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.
Tech & Humanity
Exploring the balance between human values and intelligent machines in a rapidly evolving world.
Four accounting firms once known for auditing balance sheets now shape the digital, regulatory and strategic architecture of modern states. As governments and corporations outsource expertise, Deloitte, PwC, EY and KPMG have become indispensable intermediaries — designing systems, interpreting geopolitics and increasingly certifying the safety of artificial intelligence. Their rise raises a critical question: who governs when governance itself is outsourced?
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.
Long dismissed as “dumb pipes”, telecom operators control something increasingly scarce in the digital age: geographically distributed infrastructure with power, connectivity and proximity to users. As energy and latency become binding constraints, networks may evolve from transport systems into Europe’s most valuable compute platforms.
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.
