Artificial intelligence is often framed as a race for larger data centres and greater energy supply. Professor Martijn Heck argues that the real frontier lies elsewhere: in the architecture of the chip itself. By integrating electronics, photonics and advanced packaging into unified systems, heterogeneous integration may determine whether AI scales sustainably — or overwhelms the infrastructure it depends on. In this conversation, Heck outlines why better chips, not bigger factories, will shape the technological balance of the coming decades.
Innovation & AI
Exploring how innovation and AI are reshaping business, society and the future of Europe.
Brainport’s technological frontier is accelerating, but its education architecture risks lagging behind. The Liquid Campus explores how learning must evolve from a linear pipeline into a dynamic ecosystem — where classrooms, cleanrooms and industry converge to sustain Europe’s innovation future.
Brainport’s technological frontier is accelerating, but education systems remain calibrated for a slower era. The Velocity Gap explores how policy, curriculum and talent pipelines struggle to match exponential innovation — and why Europe’s competitiveness ultimately depends on aligning classroom and cleanroom.
For much of the past half-century, innovation followed a recognisable pattern. New technologies emerged at the margins, matured through research and industry, and were eventually absorbed into stable infrastructures. Strategy assumed continuity. Institutions assumed predictability. Progress, however fast, remained legible.
As AI-driven data centres scale at unprecedented speed, France’s centralised nuclear system faces a new kind of pressure. Built for stability, not acceleration, the grid must now absorb volatile demand while digital sovereignty increasingly depends on physical energy control.
France built its power on nuclear electricity. Today, that system is under strain. As AI, data centres and digital sovereignty reshape demand, France’s centralised energy model faces a defining stress test for Europe’s digital future.
