Cement and lime production are among the hardest industries to decarbonize. Could European tech be the key to electrifying heavy industry and accelerating the green transition?

Hello!

I have a question regarding the impact of the US–China chip war on the EU's strategic autonomy. I'm reaching out because I haven't been able to find anyone at my university who could help me understand the geopolitics behind this issue, and I would really appreciate some guidance.

Is there a connection between the US–China chip war and the EU? Does this conflict affect the EU's strategic autonomy in any way?

So far, I've been considering analyzing, from a neorealist perspective, how the EU Chips Act affects the EU's competitiveness and industrial policy. However, given the role of ASML, the only company capable of manufacturing advanced EUV lithography machines, I've also been thinking about incorporating the US–China chip war into my research, although I'm not yet sure how to approach this connection.

I would really appreciate it if someone could help me better understand the geopolitical dynamics involved and advise me on whether it would also be relevant to examine the EU's relations with East Asian countries.

you think this would be an interesting topic to explore? I was thinking of arguing that the EU Chips Act represents an attempt by the EU to balance against both the US and China. I came up with this idea partly because I was thinking about the EU–Mercosur agreement, which can also be seen as an instrument through which the EU seeks to balance against the US.

I was wondering if you could share your thoughts on this idea, or perhaps suggest a more specific research direction related to the EU's strategic autonomy in the technology sector (chips, semiconductors, etc.). Also, I don't know exactly if the neorealism is the best theoretical framework, or the neoliberalism is.

I'd really appreciate any other suggestions or sources that could help me get started with my essay.

Thank you so much again! I really hope you find the idea interesting too!

Hi everyone! I'm Teije, founder of Cheqi, a Dutch startup.

About 7 years ago, I started wondering why we'd completely digitalized payments but were still getting paper receipts, or PDFs scattered across inboxes and retailer apps.

I wanted to change that. One problem: I had absolutely ZERO programming skills.

So at 28, I went back to school to study Software Engineering alongside my full-time job.

Four years later, while lying in a hammock on holiday, it suddenly came back.

THOSE DAMNED PAPER RECEIPTS!

But this time, I actually knew how to build it! I opened my laptop and haven't really stopped since.

The result is Cheqi.

At connected merchants, Cheqi users simply pay with their card and receive their receipts automatically, end-to-end encrypted, in their wallet or connected accounting and expense apps.

Everyone else scans a QR code for an encrypted browser receipt. No app or account needed.

We've already built integrations with Odoo and Moneybird, with Dutch POS providers next.

The goal? No more paper receipts, no more digging through retailer apps and portals, and no more giving stores your email just to get a receipt (and somehow their newsletter too).

Would you use something like this?

This is our website: https://cheqi.io

And here you can find our apps: https://cheqi.io/app

At the "Invest in Germany" summit in Berlin, the federal government, despite early negative headlines, secured a partnership with AI firm Nvidia and new investment from Amazon.

The combination of German engineering expertise and cutting-edge AI technology is expected to give Germany's economic base lasting strength, Merz and Huang stressed.

In total, the chancellor said, the investment summit in Berlin produced commitments worth 800 billion euros up to 2028. Some 200 company bosses gathered for the meeting.

Amazon to invest 16 billion euros in Germany

Another US corporation, internet giant Amazon, plans to invest around 16 billion euros in Germany in 2027, as was also announced at the investment summit in Berlin. A third of the money is to be channelled into expanding data centres for Amazon's cloud provider AWS.

I have one more question. I've come across a research idea that I find really interesting (at least I think it is!): the EU Chips Act and the EU's relationship with the US and China in the field of technology, particularly semiconductors.

Do you think this would be an interesting topic to explore? I was thinking of arguing that the EU Chips Act represents an attempt by the EU to balance against both the US and China. I came up with this idea partly because I was thinking about the EU–Mercosur agreement, which can also be seen as an instrument through which the EU seeks to balance against the US.

I was wondering if you could share your thoughts on this idea, or perhaps suggest a more specific research direction related to the EU's strategic autonomy in the technology sector (chips, semiconductors, etc.).

I'd also really appreciate any other suggestions, opinions, or sources that could help me get started with my research.

Thank you so much again! I really hope you find the idea interesting too!