Your online presence can have a bigger impact than you may think. Considering how you represent “Brand You” online can provide new opportunities to showcase why you’re the best person for the job.
Update your LinkedIn profile to full effect. Recruiters scout for talent on LinkedIn, so make sure you have an up-to-date work history, achievements, and other relevant information. Share your work and successes on your Twitter, Instagram, and other social media platforms.
4. Network for the long term
Networking doesn’t have to be as blunt as trying to land a new job through someone directly. Consider it an exercise in making connections, and don’t forget about mutually beneficial networking. Perhaps you can connect two people who can help each other out? Developing a good reputation and a professional network of contacts can only be a good thing.
If you’re trying to break into a new area, ask to meet a mentor or someone you admire for a coffee. Make it clear it’s just a chat and you don’t expect anything. You may pick up some valuable advice, and they may remember you if an opportunity does arise.
5. Keep track of opportunities
Job boards are a fantastic place to begin your job search. Sign up to mailing lists and join online groups related to the areas you’re interested in. Follow key people on social media and keep an eye on what they share and post.
While there may not be actual job listings, it’s good research and will keep you up-to-date on your industry. You never know when the ideal opportunity might pop up. And when it comes to job sites, bookmark them and commit time to checking them regularly for new postings and insights into potential employers.
If you’re considering a move in the new year, there are three interesting job opportunities below. Be sure to check out the House of Talent Job Board for thousands of available job openings.
Data Science Lead, Accenture, Dublin
Accenture is a global professional services company working across disciplines including digital, cloud, and security. This role sits within The Dock’s Havoc team, which is made up of 60 entrepreneurial problem solvers and based in Dublin, Ireland. You’ll own, drive, and execute the team’s data science strategy, and work to identify data science opportunities within client projects. You should have strong academic qualifications in a relevant field and experience in data science applications is also a must. Looking for a different opportunity? Check out further roles with Accenture here.
Software Asset Manager, WPP, London
WPP is a creative transformation company and offers clients a range of communications, experience, commerce, and technology services. In this London-based role you’ll be responsible for operating the Software Asset Management (SAM) practice to optimise WPP’s asset base and manage/reduce risk. The successful applicant will need to have experience working in an IT asset management role and in working with ITAM or CMDB tools. Expertise in end-to-end SAM ownership for vendors such as IBM, Oracle, Microsoft, SAP, and VMware is also a must. WPP is also hiring for a number of other roles, which you can find here.
Backend Engineer, Purchase Risk Management, Zalando, Berlin
Ecommerce fashion platform Zalando connects customers, brands, and partners across 23 markets. This backend engineer position sits within a dynamic and diverse group of engineers and applied scientists. The role offers the opportunity to work on cutting edge projects, improve Zalando’s operational excellence and shape the team’s way of working. You’ll need up to three years experience as a backend engineer for cloud-based technologies––preferably on AWS––and knowledge of object oriented programming such as Java and Python. Zalando has even more opportunities here.
Ioanna is a writer at SHIFT. She likes the transition from old to modern, and she’s all about shifting perspectives. Ioanna is a writer at SHIFT. She likes the transition from old to modern, and she’s all about shifting perspectives.
JUPITER is set to become the first European supercomputer to make the leap into the exascale era. This means, it’ll be capable of performing more than an exaflop (or 1 quintillion) operations per second. In other words, the device’s computing power willsurpassthat of 5 million laptops or PCs combined.
The European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU), which is being behind the project, has now signed ahosting agreementwith theJülich Supercomputing Centre(JSC) in Germany, where JUPITER will be located.
Under the terms of the agreement, JUPITER (which stands for “Joint Undertaking Pioneer for Innovative and Transformative Exascale Research”) will be installed on the campus of the Forschungszentrum Jülich research institute in 2023. The machine will be operated by the JSC.
This new supercomputer will be backed by a €500million budget, split equally between the EuroHPC JU and German federal and state sources.
JUPITER’s remarkable power will support the development of high-precision models of complex systems. The machine will be used to analyse key societal issues in Europe, such as health, biology, climate, energy, security, and materials. It will also support intensive use of AI and analysis of enormous data volumes.
Experts expect the computer to improve research quality (while reducing costs), and integrate future technologies such as quantum computing. The device will be available to a wide range of European users in the scientific community, industry, and public sector.
Along with its outstanding computing power, JUPITER will feature a dynamic, modular architecture, which will enable optimal use of the various computing modules used during complex simulations. Notably, JUPITER has been designed as a “green” supercomputer and will be powered by green electricity, supported by a warm water cooling system. At the same time, its average power consumption is anticipated to be up to15 megawatts— approximately six megawatts less than the US Frontierexascale supercomputer.
Upon completion, JUPITER will become the ninth (and best) supercomputer the EuroHPC JU has provided to Europe. Three are expected to be available shortly, and five are already operational. Among them isLUMI, which has beenrankedthe fastest in the EU and third fastest in the world.
Application development has a long history of quick evolution and transformation, perhaps faster than any other industry. The tools we use to create and host our applications are constantly changing.
The fast developments in programming tools provide plenty of opportunities to create software for companies of different sizes, industries, and budgets. However, the added flexibility and diversity of tools — as well as the constantly changing landscape — also introduce their own set of challenges.
Developers must be able to create their apps in ways that can adapt to the scale and changes that their organization, customers, and infrastructure undergo. Fortunately, with the shift toward graph-based programming, companies will be much better equipped to maintain their agility as they continuously grow and adapt to the needs of their customers.
The challenges of modern application development
One of the blessings — and curses — of modern application development is the many options you have.
You can choose between running your application on your own servers, in the cloud, or in a hybrid model. You can use a serverless model, where a cloud provider manages your server in the background and you focus on functionality, or choose a containerized model, where your application is packaged into a docker file. You can choose between different models of data hosting and storage, including data warehouses and data lakes. And you can make these and many other choices for each component of your application.
The benefit of this powerful variety of computing and storage platforms is that you can adjust your application according to the needs of your customers and your organization. However, the downside is the added complexity that comes with communicating with the many different service APIs that support your application.
GraphQL helps developers communicate with APIs through flexible and structured data queries.
“Many applications must communicate with dozens, even hundreds of services during runtime. In some cases, every application update (mobile, web, etc.) requires hundreds of API calls to different services,” says Peggy Rayzis, Sr. Director of Developer Experience at Apollo Graph, Inc. “This requires a huge and complicated effort by developers, who must ensure all these different services are compatible and can interoperate.”
The added complexity also makes it difficult to iterate, add or modify features, or change the underlying infrastructure. In each case, redundant implementations and inconsistencies between services force developers to go through intensive changes in their code to connect all the old and new services.
Graph-based programming to the rescue
One of the trends helping developers tackle the complexity of the application ecosystem is graph-based programming. Graph-based programming enables developers to add a data schema layer between their application and the API services that run behind the scenes. This layer of abstraction decouples these parts and enables them to evolve without causing major disruptions in each other.
“Basically, the idea is that you add an intermediate layer that enables your application to interact with your data entities by querying a graph,” Rayzis says. “The graph layer is uniform and flexible, regardless of what kind of infrastructure is working behind the scenes, whether it’s an on-prem server, a cloud VM, a REST API, a data warehouse, or a serverless function such as AWS Lambda.”
Graph-based programming was popularized by GraphQL, a data-query language introduced by Facebook in 2015. GraphQL helps developers communicate with APIs through flexible and structured data queries. This makes it easier for the developer to focus on the data schema and logic of the application and also maintain the stability of the application as the APIs evolve and change.
We’re seeing 30% of fortune 500 companies building their apps on the supergraph.
Companies and applications of different sizes can benefit from graph-based programming. Rayzis says:
Regardless of size and structure, every application can benefit from graph-based development. As your app grows or your data infrastructure changes, your graph remains consistent and remains tied to the logic of your app.
For example, Walmart used GraphQL to create a federated schema of different entities used across their different applications and services offered on web and mobile. With GraphQL, they could remove a lot of the code being replicated across their APIs, unify their applications, and become much more agile in rolling out features and improving the user experience.
The next generation of graph-based tools
“What we found over our six-plus years working with developers implementing GraphQL at scale is that its flexibility is its greatest strength, but it can also lead to some negative consequences if it isn’t implemented in a principled way,” Rayzis says.
These limitations led to the idea of the supergraph, Apollo’s special implementation of GraphQL. The supergraph goes beyond the basic benefits of GraphQL, which are to replace data-fetching and backend for frontend (BFF) code with schema and queries. It brings together a company’s data, microservices, and digital capabilities, creating a unified composition layer for the whole organization. The supergraph architecture is built on Apollo’s open technology, Apollo Federation. Apollo also provides GraphOS, a cloud-based platform of tools with an edge runtime and schema delivery pipeline for the supergraph. According to Rayzis:
The supergraph allows you to distribute the graph schema across different teams and different services, but then unify it together into one interface for the client. It’s about solving real customer problems. It’s based on our years of experience, helping customers implement GraphQL. And really, the main principles are that it’s one unified layer, built-in modules that you can evolve over time.
One of the companies that have benefited from the supergraph is Booking.com, one of the world’s largest online travel agencies. Booking.com has been around since 1996 and is thus running a lot of legacy code and infrastructure. This makes it very challenging to change the software architecture, especially as the company employs thousands of engineers and needs to make sure they can collaborate safely.
Thanks to the flexibility and versatility of the supergraph, Booking.com was able to make a phased transition to GraphQL without breaking any of their services. As they gradually rolled out the supergraph across the organization, the engineers and managers realized its benefits and helped accelerate the transition. The full adoption of the supergraph has enabled Booking.com to ship 40% faster, sometimes doubling the speed at which they’re releasing features. At the same time, they’ve managed to considerably reduce mistakes and breaking changes.
“We’re seeing 30% of fortune 500 companies building their apps on the supergraph. And I think that number is only going to increase in the years to come,” Rayzis says.
It’s going to dramatically lower the barrier for app development and make it so that more developers can create apps. It’s going to continue to reduce the time needed to create those apps. And so by making it more approachable, and reducing that time, you’re going to see even more innovation.
Over the past year, the skyrocketing fuel prices across Europe have increased consumer interest in alternative sources of energy, such as solar power. And as demand has been on the rise, 2022 was a good funding year for startups focusing on providing photovoltaic (PV) technology to residential customers.
Specifically, Europeanstartups in the sector have raised over €488 million — and that’s excluding the €855-milliondebtfunding round attracted by Berlin-based unicornEnpal.
1Komma5° has received the highest funding throughout the year at €200 million. Founded in 2021, the company has secured high-tierinvestors such as Porsche and is introducing an interesting businessstrategy: aggregating individualcompanies that offer solar services and bundling them together.
Beyond Germany, residential solar techcompanies that have seen an increase in capital are also active in Spain (Samara), Sweden (Sunroof), Norway (Otovo), Estonia (Solarstone), and the UK (Naked Energy, Solivus).
Among them, Spain-based Samara offers another interesting case. Founded in the summer of 2022, the startup has managed to raise €6.4 million within six months.
The company uses software to develop a comprehensive, customer-centered solution, ranging from the installation of solar panels to EV chargers. The technology enables users to preview solar panel installation through a 3Dmodel, estimate energy savings, and calculate their positive environmental impact through a decrease in CO2 emissions.
What all the companies have in common is the aim to enable the transition to solar energy by focusing on affordability and convenience: from easy installation practices and maintenanceservices to customizable options and energy monitoring tools.
Overall, 2022 has enabled startups in the space to attract even more capital, demonstrating their potential to provide betterservices to consumers, and in turn, promote further the switch to solar power.
And as Europe is pushing for the adoption of sustainable forms of energy, we can expect that solar techstartups will see higher investment in the coming year.
This article was originally published on .cult by Nadya Primak. .cult is a Berlin-based community platform for developers. We write about all things career-related, make original documentaries, and share heaps of other untold developer stories from around the world. The tech industry is not known for having great interviewing processes. From the notorious whiteboard interviews to algorithm challenges requiring a computer science degree to even wrap your head around, there are all kinds of outdated standards and approaches to interviewing developers that should have died out years ago. Unfortunately, like most legacy systems we love to hate, these interview processes…
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