Happy holidays to all our Technology Record readers!

Technology

Amber Hickman |

24 December 2024

From releasing new artificial intelligence innovations to showcasing new solutions and customer wins at Microsoft Ignite in Chicago, USA, in November, it’s been an exciting year for Microsoft and the wider technology world. The Technology Record team has worked hard to deliver the latest on these developments across the website, social media and in the magazine, and will now be taking a short break for the holidays. Our normal coverage will resume in the first week of January 2024. 

Until then, why not check out some of our highlights from 2024? Here’s a handpicked selection of some of the most popular stories that have been featured online and in our magazines this year. 

You can’t spell acceleration without AI 

AI is playing a transformative role across the manufacturing and mobility industries, as showcased at Hannover Messe, which took place in Hanover, Germany, in April. In our Spring 2024 issue, Dominik Wee, corporate vice president for manufacturing and mobility at Microsoft, stated that “we are experiencing one of the most exciting and technologically advanced eras in the industry with the explosion of AI,” and shared recent developments and the support available for organisations looking to begin their AI-adoption journey. 

Joining forces to break the glass ceiling 

According to McKinsey & Company, diverse organisations are more likely to generate increased profit than their less diverse peers, but how can technology companies attract and retain more women? According to Christine Bongard, CEO of the Women in Technology Network, “Company leadership must set the tone in order for other levels of management to ‘buy-in’ and provide additional levels of support to women.” 

Bongard is joined by Anna Radulovski, CEO and founder of WomenTech Network and Gavriella Schuster, former Microsoft executive, in our Summer 2024 women in technology roundtable. 

Powering business growth 

“Generative AI is helping to enhance productivity, giving people the superpower to achieve so much more,” said Satish Thomas, corporate vice president of Microsoft Industry Clouds, when discussing the wealth of benefits the technology is delivering for organisations across every industry. 

Thomas covers the new business opportunities that AI brings and how Microsoft is working with its partner ecosystem to help customers solve unique business challenges in our Autumn 2024 cover story. 

Partnering for progress 

More than 500,000 companies are now part of the global Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program, led by Nicole Dezen, chief partner officer and corporate vice president of global partner solutions at Microsoft.  

“Our focus on AI and its transformative potential has been a key driver of our mission to empower every customer and every organisation on the planet to achieve more,” said Dezen in our Winter 2024 executive interview, where she discussed Microsoft’s journey with AI over recent years, success stories from the partner ecosystem and its customers, the significance of events such as Microsoft Ignite and more. 

We have barely scratched the surface of some of the incredible insights we received this year from Microsoft executives and industry leaders across all sectors. You can find the four issues of Technology Record that were published this year here:  

Spring 2024, Summer 2024, Autumn 2024, Winter 2024.  

Many thanks to all our readers and partners who have contributed to and supported Technology Record in 2024, and here’s to another year of innovation and transformation starting with our Spring 2025 issue. Subscribe to receive your copy.  

Happy holidays to all, see you next year! 

Technology breakthroughs are unlocking geothermal energy’s vast potential

Technology

With global electricity demand set to grow strongly, new technologies are opening up the massive potential of geothermal energy to provide around-the-clock clean power in almost all countries around the world, according to a new IEA report.The report, The Future of Geothermal Energy, finds that geothermal energy could meet 15% of global electricity demand growth between now and 2050 if project costs continue to decline. This would mean the deployment of as much as 800 gigawatts of geothermal capacity worldwide, delivering annual output equivalent to the current electricity demand of the United States and India combined.Geothermal energy offers abundant, highly flexible and clean electricity supplies that can support variable renewable technologies such as wind and solar while complementing other low-emissions sources like nuclear. Today, geothermal meets about 1% of global electricity demand. However, based on a new first-of-its-kind country-level analysis, conducted in collaboration with Project InnerSpace, the IEA report shows that next-generation geothermal technologies have the technical potential to meet global electricity and heat demand many times over.Importantly, geothermal energy can draw upon the expertise of today’s oil and gas industries by using existing drilling techniques and equipment to go deeper under the earth’s surface to tap into vast low-emissions energy resources. “New technologies are opening new horizons for geothermal energy across the globe, offering the possibility of meeting a significant portion of the world’s rapidly growing demand for electricity securely and cleanly,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol. “What’s more, geothermal is a major opportunity to draw on the technology and expertise of the oil and gas industry. Our analysis shows that the growth of geothermal could generate investment worth $1 trillion by 2035.”Conventional geothermal remains a location-specific, niche technology today with most of the installed capacity in countries that have either have volcanic activity or straddle tectonic fault lines, which make resources easier to access. Current leaders in the space include the United States, Iceland, Indonesia, Türkiye, Kenya and Italy. But new technologies are making the outlook for geothermal truly global, opening up the potential to benefit from it in nearly all countries.The report highlights that more than 100 countries have policies in place for solar PV and onshore wind, but only 30 have such policies for geothermal. Moving geothermal up national energy agendas with specific goals, backed support for innovation and technology development, can go a long way to reducing project risk perception and unlocking new investment.Clear, long-term regulatory visibility for investors will help mitigate risks in early-stage development and provide visibility on investment returns, which in turn will improve the cost competitiveness of geothermal projects. By doing so, the report finds that costs could fall by 80% by 2035 to around $50 per megawatt hour (MWh). This would make geothermal the cheapest source of dispatchable low-emissions electricity on a par with existing hydropower and nuclear installations. At such price levels, geothermal would also be highly competitive with solar PV and wind paired with battery storage. The report finds that the total investment in geothermal could reach $1 trillion by 2035 and $2.5 trillion by 2050. If next-generation geothermal grows strongly in the coming years, employment in the overall geothermal sector could increase sixfold to 1 million jobs by 2030, according to the report.The oil and gas industry can play a key role in making geothermal more competitive. Up to 80% of the investment required in geothermal involves capacity and skills that are transferrable from existing oil and gas operations. The oil and gas industry can also benefit from tapping the potential of geothermal energy. Not only is it an opportunity to develop new business lines in the fast-growing clean energy economy, but it can also serve as a hedge against commercial risks related to projected future declines in oil and gas demand.At a time when the digital economy and artificial intelligence applications are growing strongly, the report highlights geothermal’s potential to help power the increasing number of large data centres that underpin the tech sector. With next-generation geothermal offering a stable and essentially inexhaustible power source, large technology companies are already signing power purchase agreements with new projects.  However, permitting and administrative red-tape are proving a major barrier to geothermal projects, which can take up to a decade to fully commission. The report suggests governments could simplify permitting processes by consolidating and accelerating the administrative steps involved. They could also consider dedicated geothermal permitting regimes separate from minerals mining. Policies and regulations enforcing robust environmental standards are critical for the sustainable development of geothermal projects. 

Heavy travel day starts with brief grounding of all American Airlines flights

US & Canada

Washington —  American Airlines briefly grounded flights nationwide Tuesday because of a technical problem just as the Christmas travel season kicked into overdrive and winter weather threatened more potential problems for those planning to fly or drive. Government regulators cleared American flights to get airborne about an hour after the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a…

10 Takeaways From Tech & AI LIVE 2024

Technology

“Capabilities that enhance human workflows and build trust are the most impactful.”Aaron Celaya, Deputy Program Manager, USSF University Consortium at United States Department of the Air Force, Alex Guilbault, Head of AI at TELUS and Rajat Ahluwalia, Vice President of Engineering at Capgemini featured on our ‘Future of Generative AI’ panel at Tech & AI LIVE: Gen AI.The panel delved into Generative AI’s ability to enhance human workflows and decisions, its shift from an advisor to a peer and the need to consider its ethical implications.Aaron highlighted how, “Ethical considerations should guide the development of human-machine teams, ensuring AI enhances rather than replaces human decision-making.”All three of the speakers agreed that Generative AI will redefine industries and how we interact with machines, but emphasises the importance of developing a balanced approach where we combine innovation with ethical standards and regulatory oversight.