Imagine you’re moving to the destination of your dreams. A tropical paradise by the sea? An enchanting mountain village? A sun-kissed chateau surrounded by vineyards? Take your pick. All you need to do is pack a smartphone. You catch a cab to the station, scan a turnstile, and board a train to the airport. On arrival, you stroll through a biometric corridor and straight on to your plane. After your flight touches down, you collect a rental car. You flash a digital driver’s licence to unlock the door.  You drive to your new home. On the way, you stop off… This story continues at The Next ..read more

Berlin-based renewable energy firm Q Energy has secured €50mn in debt finance to complete work on Europe’s largest floating solar farm, set to power up next year. The plant is already under construction at the site of a former quarry in the Haute-Marne region of France. Once finished, the farm will comprise 134,649 floating solar panels covering an area equivalent to 180 football pitches. The huge 73MW array will cater to the electricity needs of around 37,000 people, Q Energy estimates.  Floating solar farms — or “floatovoltaics” — work much like their land-based cousins, but on water ..read more

Europe’s first-generation Vega rocket has blasted a payload into space for the last time.  Vega lifted off from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana in the early hours of this morning. It was carrying Sentinel-2C, an Earth observation platform that will now join Europe’s fleet of Copernicus satellites. LIFTOFF of #Sentinel2 C on the last Vega rocket from @EuropeSpacePort in Kourou, French Guiana on 5 September 2024! pic.twitter.com/QzAZPkqBTr — European Space Agency (@esa) September 5, 2024 The European Space Agency (ESA) called the launch a “fitting” farewell for a rocket that wa ..read more

Reports that the Netherlands plans to implement (under US pressure) new export restrictions of ASML equipment to China are increasing. In the name of national security, the US chip war against China has been escalating since 2022, when Washington took the first decisive steps to curb the Asian country’s semiconductor ambitions. Part of the US strategy has been applying pressure to ally countries such as the Netherlands — home to ASML. The Dutch tech company is the sole manufacturer of the world’s most advanced chipmaking machines. The Netherlands has curbed exports of ASML’s most sophisticate ..read more

US startup Aeromine has installed the UK’s first “motionless” wind turbine atop BMW’s Mini factory in Oxford. The 3-metre-tall, box-shaped device captures wind flowing up and over the building. Specially designed wing-like airfoils create a vacuum behind the unit which forces air up through a chamber where it turns a fan inside, generating power.  Aeromine’s device has no visible moving parts. The bladeless design minimises noise and vibrations, and the risks to wildlife like birds or bats. By amplifying wind speed, Aeromine’s system can harness energy more efficiently. Each unit has a p ..read more

The advertising exodus from X is set to accelerate. In 2025, almost half of marketers in Europe and North America plan to cut their spending on the platform. That’s according to a new study from Kantar, a market research firm based in the UK. The company found that trust in ads on X is now “historically low.” Unsurprisingly, the company’s reputation has plummeted under the leadership of Elon Musk. When Musk bought the platform in 2022, trust from marketers stood at a worrying 22%. Two years later, it’s down to a dismal 12%. Trust isn’t their only concern. Only 4%… This story continues at The ..read more

Belgian ebike maker Cowboy has bagged €5mn as it looks to achieve full-year profitability next year — and not suffer the same fate as VanMoof.  The funding round was led by Cypress Capital, a Hong Kong-based VC with strong ties to Taiwan, the global hub of bicycle manufacturing. “Cypress Capital is not just a financial investor — which is great to have as well, especially in this climate — but a strategic one,” Cowboy’s founder and CEO, Adrien Roose, told TNW.  While Cowboy’s hyper-connected ebikes are assembled in Europe, it sources about half of its parts from Taiwan, Roose said ..read more

Stability AI has added three new image generators to Amazon Bedrock, a platform for building apps. Stable Image Ultra, Stable Diffusion 3 Large, and Stable Image Core are all now live on the service. The trio are Stability’s “top three text-to-image models,” the company said. By adding them to Bedrock, the London startup hopes to reach new audiences — and customers. Scott Trowbridge, VP of business development at Stability, told TNW that the move will “drive enterprise adoption of our models.” Amazon, meanwhile, receives another boost to Bedrock. A Bedrock for Stability? Launched last year, B ..read more

 Welcome to the new episode of the TNW Podcast — the show where we discuss the latest developments in the European technology ecosystem and feature interviews with some of the most interesting people in the industry. In today’s episode, Linnea and Andrii talk about the Barbie phone, Telegram’s future in the EU, running blades for the Paralympics, the end of AnandTech, and more. You’ll also hear an interview with Ferry Zonder, founder of the Dutch bicycle company Veloretti. The company has grown a lot over the past years and has very recognisable bikes. Our reporter Siôn Geschwindt sat down ..read more

The UK’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) is allocating £81mn to a new programme that aims to create early warning systems for climate tipping points. These are thresholds within the Earth’s climate ecosystem, which — if crossed — can trigger devastating and often irreversible changes. As no early warning mechanisms currently exist, ARIA is hoping for a scientific first. It has opened calls for proposals to R&D teams across academia and industry, from universities and private labs to startups and SMEs. “Finding early warning signals for climate tipping points is like searchin ..read more