Understanding DevOps and its significance

At its core, DevOps isn’t solely about merging the technicalities of development and operations. Instead, it’s a cultural shift. It emphasizes collaboration over isolation, agility over delay, and continuous delivery over sporadic releases.

Imagine DevOps as a symphony, where different instruments (development and operations) play in harmony rather than in isolation. It values joint responsibility, where teams actively communicate and collaborate, ensuring software is not just developed but also delivered and deployed efficiently and reliably.

Central to this is the idea of ‘Infrastructure as Code’ (IAC), wherein infrastructure setup is managed using code, allowing for automated, consistent, and repeatable deployments. It’s akin to replicating a recipe, ensuring that you get the same delicious result each time, provided you follow the precise steps.

Then there’s the principle of Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Delivery (CD). CI ensures that any code alterations are consistently tested and merged, preventing last-minute integration surprises. CD takes it a step further, making sure that these changes are ready for deployment to production, thus guaranteeing quicker, more reliable delivery.

And what’s a well-oiled machine without regular monitoring? In the DevOps world, monitoring isn’t an afterthought; it’s integral. It ensures that any glitches or hiccups are identified and addressed in real-time, maintaining the system’s health.

The perks? Well, for starters, a substantial reduction in the software development cycle. Innovations reach the market quicker. Updates are more frequent, and the operating environment remains stable. Teams communicate better, and with repetitive tasks automated, there’s ample room for innovation.

It is important to note that this development approach isn’t limited to in-house development and operations teams. There are many reliable DevOps Services available, which bring the benefits of this paradigm shift to companies who don’t have the resources to develop their own software systems.

DevOps: Tools and Strategies

DevOps isn’t a monolithic entity but a rich mosaic of tools and strategies tailored for various facets of the software lifecycle.

For instance, in the realm of code, platforms like Git and GitHub have revolutionized version control, enabling teams to collaboratively modify code without stepping on each other’s toes. When it comes to building this code, tools such as Jenkins act as invaluable assets, turning code into executable software. Testing, a pivotal phase, has seen a surge in automation with tools like Selenium ensuring code quality remains top-notch.

Yet, it’s not just about having the right tools; it’s also about employing the right strategies. The ‘Shift Left’ concept, for instance, is crucial in DevOps. It’s the idea of introducing testing early in the development phase. It’s akin to proofreading a document while writing rather than waiting till the end. This ensures errors are spotted early, saving both time and resources.

Automation stands as the bedrock of DevOps. It’s about eliminating manual intervention, ensuring processes are swift and error-free. Think of it as setting a playlist on shuffle and repeat; once set, it requires minimal interference and provides consistent output.

Another cornerstone is the culture of continuous feedback. In an era dominated by digital interactions, real-time feedback becomes invaluable. Whether it’s through direct communication tools or monitoring systems, immediate insights allow for iterative improvements, ensuring products and services align with user needs and expectations.

As the digital frontier expands, the merits of integrating DevOps become glaringly apparent. It’s not just a tech switch but a philosophical transformation. It promises agility, quality, and efficiency. The tools and methodologies might evolve, but the core tenets of collaboration, automation, and continuous improvement remain steadfast.

DevOps serves as the compass for organizations navigating the complex waters of the modern technological landscape. It’s the bridge connecting development dreams to operational realities, ensuring businesses don’t just survive but thrive in a world where adaptability isn’t just beneficial but vital.

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AWS currently dominates the global cloud market, boasting a larger market share than its next two competitors combined! This dominance is not just in terms of infrastructure, but also in the sheer range of services and solutions that AWS provides. Its influence is so expansive that learning AWS has become almost synonymous with understanding modern cloud infrastructure.

Whether you are an individual looking to leverage AWS for a personal project, a professional aiming to transition to a cloud-based infrastructure for your organization, or simply curious about cloud computing, this blog aims to introduce you to the world of AWS. Today we will delve into the purpose of AWS, its suite of services, and how you can get started with it.

Introduction to AWS and its suite of services

Cloud computing, in simple terms, is the delivery of computing services—like servers, storage, databases, networking, software, and more—over the internet. Companies offering these services are often called cloud providers, and they typically charge based on usage, similar to how you’re billed for water or electricity at home.

A Brief History of AWS

Amazon Web Services (AWS) was officially launched in 2006, though its inception can be traced back to the early 2000s when Amazon reevaluated its infrastructure. Recognizing the inefficiencies in the IT resources they used, the company began selling its excess capacity, effectively giving birth to AWS. Over the years, AWS has become the backbone of numerous organizations, from startups to Fortune 500 companies. Today, it stands as one of the primary drivers of Amazon’s profitability.

The breadth of AWS

The strength of AWS lies in the breadth and depth of its services. Let’s break down some key categories:

• Computing: These services let you rent virtual servers to run your applications.
• Storage: Solutions for storing your files, databases, and application data.
• Databases: Managed relational and NoSQL database services.
• Networking & Content Delivery: Tools to isolate network infrastructure, scale, and accelerate application delivery.
• Developer Tools: These aid in the application development lifecycle, from code to deployment.

These are some of the most popular categories of services that AWS provides. The company boasts over 200 fully-featured services, from machine learning to IoT to security and governance. Whether you’re building a simple website or a complex machine learning application, AWS likely has the tools you need.

What are the most popular AWS services?

Amazon Web Services offers a plethora of services tailored for a myriad of use cases. Three of those stand out as some of the most widely-used cloud computing services: EC2, S3, and Lambda.

1. Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud):

Think of EC2 as your virtual computer, right in the cloud. It allows you to run servers, set up applications, and essentially do everything you can do on a physical computer, but with the flexibility and scalability of the cloud. EC2 can be used for hosting websites, running large-scale computational tasks, data processing, and almost any task you’d use a server for.

2. Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service):

S3 is a storage service that allows you to store and retrieve any amount of data at any time, from anywhere on the web. Think of it like Dropbox but on steroids. This service can be used for tasks, such as backing up data, hosting static websites, storing user-generated content, and more.

3. AWS Lambda

Lambda lets you run code without provisioning or managing servers. You simply upload your code, and Lambda takes care of everything else! This service is ideal for event-driven applications, real-time file processing, log analysis, and more.

If you would like to take advantage of the benefits that AWS offers, but do not have the time resources needed to devote to this task, contact Energize Global Services. Their experts will consult you on the right fit for you, help you in creating and implementing solutions which optimize resources, while allowing your business to grow.

Key Takeaways

• AWS is a robust and comprehensive cloud platform, offering a wide array of services tailored for various IT needs.
• Setting up an AWS account is straightforward, and navigating the AWS Management Console becomes intuitive with practice.
• Services like EC2, S3, and Lambda form the backbone of many cloud-based applications and workflows, providing compute power, storage, and event-driven functionality.

Embarking on the journey to learn the fundamentals of AWS is not just about understanding cloud services; it’s about unlocking a new realm of possibilities for your business. The flexibility, scalability, and breadth of AWS’s offerings are unparalleled, and with the knowledge you’ve gained today, you’re well on your way to leveraging the power of the cloud.

Remember, the journey of learning never truly ends, and with AWS, you have a powerful tool at your fingertips to innovate, optimize, and transform. So keep exploring, keep  building!

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During the Roman era, Hero was a Greek mathematician and engineer in Alexandria, Egypt; respected as the greatest experimenter of antiquity, his work illustrated the Hellenistic scientific tradition. Daedalus was a brilliant architect, inventor, and sculptor who built the Labyrinth for King Minos of Crete. The ancient Greeks and Romans assigned the name ‘Labyrinth’ to a building when it was completely or partially underground, and contained a system of complex chambers, blind alleys, and passageways. Artists and researchers have used AI to create artistic works since its founding in 1956. During the 1970s, Harold Cohen produced and exhibited generative AI paintings which he created on a computer program he wrote. The Greek god of invention, Hephaestus, created the first machine; a giant, bronze robot named Talos. More than two thousand five hundred years ago, centuries before technology had any success, Ancient Greek, Roman, Indian, and Chinese mythology explored solutions to create artificial life, automata, human augmentations, self-moving devices, and replicated ancient inventions of animated machines.

Artificial Intelligence refers to the development of computer systems that can perform tasks equivalent to human intelligence. To accomplish the best possible results when faced with difficult problems, companies combine AI with other analytical techniques such as contextual analysis, deep learning, knowledge graphs, machine learning, natural language processing, and other methods. Acknowledging that there is no all-purpose AI technique, composite AI is the amalgamation of several AI techniques to improve learning proficiency and increase knowledge interpretation. Composite AI provides a platform to combine multiple AI techniques, solve a wider challenge span, and interpret data successfully. Digital twins are virtual replicas of physical objects, processes, or systems that simulate the behaviour of the physical twin to understand how they work in real life. Digital twins are connected to real data sources in the environment which means that the twin updates in real time to replicate the original version. Digital models serve as real-world physical counterparts for simulation, monitoring, integration, maintenance, and testing.

The emergence of deep learning advanced research in image classification, natural language processing, speech recognition, and other disciplines. Machine learning (ML) is a sub-branch of AI and computer science that enables computers to ‘learn’ and improve through experience and data. ML focuses on data, algorithm models, statistical, and generative models. The machine learning model creates new, original content such as images, text, or music based on patterns and structures learned from existing data. To imitate human behaviour, the algorithm analyses data, categorises images, and predicts price variations. IBM has a rich history in machine learning. Natural language processing (NLP) is a subfield of AI, computer science, and linguistics concerned with programming computers to process and analyse substantial amounts of natural language data and the interactions between computers and human language. NLP allows machines to dissect and interpret human language. It is the main tools we use every day such as search engines, grammar correction software, translation software, spam filters, voice assistants, chatbots, and social media monitoring tools. The goal is to have a computer capable of ‘understanding’ the language of document contents, to accurately extract information and insights, and to categorise the documents.

Generative artificial intelligence (GAI) is a large sub-branch that builds on existing technologies; therefore, it rapidly developed over a brief period. GenAI identifies as a discipline that studies the ‘completely programmed’ creation of intelligence. This contrasts with contemporary AI, which studies the understanding and explanation of intelligence by humans. GenAI goes beyond ML, combining different techniques to improve AI’s versatility and efficiency. Rather than solely analysing existing information as in ML, GenAI trains models from massive amounts of data which facilitates learning patterns and structures that in turn allows generating original content. GenAI is trained on deep-learning models to acquire a set of algorithms to generate text, speech, graphics, images, ideas, conversations, simulations, audio, videos, code, structures, product designs, synthetic data, and other content from the vast amounts of data on the training model. Like all AI, generative AI is powered by large machine learning models known as Large Language Models (LLMs). Unlike traditional AI systems that are designed to recognise patterns and make predictions, GenAI uses a form of AI that engages a wide range of applications as well as deep learning algorithms; developed in 2014, generative adversarial networks (GANs) and variational autoencoders (VAEs) produced the first practical deep neural networks that could learn generative models of complex data to output complete sets of original data.

Generative AI: 1) is AI tools that rely on substantial amounts of third-party data, neural network architecture, and complex algorithms to create original content. 2) represent a concept shift in innovation, impacting enterprises that invest in AI applications. 3) use neural networks to recognise existing data patterns and generate original content. One of the breakthroughs with generative AI models is the ability to leverage different learning methods for training such as semi-supervised or unsupervised learning. 4) is used by several industries such as art, fashion, finance, gaming, healthcare, marketing, product design, software development, and script writing. While the conversation around this technology has concentrated on AI image and art generation, generative AI can do much more than generate static images from text prompts. GenAI’s transformative tools have empowered individuals and organisations to create music, art, and other forms of media effortlessly.

In 2017, the Transformer network enabled improvements in generative models that, in 2018, became known as the first Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT), named GPT-1. During 2019, this model was followed by GPT-2 which could generalise several unsupervised tasks as a foundation model. In 2021, OpenAI released DALL-E (a transformer-based pixel generative model). These developments marked the arrival of high-quality artificial intelligence art from natural language prompts. GPT-4 was released in March 2023.

Because of its capabilities, the technology has fascinated the virtual and real world and is evolving as a transformative innovation. A noticeable example of generative AI is predictive search; Google trains LLMs on billions of search queries made by users over the years. Large language model (LLM) chatbots are ChatGPT, Bing Chat, Bard, LLaMA, and text-to-image artificial intelligence art systems such as Stable Diffusion (an AI generated art program developed by Stability AI), Midjourney (developed in an independent research laboratory in San Francisco), and DALL-E (an AI system that can create original, realistic images and art from a short text description). As with OpenAI’s DALL-E and Stability AI’s Stable Diffusion, Midjourney creates images from natural language descriptions known as ‘prompts.’

ChatGPT is a chatbot that empowers users to seamlessly steer a conversation towards an anticipated detail level, format, language, length, and style. Bing is a web search engine owned and operated by Microsoft. The service traces its roots back to Microsoft’s earlier search engines, MSN Search, Windows Live Search, and Live Search. Bing offers a broad spectrum of search services, incorporating web, image, video, and map search products. Live Search became Bing in June 2009. Integrated directly into the search engine and based on GPT-4, Microsoft launched Bing Chat (an AI chatbot) in February 2023. The chatbot was well-received as Bing reached one hundred million active users the following month. Bard is a generative AI chatbot developed by Google AI, originally based on the LaMDA family of large language models and later the PaLM LLMs. Bard was released in March 2023 and is available in two hundred and thirty-eight countries and forty-six languages. LLaMA is a family of LLMs released by Meta AI since February 2023. For the first version of LLaMa, four model sizes were trained; seven, thirteen, thirty-three, and sixty-five billion parameters. Meta AI is an artificial intelligence research laboratory that focuses on generating knowledge for the AI community. The company’s objective is to improve augmented and artificial reality technologies and to develop several categories of artificial intelligence. Investment in generative AI surged during the early 2020s with large companies such as Microsoft, Google, and Baidu developing generative AI models to create text, images, and other media. Survey results revealed that high performance companies such as OpenAI, DeepMind, and Nvidia invested heavily in more traditional AI capabilities as well as GenAI; using reinforcement learning with human feedback to make generative AI output more reliable.

Applications such as ChatGPT and DALL-E became popular in 2022. OpenAI, the developer of the Artificial intelligence chatbot Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT), launched the large language model-based chatbot (written in Python) in November 2022. OpenAI’s DALL-E can make realistic and context-aware edits, insert, remove, or retouch specific sections of an image from a natural language description. Its flexibility allows users to create and edit original images, from artistic to photorealistic images. DALL-E excels at natural language descriptions; users can simply describe what they want to see. More than one and a half million users such as artists, architects, authors, and creative directors are actively creating more than two million images per day with DALL-E. Artificial intelligence researchers describe DALL-E as a neural network; a mathematical system freely modelled on the network of neurons in the brain.

Keeping in mind that the output depends on what the AI was trained on, Apple capitalised in generative AI to improve their Siri, Messages and Apple Music products. If it was trained on text, the output will be text such as in the large language models. Algorithms and models such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT (which is a chatbot on top of a large language model) can be prompted to generate several types of content. GenAI stimulated several start-ups and encouraged major investments by Amazon, Google, and Microsoft with the induction of technologies such as ChatGPT, Bard, and Dall -E. AI Writing for content generation, AI Art, and AI Video are GenAI technology applications that use deep learning algorithms to create new content from current data. OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard rely on statistical likelihood. They are great tools that can help with several tasks such as data analysis, learning, teaching, and writing.

Generative AI is the latest innovation in the artificial intelligence industry. It is one of the most powerful artificial intelligence technologies. The potential misuse of GenAI to manipulate or deceive people include fake news and cybercrime. GenAI’s ability to create realistic fake content has been exploited in cybercrime phishing scams. Audio and video have been used to spread disinformation and commit fraud. Cybercriminals have created LLMs such as FraudGPT and WormGPT to focus on fraud. Individuals, businesses, and governments have raised concerns. In the European Union, the proposed Artificial Intelligence Act includes the obligation to disclose copyrighted material used to train generative AI systems, and to label any AI-generated output. In the United States, a group of companies (including OpenAI, Meta, and Alphabet) signed a voluntary agreement in July 2023 to watermark AI-generated content. On 10 July 2023, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), joined by six other central government regulators, issued a finalised text of Interim Measures for the Management of Generative Artificial Intelligence Services such as ChatGPT to the public of mainland China. It contains restrictions on personal data collection, regulations on training data and label quality, requirements to watermark generated images and videos, and guidelines for generative AI to ‘adhere to socialist core values.’ They are set to take effect on 15 August 2023.

On 2 October 2015, the restructuring of Google created Alphabet Inc. (headquartered in Mountain View, California) as Google’s public holding company; thus, Alphabet became the parent company of several former Google group companies. These companies now had greater independence to operate in businesses other than internet services. Alphabet has developed into one of the world’s most valuable companies; it is the world’s third-largest technology company by revenue. Along with Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, and Meta it is acknowledged as one of the Big Five American information technology companies. OpenAI is an American artificial intelligence research organisation and consists of the non-profit OpenAI Inc. registered in Delaware and its for-profit subsidiary corporation OpenAI Global LLC. The company was founded in 2015 by Andrej Karpathy, Durk Kingma, Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, Jessica Livingston, John Schulman, Pamela Vagata, Trevor Blackwell, Vicki Cheung, and Wojciech Zaremba. Elon Musk and Sam Altman served as the original board members. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, California. The company’s products are GPT-1, GPT-2, GPT-3, GPT-4, ChatGPT, DALL·E, OpenAI Five, and OpenAI Codex. In 2019, Microsoft provided OpenAI Global LLC with a one-billion-dollar investment and in 2023 with a ten-billion-dollar investment.

Elon Musk describes AI as humanity’s ‘biggest existential threat.’ Sam Altman believes Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) will surpass human intelligence; AGI must not be confused with Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI). Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), or strong AI, is AI that reveals human-like intelligence and is ‘generally smarter than humans.’ It would be a machine that could understand the world as well as any human and be able to learn how to carry out a vast number of tasks. The definition is debatable, but it’s mainly understood as something scientific and proportionally more advanced than we presently have. Altman and Musk have stated that they are partly motivated by concerns about AI safety and the existential risk that AGI poses. OpenAI’s stance is that ‘it’s hard to fathom how much human-level AI could benefit society’; likewise, it is difficult to understand ‘how much it could damage society if used incorrectly.’ Scientists Stuart Russell and Stephen Hawking have expressed concerns that when advanced AI gains the ability to re-design itself at an ever-increasing speed, an inevitable ‘intelligence explosion’ could result in human extinction.

GenAI’s ability to create new and unique content will eventually impact industries and unlock exciting opportunities in several fields such as art, entertainment, design, marketing, and social sciences. It has already shown immense potential in enhancing medical imaging like data augmentation, image synthesis, image-to-image translation, and radiology report generation. The rapid development in GenAI can play a significant role in employee training and development via personalised learning programs and adapting training paths based on individual needs. The technology will be able to analyse employees’ skills, interests, and professional development needs. Furthermore, it has the potential to transform government business processes, change how state employees perform their work and improve government efficiency. Recent developments offer transformative change across various sections such as scientific research, education, healthcare, and medicine. Generative AI can shape the future in countless ways, whether through creating new forms of art and expression, making investment decisions, or improving health care outcomes, the possibilities are endless.

GenAI exposed the complexity of the calculations required to successfully leverage AI to the next level. Although generative AI is still far from Artificial General Intelligence, the estimation is that by 2025, about ten percent of all data will be the result of Generative Artificial Intelligence creations.

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The term ‘glitch’ or ‘bug’ is the expression that a computer program, system, or machine is defective or faulty. A glitch is a flaw in a system as a result of unknown causes. It can refer to a brief error in a system due to a sporadic hardware fault on an external device or poor power supply that can correct itself, making it difficult to troubleshoot. In Information Technology (IT), a bug is an error or fault in any computer program or hardware system. A software bug is a computer program or system failure in the development, design, or operation of computer software that causes it to yield unexpected results. It can influence the functioning, safety, and security of computer operating systems. Various issues can produce temporary or permanent problems such as programming mistakes, screen abnormalities, keyboard malfunctions, and conflicts with software and hardware installed on a computer.

‘Glitch’ is sometimes substituted with the word ‘bug.’ A computer glitch is when there is a problem with the normal functioning of a computer, allowing it to act strangely. The difference between the two is that a glitch causes a temporary disruption while a bug refers to a serious problem that frequently includes hardware. While interference from portable electronics and microwaves, damaged cables at the broadcasting centre, weather, defects in software and hardware, errors within operating systems, and problems triggered by computer bugs or viruses cause glitches, they can be disruptive on a major organisation’s network. Incorrect interpretation while developing software requirements and human errors while designing programs and writing source codes are some of the reasons why software has bugs.

Removing a virus may be the only way to fix a glitch if it is caused by a computer virus.  Once the source is found, it will be easier to fix. A problem hosted by a hardware glitch is known as a technical glitch. If serious glitches are not fixed, they may prompt severe damage such as total system failure. Several software bugs are responsible for space and military aircraft crashes. The famous Y2K bug caused various programs written long before the transition of dates from the 1900’s to 2000’s to malfunction. A massive attempt at the end of the twentieth century fixed the critical problems in the Y2K bug.

An identical problem to the Y2K bug is the Epochalypse or the Y2K38 superbug. It is a time formatting bug that represents times after 03:14:07 (three hours fourteen minutes and seven seconds) Universal Time Co-ordinated (UTC) on 19 January 2038. The problem is dormant in systems measuring Unix time. The number of seconds elapsed since the Unix epoch 00:00:00 (zero) UTC on 1 January 1970. The bug has already challenged several applications that use future dates. Computer systems that use time for critical computations may face fatal errors if the Y2K38 bug is not solved. Although there is no resolution, several modern systems have been upgraded to measure Unix time. Susceptible systems are those that are seldom updated or that have never been updated.

In 2012, the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), a federally funded research and development centre for the National Nuclear Security Administration of the United States Department of Energy, acknowledged that for more than twenty years the commercial aerospace industry, the military, and the computer industry have been aware that high-energy neutrons in the atmosphere are able to effect computer errors. Even Time magazine defined the word ‘glitch’ in a 1965 article as a spaceman’s word for ‘irritating disturbances.’ Time believed that the term was used during the 1950s American Space Race to define minor faults in rocket hardware that could not be described as anything else. In August 2016, the Open Technology Institute, run by the group ‘New America,’ released a report ‘Bugs in the System.’ The report addressed three issues namely: U.S. policymakers should consider amendments to assist researchers in identifying software bugs, adjust the study field to include the discovery of software susceptibility and cyber software vulnerability, and to reform computer crime and copyright laws to ‘the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act.

Almost ninety percent of emails contain some form of malware. More than six thousand new computer viruses are created every month. A lazy fix twenty-three years ago means the Y2K bug is currently stalking computers. Cash registers and parking meters are victims of a computer glitch related to the Y2K bug. Control Alt Delete is a 2008 Canadian comedy film which premiered at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival. It is set in an IT firm before the year 2000 where the lead programmer is tasked with solving several Y2K bugs. As the year 2000 approaches, he anxiously works to resolve the Y2K glitch. The bug refers to potential computer errors related to the formatting and storage of calendar data for dates in and after the year 2000. Computer designers forgot to program computer systems to handle four-digit dates. The problem was in the coding of systems across multiple types of software that reduced calendar years in data sets. The panic was that banks, government agencies, and society would shut down after midnight on 31 December 1999. The second after midnight was the entry into the next century. It was expected to create chaos in computers and computer networks around the globe. International programming and preparations started well in advance of twelve months and when the new era finally arrived, few major failures resulted. The millennium bug is the perfect example of how mass hysteria promoted technophobia (the fear of technology). 

Computers can do things humans can’t, such as work out complex equations in less time it takes to count to twenty, but software malfunctions can have serious consequences. In the United States, numerous outages at State Department systems have led to various delays in the processing of digital immigration status, passports, and visas as well as applications for passports, visas and reports of Americans born overseas. In June 2015, the U.S. State Department had a failure in the system that conducted security checks on foreign visitors. It ultimately delayed passport-and-visa-processing at worldwide embassies and impacted travel into the U.S. Across United Kingdom airports, border officers have been replaced by e-gates (digital passport gates), allowing travellers with biometric passports to scan their passports and pass through border control. Chaos erupted when an IT system failure stunted the purpose of the UK Border Force’s electronic passport gates at airports across the U.K. The system failure prevented the use of e-gates for arrivals, causing significant delays in processing arriving passengers via manual passport security checks. Australia uses immigration smart gates to process arrivals and departures with only two or three officers on site. An estimated ten thousand passengers arrive per hour across Australia; even a slight delay can have a catastrophic effect. An IT systems outage at all Australian international airports caused a shutdown of electronic gates; thus, all inbound and outbound passengers had to be processed manually by immigration officers. Working with the Department of Home Affairs, the Australian Border Force (ABF) instructed the Department of Border Protection to arrange for extra officers. The complexity of the computer systems powering the global operations of airlines is heavily affected by computer glitches, bugs, and errors. The booking system that American Airlines use to assign pilots to flights indicated that it allocated enough captains and first officers over Christmas when in fact there was a shortage of pilots.

During September 2013, a computer glitch delayed unemployment checks for almost eighty thousand Californians; many depend on the money to feed their families and pay their bills. A computer error at New York’s Housing Authority left residents waiting endlessly for critical paperwork; some even forfeited their homes. The delays were due to a new thirty-six-million-dollar computer system. When a computer glitch in a newly installed computer program in the Dallas County District Clerk’s office limited the retrieval of several court records, defence attorneys could not access vital case information. A California Court installed new legal software known as the Odyssey Case Manager software which led to false criminal records, redundant court trials, and unlawful arrests. Washington state released more than three thousand prisoners early. Nearly three hundred defendants jailed over three days in Harris County were automatically released without appearing in court. A glitch in Everbright’s internal trading systems created chaos on the Chinese stock exchange. The Chinese Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) launched a formal inquiry into the unusual trades. In 1991, the collapse of a fifty-seven-thousand-ton sea oil platform caused a massive earthquake. Due to a computer error, residents in Johnson County, Kansas, received a false tornado warning. In 2004, a computer glitch revealed the names of various authors who had written reviews of their own books with the aid of pseudonyms.

Well-known banks that have been seriously affected by either hacking or software and hardware breakdowns – Commonwealth Bank, M and T Bank Corporation, Toronto Dominion Bank (TD Bank), Union Bank, and JPMorgan Chase. Bank of America encountered a problem with several customers unable to access their account information. Wells Fargo (with its headquarters in San Francisco, California) provides banking, investment, and mortgage products. After a systems outage prevented customers from using ATMs, mobile, and online banking services, account issues followed. The glitch happened at a chaotic time for banks in the U.S., amplified by the federal government taking control of Silicon Valley Bank, marking the event the largest American bank failure. Customers reported that direct deposits failed to appear on the system. Wells Fargo mistakenly denied hundreds of customers mortgage adjustments which led to the bank foreclosing on homeowners. The Royal Bank of Scotland computer system problems which started in June 2012 were technical issues that affected computers managed by the Royal Bank of Scotland Group (now NatWest Group), including Ulster Bank, The RBS, and National Westminster Bank. The belief is that the computer failure at the Royal Bank of Scotland was caused by an inexperienced junior technician in India. The computer glitch prevented payments to and from accounts at NatWest, RBS, and Ulster Bank. In 2014, RBS was charged more than forty million British pounds over the incident.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in Washington, DC. functions as a regulatory agency under the U.S. Department of Transportation with the sole mission of civil aviation safety and air traffic services. It is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government that regulates all facets of civil aviation in America as well as neighbouring intercontinental waters. The FAA provides the largest, safest, and busiest National Airspace System (NAS) in the world. NAS is a network of controlled and uncontrolled domestic and oceanic airspace. The Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) sends dynamic information to pilots like alerting them about equipment outages, closed runways, and other potential hazards at a location or along a flight route that could affect the flight. Pilots check the NOTAM system before they commence flight. An FAA ground stop is a process that mandates aircraft that meet explicit criteria to stay on the ground. The conditions for a ground stop may be airspace specific, equipment specific, or airport specific. It is to halt the departure of aircraft destined for an airport or for a geographic area e.g., if a ground stop is called for Los Angeles International Airport, aircraft departing for Los Angeles airport from other airports will be grounded.

During August 2023, the FAA experienced a system outage that affected thousands of flights across the globe. The fault was reported to have been caused by a problem in the NOTAM system. This system failure led to the FAA calling a ground stop which caused ground stops at other airports across America. Major U.S. and U.K. airlines such as American Airlines, British Airlines, Delta Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines were mostly affected. On 8 July 2015, computer failures simultaneously took down three major United States companies, United Airlines, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), and the Wall Street Journal’s website. The NYSE had a four-hour complete failure; a system error that flowed through to other markets as well. Well-known technologists and security experts all agreed that the outages were not the results of cyberattacks. They explained how each of the three failures were different in nature and how hacks exploit a single flaw to attack several individuals or businesses at once. The New York Stock Exchange is the main exchange in the financial borough of Lower Manhattan in New York City and the Wall Street Journal is an international economic-oriented daily newspaper, also in New York City. The three companies are business operations that rely on complex computer systems with automated software which involves masses of computer coding; a system outage only requires a single mistake!

In 1999, NASA lost its Mars climate orbiter because a NASA subcontractor used English units instead of the metric system, which caused the malfunction of the orbiter’s thrusters. Nasa’s Hubble Space Telescope was replaced with a powerful successor, the James Webb Space Telescope. The Ariane 5 rocket launch delayed scientific research for almost four years. Therac-25 is a machine that delivers radiation therapy to cancer patients. The technicians who worked with the Therac-25 were used to computer glitches; however, a lack of hardware safety features led to a computer bug that delivered radiation overdoses, causing three deaths.

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In my teenage, I was already curious about process improvements and automation to make life easier.  

For instance, at my secondary school, I helped the head of the parents’ council to collect the meeting notes and the feedback from the parents and group them per category and prioritize them using Excel. Also with the help of Excel, I helped him to do some calculations of the costs for the events at my secondary school so that the calculations were done fast and in case of any changes re-calculations were completed easily as well.  

When I started my professional career with internships and full-time jobs I’ve also started suggesting the process improvements in combination with the automation of some manual tasks. And I didn’t just share the problems to be solved and the processes to be improved, but the complete solutions to them as well as the steps on how to implement them.  

Thus, during my internship at the bank in order to do data analysis faster and get more accurate results I’ve automated the calculations and data quality checks.  

And my initiatives aimed at improvements were always supported by my supervisors or the managers at the higher levels. I was even the leader of the process improvement and automation initiative, and my colleagues and I have implemented the changes successfully.  

However, during my recent job, all my improvements’ suggestions were rejected with the justification that everything works fine, even though there were plenty of inefficiencies in the value creation chain. Moreover, I’ve offered the solutions, that will benefit employees, the business itself as well as their customers. But that was not taken into consideration at all.  

So ultimately I’ve decided to create my own tool for business process improvements and their automation. And I’m already a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, so I am officially accredited to run the initiatives of business process improvements at various organizations.  

In your opinion, what is the most interesting technology trend for 2021? 

In my opinion, the most interesting and promising technology trends for 2021 and the years to come are the High-speed Internet, Artificial Intelligence and Smart Devices.  

Year by year these technologies are extending the capabilities of humans in life and at work.  

Moreover, with the combination of these technologies, people will be able to resolve plenty of existing problems, that they wouldn’t have been able to solve say 10 years ago, for instance, the ongoing supply chain crisis.  

As soon as the vast majority of supply chain organizations leverage the High-speed Internet, Artificial Intelligence, and Smart Devices into their operations and other activities, the supply chain crisis should be resolved, because they will have efficient and transparent value creation processes, their customers will always get the products of the right quality in the right quantity at the right time, and their workspace will be adjusted as well as their workforce trained for the continuous production and distribution flows, even during the times of uncertainties such as lockdowns, natural disasters, emergencies, etc. 

 How does technology affect the way customers collect information and communicate? 

In the internet century customers especially younger generations get information about products and services mostly from online resources.  

For instance, Forbes suggests that 81% of consumers research online before making a purchase decision, and according to Consumer Goods Technology 33% of online shoppers abandoned their shopping carts due to a lack of detailed and complete information on the products there were about to buy. 

Social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter have become a primary source of information for consumers across all segments. 88% of millennials get their information from Facebook, and 47% say social media influences their purchase decision. 

As to the local businesses their consumers usually check Google Maps for the overall ratings and reviews left by other consumers and only in case if they are satisfied with the collected information, they decide to go to that place. On Google Maps they can also find some basic information on the business like the opening hours, address, etc. And the stats suggest that 77% are very unlikely to give a locally based business a second chance after encountering wrong or missing information. So businesses usually pay a lot of attention to the accuracy of their online listings. 

If customers want to do some expensive and not urgent purchase they usually go to Google Search or YouTube to learn more about the product they plan to buy and what others say about it.  

We shouldn’t forget about the word of mouth as well especially in the era of the internet and various social media platforms. Some people with a lot of followers can share a negative review on some product or some negative experience when interacting with a brand, so as the consequence many of their followers will never purchase any product from that company. That’s because people will trust their network over almost any other source of information. Trust developed between individuals is stronger than anything a brand can build. 

It works in a contrary way too. Some existing users of the product may write a very positive post and review online or simply share their opinion on the product during face-to-face interactions, so plenty of people will want to purchase a product from that particular company.  

Fortunately, with the help of modern technologies, customers can always reach out to the brands and ask for help to either make their purchase decisions or resolve some issues with already bought products.  

For example, one can go to the website of a shoe store and ask the chatbot with a built-in recommendation engine to find the shoes for a wedding that match with a blue suit and white shirt perfectly.  

Or if there are some issues with the phone charger one can go to the website of the store, where it was bought, and get help on the issue through a self-help portal or speak with the assistant in the chat.  

Nowadays, brands can also monitor all the online reviews and react to them immediately by getting more details on the causes of the negative feedback and resolving the issues.  

In your opinion, how has the smart city industry changed in the past 5 years? 

The smart city industry has drastically been changed in recent years, especially once a pandemic has been started.  

Now the vast majority of the admin services in the cities are provided online and via dedicated mobile apps. For example, I can change my registration address with a matter of a few clicks in the mobile app from everywhere at any time.  

These days just with the smartphone in hand, it is also possible to order food and a taxi, buy train tickets, get the schedule of public transport, etc.  

When we share our locations with Google Maps, for example, the application uses that data in real-time to monitor the traffic flow, which it then feeds back to its users about the best route to take. 

Besides that, after the widespread adoption of sensors, the solutions like City Brain by Alibaba appeared. This solution primarily targets Asia as of now.  

City Brain works by letting artificial intelligence (AI) control a city. Large amounts of data are gathered, processed by algorithms in supercomputers, then feed it back into systems around the city.  

In Hangzhou it began by monitoring traffic, using data from the transportation bureau, public transportation systems, a mapping app, and hundreds of thousands of cameras.  

Alibaba was given control of 104 traffic light junctions in the city’s Xiaoshan district, and as a result traffic speed in the district was increased by 15% during the first year of operation. 

Not only this, but road accidents are now automatically detected so can be responded to faster, and illegal parking is tracked live. The system also constantly monitors video footage of traffic, looking out for signs of collisions or accidents in order to alert the police. 

By the way, did you know that 88% of gunfire incidents were not called into 911 in the USA?  

To resolve this really big issue there is ShotSpotter – a precision policing platform that helps local, state, and federal law enforcement respond to, investigate and deter crime.  

The technology suite embodies the renowned “precision policing” philosophy so now agencies have access to timely and accurate intelligence, can more rapidly and precisely deploy resources to respond to crime, as well as proactively prevent it.  

The platform is highly data-driven and includes community protections and engagement opportunities to help improve police-community relations. 

Thanks to this solution, there is a 33% decrease in Gunfire in 2020 in Fort Myers, FL, 4 min reduction in GSW victims’ transport time in Camden, NJ. Other American cities significantly benefit from this system as well.  

So as you can see the solutions for some basic admin tasks and more complex systems for instance to ensure the physical safety of city inhabitants are appearing and expanding to a larger scale, and I strongly believe this tendency will keep growing in the years to come.  

How would you define the future of work in an era of smart machines and robots? 

A recent study from Pew Research shows that 71% of people are currently working from home, and 50% of employees say they want to continue working from home at least three days a week. That’s more than half of people wanting to be remote over half the time! 

And according to a Forrester Consulting study commissioned by Google in January 2020, organizations that reported investing in cloud-based end-user computing initiatives ahead of Covid-19 experienced better preparedness for times of uncertainty compared to businesses that were behind in this area.  

For instance, these organizations were better equipped to handle the rapid change in their working conditions, including working remotely securely, collaborating digitally with their peers, and relying on video conferencing instead of in-person meetings.  

So taking into account the factors that the workforce strives to conduct its job from anywhere as well as business becomes resilient and can keep operating even during disruptions, moreover, it’s absolutely uncertain how often and for how long they can happen again and again I strongly believe that the vast majority of the people will become cloud workers in the near future.  

Thanks to this transition workers will be able to use their applications on various devices, not only on computers. But to do it efficiently and use as many devices as they have for example smart wearables or smart displays the enterprise software will be transformed into smart assistants, that proactively & intelligently utilize the tools to complete various tasks with the help of the conversational interfaces just like we can ask Siri or Google Assistant to set the alarm for 7 o’clock in the following morning.  

For instance, in the nearest future, the leaders of the supply chain organizations will be able to utilize Smart Assistants to order missing supplies, generate financial reports, communicate with customers, etc.  

Moreover, in supply chain organizations, the workspace transformation will go further. With the help of artificial intelligence, smart devices, and robotics manual and laborious tasks will be taken over by smart machines powered with specific intelligence, required to complete the jobs fast, 24/7 365 days a year, and human-error-free.   

According to a recent study from IndustryWeek before the pandemic, 38% of manufacturers had trouble finding candidates with the right skills, and today that number is 54%, so this transition might be implemented painless and at a quite fast pace, because there is a lot of work to be done.  

Both companies and their employees will benefit from this transformation 一 companies will get their things done and employees will have much more interesting tasks to work on in the innovative environment with a strong focus on utilizing their strengths and developing other skills, especially soft ones. That way the majority of manual laborers will rather become knowledge workers, that control how things are being done.  

With this workspace model, employees will even be able to work remotely and visit their companies from time to time for some specific tasks, that require physical presence. And companies will significantly benefit from that because their operations will keep running smoothly even during times of disruptions, such as lockdowns, natural disasters, emergencies, etc.  

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I am a professor of chemistry and I have courses in English, in bilingual classes at High school ” Svetozar Markovic ” in Nis. I have presented a large number of examples of good teaching practice in Serbia and Europe since 2016, as well as guided many workshops about different methodology of teaching in the classroom. I am an ambassador for Scientix and also I have participated in a project “21st Century Schools” where I lead and mentored the seminars on behalf of the British Council in Serbia, which is being implemented in primary schools with cooperation of the Ministry of Education of Serbia. My interests are also focused on the application of information technology in teaching and I have done a lot of activities for students e.g. applying a hologram in teaching or creating a scale through different perspectives in the work of the laboratory. My mission is to create students who are open-minded and who can be critical thinkers.

How do you think does modern technology influence the way students collect and analyze information?  

Technology can help students to learn how to be collaborative through group work or work with applications through different programs. Students learn by doing with information through critical thinking, by observing, using  and modifying resources with the help of available data.

Can you give us examples from your practice when you successfully implemented technology in the learning process? 

The application of educational materials that can be found on various sites can be used in teaching, such as short educational films from National Geography website, Ted talks web resources for teaching or creating holograms directly in class and showing models of different forms of molecules. One of the possibilities was also the use of mobile apps, for example for measuring metrological data etc.

In your opinion, what is the most innovative trend, related to education? 

The application of new technologies in conditions that are specific for teaching during the school year 2020 and 2021 shows that digital technologies personalize the educational process and help in the individual work of students with special needs, as well as each student individually. Online learning could be interesting and even more fun than teaching in the classroom. 

What do you think is the future of traditional learning process? 

Students will be able to study and learn what they want, when they want, and as long as they want. A school environment is more favourable at home and technology has already become part of educational system. In future roll of a teacher will be to cooperate with students, lead them, in order to create and benefit from the possibilities of the digital world.

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I’ve been involved professionally in the IT world, based in my home country of Malta and working with international oganisations, for just over 15 years now. I’ve worked in almost all tiers of the IT sector, from support all the way up to management, meaning that I have experience with both the technical and strategic side of the IT world. I’ve been specialising in Information Security for almost 5 years now and am excited to be part of an industry that is both interesting and constantly evolving. When I’m not at my full-time job in Information Security, I work on web design and eCommerce solutions with my business partner as part of our Malta Virtual Mall project, and also love spending time with my family, travelling when possible, hiking and being in nature, as well as working with a couple of mental health focused charities here in the Maltese Islands. 

What was your first “win” that made you confident that you were doing the right thing? 

Most people in the Information Security world will know that wins are hard to come by, for the simple fact that we are our own worst critics. There is even a term for what I’m talking about – “imposter syndrome”. Nevertheless, I try to find those moments that motivate me to push harder and aim higher in my professional and personal life. With this in mind, I would say that a general “win” for me is coming up with a solution to a security problem that has plagued a company for years and then seeing the solution through to its implementation. My first “win” would be debatable but from an information security perspective, it most probably has to be receiving phishing email notifications from employees who identified that they were being phished. This came after spending time teaching and training everyone in the global organisation about what phishing is, how to spot it and what to do if you are a victim. This was great, as it showed I was slowly but surely changing the culture of the organization in a positive way when it came to security. 

In your opinion, what is the biggest challenge in the cybersecurity industry at the moment? 

Most people would probably mention ransomware as a huge challenge in our industry, but I believe that awareness is the number one challenge when it comes to information and cyber security. Most studies and reports on breaches and attacks consistently have shown that the majority of these take place via phishing, business email compromise or some form of social engineering, as opposed to via direct hacking or exploitation of vulnerabilities. Therefore, the majority of breaches and attacks can be stopped by ensuring that employees are more aware of what threats and risks are out there and how they can play a part in keeping the organization safe. This awareness and education has a double effect of keeping the organization safe, as well as empowering employees to feel that they are playing a part in the protection of the organization. 

Which are the main trends that shape the industry nowadays? 

Some of the main trends these days from an attack and defend perspective seem to revolve around hacking-as-a-service organisations. These allow everyday users with almost no technical knowledge to carry out ransomware, DDOS or other malicious attacks aimed at anyone they choose. This is dangerous, as it opens up the world of malicious hacking and malware to the masses, some of whom may not even fully understand what they are doing or the level of damage they may be causing. 

A secondary trend that is more focused on the side of security administration and architecture, is zero-trust. This ensures a level playing field for the set-up of authentication systems where it doesn’t matter where you’re authenticating from or to, you are treated in the same manner. This type of architecture, in my opinion, is a great way to add extra levels of protection to any environment and makes organisations more secure as well as easier to manage.  

In your opinion, what are the main steps that organisations should take in order to protect their data? 

Know what data you have, where it is and what the classification of your data is. These are definitely the first steps to take when dealing with any form of data. Before you have this information, you will not be able to protect your data. The next step is to ensure that this data is both protected and backed up appropriately. When dealing with backups, the 3-2-1 rule is always a great place to start. Ensure that you have at least 3 different copies of your data (including the production data), on 2 different types of media, with 1 stored off-site. 

The above is probably standard, but what I would suggest over and above all this is ensuring that your people are also aware of all of the above (ensuring the principle of least privilege obviously, whereby only people who need to know are made aware of the information). It’s also important to ensure that training on disaster recovery is carried out and a plan is created, tested and implemented. Like security awareness, this helps protect your data while also making your employees wardens of your data. 

What advice would you give to your younger self at the start of your career? 

This is a hard one. I try to live by a “no regrets” mantra since we are not in a position to change the past but can only learn and move on, so I don’t hold on to too many of the mistakes that I’ve made throughout the years. However, if I was pressed to think of a single piece of advice, it would be to listen more attentively to those in your team and those above you. All teams disagree at some point and all managers will have a disagreement with a team member from time to time, but it is important to understand the other person’s perspective when analysing a problem as they may see things that you don’t. This is why working in a team is so beneficial – different perspectives assembled together, more often than not, create innovative solutions. 

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Networks of Centres of Excellence are partnerships between government, industries, universities, and non-governmental organisations with the goal of developing Canadian research and entrepreneurial talent into economic and social advantage of all Canadians. C2MI is in the Science Park of Bromont in the province of Quebec and was initially established from a partnership between IBM Canada, Teledyne DALSA Semiconductor, and the Université de Sherbrooke. Teledyne DALSA Semiconductor (a business unit of Teledyne Digital Imaging) is in Bromont’s technology industrial park. Teledyne DALSA is one of the world’s leading companies in revolutionary MEMS, CCD sensors (used in digital imaging), high voltage CMOS, and presents an extensive range of wafer fabrications. CMOS technology fabricates NMOS and PMOS transistors with N- and P-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) on one chip. A MOSFET is a field-effect transistor (FET) that is fabricated by controlled silicon oxidation of which the voltage is defined by the device’s conductivity. It offers greater benefits than separate NMOS and PMOS transistors and is the primary technology used in digital integrated circuits.

To support and develop companies in advanced aerospace, manufacturing, and microelectronics, the Bromont Science Park was established to group companies together that fall into a specific category; companies that are committed to research and innovation and work in high-technology sectors. C2MI is the largest electronic systems research and development centre in Canada and a vital chain in the microelectronic ecosystem. It accommodates more than two hundred and fifty researchers and is one of the most important research centres of its kind in the world. Its ecosystem plays a significant role in innovation by presenting an infrastructure of almost four hundred organisations in various industrial areas. The company is a top innovation centre for the development of essential knowledge in all economic areas of digital technologies. These include intellectual property protection, product certification, resources for market analysis, skills development, strategic business planning, funding for commercialisation, and financial guidance and services to help companies thrive in the economy. C2MI’s policy is to create innovative partnerships with centres and universities to develop a research and development collaboration ecosystem-network between academia and industry. Their mission is mainly to be an international innovator in the development of computer chips, the manufacturing and commercialisation of Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS), the integration of optoelectronic components, and screen-printing electronic circuits to fast-track the development of new procedures and products. Their customer base extends beyond Canada’s borders. They serve as an international centre for collaboration and innovation between the research phase and the launching of microelectronic products enabling them to bring tomorrow’s prototypes to today’s market. The Science Park also includes C2MI’s automation, instrumentation, and robotics research centre. The Aerospace section of Bromont Science Park surrounds GE Aviation, a developer in the production of components, integrated systems, turbo engines, and turboprops for civilian and military aircraft. Investment in new technology allows Bromont GE Aviation (one of the most industrious global locations) to assemble new aircraft engine components such as compressor blades, fan blades, low-pressure turbine blades, and metal leading edges for the next generation of aircraft engines. It develops complex robotic systems, software applications and intellectual property that are exported to global GE Aviation facilities.

The Université de Sherbrooke is a French-speaking establishment offering an academic education that is globally recognised. IBM Technology collaborates with clients in Quebec and Canada, relying on an ecosystem of business partners and service associations to supply the assets and skills to help clients establish a valuable organisation. In January 2020, the Université de Sherbrooke and IBM Bromont renewed their partnership with the NSERC-IBM Canada Industrial Research Chair in High Performance Heterogeneous Integration and launched a complementary collaborative research and development project in support of the Chair. The first project was to develop innovative processes and to progress the demands of digital technologies and artificial intelligence. The two projects are funded by an investment of more than six million Canadian dollars from the Université de Sherbrooke, IBM, NSERC, and Prompt. In October 2020, the Université de Sherbrooke named the NSERC-Teledyne DALSA Industrial Research Chair for MEMS and next generation micro-photonics. This Chair intends to develop and improve materials, production processes and applications for future microsystems and micro-photonics.

Entrepreneurs and researchers are the future of technological innovation in Quebec. Innovation is the practical application of concepts that effect the introduction of new products and services as well as the improvement of existing products and services. The terms research and development are different types of innovation-associated concepts. To surpass expectations, training, product, and service innovations must be driven into every corner of the economy. Billions in funding has been filtered into business investment, supply chains, and technology to benefit Canadian workers. The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) is Canada’s largest supporter of discovery and innovation as well as the primary federal research funding agency for engineering and natural sciences. Funds are available to businesses, colleges, universities, and non-profits as well as explorers and innovators in search of scientific and technical breakthroughs. NSERC supports Canada’s research community by providing Canadian engineers and scientists opportunities to gain new skills. Young talent is encouraged, and training prospects are created for the next generation of scientists and engineers. PROMPT supports innovative projects of companies and researchers by funding technological innovations in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, quantum computing, and other information technologies as well as research and development, the creation of partnerships, and the certification of technologies. The mission is to create tomorrow’s Quebec.

In partnership with the Government of Quebec, IBM Research launched its fourth Discovery Accelerator, the first in Canada, to establish Quebec as a primary technological centre for the development of computational technologies such as artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, semiconductors, and quantum computing. The quantum computer was installed in the province of Quebec as well as a HPC cluster for artificial intelligence to speed up research. HPC technology uses clusters of powerful processors to resolve big data (multi-dimensional datasets) and compound problems at exceptional speeds. HPC systems function at speeds more than one million times quicker than the fastest laptop, desktop, or server system. The purpose of the Discovery Accelerator is to focus on the development of new projects, collaborations, training programs and expertise in vital research areas such as the world’s most compound problems in life sciences, sustainability, and energy. IBM Research collaborates with the Microelectronics Innovation Zone in Bromont and the Government of Quebec’s Quantum Innovation Zone in Sherbrooke to promote advanced technology throughout the province, making it available for scientific research and partners in private sectors. An IBM Quantum System One is installed at IBM Bromont for partners and the Government of Quebec’s Innovation Zone. The Discovery Accelerator explores compound problems which involves the modelling of new materials and solving larger sustainability challenges. High-performance computing (HPC) combines classical and quantum technology to examine scientific challenges. With IBM’s state-of-the-art quantum computer, Quebec is using the hybrid cloud to integrate quantum computing, AI, and high-performance computing; thereby accelerating scientific discovery. The amalgamation of these technologies promotes the future of quantum computing and increases a breakthrough for quantum science.

MEMS is the technology of microscopic devices, combining both electronic and moving parts, and are made of components which are micrometres in size. MEMS devices range from twenty micrometres to a millimetre, although components organised in displays such as digital micromirror devices can exceed one thousand square millimetres. They consist of a central unit that processes data (an integrated circuit chip such as a microprocessor) and several components that interact with the surroundings (such as microsensors). Due to the large surface area to volume ratio of MEMS, forces created by ambient electromagnetism (electrostatic charges and magnetic moments), and fluid dynamics (surface tension and viscosity) are more significant design considerations than with bigger scale mechanical devices. MEMS technology is separated from molecular nanotechnology or molecular electronics in that the molecular technologies must also consider surface chemistry. MEMS was practical once it could be fabricated with modified semiconductor device fabrication technologies (used for electronics). The 2010 Wharton-GSA semiconductor ecosystem survey on collaborative innovation in the global semiconductor industry confirmed that the ecosystem offers ample opportunities for semiconductor companies; to benefit from their own products and technologies is influenced by the relationships with complementors in their business ecosystem. Complementors are customers, suppliers, and providers of complementary products. They are companies that provide complementary products in combination with another product, for example Intel and Microsoft are complementors in the PC market.

There are two types of semiconductors. The N-type is used when there are many free electrons and the P-type is used in a situation of less free electrons. Devices and components built with semiconductors include computer memory, diodes, integrated circuits, and transistors. The fabrication of MEMS developed from the process technology in semiconductor device fabrication, for example the basic techniques are deposition of material layers, patterning by photolithography and etching to produce the required shapes. One of the building blocks in MEMS processing is the ability to deposit thin films of material with a thickness from one micrometre to around one hundred micrometres. The Nano Electro-Mechanical System process is similar, but the area of film deposition varies from a few nanometres to one micrometre. There are two types of deposition processes – chemical vapour deposition and physical vapour deposition. Patterning in MEMS is the transfer of a pattern into a material. Lithography in MEMS is the transfer of a pattern into a photosensitive material by means of exposure to a radiation source such as light – electron beam lithography, focused-ion beam lithography, focused ion beam milling (diamond patterning), photolithography, radiation, and X-ray lithography. Wet chemical etching is the selective removal of material by dipping a substrate into a solution that dissolves it. In wet and dry etching, the material is dissolved when dipped into a chemical solution. In dry etching, the material is dissolved by using reactive ions. Bulk micromachining is the oldest model of silicon-based MEMS. Surface micromachining makes use of layers on the surface of a substrate (as the structural materials) rather than using the substrate. Wafer bonding joins two or more substrates (with the same diameter) to one another to form a structure.

Examples of MEMS applications are: 1. Optical switching technology for switching technology and alignment for data communications. 2. Displays such as the digital micromirror device chip in a projector (based on digital light processing technology) which has a surface with several hundred thousand micromirrors or single micro-scanning-mirrors known as micro scanners. 3. Inertial measurement units such as the MEMS inertial navigation systems of airplanes, modern cars, submarines, and other vehicles to detect pitch, roll, and yaw for example the autopilot of an airplane. 4. Bio-MEMS applications in medical and health related technologies which includes lab-on-a-chip (makes use of microfluidics and micropumps), biosensors, chemo sensors, and embedded components of medical devices such as stents. 5. MEMS microphones in portable devices such as headsets, laptops, and mobile phones. The market for smart microphones contains wearable devices, smartphones, smart home, and automotive applications. 6. Accelerometers in consumer electronic devices like augmented reality devices, various digital cameras, game controllers (Nintendo Wii), personal media players and cell phones (smartphones and many HTC PDA models), and virtual reality devices. It is also used in PCs to protect hard disk drives and avoid data loss and damage. 7. MEMS-based scanning probe microscopes such as atomic force microscopes.

Microelectronics is at the heart of all technology and innovation; research and development are the cornerstones of success in the microelectronics industry. Large firms specialise in the production of high-volume reasonably priced components for end products like automobiles, biomedical equipment, and electronics. Small companies offer innovative solutions and absorb the costs of high-sales-margin custom fabrication. Both large and small companies participate in research and development to discover new MEMS technologies. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the pillars of Québec’s accomplishments. Startups have exclusive corporate cultures as well as high development possibilities which purely focuses on creativity, dynamic business models, flexibility, the development of disruptive technology, and global conditions. RSRI (regroupement sectorial de recherche industriel) supports innovation and progress in Québec through funding which inspires Québec’s businesses to be competitive and to benefit from research skills. RSRI creates and finances projects that motivates companies, public research centres, technology transfer centres, and universities to produce new products, solutions, and revolutionary services. While training the labour market (strengthening local expertise and creating long-term wealth), the company also encourages researchers and entrepreneurs to complete research projects.

Developments in the perception of quantum phenomena and how to manipulate and control quantum states have unleashed new applications based on quantum superposition and entanglement. Quantum research and the first quantum technology revolution (which involved the development of lasers to explore the quantum properties of matter) has started a new quantum era. ‘Curiosity’ of disruptive quantum phenomena has created a research ecosystem in cryptography, high-performance computing, nanomaterials, and quantum photonics. Several innovation centres in Québec are collaborating with industry, research institutes, universities, and startups to gather expertise and ‘nurture’ the quantum sector. The centres are focal points for expertise, ‘know-hows’, and progressive manufacturing infrastructures to intercede for quantum technology improvement. Collaborative research and innovation in quantum technologies sustain business growth, entrepreneurship, export, innovation, investment, and science. The second quantum revolution has had a productive, real-world impact and quantum discoveries such as quantum sensors and quantum metrology.

Quantum technologies yield inclusive advantages and are a source of innovation that focus on global challenges. Future disruptive improvements in sectors such as cryptography and quantum computing will strengthen C2MI Québec’s manufacturing and commercialisation of Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems and increase the impact on science, technology, and innovation in Canada. Entrepreneurship is vital in structuring an industry around digital and quantum technology.

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The Canadian Light Source Synchrotron (CLS) operates from the University of Saskatchewan as an international synchrotron facility. With more than one thousand users that represent scientists from all provinces in Canada and globally from twenty other countries research has focused from viruses to superconductors to dinosaurs. Since 2005, two thousand four hundred and sixteen Canadian Synchrotron Radiation Facility (CSRF) research papers has been published (eighty-five per cent were from Canadian researchers and the rest from external users). The CLS contains twenty-two beamlines that support a large selection of research presentations. Each beamline offers an exclusive spectral range that represents valuable knowledge. Scientists explore beamline specifications by their scientific identifications, spectral ranges, and specific techniques prior to research proposals.

The history of the Canadian Light Source Synchrotron begins with the decision of its location. The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and the Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) collaborated until they had to decide between two university campuses – the Universities of Saskatchewan (US) and the University of Western Ontario (UWO). The University of Saskatchewan already had a veterinary vaccine laboratory and the infrastructure for expansion.  CLS Saskatchewan Accelerator Laboratory (SAL) was funded by universities which included the University of British Columbia (UBC), Guelph University, and UWO. The Canadian Institute for Synchrotron Radiation (CISR) has expanded the facility’s beamlines as well as the building (each in two phases since its launch). Phase one of CLS was built with a 1.5 GeV (seven beamline) storage ring and full spectral ranges with superconducting bends to boost photon energies for soft X-rays. The beamlines included two infrared beamlines, three soft X-ray beamlines, and two hard X-ray beamlines. They served the purpose of synchrotron medical imaging for medical research groups. During phase two seven beamlines were added. The glass and steel expansion to accommodate the phase II medical imaging beamline (BMIT) also included the addition of other beamlines. In total five beamlines were added. To evaluate requests for beamtime, a committee was established under the chairmanship of Adam Hitchcock of McMaster University. In 2012, a high school group from La Loche Saskatchewan became the first to use the purpose-built educational beamline IDEAS. In the same year, CLS signed an agreement with the Advanced Photon Source synchrotron in the USA to allow Canadian researchers access to their facilities. The upgrade of the storage ring and to accommodate the Brockhouse beamline necessitated phase three. With further construction and expansion, CLS presently has a third-generation 2.9 GeV storage ring with longer straight sections which enables two insertion devices per straight and allows the ring to achieve currents of 100mA. An added feature of a storage beam is that a beamline can distribute two individual beamlines within one beam.

A synchrotron is one of the first accelerator concepts that enables the construction of large-scale facilities. Insertion devices are intermittent magnetic structures that are ‘inserted’ into accelerator tracks to arouse extremely brilliant, forward-directed synchrotron radiation emissions by forcing a stored charged particle beam to complete wiggles, or undulations, as they pass through the device. Electrons are accelerated by a synchrotron and injected into a storage ring in which they circulate before they produce synchrotron radiation. Beamlines originate at bending magnets or insertion devices. A high photon flux in a small area is a general requirement of a beamline. The electrons are captured by beamlines and end in experimental focal points that are used for experiments in chemistry, life science, materials science, molecular biology, and particle physics; also, for irradiation tests or to produce isotopes.

Spectrophotometers measure electromagnetic radiation (EMR) by dividing it into spectral ranges depending on each colour’s wavelength. Spectral wavelengths range from 10 nm hard gamma radiation wavelengths to kilometre long-wave broadcast wavelengths. Every colour exists in a wavelength range of 380-780 nm, which are the same wavelengths observed by the human eye. Spectrophotometry is a type of electromagnetic spectroscopy that controls quantitative measurements of reflective and transmissive properties; it is important in biology, chemical engineering, chemistry, material science, molecular biology, and physics. The food, forensic, and pharmaceutical industries regularly use spectrophotometry to test the colour and quality of their products with quantitative wavelength measurements. A spectrophotometer can measure spectral range and visible light spectrum wavelengths in forensic samples with insight and accuracy. A storage ring is a singular synchrotron (circular particle accelerator) in which a particle beam circulates to keep the kinetic energy of the particles constant. Storage of a particle depends upon the mass, momentum, and the charge of the particle. Storage rings store electrons, positrons, and protons; mostly electrons that radiate synchrotron radiation. In physics, EMR contains waves of the electromagnetic field that spread through space and transmit momentum and electromagnetic (EM) radiant energy which includes gamma rays, infrared, microwaves, radio waves, ultraviolet, visible light, and X-rays. These waves form part of the EM spectrum. EMR contains electromagnetic waves that are synchronised alternations of electric and magnetic fields. Depending on the frequency of alternations, different wavelengths of the spectrum are formed. In a vacuum, EM waves travel at the speed of light and are discharged by electrically charged particles that tolerate acceleration. For scientific and technical purposes, a synchrotron light source is electromagnetic radiation produced by a storage ring.

The Canadian Light Source houses 22 beamlines that support a wide selection of research applications. Each beamline offers a unique spectral range. The Quantum Materials Spectroscopy Centre (QMSC) beamline uses a unique dual-undulator method to investigate important materials in condensed matter physics. QMSC hosts two end stations designed for angle-resolved photoemission (ARPES) and spin-resolved photoemission (SARPES) experiments related to the motion of electrons in materials. QMSC was designed to control a broad array of energies to obtain vast information about electrons. This is a sixteen million Canadian dollar national effort funded by CFI for the construction of a state-of-the-art beamline facility committed to the performance of spin and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (S+ARPES). The QMSC beamline’s spectral range is 15-1200 eV. The biomedical imaging and therapy (BMIT) beamlines are composed of a low-energy bending-magnet beamline (BMIT-BM) and a high-energy superconducting wiggler beamline (BMIT-ID). The bend magnet beamline is used to experiment with new imaging and therapy ideas and to validate techniques that can eventually be tested on the insertion device beamline. The two beamlines are dedicated to the imaging of biological tissues and radiation therapy research. New instruments are applied for general-purpose X-ray microtomography and imaging of fast processes. The bending-magnet and insertion device beamlines have been successful in their mission to image biological tissue and conduct live animal imaging studies. The BMIT laboratory will continue to provide synchrotron-specific imaging and therapy capabilities. Compared to global biomedical facilities, the BMIT facility implements high load systems for both BM and ID beamlines to address unsolved problems in medicine (human and animal), agriculture, and other biomedical sciences. The BMIT-BM beamline generates X-rays in the energy range of 12.6-40 keV for the imaging of lightweight, small samples and of little animals such as mice. The BMIT-ID wiggler-based beamline delivers a photon beam with adequate flux density to develop a monochromatic CT dataset in five to ten minutes (as fast as thirty seconds – depending on the subject matter). The spectral range spreads from 25 to 150 keV. The Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) is Canada’s premier nuclear science and technology organisation. When the National Research Universal nuclear reactor at Chalk River Laboratories in Ontario ceased production, an alternative supply of electron LINAC to produce the medical isotopes 99Mo (molybdenum-99) and 99mTc (technetium-99m) had to be found. CLS received fourteen million Canadian dollars in funding to install 35MeV LINAC in an abandoned underground experimental hall (a Saskatchewan Accelerator Laboratory formerly used for photonuclear experiments). Irradiation results are assessed by Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre. The Soft X-ray Microcharacterisation (SXRMB) beamline is a medium energy x-ray beamline which supports research from the biological, environmental, and chemical sciences. X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) is a familiar laboratory technique to analyse the surface chemistry of samples. XPS is element-specific and can be used to track changes in chemistry (like oxidation state) of elements that are close to the surface (within a few nanometers). The SXRMB beamline has four end stations. Firstly, the XAFS end station and secondly, the Microprobe end station (the third Ambient Table and fourth High Energy XPS end stations are part of the Microprobe end station). XAFS end station with Bending Magnet – this end station can perform bulk analysis of solid samples like pellets and powders. Samples are placed under vacuum to optimise flux for lower energy edges such as phosphorus, silicon, and sulphur. This end station has fluorescence and total electron yield detection. Microprobe end station with Bending Magnet (K-B Mirro Sample Stage) – this end station provides a 10 × 10 μm beamspot to map experiments. Ambient Table – This multi-use end station is designed for bulk analysis of various samples. The end station can be configured for liquid and solid in-situ experiments. High Energy XPS – By setting the beamline to variable energies, XPS can be achieved at separate depths of the same sample, supplying information on superficial and mass properties of material. During May 2019, the XES spectrometer (easyXAFS) was installed into an atmospheric glovebox and the entire system was successfully integrated into the SXRMB beamline. The SXRMB beamline’s spectral range is 1.7 – 10 keV.

The Canadian Macromolecular Crystallography Facility (CMCF) consists of two beamlines, CMCF-BM and CMCF-ID, dedicated to crystallography. Both beamlines enable high-resolution structural studies of proteins, nucleic acids, and other macromolecules, satisfying the requirements of the most challenging and diverse crystallographic experiments. After the first experiments were conducted in 2006, the facility has seen a sharp increase in usage and has produced a substantial amount of data for the Canadian crystallographic community. The scientific aim of the CMCF-ID is to run a protein crystallography beamline suitable to study small crystals and crystals with large unit cells. In May 2022, a substantial upgrade to the beamline increased the overall flux, enabled micro-focus beam sizes of 5 µm, and greatly improved sample data. The two beamlines both have normal and high flux spectral ranges. The CMCF-BM beamline’s normal flux (DCM) range is 6 – 18 keV and its high flux (DMM) range is 7 – 10.5 keV (the 7 keV can reach a maximum flux of 8.157 keV). This mode is mostly used for routine screening and data collection. The CMCF-ID beamline’s normal flux (DCM) range is 5.0-20.0 keV and its high flux (DMM) range is 7.2-10.4 keV. Gathering of data using the high-flux DMM mode before the full dataset is collected presents a high risk of sample damage. The Resonant Elastic and Inelastic X-ray Scattering – Optical Layout Hi-Resolution Image (REIXS) beamline is a soft x-ray scattering facility for elastic and inelastic x-ray scattering experiments. The REIXS beamline, one of the top X-ray scattering beamlines in the world in quantum materials research, was funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation. Using the X-ray Spectro microscopy beamline, a research team (led by scientists from the University of New York) created images of graphene that demonstrate how folds and ripples affect the conductivity of electrons. The REIXS beamline has a photon energy range from 95 eV – 2000 eV. The Brockhouse X-ray diffraction and scattering (BXDS) beamline for structural classification of many types of materials includes crystals, liquids, solids, and nanostructures under atmospheric conditions and at extreme pressures, temperatures, and magnetic fields. The Brockhouse Diffraction Sector is a suite of three beamlines (BXDS-WLE, BXDS-WHE, and BXDS-IVU) that provide a full range of diffraction and scattering techniques to describe the structure of materials. The spectral range of BXDS-WLE (Low Energy Wiggler Beamline) is 7-22 keV, of BXDS-WHE (High Energy Wiggler Beamline) is 20-94 keV, and of BXDS-IVU (Undulator Beamline) is 5-24 keV.

The Very sensitive Elemental and Structural Probe Employing Radiation from a Synchrotron (VESPERS) is a hard X-ray microprobe beamline able to provide a high level of analytical and structural information. X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, and X-ray absorption spectroscopy are to analyse a microscopic volume in the sample. Multi-bandpass and pink beam ability are built-in, and a mm-sized beam is also available. The VESPERS beamline’s spectral range is 6 – 30 keV. The BioXAS-Spectroscopy beamline is a group of two independently operating end stations that share a wiggler source. Spectroscopy is designed to measure the XAS spectra of transition elements in bulk biological samples with diluted concentrations. It is a multi-resolution high-sensitivity X-ray fluorescence (XRF) imaging beamline with capabilities to collect XRF imaging data in macro-, micro-, and nano modes. The sector was designed to support health and life sciences as well as environmental research. Among other organisations, the beamline was funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Government of Saskatchewan. The BioXAS spectral range is 5-32 keV. The Hard X-ray Micro-Analysis (HXMA) beamline is used to study the fundamental local structure environment of materials in-situ and ex-situ, accepting bulk and thin film samples). The HXMA beamline’s spectral range is 5 – 40 keV. The Spherical Grating Monochromator (SGM) beamline is designed for soft x-ray absorption spectroscopy and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy with the importance on environmental samples and catalytic materials. A readily accessible end station with four silicon drift detectors is an ideal model for in-situ and in-operando experiments. The beamline is fitted with two in-line end stations for high resolution x-ray absorption spectroscopy and photoelectron spectroscopy. The SGM beamline’s spectral range is 250-2000 eV. The X-ray Synchrotron Radiation (XSR) and Optical Synchrotron Radiation (OSR) beamlines are two independent diagnostic beamlines. The Soft X-ray Spectromicroscopy (SM) beamline supports research programs such as biological applications, environmental science, magnetic imaging, and polymer science. The SM beamline has a photon energy range from 130 eV to 3000 eV. The Synchrotron Laboratory for Micro and Nano Devices (SyLMAND) is an x-ray beamline and pre- and post-processing laboratory in a cleanroom environment. The SyLMAND beamline’s spectral range is 1 – 15 keV. The Variable Line Spacing Plane Grating Monochromator (VLS-PGM) beamline is fitted with four VLS gratings to cover the designed energy range of the high resolution, low energy spectroscopic beamline which enables research in materials of fundamental and applied nature. The VLS-PGM beamline’s spectral range is 15-250 eV.

The Industry Development Education Applications Students (IDEAS) beamline is the instant access beamline for industry, in-house science, education programs, and to support the development and testing of beamline equipment and software. IDEAS is not available to other programs or researchers. The beamline’s spectral range is 2.2 – 13.4 keV. CLS is known for its industrial science and high school education programs. Their education program ‘Students on the Beamlines’ is funded by NSERC Promoscience. The program allows high school students to experience using the CLS beamlines and to observe the work of a scientist. It also gives them the opportunity to develop active research (a very rare phenomena in schools) and offers them direct access to the use of a particle accelerator (which is even rarer). Students from six provinces as well as the Northwest Territories have been directly involved in experiments on the IDEAS beamline; some have produced publishable research. In 2012, CLS was awarded the Canadian Nuclear Society’s Education and Communication Award for its commitment to community outreach, increased public awareness of synchrotron science, and innovative secondary educational programs such as Students on the Beamlines. The Mid Infrared Spectromicroscopy (Mid IR) offers a state-of-the-art Fourier Transform IR spectrometer and microscope to deliver diffraction-limited spatial resolution to an increasing sequence of experimental projects. The benefits of high brightness infrared synchrotron light are motivating researchers to revisit existing techniques and explore new experiments. The spectral range of Mid IR is 560 – 6000 cm^-1 The Far Infrared Spectroscopy (Far IR) provides infrared light 100 – 1000 times brighter than standard laboratory sources, enabling the spectroscopic study of molecules with considerably higher precision and sensitivity. The spectral range of Far IR is 5 – 1200 cm^-1 (synchrotron source) and 30 – 5000 cm^-1 (conventional sources). The storage ring has twelve straight sections (ss) with induction devices, wigglers, and undulators to increase the beam energy. Ss1 injection straight, ss2 electron beam diagnostic straight, ss3 reserved for future use, ss4 chicaned: in-vacuum undulator, in-vacuum wiggler, ss5 superconducting wiggler, ss6 superconducting wiggler, ss7 chicaned: in-vacuum undulator, out-vacuum wiggler, ss8 in-vacuum undulator, ss9 single length dual period undulator, ss10 chicaned: undulators, ss11 chicaned: undulators, and ss12 RF cavity. The upstream accelerator complex is a 220 keV DC thermionic RF gun. A six section LINAC increases the beam energy from 220 keV to 250 MeV. An energy compression system (3 magnet chicane and RF cavity) compresses the beam energy spread by a factor of ten. The beam is transported into a booster ring and ramped up from 250 MeV to 2.9 GeV.

An international team (led by the University of Calgary professor Ken Ng) solved the structure of RNA polymerase using X-ray crystallography. This enzyme replicates itself as the Norwalk virus as it spreads through the body. It has been linked to other super viruses such as the common cold, hepatitis C, and West Nile virus; its replication is liable for the onset of such viruses. CLS scientist (Luca Quaroni) and the University of Saskatchewan professor (Alan Casson) identified biomarkers inside individual cells with infrared microscopy from tissue related to Barrett’s oesophagus. This disease can lead to the aggressive cancer known as oesophageal adenocarcinoma. Research was done by the University of Saskatchewan on peptides and by UWO on materials for organic light-emitting diodes. Researchers from Lakehead University and the University of Saskatchewan investigated the deaths of Royal Navy sailors buried in Antigua in the late 1700s. With the use of X-ray fluorescence, they looked for trace elements such as lead and strontium in bones from the excavated naval cemetery. The University of Regina and the Royal Saskatchewan Museum examined dinosaur fossils after discovering a Tyrannosaurus in Saskatchewan during 1991, one of the largest and most complete T-rex skeletons ever found. To study the impact of the environment on such animals, they explored the concentration of elements in the skeleton’s bones.

To access the synchrotron facility interested researchers are required to apply through a peer review system that verifies the quality of the proposed science experiments, regardless of academic, governmental, industrial, national, or regional relations. CLS has an industrial group within the facility who are represented by industrial liaison scientists who make synchrotron procedures available to non-synchrotron experts. An economic impact study revealed that the Canadian Light Source Incorporated added forty-five million Canadian dollars to Canada’s annual gross domestic product for the two financial years 2010 and 2011.

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But first; 2008 in a few lines: The initial bankruptcy of Washington Mutual that year followed by Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns were the iconic events of a deep, widespread, and severe systemic crisis due to the housing bubble that was fueled by a continuous flow of demand for real estate, demand in turn fueled by the massive granting of mortgages by retail banks to people with little capacity to payback the mortgage. These mortgages were then packaged up by investment banks and sold to private investors and sold with better ratings than they had.

 Facts: The bankruptcy of SVB is not a catastrophic event, since it is not bursting a bubble. There are no signs that the bankruptcy of SVB is the “burst” of a bubble that has not been made visible, or that said bankruptcy is the result of bad practices adopted massively by all banks in North America and part of Europe, as it was in 2008.

And the banking systemic risk would not be the usual kind of banking risk. “This Bankruptcy does not pose a risk of contagion, which is due more to Silicon Valley Bank ‘s business model than to more general problems in the banking system,” said analyst Jaret Seiberg of the specialized consultancy TD Cowen interviewed by Yahoo! Finance. In that sense, “systemic” exposure within the rest of the US banking system would be limited. SVB’s business model was almost unique. And while there is no obvious banking systemic risk, shares of many smaller banks still fell precipitously.

But there is another type of systemic risk, now mitigated by US Government; Many important large technology companies and many smaller ones (start-ups) were exposed to SVB. The Santa Clara (CA) bank reported funding 44% of venture capital-backed healthcare and technology IPOs in 2022, and 55% in 2021. The bank played a determining role in the financing of start-ups and the ecosystem; more than 3,500 startup CEOs have asked the Treasury Secretary to support company deposits since more than 200,000 employees eventually are at risk.  BIDEN itself appeared on national TV announcing that all deposits will be respected and backed by the government.

And this bankruptcy may not be a catastrophic sign, but it is a very serious alert. Being SVB the 16th largest bank in the U.S. we are not talking about a minor financial event; it is the second largest bankruptcy of a bank in the United States.

And eventually, SVB may be the canary in the coal mine;  First of all, ¿How did this happen? A run on deposits of the clients of the bank, that SBV management could not compensate as quickly as the regulation requires. That was a huge endeavor,  for the bank to achieve, among other things because its positions in Treasury assets were worth much less in the market than on paper. This is not an accident or lack of accounting accuracy: Every time the Fed raises interest rates, newly issued Treasury bonds pay better than older bonds, making them more attractive over older bonds, and making recently issued Treasury prices higher. previously issued bonds start to fall in their price. In a scenario of permanent interest rate rises, the price of purchased Treasury bonds will always tend to fall. Yes, you could wait for the 10 years of the Bond and claim your money back, but that is something not usually planned by the banks,

Many banks in the United States have started buying Treasury Bonds as the policy of increasing interest rates pushes down the prices of most other available investment vehicles, including gold or Bitcoin and most shares, it is thus that the banks have accumulated more than USD 620 billion in assets that now have lower prices than those that were purchased. A loss that has not yet been accounted for.

And this does sound like 2008; In that year, significant levels of assets had accumulated in bank accounts that could drop in price at any time, and if the price fell, they would become “the largest bag of odorous excrement ever assembled in the history of capitalism.” As Jhon Tuld would describe it as the character of the president of the investment bank in the movie “The Margin Call”.

So, summarizing how serious this is? How much of this can be made into a new 2008 will depend on the answers to the following questions:

• How many banks go out to sell those USD 620 billion right away, further reducing the price of those assets?
• How many small bank customers will run out to withdraw their deposits this week?
• Will Wall Street overreact to all this, pricing the share prices of banks dangerously low? Banks in general, and companies linked to anything that sounds like financing and technology will lead to an eventual fall in share prices. Towards the end of the week, we will see calmer in the market if no more technology or financial companies are going under.

For the world of Venture Capital and start-up financing, is a critical moment. This is a very serious blow to the world of VC and financing of nascent exponential companies (start-ups) that will generate recessionary waves since that many capitals placed in venture capital funds will be claimed by the owners to assess how the market evolves. Eventually, this means the VC world will come to a standstill for a few weeks or even months.

The FINTECH ecosystem at risk: Anything that sounds like tech + finance to the unsophisticated investor will sound like SVB. But beyond the collective investor hysteria that is coming, there are real effects on important segments of Fintech: What happened last Friday will generate enormous financial and regulatory pressure on the behavior and financial and operational resilience of  BNPL fintechs ( Buy Now Pay Later), firms that show almost exponential growth rates in their LOANS, something that can only be done with a very good credit origination methodology, but also with credit granting criteria that are a little more relaxed than those maintained by a traditional bank.

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