Month: January 2023

Categories
Health

How AI can detect coronary heart assault threat and outwit America’s #1 killer

How AI can detect heart attack risk and outwit America's #1 killer

Heart disease is the nation’s #1 killer, affecting all communities regardless of income, race, gender and geography. It takes a disproportionate toll on minorities and women, but a challenge shared by many patients at risk of heart attack: an inability to recognize the risk before it’s too late. More than half of people who experience an acute myocardial infarction have no symptoms that could serve as early warning signs.

Cardiologist James Min, a former Weill Cornell Medical College professor and director of the Dalio Institute of Cardiovascular Imaging at New York-Presbyterian, founded Cleerly to find a better way to assess heart health by applying AI to the problem and saving time it takes to identify problems and ultimately achieve its goal of a “heart attack-free” world.

His startup’s quantitative comparison tool tracks the patient’s disease based on the amount and type of atherosclerosis (plaque) rather than indirect surrogates, including risk factors, symptoms, stenosis (narrowing of the aortic valve), and ischemia (poor circulation).

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Cleerly emerged from stealth mode in June 2021 with a $43 million Series B funding round led by Vensana Capital. Cleerly then secured a $223 million Series C funding round in July 2022, bringing the total to $279 million. The Series C round was led by T. Rowe Price and Fidelity, with participation from several other investor groups including DRx (Novartis) and Peter Thiel.

To date, Cleerly has received two FDA clearances in 2019 (K190858) and 2020 (K202280) for its products and utilizes numerous proprietary algorithms that have been integrated into medical devices. It maintains many additional testing algorithms that will be incorporated into future devices for submission to the FDA.

Cleerly has formed a number of partnerships including the American College of Cardiology, Canon Medical, Heartbeat Health, and several others. Cleerly partners with a number of universities for its studies and clinical trials, including Mass General Brigham, University of Virginia, University of Wisconsin, Oregon Health Sciences University, George Washington University, Houston Methodist Hospital, UCLA and Scripps Clinic.

dr Min recently spoke to CNBC ahead of the upcoming CNBC Healthy Returns Summit on March 29th. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

CNBC: How did Cleerly come about?

Min: While caring for critically ill patients in the intensive care unit, I came face to face with a 36-year-old young man who was suffering a massive heart attack. Although the patient survived, the realization came that we needed to be on the preventive side of care rather than the reactive side.

CNBC: What are indirect markers of heart disease?

Min: Many emergency room visits for heart attacks are preventable if risk factors for heart disease are identified in advance. Current diagnostic methods miss 70% of all patients who suffer a heart attack because they are incorrectly classified as “low risk” by traditional measures such as cholesterol or blood pressure. In addition, about half of patients who have a heart attack do not have any symptoms (such as chest pain or shortness of breath) prior to their catastrophic event.

CNBC: What is the Cleerly AI platform doing and what is the main thing it is looking for?

Min: Cleerly uses proprietary and FDA-cleared machine learning algorithms to non-invasively analyze atherosclerosis (plaque) and stenosis using standard coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) studies.

Its proprietary AI algorithms generate a 3D model of the patient’s coronary arteries, identify their lumen (the cavity or channel within a tube or tubular organ such as a blood vessel) and vessel walls, locate and quantify stenoses, and identify, quantify and categorize plaque.

Using millions of annotated CCTA images, Cleerly algorithms quantify and characterize atherosclerosis and its features. We are standardizing and personalizing the approach to heart disease with a pathway that enables disease identification and characterization, education, implementation, treatment and tracking over time to demonstrate therapeutic success in patients before they experience a catastrophic cardiac event suffer.

CNBC: What is the process when a patient is scanned and then gets their results? What is the timeline from the first recommendation to the dissemination of the results?

Min: The overall time frame – from the patient’s first referral for a Cleerly scan to receiving the results from their provider – is variable and depends on the program, location, patient motivation, etc.

Larger healthcare systems routinely scan patients in the morning and can then, for example, review Cleerly results in the afternoon. Scheduling an appointment at a walk-in imaging center may take a little longer depending on the days the imaging center is doing cardiac CT scans, etc.

Once a patient’s images are captured and shared to our cloud, Cleerly’s average turnaround time is approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes. The results are immediately available in Cleerly’s software for the referring physician to access. Typically, the referring physician will then schedule a follow-up appointment to review these results, the timing of which obviously depends on the physician/patient’s availability.

CNBC: How accurate is Cleerly?

Min: Cleerly has and continues to conduct multiple multi-center clinical trials to demonstrate its accuracy. In two landmark studies published last year, Cleerly demonstrated 99% accuracy against the consensus of three board-certified, Level III expert readers and 86% accuracy against invasive coronary angiograms (ICA). In the latter study, Cleerly showed better agreement with invasive fractional flow reserve (FFR)—the physiological gold standard for assessing coronary artery disease—than with ICA.

CNBC: Nearly 20,000 people have had Cleerly imaging so far? Where can patients get the Cleerly scan?

Min: Cleerly is available in 10 healthcare systems/major cardiology practices, 83 imaging centers and 14 states, with one more coming very soon. We are in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Texas and Virginia. It will be available in Georgia. Cleerly’s integration into large cardiology practices is defined by single specialty cardiovascular practices with 10+ cardiologists.

Categories
Science

In keeping with simulations, the Milky Manner is one in 1,000,000

According to simulations, the Milky Way is one in a million

Mankind is in an interplay with nature. At first we thought we were in the center of everything, with the sun and the entire cosmos revolving around our little planet. At some point we realized that that wasn’t true. Over the centuries we have found that while Earth and life are rare, our sun is fairly normal, our solar system is relatively nondescript, and even our galaxy is one of the billions of spiral galaxies, a type that accounts for 60% of the galaxies in the universe.

But the Illustris TNG simulation shows that the Milky Way is something special.

Illustris TNG is an ongoing series of large-scale simulations. The aim is to understand the mechanisms behind the formation and evolution of galaxies. The effort is a “series of large, cosmological magnetohydrodynamic simulations,” according to the Illustris TNG website. So far, the project has produced three primary runs, each larger and with higher resolution than the previous one: TNG 50, TNG 100, and TNG 300. Each run also focuses on different aspects of galaxy formation. TNG 300 is the largest, simulating a region nearly 300 million megaparsecs across, over a billion light-years across, and containing millions of galaxies.

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TNG 50, TNG 100 and TNG 300. Image: IllustrisTNG

New research based on Illustris TNG shows the Milky Way is something special. But it’s not just special because of its intrinsic qualities. It is special in relation to its surroundings.

The results are included in a new article based on Illustris TNG 300 published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The title is “The Milky Way’s unusual local leaf system: Implications for spin strength and orientation”. The lead researcher is Miguel Aragón, a computational cosmologist and assistant professor at the National Astronomical Observatory of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico.

Illustris TNG simulates the large-scale structure of the universe. It shows how galaxies are arranged on filaments of dark matter that weave their way through vast cosmic voids. Some of the features it shows are cosmological walls, also called galaxy walls. They are huge structures, and one of them – a wall called Hercules – Corona Borealis Great Wall – is the largest known structure in the universe and is 10 billion light years long.

This image of TNG 50 shows the large-scale structure of cosmic gas in the early Universe at redshift three. It depicts a region of space 15 megaparsecs in diameter where the cosmic web of gas filaments converges to fuel galactic formation and growth. Image Credit: Illustris TNG 50.

Cosmological walls are made up of galaxies. They are a subspecies of filaments, but they are flattened and have cavities on either side. The voids seem to squeeze the walls into their flattened shape. The cosmological wall closest to the Milky Way is called the local wall or local sheet.

The local sheet affects how the Milky Way and other nearby galaxies rotate about their axes. The Milky Way takes about 250 million years to rotate, and the study shows that the rotation is more organized than if the galaxy weren’t near the local sheet.

The study also shows that the Milky Way is something special. While typical galaxies tend to be much smaller compared to walls, the Milky Way is surprisingly massive compared to the local wall. According to research, this is a rare cosmic event.

This video is from Illustris TNG 50 and shows the formation of an elliptical galaxy. Photo credit: Illustris TNG

One property that cosmologists study is velocity dispersion. It describes how much spread there is in the velocity of a group of astronomical objects. The speeds scatter around an average speed. The velocity of objects in the Milky Way/Local Wall neighborhood has a small spread, which means they are not far from the mean.

This is unusual for a massive galaxy like the Milky Way in an environment like this near the Local Wall. To better understand this, the researchers looked for Milky Way Analogue (MWA) galaxies in Illustris TNG 300.

They found that MWAs are rare in local sheet analogues. In the simulation there was only one of these per 160-200 Mpc3 volume. With their research, they showed that the cold environment around the Local Sheet is to blame. “We find that a plate-like cold environment preserves, enhances, or facilitates environmental influences on the angular momentum of galaxies,” they write in their paper.

In particular, the local sheet affects the rotation of the Milky Way. “…there are particularly strong alignments between the leaf and galaxy spins,” they explain, adding that in the simulation, the galaxies near walls have low spin parameters.

All of this affects how galaxies grow and merge over time, they think. It leads to lower-mass galaxies in such cosmic neighborhoods. That’s why the Milky Way is so unusual with its high mass and why the simulation has only found one in up to 200 cubic megaparsecs of space.

This figure from the study shows how the velocity spread is related to mass, with mass plotted on the x-axis. The legend at top right shows how each line on the graph represents a different velocity spread (sigma v). The blue solid line is the mass function in cold regions (<25, high velocity propagation) and the black solid line is the mass function in warm regions (<40, low velocity propagation). The dotted lines are the same but for regions near Cosmic Walls. It shows how slower propagation creates less massive galaxies near walls. There are also two shaded gray areas: light and dark gray. The light area represents the masses of the Milky Way analogues in the simulation, and the dark gray shows where the Milky Way actually is. Photo credit: Aragon et al. 2023

The study reminds us of something crucial: context matters. If we consider the Milky Way as a discrete object and compare it to other similar discrete objects, it doesn’t appear to be exceptional. But in relation to its surroundings, it is. “Our results underscore the importance of carefully characterizing our galaxy’s surroundings,” the paper states. “The effect of the geometry and coldness of the local sheet environment on angular momentum processes can help us better understand current problems in galaxy formation…”

In a press release presenting the research, the authors cite the Copernican bias. “This bias, which describes the gradual removal of our special status in the nearly 500 years since Copernicus demoted the earth from the center of the cosmos, would come from assuming that we are in a perfectly average place in the universe,” according to the press release says. It shows the risk associated with ignoring the surroundings of an inspected object.

This work also reveals a potential flaw in how scientists use simulations like Illustris TNG. It is misleading to think that every point in the simulation is identical to every other point. Galaxies near a cosmic wall can evolve very differently than elsewhere.

“So the Milky Way is special in a way,” said research leader Miguel Aragón. “Earth is obviously special, the only home of life that we know. But it is not the center of the universe or even the solar system. And the Sun is just one ordinary star among billions in the Milky Way. Even our galaxy appeared to be just another spiral galaxy among billions of others in the observable universe.”

“The Milky Way doesn’t have a particularly special mass or type. There are many spiral galaxies that look something like this,” said Joe Silk, another researcher. “But it’s rare considering the environment. If you could easily see the next dozen or so large galaxies in the sky you would see that they all lie almost on top of a ring embedded in the local sheet. That’s a bit special. What we found new is that other galaxy walls in the Universe like the Local Sheet very rarely seem to have a galaxy as massive as the Milky Way within them.”

Spiral galaxies are common. This image shows six spectacular spiral galaxies in images from ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. Photo credit: ESO

“You might have to travel half a billion light-years from the Milky Way, past many, many galaxies, to find another cosmological wall with a galaxy like ours,” Aragón said. He adds, “That’s a few hundred times more distant than the nearest large galaxy around, Andromeda.”

So is it okay if we feel special again? We’re obviously special just because we’re alive, and most matter we can see isn’t. But that doesn’t necessarily tell us how much other matter might be alive and whether we’re anything special. From another point of view in the universe, there could be much more living matter. Before the advent of modern astronomy, we had no idea if life existed elsewhere or how special Earth might be. According to one of the authors, we should be careful with the word “especially”.

“However, you have to be careful when selecting properties that are considered ‘special,'” said Dr. Mark Neyrinck, another member of the team. “If we put a ridiculously restrictive condition on a galaxy, like having it contain the paper we wrote about it, we’d certainly be the only galaxy in the observable universe of that kind. But we think these are ‘too big for its “wall” property, is physically meaningful and observable enough to be called truly special.”

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Technology

Europe’s native battery cells might finish their dependence on China by 2027

Europe's native battery cells could end their dependence on China by 2027

By 2027, Europe has the potential to fully rely on domestic battery cell production and meet its electric vehicle and energy storage needs without Chinese imports. That’s the latest forecast from Transport & Environment (T&E), a campaign group that analyzed a range of manufacturer reports and press releases.

The European NGO further estimates that the companies with the largest battery cell production on the continent in 2030 will be CATL, Northvolt, ACC, Freyr and the Volkswagen Group.

About two-thirds of Europe’s demand for cathodes – an integral part of batteries – could also be produced in-house, according to the report. So far, 12 companies are planning to become active in this part of the battery supply chain, with 17 plants announced in the region. Existing and planned projects include Umicore in Poland, Northvolt in Sweden and BASF in Germany.

Northvolt’s first battery cell to be manufactured at the company’s Ett Gigafactory in Sweden. Photo credit: Northvolt

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Lithium refining and processing forecasts are also optimistic. While 100% of the refined lithium needed for European batteries is imported from China and other countries, the block is expected to meet 50% of its needs by 2030. T&E has identified 24 projects to date including Vulcan Energy Resources in Germany and Eramet in Germany France.

However, the NGO warns that these scenarios will not materialize unless supported by sufficient and timely funding, stressing that the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) could attract European talent and factories to America.

“Europe needs the financial firepower to support its green industries in the global race with America and China,” said Julia Poliscanova, Senior Director for Vehicles and E-Mobility at T&E. “A European Sovereignty Fund would support a truly European industrial strategy and not just deep-pocketed countries. But spending rules need to be tightened so it doesn’t take as long to build a battery factory as a coal plant.”

Categories
Sport

Audit – LSU found a $1 million overpayment to Brian Kelly in 2022

Audit – LSU discovered a $1 million overpayment to Brian Kelly in 2022

BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU accidentally overpaid Tigers football coach Brian Kelly by $1 million in the first year of a 10-year, $100 million contract, but discovered the error and attempted to correct it, the Office of the Comptroller by Legislation said from Louisiana on Wednesday.

Kelly was overpaid in 2022 by $1,001,368 in additional payments due to duplicate payments being made both to Kelly’s LLC and directly to the coach.

The duplicate payments began in May and continued until LSU officials discovered the errors in November.

“LSU management and the head football coach have enacted an adjusted payment schedule so that the overpayment amount will be recouped by the end of fiscal year 2023,” the statutory auditor’s report said.

Kelly, who previously coached at Notre Dame for 12 seasons, was hired by LSU after the 2021 season when the Tigers lost 6-7 in their first losing season since 1999.

LSU exceeded expectations in Kelly’s first season at Baton Rouge, winning the SEC West Division and finishing 10-4 after a 63-7 win over Purdue in the Citrus Bowl.

Categories
Entertainment

How “Octomom” Nadya Suleman’s eight youngsters rejoice their 14th birthday

How "Octomom" Nadya Suleman's 8 children celebrate their 14th birthday

When it comes to birthdays, the more the merrier Nadia Sulemans household.

The 47-year-old – who earned the famous nickname “Octomom” after having eight babies – treated her eight youngest children to a vegan donut fest before their 14th birthday. As seen in a video released by TMZ, Noah, maliyah, Isaiah, Nariya, jonah, Makai, Josiah and Jeremiah were serenaded by the family before delving into the sugary confections.

“Make a wish”, Suleman, who now prefers to be summoned Natalie, gushed as her kids blew out the candles on their plant-based treats. “Yay!”

In addition to her eight children, Suleman is also a mother to six older children: Elijah21, Red20, Joshua29, Aidan17 and twins calyssa and Caleb13.

Suleman’s eight younger children were conceived through in vitro fertilization after a California specialist implanted 12 embryos. The octuplets were born on January 26, 2009 via caesarean section. At this point they weighed between 1 lbs., 8 oz. and 3 lbs., 4 oz.

Categories
Health

The FDA proposes new lead limits for child meals

The FDA proposes new lead limits for baby food

Jgi/jamie Grill | Tetra Pictures | Getty Images

The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday proposed new limits for lead in baby formula to reduce exposure to a toxin that can impair infant development.

The lead limits apply to processed foods consumed by children under the age of two. In a statement, FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf said the limits would reduce lead exposure from these foods by up to 27%.

The proposed lead limits aren’t legally binding on the industry, but the FDA said it would use them as a factor in deciding whether to take enforcement action against a company for selling contaminated food.

The agency proposed the following lead concentration limits for baby food:

  • 10 parts per billion for single-ingredient fruits, vegetables, yogurt, custard and custard, mixes and meats. This would reduce exposure by 26%.
  • 20 parts per billion for root vegetables. This would reduce exposure by 27%.
  • 20 parts per billion for dry grains. This would reduce exposure by 24%.

Lead is toxic and especially dangerous for small children. It can affect brain and nervous system development, which can lead to learning and behavioral difficulties.

According to the FDA, food lead exposure in children ages 1 to 3 has decreased by 97% since the 1980s. Although progress has been made over the years, in 2021 the agency made efforts to reduce the levels of lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury in infant formula as much as possible.

Food consumed by children may contain lead due to contaminated water or soil, industrial activity, and old lead-containing equipment used to make food, according to the FDA. The agency said it is not possible to completely remove lead from the food supply, but the limits should prompt industry to take action to reduce its presence as much as possible.

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Categories
Science

Antarctica slows world sea stage rise! And: “World Local weather Information” celebrates its premiere

Gute Klimanachrichten für 2022, die Ihnen die MSM nicht gesagt haben

From the NoTricksZone

By P Gosselin

New climate science videos now in English – made in Germany: YouTube channel “World Climate News”.

In the first video: Alarmist scenarios of sea level rise look less likely…some Antarctic regions will experience cooling…

The German site Die Kalten Sonne and later Klimanachrichten now presents their climate and energy news videos in English on their new YouTube channel: World Climate News. Be sure to subscribe.

World Climate News presents the latest scientific findings, with commentary and analysis of peer-reviewed articles from well-known journals.

The latest video looks at sea level rise and tornadoes.

Even the IPCC ignores alarming sea level projections

Regarding sea level rise, Potsdam climate scientist Stefan Rahmstorf and other widespread alarmists have warned that global sea levels could rise to “one meter ninety” before the end of this century. But the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) sees it differently. In its 5th climate report from 2013, for example, it predicts sea level rise of just 53 centimeters for a scenario in which CO2 emissions peak around 2040.

Sea level rise will be slowed as some Antarctic regions are expected to get colder!

The 2013 IPCC forecast has now been endorsed by René van Westen and Henk Dijkstra from Utrecht University. Their results of a sea-level computer simulation, published in the journal Science Advances, showed that the ocean around Antarctica is hardly warming and regions are even likely to get colder by the end of the century.

According to the new calculations, the ice melt caused on the coasts of Antarctica is only a third of what earlier simulations with lower resolution suggested.

Antarctic Ice Volume to Reduce Sea Level Rise by 25%

The new model also anticipates more snowfall in Antarctica, and the Antarctic ice sheet as a whole is projected to remain unchanged and stable even in this century. In this respect, the Antarctic will probably make no contribution at all to global sea level rise by 2100. This will reduce the expected rise in sea level in this century by 25%.

While the old model assumed a sea level rise of around 42 cm, it is now only 33 cm, i.e. 9 cm less. A value that is far removed from the dramatic scenarios of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.

TORNADOS

No data to support the link between warming and tornadoes

As for tornado activity, December 2021 saw a series of violent tornadoes in the southeastern United States. More than 85 people died. As expected, the usual suspects pointed the finger at man-made climate change, reports World Climate News in the video.

However, Andreas Friedrich from the German weather service DWD reminded in mid-December 2021 that there is currently no evidence of a connection between the tornado series and climate change. This is supported by Chris Martz, who compiled the tornado statistics for the US using data from the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) for the past 65 years.

The result? No discernible trend.

How will tornadoes develop in the future? According to Matthew Woods of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, tornadoes could become rarer but more violent. The bottom line is that the future remains uncertain.

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Sport

Michigan RB Blake Corum says Camaro was stolen from mother and father

Michigan RB Blake Corum says Camaro was stolen from parents

ANN ARBOR, Michigan — Michigan All-America running back Blake Corum reported earlier this month in Ann Arbor that his car was stolen.

Corum’s camouflaged 2017 Camaro, adorned with his BC2 logo, was stolen from a parking garage between January 13 and 16, Ann Arbor Police Department records show.

Corum tweeted Tuesday that his “parents used their hard-earned money” to buy him the car after he graduated from high school.

“God bless whoever stole it,” he tweeted.

The car was stolen shortly after Corum made a relatively surprising decision to return for the Wolverines as a senior.

The 5-foot-8, 210-pound Corum suffered a left knee injury on Nov. 19 against Illinois after rushing for 1,463 yards and 18 touchdowns. In 2021, he had 952 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns as a sophomore.

Corum makes money from name, image and likeness deals and has said he gives away half of his earnings to Michigan offensive linemen and the community, including an annual giveaway that has donated hundreds of turkeys.

Categories
Entertainment

Widow spots deceased husband consuming in restaurant advert

Widow spots deceased husband eating in restaurant ad

Social media wanted more information as the widow and the restaurant silenced the radio

Lucy has not yet spoken out on the matter, and many on social media are wondering what happened.

“I need to know what’s going on asap,” one person wrote. “We need closure!” another posted. “Can we have an update? I’m invested now,” commented a third.

Some internet sleuths say the husband likely faked his own death, while others believe it was all a publicity stunt to get the restaurant viral.

If it was a stunt, it appears to have worked, as the restaurant’s Facebook post garnered 22,000 views and hundreds of comments and likes.

If he were faking his own death, he would indeed be in decent company.

Pictured: Lucy Watson comments on Indian restaurant ads (Courtesy of Facebook.)

Former professional boxer fakes his death after learning wife hired Hitman to kill him

In 2019, a man explained how he faked his death to prove his wife had hired a hitman to murder him New York Post.

Roman Sosa, a former professional boxer from Houston, Texas, worked with detectives and a close friend in 2015 after officers discovered his wife, Maria, was plotting to have him killed.

Officials sent Maria photos of Roman lying in a shallow grave to give her the impression that the beating on her husband was complete.

“When investigators told me the plan, my first thought was, ‘You’re kidding, man,'” Sosa told Fox News Digital. “I thought they had enough evidence to arrest her. They said to me, ‘Yes, we have enough evidence, but she is a beautiful woman. She is a mother of two, a member of the community. We don’t want to risk going to court and having a jury feel sorry for her. We want to show her a photo of you dead, get a reaction, and use it as evidence.” And that’s how it all went.”

Maria was arrested in 2015.

Categories
Technology

Get to know the startups that signify one of the best of Northern Netherlands expertise

Get to know the startups that represent the best of Northern Netherlands technology

The road to the TNW Conference 2023 has begun! With just five months to go until Europe’s leading tech festival, TNW is touring several emerging tech hubs in the Netherlands to discover the best of Dutch tech ahead of its flagship conference in June.

first stop? groningen On Thursday, TNW’s event took place during MXT 2023 in cooperation with Founded in Groningen and Founded in Friesland. This brought together startups, investors, companies and community representatives who shared how Dutch companies are enabling the next technological developments in the northern regions of the Netherlands: Groningen, Friesland and Drenthe.

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Among Dutch startup tech hubs, the North stands out for its rapid growth, with the three regions being home to more than 330 startups creating over 5,000 jobs. Since 2018, Groningen has recorded an annual growth of 12% in the number of startups, followed by Friesland with 8% and Drenthe with 4%.

“If you compare the current startup ecosystem in the North to what it was ten years ago, it’s completely different, especially in terms of collaboration. Startups, academia and investors are now working closely together,” said Niek Huizenga, investor at G-Force Capital, during the event. “Nevertheless, we need to move faster and adopt a growth mentality to be even more competitive.”

“The North is ahead of the other regions in key areas such as energy solutions and agri-food – an advantage we should be prouder of and communicate more about,” added Anne-Wil Lucas, Ecosystem Partner at NOM.

Road to TNW Conference 2023 Erwin Damberg, Private Lead at Founded in Friesland, before announcing the startups attending the flagship conference in June.

The potential of the Northern Netherlands to become one of the most attractive hubs in the country is also underlined by the innovative strength of the five startups chosen to represent the region at the TNW Conference 2023. These are:

Enatom (Groningen)

After almost ten years of collaboration with the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG), Enatom has developed a next-generation anatomy app for the medical education sector.

Using point cloud techniques and anatomical preparations provided by the UMCG, the app offers a realistic 3D visualization of the human body that can be used in computers, tablets and VR/AR glasses. Within the app, anatomical specimens can be studied all around, while it is also possible to annotate the 3D models and create notes.

In this way, the Enatom app can be used by both teachers and students, facilitating flexible access to accurate knowledge in low-resource settings and relieving the educational healthcare system.

Nuwa (Groningen)

The startup has developed a smart pen that, thanks to its three connected cameras, digitizes handwriting on any paper without the need for a special surface or scanning. The Nuwa Pen comes with an app that syncs the handwriting to its digital copy.

The team was inspired by the fact that while millions of people still love to write on paper, “the pen has lay dormant in innovation over the last few centuries,” Marc Tuinier, the company’s founder and CEO, told TNW.

And according to Tuinier, the pen is just the beginning. “The algorithms and custom hardware we develop form the basis for the development of spatial computing products. We believe the future of computing is one where you aren’t tied to a desk (or lap), and we will develop the technology to make that kind of work possible. We start with the pen and bring it to the eyewear experience,” he explained.

As for Nuwa’s attendance at the TNW conference, Tuinier believes that it will not only provide the company with a strong network, but will also further attract interest and investment in the Northern Netherlands.

HIHAHO (axes)

The company has developed an interactive video platform that is all about engagement. Rather than offering a fixed, linear tool, the platform allows the user to be in charge.

According to Mark Visser, CEO and owner of HIHAHO, the platform’s competitive advantage lies in the way its technology is built, making it “the only ‘intel inside’-like solution for interactive online video in the world”.

“Our interactive layer technology is synchronized with all major online video players and video platforms. On the layers, and therefore in the videos, you can create more than 20 different types of interactions, including the possibility of integrating existing web applications such as web shops for goods, e-learning tests, etc.,” he added.

How the video platform works:

HIHAHO now has a worldwide customer base of early adopters and strives to become a leader in industries such as entertainment, learning, marketing and public information.

The team expects the conference will help generate further interest from potential partners and investors, Visser told TNW.

SusPhos (Leeuwarden)

SusPhos uses chemistry to create a better world. Specifically, the startup recycles phosphate-rich waste streams to create high-value alternatives that can replace current fossil-sourced products—all in a zero-waste process.

The company’s patented technology is compatible with diverse waste streams, including agricultural, municipal, and food and beverage industries. The first products will be flame retardants and specialty fertilizers.

In addition to phosphate products, SusPhos produces recycled coagulants along with other chemicals while it is currently preparing its first full-scale plant.

Aeroscan (Leeuwarden)

This startup aims to disrupt the property inspection and maintenance industry. Using data collected by drones, Aeroscan creates 3D renderings of buildings. Customers can use a dedicated web-based application to access these insights.

According to Mark Nikolai, founder and technical director of the company, the technology has three main impacts: it reduces the time it takes experts to generate maintenance reports, it reduces the logistical footprint by enabling the digital exchange of 3D visualizations, and, as As a result, it lowers the overall cost of real estate ownership.

Aeroscan’s competitive advantage lies “in the combination of internal competencies,” Nikolai told TNW. “We control data quality (input), develop our own custom machine learning models for data analysis, and deliver an end-user-centric web application.”

According to the founder, scaling the technology and funding to support it has been the biggest challenge so far, and the company is looking to connect with potential investors at the TNW conference.

Road to TNW Conference 2023 The startups receive the ticket to participate in the TNW Conference 2023. From left to right: Mark Visser from HIHAHO, Stefan Vogelzang from Enatom, Marc Tuinier from NUWA and Tinco Andringa from Aeroscan.

“We were really impressed by the quality of these 5 startups, all founded and grown in the North Region. TNW is a platform for ecosystems in the Netherlands to unite, and we’re excited to showcase these startups at the TNW conference in June,” said Zach Butler, events director at TNW.

The Road to TNW Conference Tour will make two more stops: Rotterdam on May 15th and Amsterdam on June 1st.

And do not forget! The TNW Conference 2023 will take place on June 15th and 16th. So if you want to find out how technology will shape tomorrow’s world, get insights from industry pioneers and network with startups, scale-ups, investors and companies, secure your ticket here!