Each week in our Sunday newsletter, we look back on the past seven days. Regarding content, we always do so at the initiative of our cartoonist, Albert Jan Rasker. He chooses a subject, draws a picture, and we take it from there.
Every week in our EverydAI column, we highlight an application of AI that makes your life easier. Even if you’re not an AI expert. This week, it was about AI-powered voice assistants.
These digital assistants have become more innovative and more popular in recent years. Apple recently announced a catch-up on AI. Siri, along with Alexa, perhaps the world’s most popular voice assistant, is also getting its most significant update since it saw the light of day in 2011. The AI feature will soon allow the virtual assistant Siri to rewrite text, generate images, and create summaries of Web pages, among other things.
However, it will be some time before we can use this updated Siri in Europe. It is still uncertain whether EU regulations will allow the update.
June’’s investments that stood out: smart papers, quantum computing, and zero-party data
Each month, we list the investments that caught our eye the most. This month, they were:
1. Vico Therapeutics
This Leiden-based company raised €11.5 million for research into neurological disorders like Huntington’s disease. This neurodegenerative disorder currently has no treatments that can improve its course.
2. Zero-party data
This Eindhoven startup raised €1.2 million. It is developing a platform that protects consumer privacy while providing companies with valuable customer data, also known as zero-party data.
3. CuspAI
Amsterdam-based CuspAI has raised $30 million in funding. It partners with Meta – which provides data and computing power. The startup wants to use AI to research new materials in the fight against greenhouse gases.
You can read about number four and five here!
Gerard & Anton Awards
It will be time for our annual presentation of the Gerard & Anton Awards in a few days. For the tenth time, we are putting ten startups from the Brainport region in the spotlight. These 100 companies now have the common denominator: they use all their expertise to improve the world. The event is sold out, but you can enjoy it from behind your screen. Next week, we will publish our magazine, full of stories about the winners.
If you want to be sure of your copy (and help us control costs a little…), order your own magazine now. You can do so by emailing [email protected] or click on the image below. Remember to include the address where you want the magazine to go and the number of copies you want. The cost is €7.50 plus shipping.
And here’s what else caught our eye this week:
- Must read of the week: Profit and impact can coexist: Victor Straatman’s take on startup investing
- Jelle Prins, Cradle founder: ‘I thought my peak had passed after leaving Uber’
- Elcke’s column: If we move at 700 km/h through a vacuum tube every day
- Transparent solar panels make solar energy everywhere a reality
- Dutch tech CEOs call for government support amid innovation challenges
- Government’s increasing use of artificial intelligence
- Brand new race car from student team URE goes even faster through corners
- Simple tax adjustment could reduce CO2 emissions for Dutch households – new report says
- Scientists reluctant when it comes to climate change pronouncements, new report shows
You can read the rest of the articles we wrote last week here. Have a great weekend!
Aafke Eppinga
editor-in-chief Innovation Origins
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