India Lifts Restrictions on Mapping and Surveying To Help Local Firms

India said on Monday local firms will no longer need a license or other permission to collect, generate, store and share geospatial data of the country, bringing sweeping changes to its earlier stance that it admitted hindered innovation. From a report: Until now, New Delhi required Indian firms to seek licenses and additional approvals to create and publish topographical data. India’s…

New Study: A Zero-Emissions America is Now Pretty Cheap

“Until recently, it was unclear whether variable renewable energy, nuclear, or fossil fuel with carbon capture and storage would become the main form of generation in a decarbonized electricity system,” argues a recently-published analysis titled Carbon-Neutral Pathways for the United States. “The cost decline of variable renewable energy over the last few years, however, has definitively changed the situation.” Ars Technica…

India Enters Recession as Virus Pummels No. 3 Asian Economy

India entered an unprecedented recession with the economy contracting in the three months through September due to the lingering effects of lockdowns to contain the Covid-19 outbreak. From a report: Gross domestic product declined 7.5% last quarter from a year ago, the Statistics Ministry said Friday. That was milder than an 8.2% drop forecast by economists in a Bloomberg survey, and…

China’s Xi Jinping Warns Against Protectionism in Apparent Swipe at US

President Xi Jinping has pegged China as the pivot point for global free trade, vowing to keep his “super-sized” economy open and warning against protectionism in a global economy eviscerated by the Covid-19 pandemic. From a report: Buoyed by the signing of the world’s largest trade pact over the weekend, Xi said the Asia-Pacific is the âoeforerunner driving global growth” in…

Chilling Report Suggests 1 Out of 5 Countries Could Be Headed For Ecosystem Collapse

An anonymous reader quotes a report from ScienceAlert: A new insurance index from the Swiss Re Institute has found just over half of all global GDP — nearly 42 trillion US dollars — is dependent on goods and services provided by the natural world. In many places around the world, however, that sturdy foundation is turning to sand. The report, referred…

Ex-Google Boss Eric Schmidt: US ‘Dropped the Ball’ on Innovation

In the battle for tech supremacy between the US and China, America has “dropped the ball” in funding for basic research, according to former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt. From a report: And that’s one of the key reasons why China has been able to catch up. Dr Schmidt, who is currently the Chair of the US Department of Defense’s innovation…

Lack of Broadband and Devices Hobbles America’s Remote Learning

Long-time Slashdot reader theodp writes: Fifty-eight years after Roger Ebert reported on the PLATO system’s potential to deliver online learning to homebound students in a 1962 News-Gazette article, Bloomberg Technology’s Emily Chang takes a look at the nationwide struggle to shift to remote learning, interviewing McKinsey Education Practice Manager Emma Dorn, Khan Academy founder Sal Khan, and former U.S. Secretary of…

Modernizing Workforce Development Programs to Train for the Jobs of the Future

By Kevin Mills, Head of Government Partnerships  COVID-19 is reshaping the labor market. The devastating economic slowdown caused by the pandemic has impacted hundreds of millions of workers globally and eliminated nearly half of jobs. In the United States, unemployment remains high, while job vacancies have started to disappear due to accelerated automation. For all […]
The post Modernizing Workforce Development Programs…

Modernizing Workforce Development Programs for the Jobs of the Future

By Kevin Mills, Head of Government Partnerships  COVID-19 is reshaping the labor market. The devastating economic slowdown caused by the pandemic has impacted hundreds of millions of workers globally and eliminated more than 40% of jobs. In the United States, unemployment remains high, while job vacancies have started to disappear due to accelerated automation. For […]
The post Modernizing Workforce Development Programs…

France To Spend $8.4 Billion on Digital as Part of Stimulus Plan

The French government unveiled a massive $120 billion stimulus package earlier this week to recover from the economic downturn — it represents 4% of the country’s GDP. As part of this support plan, the government plans to spend a significant chunk of money on all things digital — startup investment, infrastructure investment and digital transformation. From a report: I interviewed France’s…