Sony introduces the premium smartphone, Xperia 1 VI, equipped with a telephoto optical zoom lens that enables long distance shooting in superb detail up to x7.1 zoom, using a wide and user-friendly focal length from 85mm to 170mmi. The advanced lens of this camera means you get undegraded images at every focal length and ensures the creation of captivating professional portraits with exquisite bokeh effects.

The 24mm wide angle lens is equipped with the image sensor "Exmor T for mobile", offering excellent low-light performance, high speed AF (autofocus) using AF tracking with human pose estimation powered by AI.

Entertainment is pushed to the next level with Xperia 1 VI's display is enhanced using AI image adjustment technology "Powered by BRAVIA" that reproduces the image quality of Sony's TV BRAVIA on its display, whilst the speakers have been upgraded for superior quality.

With Sonys expertise in display, audio, and mobile gaming to exceed your entertainment expectations, and two days of battery lifeii. The Xperia 1 VI delivers the complete premium smartphone experience.

Pro photography, AI-assisted

Developed by Sony, the Exmor T for mobile sensor on the Xperia 1 VI on the 24mm lens, together with AI processing, delivers picture quality equivalent to full-frame cameras. Enabling less noise and wider dynamic range in low lighting, and videos full of cinematic colour expression.

Now offering x7.1 zoom - the telephoto optical zoom lens has a focal length of 85mm to 170mm and telephoto macro photography with a maximum magnification of approximately 2x and a minimum focus distance of 4cm, even without a dedicated macro lens.

This lens utilises optical zoom, facilitating significant magnification and the capture of high-definition images of distant subjects with uncompromised image quality for both tele-macro and portraiture photography. Additionally, telephoto macro photography, leveraging the zoom lens structure for close-up shots, empowers users to seize images characterised by crisp detail and pronounced bokeh, surpassing the visual acuity of the naked eye.

This capability extends to capturing intricate details, such as a flower's centre delivering powerfully expressive results for the user.

Newly equipped with AF tracking with human pose estimation - an AI feature cultivated with Alpha series cameras

The rear camera integrates AI technology to recognise the human skeleton, enabling precise AF tracking even in challenging shooting scenarios due to potential obstructions that conceal the subject's visibility. This advanced functionality ensures consistent and accurate tracking, optimising image capture in a diverse series of environments.

A new camera app that allows users to express themselves in a simple and intuitive manner

The Xperia 1 VI camera app has undergone a significant update, featuring a user-friendly interface designed for seamless navigation. This enhancement prioritises convenience without compromising on the array of creative tools available, such as special shooting modes like PSM and customisable colour presets like 'Creative Look'.

Moreover, with touch tracking now capable of automatically setting brightness and colour adjustments, alongside the introduction of the new Pro video mode offering detailed settings control for video capture, users can effortlessly capture both photos and videos with intuitive control and precision.

A new smarter, brighter display

The Xperia 1 VI's display is Powered by BRAVIA, and uses AI remastering technology to improve contrast, colour, and clarity. This technology works for your own content and even streaming services.

For ease of watching in bright conditions, the new display is 1.5 times brighter than the previous model. Furthermore, the new Sunlight Vision delivers improved visibility in outdoor environments, not only brightening the image, but also performing AI image processing to prevent overexposed highlights by analysing the frames and the environmental brightnes...

As the Artificial Intelligence landscape continues to rapidly evolve, investment is pouring into Generative AI (GenAI), driving investment across traditional AI and the wider AI ecosystem, according to new research from EY Ireland. Last year witnessed a remarkable surge in venture capital (VC) funds invested in the space ($21.3 billion), with $15.3billion of the 2023 total coming from mega investments made by Microsoft and Amazon.

During the first quarter of 2024, $3 billion was invested globally and EY projects that, based on these trends continuing across the year, total global investment is on track to reach more than $12 billion in 2024. Excluding the mega investments noted above, this represents an increase of nearly 100% from the prior year.

As one of the most disruptive and transformative technologies in decades, interest in AI, especially GenAI, remains very strong, driven by an array of factors including unprecedented public interest and high early adoption rates of what is still a nascent technology. GenAI's potential applicability across a wide variety of sectors and industries, as well as adoption potential across the c-suite is also driving investment as the sector matures. With an increasing switch from horizontal AI (i.e.

general purpose & Large Language Models (LLMs)) to Vertical AI (specific & niche) investments predicted, the number of deals and investment is projected to only increase over the coming years.

Despite a slowdown in investment in many other industries over recent years due to interest rate increases, inflation and the shift back to more familiar lifestyle patterns following the end of the pandemic, VC interest in GenAI remains robust and has been on an exponential rise with $21.3 billion invested in 2023, compared to just c.$1 billion in 2018. When compared with 2022, investment funds were circa three times greater last year.

This can largely be attributed to notable investments by major technology companies such as Amazon and Microsoft, who injected a combined USD$15.3 billion into pioneering AI companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic and InflectionAI.

VC investment is also diversifying across sectors including healthcare, natural language interface, visual media, and vertical applications, growing from $77 million in 2018 to $5.1 billion in 2023 in AI Core (e.g. Large Language Models and Semiconductors) investments alone. Despite a handful of $100M+ mega-rounds in 2023, the GenAI space is still largely nascent, with more than 75% of GenAI start-ups being in early stages or not having raised any equity funding yet.

As 2023 progressed we saw some caution with regard to the business models of certain GenAI companies in particular those which had been surpassed quickly by next generation technologies, featurisation or a more efficient competitor. This led to a slight easing of VC deals in certain areas towards the end of the year.

Investors and industry experts, however, have indicated the need for a long-term perspective, acknowledging that GenAI is still in its early stages and so this can likely be taken as a sign of an industry entering the next phase of its development.

North America is leading the way both in terms of deal count and deal value within the GenAI landscape, followed by Europe. US-based tech companies and hyperscalers are investing heavily in start-ups and emerging leaders in the field of Generative AI.

Whilst the initial investment focus has been centred primarily in the United States, there have been signs that investors are increasingly looking at European companies to diversify and to find good opportunities that match their investment criteria. Ireland is in a very good position to attract such VC investment given its vibrant technology and life science ecosystem, business friendly policies and availability of talent.

Grit Young, EY Ireland Valuations Partner, said: "While investment in GenAI has been on a rapidly expanding trajectory since 2018, last year was a breakout yea...

The University of Manchester has signed a landmark new deal that will see up to 65% of its electricity demand supplied through a brand-new renewables project.

In a major move towards achieving its 2038 zero carbon ambitions, the University has partnered with leading UK clean energy company Enviromena to buy electricity generated from its brand-new solar farm based in Medebridge, Essex.

104,000 panel solar farm

Once complete, Medebridge Solar Farm will comprise 104,000 solar panels across 175 acres of low-grade agricultural land, the equivalent of around 70 football pitches.

The site will also create a significant biodiversity net gain. With enhancements to the existing hedgerows and planting of native grassland and wildflower meadow beneath and around the solar arrays, the site will encourage nesting opportunities for wildlife and improved habitat connectivity.

The contract that secures this investment, known as a Corporate Power Purchase Agreement (cPPA), commits the University to purchase 80% of Medebridge's total annual generation capacity (58 GWh) for the next decade, reducing University carbon emissions by 12,000 t/co2 every year - enough to power 21,000 homes.

Lee Barlow, Finance & Administration Manager, and Project Lead at The University of Manchester, said: "After nearly three years of rigorous procurement and negotiations, we are proud to announce this landmark agreement, which reinforces our commitment to sustainability whilst delivering best value to our students and stakeholders, in the form of price certainty and supply stability.

"The journey has been marked by unprecedented challenges in the energy and renewables sector, first with the 2022 energy crisis, and later complicated by geopolitical events in Eastern Europe. Securing this 10-year cPPA despite such adversity is a huge accomplishment and holds special significance as we celebrate the University's bicentennial year."

Carly McLachlan, Professor Climate and Energy Policy and Academic Lead for Carbon at The University of Manchester, added: "The really important thing for us in developing this relationship was that our commitment would add new renewable energy capacity to the UK electricity system. Through our long-term purchasing commitment, we have played a key role in bringing this development forward - maximising the positive impact of our purchasing power."

This milestone achievement was made possible through the collaborative efforts of a multidisciplinary implementation team from the University, complemented by the expertise of its energy broker, Inspired PLC, and Eversheds Sutherland acting as external legal counsel.

Enviromena develops, builds, owns and operates renewable energy assets and currently manages over 300MW of renewables projects. In addition, Enviromena is currently working on a 3GW+ pipeline of renewable energy projects in the UK and Italy that will significantly decarbonise electricity networks, reduce emissions and support the global drive towards net zero.

Lee Adams, Enviromena's Chief Commercial Officer, said: "Enviromena is leading the charge towards a world powered by clean energy and our teams are delivering high volume projects that make a massive contribution to lowering carbon emissions.

This significant partnership with The University of Manchester demonstrates the shared commitment between ourselves and an influential, large-scale organisation, which, at the time it celebrates its 200-year anniversary, is taking steps towards reducing its carbon footprint through the technologies of tomorrow for a cleaner future energy supply."

Chris Marsh, Enviromena's Chief Executive Officer, added: "We're delighted to partner with the University to support their zero carbon ambitions. In addition to reducing the University's carbon emissions over the next 10 years, the site itself will benefit the local habitat over its useful life until mid-2060."

Construction of Medebridge commenced in April 2024, with energisation expected in autumn...

Munster Technological University will lead a new first-of-its-kind decentralised green biorefinery demonstration initiative funded under the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU). The €8.7 million "Rural BioReFarmeries" project will advance the development of farm-centred bioeconomy approaches through the deployment of green biorefineries across grassland regions of Europe.

Two primary green biorefinery and anaerobic digestion demonstration sites in Ireland and Denmark will optimise the conversion of grasses, clover and green biomass residues sourced from local farms into value-added products such as human and animal grade protein, bio-based food packaging, flavours, anti-microbials, fertiliser and energy, in collaboration with upstream research and industrial sites in Netherlands, Ireland, Denmark and Poland.

Speaking about the new initiative, Project Coordinator James Gaffey, Co-director, CircBio, MTU, said: "Grassland valorisation and emerging grass-based value chains represent a major strategic opportunity for the EU bioeconomy. By improving the efficiency and circularity of our vast European grasslands, we can produce, not only forage, but also food, high value materials and energy.

"Green biorefineries are a key enabling technology which can help rural grassland farmers to address challenges such as income diversification, accessing sustainable inputs for their farms, displacing unsustainable products and contributing to our climate and sustainability targets.

Rural BioReFarmeries builds on the latest research of various EU countries to optimise green biorefineries by overcoming existing limitations and implementing these business models on the ground with farmers, cooperatives and other industries across multiple sectors".

Rural BioReFarmeries will test a decentralised approach, in which the biorefining activity begins in the farm, combining the smart production and harvesting of sustainable local biomass with decentralised processing close to the farm, and the subsequent transfer centrally of biorefinery co-products to relevant downstream sites for further product development.

According to Morten Ambye-Jensen, Head of CBIO Centre at Aarhus University: "To catch the environmental benefits and potential of new green biorefineries, we need to make it a commercial success and implement it at scale. The commercial implementation of green biorefineries is challenged with difficult and expensive logistics as well as limited product revenues.

In Rural BioReFarmeries we will develop smart biomass supply chains combining decentral and central processing, lowering total logistic costs while carefully assessing consequences and potentials for product yields and quality. On the product side we will increase the revenue by establishing new cascading value chains including simultaneous production of both human and animal grade protein, flavours, biomaterials, fertilisers, and energy. All this demonstrated in close to commercial scale.

We therefore have great expectations to the impact of this new large CBE JU project."

The project will work intensively with primary producer partners on the ground, including within the dairy and pig sectors, while also linking these farms to upstream industries (e.g., food and flavour, animal nutrition, packaging, microalgae, fertilisers) creating new value chains and replicable business models and training activities which will be transferred across rural regions of Europe.

Enda Buckley, Director of Sustainability at Carbery Group welcomed the development saying: "We are delighted to be part of this initiative through our flagship project Farm Zero C - which is creating a model for climate neutral dairy farming. Both initiatives are seeking to create sustainable futures for Irish and European farmers, using scientific advances.

A key focus of the Rural BioReFarmeries project is providing farmers with a circular bioeconomy business model that also helps to address many of the sustain...

Speakers and their advisors frequently put too much emphasis on body language.

It's not about your gestures, it's what you have to say that matters.

What do I do with my hands?

Michael Martin, Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister), and Paschal Sheehy (Journalist) were both advised by a schoolteacher or presentation coach to continually tip the tops of their fingers together when speaking.

It is a gesture that does not appear sincere to me, as they often talk about emotive topics.

Some other hoary old Chestnuts:

"Always button your Jacket":

This advice was given to TV presenter Ryan Tubridy by some well-meaning coach.

This nervous tick caused great distraction to me and others as he continually buttoned and unbuttoned his jacket during the "Late Late Show".

"Hands in Pocket":

Do not put both hands in your pocket. Two of my favourite communicators are former American Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, and both speakers do just that. One pocket is OK; two is too casual.

I am sure you also have your pet hates when watching someone present, be it on television or in person. (Tell me what bothers you.)

The Secret to Presenting Success:

The secret to being a good communicator is talking about your beliefs.

If your passion and your enthusiasm for your subject come across, nobody will be greatly concerned about your body language.

I want my clients to be passionate about their topic, not posey.

My Best Advice:

If you were in conversation with friends or family over a cup of coffee, would you be thinking about your body language? No, you would just tell your story.

Stop presenting to audiences. Tell them stories you believe are important (true), and let your body language do what comes naturally to you.

Do I believe this Person?

Your first judgement, whether you're aware of it or not, is do I believe this person?

If you say I do, you will likely take their advice/suggestion on board.

When you say NO, it does not matter how polished a presenter this person is; the answer is still no, and I do not believe you.

Action:

Start talking in a conversational way to your audience and let your body/gestures do what comes naturally.

P.S. You can develop a strong handshake, but this does not signal that you are a strong, upright person with qualities that people with weak handshakes lack.

Surplus to requirements:

Give some thought to the people who engage you when communicating, be it in person, on radio/ TV, or the myriad of other platforms that people now use to influence you.

By Executive Coach Andrew Keogh of Aristo.ie

Vodafone Business Ireland and RingCentral, Inc. (NYSE: RNG), a leading provider of AI-driven cloud business communications, contact centre, video, and hybrid event solutions, today announced the launch of Vodafone Business UC with RingCentral to organisations of all sizes in Ireland.

Already accessible in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, and the United Kingdom, this solution enables businesses to facilitate seamless communication and collaboration for their workforces from virtually any device, anywhere, at any time. With this offering, Vodafone Business Ireland and RingCentral are empowering businesses to embrace the evolving landscape of hybrid work.

This launch coincides with great market momentum. Currently, unified communications cloud penetration in Ireland stands at 43.7%, with projected growth exceeding 80% by 2028, according to a Cavell Group report1. This enormous, projected uptick in cloud penetration is not surprising given that Ireland ranks among Europe's leaders in remote or hybrid work job postings, as indicated by an Indeed report.

To best fuel hybrid work, Irish businesses require a resilient and secure communications solution that is flexible and easy to implement across dispersed workforces.

Vodafone Business UC with RingCentral offers robust collaboration capabilities, including team messaging, video meetings, and a feature-rich cloud-based system, ensuring customers can streamline workflows and optimise workforce productivity. The solution also integrates with many popular applications, and with RingCentral's AI-powered platform, organisations can leverage conversation intelligence and actionable insights to augment communication experiences.

"Workplace needs are changing, and legacy voice technologies such as PSTN are sunsetting," said John McCarthy, Head of Product & Partner for Vodafone Business Ireland. "Vodafone Business UC with RingCentral? is a uniquely flexible communication and collaboration solution? that will help businesses take control and become more efficient, agile and future-ready,?? while delivering a world class connectivity and service for better customer experience."

"We're thrilled to deepen our collaboration with Vodafone Business as we broaden our European footprint to Ireland, delivering enterprise-grade communications to businesses of all sizes," said Lee Williams, AVP International Service Providers, RingCentral. "Vodafone Business UC with RingCentral offers a tailored solution fostering productivity and adaptability so organisations can facilitate successful hybrid work."

Vodafone Business UC with RingCentral is now available in Ireland for new and existing Vodafone Business customers. For more information, visit www.vodafone.ie

See more stories here..

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Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too.

You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: https://anchor.fm/irish-tech-news

If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at [email protected] now to discuss.

Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at [email protected] now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience.

You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.

Digital Realty (NYSE: DLR), the largest global provider of cloud-and carrier-neutral data centre, colocation and interconnection solutions, has published, in partnership with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPE), its second collaborative report, which uncovers how Irish organisations have a critical need for hybrid IT models, and emphasises the imperative to seamlessly integrate on-premise infrastructure with private cloud solutions, public cloud, and colocation services.

The report highlights that a sensible and tailored IT infrastructure strategy can help organisations ensure efficiency while simultaneously maximising performance. Two years on from Digital Realty and HPE's inaugural report, this has been reflected in the approach of Irish organisations. In 2022, 17% of Irish headquartered businesses did not know what their organisation's IT infrastructure strategy was. Today, this figure has almost halved to 10% (a reduction of 41%).

The new study reveals a slight increase (45% to 51%) in the number of Irish organisations planning to migrate to a hybrid IT environment to leverage both on-premises systems and off-premises cloud/hosted resources. However, there is still a significant variance between enterprises headquartered in Ireland versus those in other countries (44% versus 66%), showing that Irish enterprises have been slower to adopt hybrid IT versus their international peers.

Eventually, Irish organisations' current IT infrastructure will become unfit for purpose - particularly when looking to drive efficiencies, advance scalability, meet regulatory requirements, embrace new technologies, and deliver sustainability.

The survey of 150 senior IT and business decision makers, conducted by Amárach Research, explored the context around Ireland's pursuit of digital innovation, and how the country's IT environment is evolving to enable transition.

When asked what the biggest challenges facing their organisation in terms of managing data were, the key issues facing Irish enterprises identified in the report are:

· Data security: 67% of organisations identified data security as the biggest challenge they face, up from 64% in 2022.

· Data regulation: Understanding where data needs to live for regulatory purposes saw a significant jump from 20% in 2022 to 41% in 2024.

· Workload placement: The shift away from Irish enterprises storing data in owner-operated server rooms remains show. However, research shows a continual reduction in the reliance of on-premise facilities with growth coming from colocation (26%) and private cloud (37%).

· Making better use of data: When managing data, nearly half (40%) of respondents said they grapple with the management of the ever-growing amounts of data within their organisation and over a third (32%) of organisations reported they would like to understand how to make better use of their data.

"Many Irish organisations are at risk of their IT infrastructure becoming unfit for purpose if they don't catch-up with the rest of the world in the adoption of hybrid IT. After several years of economic uncertainty, green shoots of recovery in the Irish market are starting to show. But companies can't leave themselves in a position where their IT infrastructure means that they're unable to drive efficiencies and embrace new technologies.

"The shift is happening, slowly, and it's clear that businesses do now have a better understanding of their overall IT strategy, but the gap between international peers needs to close. The impact of the current data centre moratorium on the future of Irish businesses may put the brakes on this positive trend, however.

The lack of data centre capacity will impact Irish organisations' move to hybrid strategies and their ability to capitalise on new technologies such as AI," said Séamus Dunne, Managing Director, Digital Realty in Ireland & the UK.

Vendor Support continues to play a significant role in the move to hybrid IT

The 2024 research confirms the continued relian...

Dr. Cormac Farrelly of UCD spin-out LaNua Medical, was presented with the Big Idea's Award by Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Peter Burke at Enterprise Ireland's Start-Up Day 2024 in Dublin Castle.

LaNua Medical was one of 10 investor-ready potential spin-outs that had three minutes to pitch their new technology solutions to a 600 strong audience made up of representatives from the Irish Start-up ecosystem including VCs and other funders, State support agencies & professional and financial services.

The award was presented to Dr. Cormac Farrelly, for the outstanding pitch of the day. LaNua Medical which is an Enterprise Ireland commercialisation funded project approaching spin-out, is developing solutions for problems in embolization, a minimally-invasive procedure that can be used to treat internal bleeding or cause tumour-necrosis. Its GateKeeper device blocks blood flow to select tissue, while enabling targeted therapeutic delivery with reduced risk of side effects.

As part of the Big Ideas award, LaNua Medical will now go on represent Ireland at the Pegasus Start-Up World Cup in San Francisco later in the year.

Cristina Purtill of Plio Surgical received the Big Ideas runner-up award on the day and will also travel to San Francisco to attend the Start-Up World Cup.

Presiding over the awards, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Peter Burke TD said, "I would like to congratulate LaNua Medical, a worthy winner of today's Big ideas award and I have no doubt will go on to make Ireland proud at the International Start-Up World Cup in the US.

Enterprise Ireland's Start-Up Day offers an exciting snapshot of the future, showcasing investor-ready start-ups with disruptive technologies that will change our world for the better, as well as providing opportunities for keen investors."

Start-Up Day 2024 hosted the 'Class of 2023' High Potential Start-Up companies that Enterprise Ireland invested in during 2023. The event also played host to technology-based companies with origins deep rooted in ground breaking research. In 2023, 24 companies were spun out of third level institutions, 16 of which were supported through the Enterprise Ireland Commercialisation Fund Programme.

Minister Burke continued, "Supporting the commercialisation of research allows us to develop the next generation of innovative High Potential Start-Ups (HPSUs) and last year, 12 HPSUs were successfully generated in partnership with our third level institutions. The government through Enterprise Ireland is committed to supporting the innovative work that is being done in our academic institutions and we look forward to working with these spin-out companies to help them grow and scale."

Leo Clancy, CEO, Enterprise Ireland said, "The Big Ideas pitching element and awards at Start-Up Day provides a platform to showcase Enterprise Ireland's commercialisation funded research approaching start-up status, with significant potential for success.

The event also highlights the accomplishments of our national technology transfer system, the high calibre of research commercialisation activity within Ireland, and the significant impact these companies will have to help solve huge global challenges. I wish to congratulate LaNua Medical on their achievements to date and wish them every success at the Start-Up World Cup and beyond."

See more stories here.

More about Irish Tech News

Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too.

You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: https://anchor.fm/irish-tech-news

If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at [email protected] now to discuss.

Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at [email protected] now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience.

You can also find and...

Fexillon, an Irish trailblazer in digitising the built environment, is pleased to announce the establishment of its US office in Charleston, South Carolina. The milestone marks a significant advancement for Fexillon and underscores the company's commitment to international expansion, demonstrating its leadership in fostering innovation on a global scale.

As part of this expansion, Fexillon will establish its US operations within the Charleston Digital Corridor, a community-driven initiative aimed at nurturing Charleston's burgeoning tech economy. Positioned at the forefront of Charleston's tech ecosystem, the Corridor provides Fexillon with strategic advantages, including access to a robust network and prime location, enabling the company to cultivate partnerships and drive growth in its mission of digitising the built environment.

The company has also unveiled ambitious revenue projections for the US market targeting an impressive $10 million by 2026. With a projected revenue trajectory reflecting confidence in its capabilities and market demand, Fexillon also intends to grow its US team from 10 employees in 2024 to over 30 by 2026.

These initial 10 positions in 2024 will focus on supporting the rollout of Fexillon's technology platform in sectors such as Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Operations (AECO), as well as other verticals critical to the company's success.

The company will recruit peer leadership roles in its Technology, Customer Success, Smart Buildings and Building Information Modelling teams. These projections underscore Fexillon's strategic expansion plans and commitment to achieving substantial growth and success in the US tech landscape.

"Our expansion into Charleston marks a pivotal moment for Fexillon and the broader Irish tech community," said Kieran Beggan, CEO, Fexillon. "We're proud to bring Irish expertise and innovation to the global stage as we enter the US market. Basing our US operations in Charleston provides comprehensive coverage for our customer base, with promising growth opportunities in the South and across the country.

"Charleston serves as a gateway to the US market and choosing the Charleston Digital Corridor underscores our commitment to collaboration and growth within Charleston's dynamic tech ecosystem. With South Carolina's tech-friendly environment and skilled workforce, we're positioned for growth across the country with sites extending across the Midwest all while driving innovation, forming partnerships, and showcasing the prowess of the Irish tech sector worldwide."

"We are delighted to welcome Fexillon to the Charleston Digital Corridor community," said Ernest Andrade, Founder and Director of Charleston Digital Corridor. "Their decision to base their US operations here underscores Charleston's reputation as a leading destination for tech innovation and growth.

"Fexillon's presence within the Corridor will enrich our ecosystem and further solidify Charleston's position as a vibrant hub for tech companies seeking to thrive and innovate. We look forward to supporting Fexillon as they embark on this exciting journey and contribute to the continued success of our dynamic tech community."

"We are honoured that Fexillon, an innovative and fast-growing building tech company, has selected Charleston for its US Headquarters," said City of Charleston Mayor William Cogswell. "The City of Charleston is committed to supporting Fexillon as they implement their ambitious business plans for the North American market," he added.

Drawing on its established presence in Ireland, the UK, and mainland Europe, Fexillon is set to bring a wealth of experience and expertise to its expansion into the United States. With a strong reputation for quality and innovation built over 25 years, Fexillon has become a trusted partner for blue-chip firms across various sectors.

The company's digital asset management solutions have garnered acclaim from blue-chip firms in both the public and private sec...

Stockholm Exergi announced that it has signed a contract with Microsoft covering 3.33 million tonnes of permanent carbon removals from bio-energy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) at Värtan, Stockholm. The agreement represents the world's largest permanent removals deal to date. The deliveries of the carbon removal certificates to Microsoft are planned to start in 2028 and continue for a period of ten years.

New Carbon capture initiatives

"The agreement with Microsoft is a huge step forward for our BECCS project, Stockholm Exergi as a company and the climate. It is the strongest possible recognition of the significance, quality and sustainability of our project and takes us an important step closer to a final investment decision in Q4 2024.

I believe the agreement will inspire corporations with ambitious climate objectives, and we target to announce more deals with other pioneering companies over the coming months," says Anders Egelrud, CEO of Stockholm Exergi.

The contract represents a milestone for climate change mitigation. While emissions reductions remain an over-all priority, there is today consensus that global warming cannot be limited to 1.5 °C or well-below 2 °C without permanent carbon removals.

By demonstrating commitment to ambitious, voluntary corporate climate objectives, Microsoft and Stockholm Exergi hope to contribute to the much-needed growth of the industry, to allow corporates to meet their net-zero targets and nations to meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement. Building on this announcement, Stockholm Exergi intends to seek complementary state aid and additional private carbon removal deals, both of which are necessary to reach financial close.

Since 2020, Microsoft has pursued the goal of being carbon negative by 2030, with a reductions first strategy, complemented by building a portfolio of carbon removal offtake agreements. It has publicly set out its criteria for high-quality removals, pursued financeable offtake agreements, communicated lessons learned, and reported its progress annually.

"We are extremely proud to announce this carbon removal offtake with Stockholm Exergi from its pioneering Värtan BECCS project. Leveraging existing biomass power plants is a crucial first step to building worldwide carbon removal capacity. In this case, we are pleased with the efficiency of recovering heat from carbon capture and adding it into district heating networks.

Finally, it is crucial to sustainably source the biomass for BECCS projects and we were impressed with Stockholm Exergi's commitment in this regard," said Brian Marrs, Senior Director, Energy & Carbon Removal.

As confirmed in the agreement with Microsoft, Stockholm Exergi will deliver carbon removals following strict quality requirements. This includes criteria for sustainable sourcing of forest biomass developed together with Microsoft, conservative quantification of net removals and comprehensive monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV).

In line with the policy of the Swedish government, the carbon removals exchanged in this agreement will be used by Microsoft to negate its own emissions and will be transparently reported as fitting under Sweden's climate targets, similarly to how corporate emission reductions contribute to national climate targets.

About the BECCS-facility

When in operation, Stockholm Exergi's plant will permanently remove up to 800,000 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere per year.

The environmental permit for the project at the Stockholm site was obtained on March 28th this year. The construction of the carbon capture unit, liquefaction and intermediate storage is planned to start 2025 and will be an addition to Stockholm Exergi's existing biomass-based combined and heat power plant in Stockholm, in operation since 2016.

The biomass feedstock for the project will continue to be safeguarded to ensure sustainable management of forests, protection of sensitive areas, stable carbon stocks, and to ensure that feedstock ...