OECD countries gathered this week in Gran Canaria, Spain for the 2022 Digital Economy Ministerial Meeting adopted what is being billed as alandmark agreement to safeguard privacy and other human rights and freedoms by limiting law enforcement and national security agencies access to personal data. The accord is expected to build trust and ease global data flows.
 
Four principles aimed at increasing cybersecurity were also adopted as well as a “Declaration On A Trusted, Sustainable and Inclusive Digital Future”, which among other things, recognized that seizing the opportunities and mitigating the risks presented by accelerating digital transformation is a critical responsibility of government. To that end, the OECD announced that it is launching a Global Forum On Technology, with the stated aim of helping policy makers keep abreast of technology changes and anticipate their impact on society and business.
 
Decisions taken at this week’s ministerial meeting will “shape a vision for the future of the digital economy and the way we think about and act on digital policy for years to come,” OECD Deputy Secretary General Ulrik Vestergaard Knudsen said during a December 15 press conference.

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As the global energy crisis escalates there is a growing need for the grid to have a stable, clean energy source to work together with hydro, wind, solar and other renewables to deliver uninterrupted electricity.

Ramping up nuclear energy is the natural choice if governments prioritize moving to more predictable long-term electricity prices and meeting their climate targets, argues Stefano Buono, CEO and co-founder of newcleo, a startup backed with €400 million in private capital that aims to design and build the next generation of nuclear reactors. (Buono, on the far left, is pictured here with newcleo's Chief Scientific Officer Luciano Cinotti and Chief Operating Officer Elisabeth Rizzotti)

Newcleo has 13 patents on a waste-to-energy reactor technology that can be used to produce energy and, at the same time, burn radioactive nuclear waste from existing nuclear plants that would otherwise be buried underground, ushering in a circular economy for the nuclear energy industry.

“Our innovative reactors will provide the world with a safe and stable green power source and reduce volumes of radioactive waste,” says Buono, an Italian nuclear physicist who started his career working with Nobel laureate Carlo Rubbia at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) and the Center for Advanced Studies, Research and Development in Sardinia (CRS4,) in the field of accelerator driven systems and nuclear waste transmutation.