Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More Light Field Lab has launched its SolidLight Holographic and Volumetric display technologies that will power some amazing imagery of the future. These next-generation display technologies will be used by major companies to build a wide variety of holographic images and animations. Connecting a bunch of panels together, the system can modulate 10 billion pixels per square meter. Last year, Light Field Lab raised $50 million, adding to its war chest of $85 million raised since its inception. And now I can see where that money is going. The San Jose, California-based company gave me a theatrical tour of an animated demo of an alien that it builds in collaboration with the SETI Institute, the organization searching for extraterrestrial intelligence in our galaxy. “We’re offering this to our customers and are deploying next year,” said Jon Karafin, CEO of Light Field Lab, in our latest interview. “That’s pretty exciting. This is an example of the kind of entertainment people are going to deploy.” Light Field Lab is shipping holographic tech for deployment as early as 2025. The demo took me inside the company’s headquarters in a kind of faux Area 51 secrete government facility. Taking me to a secret briefing room behind a fake bookcase, a woman in a lab coat filled me in on the project, which had something to do with alien encounters. She took me to an elevator where it simulated taking me deep underground into a research space that was free of radio interference. There was a mad scientist there and an army general who was quite paranoid about my presence. They then showed off the demo of SolidLight’s ability to form holographic objects in midair. The floating multi-planar objects were formed with 100 million pixels square meter of display power. So the researcher opened a portal to another planet, where an alien talked to me. It looked pretty real and asked me questions. Then it handed me a secret cube, and everyone in the room freaked out. The black cube appeared to be floating in mid-air. It was a holographic animation. That means it was a 3D object, as I could move my head and see different parts of the cube. I felt like I could reach out and grab that box. Ready for the market Light Field Lab’s theatrical demo of holographic tech. The invitation-only demo has entertained thought leaders from a wide variety of industries, including media, technology, retail and tourism. Light Field Lab hopes to sell them all its technology. “SETI and Light Field Lab created a themed environment enabling guests to suspend disbelief and engage with an extraterrestrial formed with nothing but light,” said Jon Karafin, CEO of Light Field Lab. The SETI Institute emerged as the ideal partner to introduce the possibilities of SolidLight. SETI leverages advanced technologies and immense bandwidth to capture and analyze radio signals, while LFL builds advanced display technology that incorporates incredible resolution and compute to enable holographic and volumetric objects that escape the screen and merge with reality. “The SETI Institute has partnered with Light Field Lab to enable an incredibly immersive experience and launch the company’s extraordinary SolidLight technologies. These are next-level, next-generation displays that are clearly the precursor to Star Trek’s Holodeck,” said Bill Diamond, president and CEO of the SETI Institute, in a statement. SolidLight: Holographic installations will be built-to-order based upon customer requirements and powered with an array of media servers to form fully holographic objects. SolidLight: Volumetric systems are available now with delivery in 2025 and driven with a single computer to form multiple planes within the holographic volume. How the tech works An alien from another star system. Light Field Lab had to assembles the holographic images on the display from smaller submodules that can produce the hologram. By pushing a lot of modules together, it can generate images with 10 billion pixels per square meter, or with fewer modules it can make smaller resolution images. As I wrote before, a hologram is the recording and projection of light. Everything around us is a collection of light energy visible through our eyes and processed by the visual cortex of the brain. The “light field” defines how photons travel through space and interact with material surfaces. The things that we ultimately see as the world around us are bundles of light that focus at the back of our eyes. The trick is getting your eyes to focus on a particular point in space. Light Field Lab’s technology re-creates what optical physics calls a “real image” for off-screen projected objects by generating a massive number of viewing angles that correctly change with the point of view and location just like in the real world. This is accomplished with a directly emissive, modular, and flat-panel display surface coupled with a complex series of waveguides that modulate the dense field of collimated light rays. With this implementation, a viewer sees around objects when moving in any direction such that motion parallax is maintained, reflections and refractions behave correctly, and the eyes freely focus on the items formed in mid-air. The result is that the brain says, “this is real,” without having any physical objects. In other words, Light Field Lab creates real holograms with no headgear. There’s no head-tracking, no motion sickness, and no latency in the display. To create the alien, the team used a combination of Unreal Engine tech and Maya tools. The variety of experiences can include virtual concierge services where AI can answer questions at a kind of reception desk. Digital signage is another possible market. But it takes a lot of graphics processing units (GPUs) and AI data center technology. One configuration might use more than 60 GPUs. The leaders of Light Field Lab. Light Field Lab’s technologies combine size, resolution and density to project SolidLight Objects that accurately move, refract and reflect in physical space. The directly emissive

Regulators across the world are in a helter-skelter scramble to get a hold on AI — but what, and whom exactly are they trying to regulate? A patchwork of laws and guidelines are emerging. While some aim at the LLM developers, others target AI users. Some focus on data governance, others on issues related to safety, labor, or property rights. Some are focused on IT automation, while others look ahead to artificial generalized intelligence. How should CIOs and CISOs plan for this new landscape? Forrester principal analyst Enza Iannopollo will discuss this in greater detail at the 2024 Forrester Security and Risk Summit Dec. 9 – 11 in Baltimore and online in a session called “A Fun (Yes Really) Crash Course in AI Regs and Frameworks).” She gave InformationWeek a preview. source

For many contact centers and businesses, IVAs (Interactive Virtual Assistants) offer a better way to keep up with customer expectations and demands compared to IVR (Interactive Voice Response) systems. This is mostly due to the fact that IVA tends to offer superior benefits and incorporate more of the latest technologies — including AI-enhanced features, customer relationship management (CRM) integrations, and real-time voice responses with a focus on dynamic call routing and self-service. Nevertheless, traditional IVR still serves a purpose for the contact centers of many businesses and organizations despite how it can be considered outdated. In any case, before you start using either system at your contact center, it’s a good idea to take a closer look at the differences between them. 1 RingCentral RingEx Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Medium (250-999 Employees), Large (1,000-4,999 Employees), Enterprise (5,000+ Employees) Medium, Large, Enterprise Features Hosted PBX, Managed PBX, Remote User Ability, and more 2 Talkroute Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Any Company Size Any Company Size Features Call Management/Monitoring, Call Routing, Mobile Capabilities, and more IVA vs IVR: What’s the difference? While IVR uses pre-recorded voice prompts to interact with customers, IVA employs AI to provide personalized voice responses in real-time — just like a real conversation. With traditional IVR, callers interact by using touch-tone keypads or voice commands to navigate a fixed menu, allowing them to complete basic tasks and find information on their own. IVA, on the other hand, is a more advanced technology that uses AI and natural language processing (NLP) to provide personalized responses to callers. It uses natural language understanding (NLU) to process and understand what callers are saying, thus allowing it to provide a more complex response. Even conversational IVR, which also uses AI and NLP, is not as capable as an IVA. A conversational IVR provides a more user-friendly experience than traditional IVR, but it is not typically able to provide personalized, context-aware interactions like an IVA. SEE: Discover even more benefits of conversational IVR.  Five reasons it makes sense to go with IVA vs IVR Although it’s neither a substitution for live agents nor a one-size-fits-all contact center solution, IVA technology offers a number of advantages over traditional IVR. In particular, there are five noteworthy benefits of using IVAs. 1. Fewer abandoned calls An IVA helps reduce call abandonment rates by offering more efficient call handling compared to traditional IVR systems. Unlike IVR, which often requires callers to navigate through multiple menu options, an IVA uses advanced AI to quickly understand the caller’s issue, offering more personalized and accurate responses. IVAs can also offer queue callback options when wait times are high, giving customers the flexibility to reconnect at their convenience. This combination of faster problem resolution and more customer-friendly options leads to lower abandonment rates, better first call resolution, and an overall increase in customer satisfaction. SEE: Discover three scenarios where customers appreciate queue callbacks.  2. Less agent turnover Unlike traditional IVR menus, IVA can handle simple customer inquiries on its own, automating routine tasks and freeing up agents to focus on fewer yet more engaging interactions. This can lead to a more satisfied workforce, reducing call center burnout, decreasing staff turnover, and ultimately reducing the resources spent hiring and training. SEE: Learn about the main causes of call center burnout and how to avoid them.  3. Greater customer satisfaction IVA simplifies and streamlines the customer experience with its AI technology, callback capabilities, and self-service options — all of which serve to improve call queueing times, provide speedier resolutions, and create fewer unresolved issues. Over time, this can lead to higher customer retention rates, greater customer loyalty, and improved customer lifetime value. 4. Expanded self-service abilities If your contact center handles large volumes of routine inquiries like accepting payments, scheduling appointments, or looking up account information, IVA can take a lot of these tasks off the plates of your human agents. While traditional IVR can help people make payments, IVA can help them complete complex purchases, schedule appointments, file claims, and much more. When customers are able to solve their own problems quickly, they tend to be more satisfied. SEE: Learn how to set up an IVR payment system.  5. Increased scalability With its ability to handle large call volumes and agile technology, IVA solutions enhance scalability by efficiently managing large call volumes without the need for additional human resources. Unlike traditional systems, which may require significant investment in hiring and training new agents to effectively handle peak calling hours, an IVA can quickly adapt to fluctuating demand. IVA can handle multiple interactions simultaneously, providing consistent support even during high call volumes. This not only streamlines operations but also reduces the time and cost involved in staffing adjustments, enabling businesses to scale more effectively and maintain high service levels without sacrificing quality or customer satisfaction. When it (still) makes sense to go with IVR While IVA is ideal for modern contact centers, IVR may still be a better option for smaller contact centers that don’t have a wide array of specializations and departments. For companies with limited customer service demands or a narrow range of call types, IVR can efficiently route calls to the appropriate departments without the need for extensive setup or advanced technology. It’s also a cost-effective solution for businesses that only require basic functions, such as authenticating callers, directing calls to a few departments. or providing simple self-service options like balance inquiries or store hours. IVR systems are well-suited for organizations that don’t yet have the infrastructure or resources to implement an IVA. While it may lack the personalization and flexibility of more advanced systems, IVR can still handle a large volume of calls, reducing wait times and offering efficient routing. However, businesses should be aware of IVR’s limitations, such as the lack of personalization, which can lead to customer frustration and higher abandonment rates if not carefully designed. With

Baller League — a new six-a-side football league that has attracted support from legends like Ronaldinho, Gary Lineker, and Luis Figo — has raised $25mn from EQT Ventures as it looks to initiate a “new era” for the beautiful game.  German entrepreneur Felix Starck co-founded the Baller League last year alongside former players Mats Hummels and Lukas Podolski. The founders wanted to change the way younger audiences engage, view, and interact with the world’s most popular sport.  The league, which is now expanding from Germany to the UK and the US, comprises shorter 30-minute matches that are available to stream on popular digital platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, and Amazon’s live-streaming service Twitch. “Sport is no longer as easy as just saying ‘look, we’re here now, come and watch us,’” said Starck. “That’s just not how sport works any more. It needs to be exciting, and it needs to be authentic. Those are the two words that we always use at Baller League.” Webinar: Unicorn DNA: The Blueprint for Scaling Success What does it take to build a unicorn? Top executives of unicorn companies reveal the mindset, strategies, and innovative thinking that propelled their companies to the top. Alongside some of the game’s biggest names, influencers Darren Jason Watkins Jr (KSI) and Olajide Olatunji (IShowSpeed) are also working with Baller League. The pair have a whopping 58 million YouTube subscribers between them.  KSI and IShowSpeed are set to lead the league’s newly set up UK and US chapters, respectively. Ronaldinho, Lineker, Figo and other prominent ex-players like John Terry, Alan Shearer and Freddie Ljungberg will serve as team presidents.  The Baller League live-streamed its first matches from a repurposed aeroplane hangar in Cologne. It has rapidly amassed nearly one million followers across digital platforms. This has made it Germany’s top Twitch channel and one of the global top five. Baller League UK is set to debut on 3 March 2025, with games held every Monday through 19 May. Matches will be live-streamed, with YouTuber Chunkz hosting a weekly show. Twelve teams will compete, with the top four advancing to the playoffs where they will battle it out to decide the season champion.  The Baller League drafts players from various backgrounds, including former academy players, free agents, and recently retired professionals or semi-professionals. Player trials will take place in London and Manchester.   Baller League is confident that the fast-paced gameplay will resonate with fans worldwide, many of whom grew up playing small-sided football on playgrounds and streets. “Baller League is bringing a loved sport back to its roots,” said Ashley Lundström, Partner at EQT Ventures, the Swedish venture capital firm that led the funding round.  Baller League is part of a new cohort of upstarts that are using influencers and social media to reach global, mainly younger, audiences. Earlier this year, former FC Barcelona defender Gerard Piqué raised €60mn for Kings League, a seven-a-side football competition.   As upstarts like Baller League and Kings League garner more fans, it remains to be seen how football’s establishment will react. The old guard may innovate within their own structures to retain younger audiences, a bit like how traditional banks responded to the rise of digital-savvy challenger banks like Revolut.  Either way, this “new era,”, looks to be here to stay. Let the games begin.     source

The U.S. Supreme Court threw out a second securities case on Wednesday by refusing to issue a ruling in a Nvidia Corp. case with no explanation on its change of heart, leaving the defense bar to guess at the court’s motivation and its potential implication for the future of high court securities cases. source

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Interactive Voice Response (IVR) analytics is a practical approach to interpreting the data collected through IVR systems. It’s a tool that provides businesses with insights into customer interactions, preferences, and system performance. IVR analytics helps companies understand patterns and trends in customer behavior. It helps them identify inefficient call flows and customer service bottlenecks. Companies that use IVR analytics well see improvements in the call center metrics that matter most. By understanding and acting on the data, businesses can enhance customer satisfaction and streamline communication. Here’s everything you need to know to get started. 1 RingCentral RingEx Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Medium (250-999 Employees), Large (1,000-4,999 Employees), Enterprise (5,000+ Employees) Medium, Large, Enterprise Features Hosted PBX, Managed PBX, Remote User Ability, and more 2 Talkroute Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Any Company Size Any Company Size Features Call Management/Monitoring, Call Routing, Mobile Capabilities, and more Key metrics for IVR analytics Analytics guides us through data. Metrics, on the other hand, unveil the real impact of IVR on customer experience. They show us concrete indicators that reveal the effectiveness and authentic story behind your IVR’s influence on customers. Here are six key metrics that you should consider to address your IVR performance: Containment rate: Tracks the percentage of callers who successfully complete their tasks within the IVR system without requiring assistance from a live agent. A high containment rate signals that your IVR is efficiently addressing customer needs. Average handle time: Measures the average time it takes for a customer to complete their task within the IVR system. A shorter average call handling time indicates that customers quickly find what they need and complete their tasks. First-call resolution rate: Shows how often the IVR system successfully resolves a customer’s issue on the first try. A high first-call resolution rate means that your IVR is doing a good job providing helpful information for customers and reducing the need for multiple calls. IVR abandonment rate: Measures the percentage of callers who hang up before completing their desired task within the IVR system. A high abandonment rate can indicate frustration or confusion with the IVR system. Speech recognition accuracy: Looks at how well the IVR system understands spoken words and phrases if your system requires customers to do so. Average self-service score: Collects customer feedback about customer interactions with the IVR system, usually through surveys or questionnaires. Each of these metrics provides a window into how well — or poorly — your IVR is handling a specific responsibility. A high containment rate shows that customers can complete tasks without needing a live agent. Driving this number higher will directly reduce operational costs and wait times. A high first-call resolution rate reflects the system’s ability to address customer needs accurately on the first attempt. If that rate starts to go down, it could be a sign that something is wrong. Acting on IVR analytics data With detailed data on caller behavior, businesses can identify pain points in the call flow and address them quickly. For example, you can figure out if customers are getting stuck in a loop, unable to progress through the system or reach a desired outcome. This is really frustrating for customers. IVR analytics detect customer loops by tracking repetitive actions, call drop-offs, and where customers get stuck in the system. By analyzing these patterns, businesses can identify overly complex menu options, confusing prompts, or redundant steps leading to loops. Call center managers can also use IVR analytics to improve call routing by analyzing caller behavior and identifying patterns in how customers navigate the system. By reviewing data on which options are most commonly selected or where agents are forced to escalate, managers can adjust routing rules to direct calls more efficiently. SEE: Discover how call routing can impact your brand.  IVR analytics improve the customer journey IVR analytics help businesses understand where customers face challenges and how they interact with the system. By examining patterns and behaviors, businesses can optimize the IVR experience, streamline processes, and ultimately increase customer satisfaction. Here are three key common examples of how companies translate IVR data into concrete improvements in the customer journey. Identifying drop-off points is crucial to understanding where customers become frustrated or confused. IVR analytics can highlight where callers abandon the system, enabling businesses to redesign those touchpoints. This helps improve the user experience, reduce frustration, and keep customers engaged throughout their journey. Improving self-service options is another way IVR analytics can refine the customer experience. By analyzing customer choices and behaviors, businesses can optimize the self-service menu, ensuring it’s intuitive and easy to navigate. This reduces the need for live agent involvement and empowers customers to resolve issues on their own quickly. Personalizing the customer experience is also enhanced through IVR analytics. By tracking caller data and preferences, businesses can tailor the IVR menu to offer more relevant options. This creates a more seamless, personalized journey for customers, making them feel valued and understood. Consider complementing analytics data with customer satisfaction survey responses to get a deeper level of insight into changing customer needs and tastes. By using this data, businesses can create a more seamless and efficient experience across all touchpoints, from initial IVR contact to post-call follow-up. How to set up IVR analytics Most modern call center software comes with built-in IVR analytics, which provides a basic overview of customer interactions within the system. These built-in tools typically track key metrics such as call volume, drop-off rates, average call duration, and the most commonly selected menu options. Call center managers can use this data to identify general trends, like which prompts or routes are most effective, and where customers tend to get stuck or abandon calls. This built-in functionality is a great starting point for businesses looking to gather insights into their IVR performance. How deep the built-in analytics depends on which vendor you use. Some vendors offer deeper

I’ve led organizations at every stage of growth, encountering unique challenges and opportunities at each step. The backbone of any successful venture has always been a cohesive team pursuing a mission that matters, and a perpetual dissatisfaction with the status quo.   As I connect with tech business peers and IT leaders, they frequently remark on how difficult it is to foster a healthy and resilient team culture. Burnout is at an all-time high, industry competition demands constant innovation, and it can be hard to build team connections that fuel fulfillment and a shared purpose.   I’m happy to share my lessons learned — which have culminated in a “World’s Fair” mentality at my current company, GrowthLoop — to help them attract and nurture the best talent.  The Challenges of Hiring Tech and IT Talent  The job market for top tech talent is extraordinarily competitive. Hiring teams cannot give every applicant the attention they deserve, and hiring managers face tough tradeoffs between selecting seasoned professionals or highly skilled newcomers.  When we hire, we focus on finding candidates who are eager to work on the cutting edge of technology. We look for team members who believe in our mission and want to push boundaries. In return, we invest in ongoing learning opportunities instead of “perks” like cold brew on tap and catered lunches.  Related:8 Things That Need To Scale Better in 2025 It’s easy to get lost in the shiny offerings at some companies, but these freebies rarely lead to lasting happiness and fulfillment. That’s why it’s crucial to ensure every job description and interaction with a new candidate promotes the long-term professional development and career growth opportunities you provide.  Attracting a Diverse Talent Pool  Selecting the ideal candidates requires focused attention at each step in the recruitment and hiring processes, including your job location, listing language, and interview strategy.  Avoid being confined to only in-person office work. Remote and hybrid setups open the door for a wide range of individuals who deserve consideration regardless of their location.   Use inclusive language in job descriptions. Our recruiting team has gone through bias training to put this into practice, which has helped increase our candidate pool diversity by over 30%.   Conduct a detailed technical skills audit and soft skills evaluation with cross-functional team members during the interview process.   Fostering a “World’s Fair” Culture  Hiring the right talent is one thing. You then need to build a culture that allows them to thrive. We want every member of our team to:   Related:Tech Company Layoffs: The COVID Tech Bubble Bursts Know – Be educated on what’s happening and how they can shape the company.  Feel – Be invigorated by celebratory actions and constant collaboration.  Do – Be empowered to help achieve our goals.  We accomplish this by championing a “World’s Fair” mentality, a concept inspired by Chicago — the hometown of our co-founder (and perhaps Chicago’s biggest fan), Chris Sell. If you’re unfamiliar, Chicago was home to the 1893 World’s Fair, which showcased 50,000 architectural exhibits from around the world. It celebrated groundbreaking ideas and iconic designs, drawing international acclaim.   We’ve channeled the fair’s principles to guide our culture of collaboration and innovation. There are several ways we do this:  AMAs: Every member of our senior leadership participates in Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions to allow employees across the company to ask questions directly and learn more about each leader’s passions, skills, and vision for the future.   Cross-team sharing: We dedicate time weekly for every team to celebrate their wins, discuss challenges, and brainstorm how they can move forward with everyone behind them.   Monthly town halls: We host a monthly town hall meeting where anyone can ask tough or “spicy” questions that move us forward.    Related:What Enterprise IT Predictions Actually Mattered in 2024? Peer recognition: Team members express gratitude and give their colleagues shout-outs. These are real, personal acknowledgments of hard work and collaboration. They drive our success and are something I look forward to every week.   Quarterly hackathons: Every quarter, we take a week to work in cohorts and focus on new and innovative ideas. These have been so valuable to the company — in fact, many of our best product features have come out of these Hackathons.  Each of these activities helps people feel heard and empowered to do the best work of their lives.  The Rewards of a Diverse and Collaborative Culture  A successful business relies on diverse viewpoints. Diversity and the broad perspectives that come with it will reduce groupthink and fuel creativity that ultimately drives better business outcomes.   When people are motivated and feel safe to lend different perspectives and problem-solving approaches, they find solutions faster and unlock innovation. Encourage collaboration and idea-sharing at every level to nurture this culture. Executives should work alongside the team, guide them through challenges, and take their feedback to heart.  And last but not least, daily efforts and consistency are vital for helping this culture flourish. By doing so, you can continue to attract the best talent who will help you grow and stay resilient no matter what challenges you face.   source

By Thomas Nolan ( December 10, 2024, 12:45 PM EST) — Many states have passed consumer privacy laws in recent years, and they are coming into effect in cascading waves…. Law360 is on it, so you are, too. A Law360 subscription puts you at the center of fast-moving legal issues, trends and developments so you can act with speed and confidence. Over 200 articles are published daily across more than 60 topics, industries, practice areas and jurisdictions. A Law360 subscription includes features such as Daily newsletters Expert analysis Mobile app Advanced search Judge information Real-time alerts 450K+ searchable archived articles And more! Experience Law360 today with a free 7-day trial. source

Microsoft probably needs no introduction. But in case you are not familiar with the Microsoft for Startups program, it is an initiative that provides free licences and Azure credits to selected software entrepreneurs over the course of three years.  Needless to say, its general manager, Hans Yang, is somewhat of an expert when it comes to identifying the ideas that will make it to market and that particular drive he calls “founder energy.”  “With some founders, it is immediate — you can see it right off the bat,” Yang tells TNW during an interview at the Red Bull Basement global final where he is acting as a judge. “A lot of times you can see the hustle, and you can see them describe their vision clearly and articulately.”  However, Yang adds that he thinks there are just as many cases of brilliant technical minds where all of the insight and depth is more contained inside their head. “They can express that in a product, or in application or service, but they don’t necessarily know how to express that to the outside world yet, and I think there is room for that kind of founder too.”   Webinar: Unicorn DNA: The Blueprint for Scaling Success What does it take to build a unicorn? Top executives of unicorn companies reveal the mindset, strategies, and innovative thinking that propelled their companies to the top. And how does one go about unlocking a founder like that? “It’s honestly just access,” Yang says. “Of course there’s access to technology and tools, but I think it’s also about access to expertise — to the right experts and mentors.”  Which is why competitions like Red Bull Basement, where finalists are offered workshops on how to craft a compelling pitch and business model, and other initiatives (such as the TNW Soonicorn summit) matter. “As Microsoft for Startups, we can go and give them credits, which gives them access to cloud compute and AI workloads, and can offset some of the cost,” Yang says.  “But we don’t necessarily have the opportunity to tell them ‘hey, when you pitch to an investor, make sure you’re leading with the size of the problem and the potential market opportunity that you’re going after, and how you’ve looked at the competition and you believe that your solution is better because it is faster, more efficient, more capable, etc’.”  Europe’s startup ecosystem just needs time Along with a mounting discourse around technological and digital “sovereignty,” the conversation in Europe has also revolved around how the continent’s startups are lagging behind its counterparts across the Atlantic.  Initiatives like EU Inc, which wants to create a pan-European legal entity to help startups expand and raise funds more easily throughout the bloc, lament the discrepancy in maturity between the US and EU ecosystems.  Even the reaffirmed Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated in October this year that European companies “face way too many national barriers that make it hard to work Europe-wide, and way too much regulatory burden.”  Yang, however, is optimistic. He believes that, given time and as alumni from successful startups return to build companies in their home countries (such as France’s AI darling Mistral, founded by former DeepMind and Meta employees) the European tech startup ecosystem will mature to the level of that of the US — similarly to what has happened in Taiwan.  “There was a large movement to bring Taiwanese talent to the US,” Yang, who is of Taiwanese descent, says. “My parents both went to graduate school in the US, and they had many classmates who came from Taiwan, but then went back. And when you look at the semiconductor industry, much of that was built on the back of essentially boomerangs — folks that went to the US, but then came back to their home country.” When the Draghi report on the future of EU competitiveness was released in October this year, it named an “innovation gap” as one of the main culprits to the bloc’s trailing other areas. On a mission to close said gap, the EU has named its very first Commissioner for Startups, tasked with driving “ambition to put research and innovation, science, and technology at the centre” of the EU economy. This includes creating a “trusted” network of deep tech investors across the continent. “I wouldn’t necessarily say that the European ecosystem is behind from an innovation perspective,” Yang says. “I think when you talk about size and scale, yes, it’s true, but only because there’s been more cycles of venture investors investing in startups [in the US]. The ecosystem has just had more time to develop. So I think that Europe honestly just needs time to have the winners — which then spawn the next generation of winners after that.” source