Tech
Business Insider: Western tech majors have tested or used controversial Russian face recognition technology
According to a report published last week by US publication Business Insider, a range of Western tech firms are users of FindFace, a controversial face recognition technology developed by Russian startup NtechLab.
From 4G to 6G: How Russia seeks to develop mobile networks amid shortages of domestic frequency and foreign equipment
The Russian government intends to spend more than RUB30bn ($375mn at the pre-war exchange rate, $500mn at the current rate) on an R&D programme to deploy 6G until 2025.
Should I stay or go for founder of Russian internet major Yandex
The founder of Russian internet major Yandex, Arkady Volozh, could agree to a new shareholder and management structure for the company in exchange for the Kremlin’s permission to develop some of Yandex assets independently abroad
EVs in Uzbekistan bring problems and prospects
Number of imports up dramatically, but most market players doing little by way of providing electric vehicle servicing and infrastructure. That needs to change.
Poland-based Deepflare bags €1.5mn to fast-track mRNA vaccine development with AI
Deepflare's technology was used to analyse around 50% of all SARS-CoV-2 genomes sequenced in Poland. Now it aims to support the development of mRNA vaccines and drugs against other viral diseases.
Russia suspected of being behind massive cyberattack in Albania
Attack shut down online government services in Albania two months after Tirana took almost all services online and closed physical offices.
Bulgaria’s Dronamics partners with Quickstep for full-scale cargo drone manufacturing
Partnership to accelerate the scale-up of the Dronamics fleet as demand for capacity on their routes is rising.
Electric supercar entrepreneur Mate Rimac invests in Croatian agri-digital company Gruntek
Gruntek has developed an app allowing Croatians to rent gardens raising organic vegetables near them and pick what is planted there.
Belarus’ IT sector Part II – War and Peace with the IT sphere
As the growth of Belarus’ IT sector is facing stagnation, it may find itself in the middle of the Belarusian regime’s security and military apparatuses’ goals to increase their defensive and offensive capabilities in cyberspace.
Istanbul-listed Koc launches electric vehicle charging stations unit
Conglomerate also lately reached understanding with Ford and SK On to explore potential for EV battery production plant in Ankara.
Belarus’ IT sector Part I – Growth resilience despite tech-worker exodus
While many Belarusian IT workers already began leaving the country after the wave of political repression that followed Belarus’ 2020 presidential elections, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine initiated a second wave of fleeing IT workers.
VK set to become Russia’s tech leader as IT crisis shakes up sector
While competitors are hit by sanctions, banned by the communications watchdog, or offload assets due to a worsening tech crisis, Russia's biggest social network is on a buying streak, consolidating its command of the sector.
Russia’s Rostec develops blockchain system as “real alternative” to SWIFT
Rostec, a state corporation that comprises more than 700 enterprises in the fields of defence and technology, announced in June it has developed a blockchain platform to provide a “real alternative to SWIFT in international settlements.”
IMM Investment-backed farming IT firm to launch smart farming in Mongolia
PlanTFarm will create and operate indoor vertical farms to grow fresh vegetables in Mongolia after Ukraine war highlighted the importance of food self-sufficiency.
Kazakhstan: Sanctions likely behind fresh delay at new Baikonur launchpad
Russian space chief Dmitri Rogozin has indicated that developers of a craft being designed for the pad will have to work around sanctions.
EWDN: How Russian game developers are being hit by the shockwave of war
Russia’s war on Ukraine and the subsequent Western sanctions seem to have put the once-thriving Russian and Belarusian gaming industries in serious trouble, East West Digital News reports.
Disney+ comes online in Turkey
Among many other competitors, it will take on BluTV, the market leader in Turkey’s subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) market with a 42% share.
Romanian crowdfunding platform SeedBlink helps Bulgarian startup Agriniser raise funds
First goal for Agriniser will be to expand its digital marketplace to buy and sell grain into Romania.
Investments into Serbian startups soared more than 600% in 2021
Serbian startups attracted over $135mn of investments in 2021 – more than six times as much as in the previous year.
Uzbekistan’s IT sector on fire and targeting the vast US market
One country’s brain drain is another country’s gain. In the competitive business of IT outsourcing, Uzbekistan wants to wind up on the right side of that equation.
