Welcome to the 19th edition of The Innovation Platform, delving into the cutting-edge developments shaping the innovation landscape globally.
This summer, the world gathered in Paris to celebrate the Olympics and Paralympics in an impressive display of hard work, perseverance, and excellence. Nearly 15,000 athletes from over 200 countries competed in 878 events across the two games, fostering a sense of global community and serving as a powerful reminder of what can be achieved with collaboration, dedication, and resilience. In addition, the Paris Olympics were the greenest games in modern history, with its new energy-efficient infrastructure powered by 100% renewable electricity. Against a backdrop of continued disruption caused by global conflicts and the ever-increasing impact of climate change, the games are a powerful symbol of optimism.
The same spirit of optimism and determination can be seen throughout this issue, as reflected in our foreword by Solar Power Europe’s Thomas Garabetian. He emphasises the significance of integrating circularity throughout supply chains to optimise resource use and reduce waste, exploring the innovative initiatives and regulations that are already putting this into practice.
BMAC’s Sean De Vries builds on this theme in our Electric Vehicle, Battery Research, and Development section, delving into the outlook for Canada’s battery metals industry to dispel concerns and highlight the growing interest and activity in the sector. Headlining our new Mining focus, the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining provides a comprehensive overview of sustainability in mining practices, assessing how the demand for those critical raw materials driving green innovation can be balanced with the need to conserve and protect our resources.
Moving into our Energy section, you can find content from the UK Hydrogen Energy Association exploring the progress and development of the UK’s low-carbon hydrogen industry. We also take a look at new regulatory frameworks aimed at enhancing sustainability, including a discussion of the EU’s Rooftop Solar Standard Regulation. Following this, Tim Parkes and Karen Garesse from the Office for Nuclear Regulation consider how regulatory processes can be streamlined to facilitate nuclear power expansion, particularly highlighting the role of international cooperation in accelerating regulation safely and effectively.
Discussing the breakthrough findings of the NOvA experiment, this issue’s Science section opens with an interview from Fermilab. Patricia Vahle and Alex Himmel detail the NOvA experiment and its recent progress in the field of neutrino physics, highlighting the potential implications of its recent findings on our understanding of particle physics. In our space focus, Angela Deitz, Spacecraft Operations Engineer at the European Space Agency, details the JUICE mission’s groundbreaking lunar-earth flyby, that sets its trajectory on course for Venus.
Elsewhere in the publication, we have features on subjects including quantum technology, circular economy, and collaborations within the Horizon Europe programme. In our North American Innovation section, you will find insightful commentary from Argonne National Laboratory, which is currently home to Aurora, the world’s second-largest supercomputer. The Director of Argonne’s Leadership Computing Facility, Mike Papka, discusses Aurora’s recent achievement of exascale and its importance in the evolving ecosystem of supercomputers.
Our Horizon Europe section rounds out this edition. Here, the Honorable Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, offers his perspective on the collaboration with Canada, delving into the opportunities secured by this initiative and its potential to propel cutting-edge solutions to the most pressing global challenges.
These are just a few of the captivating pieces you can expect to find throughout this issue of The Innovation Platform. It has been a pleasure running the publication this past year. I’m excited to hand the baton back to Georgie, who has returned from maternity leave, to bring you Issue 20.
Maddie Hall
Editor
The Innovation Platform
