ABB and IBM (NYSE: IBM) yesterday announced a strategic collaboration that brings together ABB's industry leading digital offering, ABB Ability™, with IBM Watson Internet of Things cognitive capabilities to unlock new value for customers in utilities, industry, transport and infrastructure.

The current KOF Index of Globalization reflects the extent of economic, social and political globalization in 2014. According to the KOF Globalization Index, the degree of globalization was higher in 2014 than in the preceding year, and the rise was the most significant since 2007.

The largest increase was measured in the economic globalization dimension. Political globalization also progressed, while social globalization, the third dimension of the Index, stagnated. Pursuant to the KOF Index of Globalization, the Netherlands are still the most globalized country in the world, followed by Ireland and Belgium. Switzerland is in 5th place.

Skeleton Technologies, Europe’s leading ultracapacitor manufacturer, today announced the opening of a new production line in Saxony, Germany. The new facility is the largest in Europe and will enable the business to greatly enhance its production capacity. The expansion is expected to support over 50 new jobs at the facility by 2019 and is the result of a 6.2 million Euro investment by Skeleton Technologies, supported by federal and state funds from the program for the promotion of the joint task to improve the regional economic structure (GRW).

Delta-ee's latest European State of the Market Report has found 3M homes in Europe are equipped with smart thermostats or connected room heating controls and that number is set to grow to 9M by the end of 2019.

The connected home market is developing very rapidly.

"There are two key trends in this space today," explains Arthur Jouannic, Senior Analyst and Connected Home expert at Delta-ee.

"Firstly, the market has clearly taken off with over 50 players offering connected heating controls in Europe, with those like Centrica, Eneco, Bosch and EQ-3 securing more than 100,000 new customers a year. Some companies have already equipped 20% of their customers with smart thermostats.

Volvo's global drive with electrified buses continues to deliver results. All told Volvo Buses has sold 3000 hybrids, electric hybrids and electric buses to customers in 22 countries in Europe, South America, Asia and Australia.

Following the introduction of Volvo Buses' first hybrid buses in 2010, sales have increased steadily at the same time as the product range has undergone continuous development and expansion. Today Volvo offers comprehensive system solutions for electrified public transport with hybrid buses, electric hybrids, and all-electric buses. The hybrid models are available in conventional 12-metre configuration, as articulated models, and as double-deckers.

Offshore wind in Europe saw a net 1,558 MW of additional installed grid-connected capacity in 2016. This was 48% less than in 2015. A net addition of 338 new offshore wind turbines across six wind farms were grid-connected from 1 January to 31 December 2016.

The industry announced a record €18.2 billion of investments in new wind farms to be built in the coming years.  This represents a further 4.9 GW of new capacity across five countries, half of it in the UK.

Giles Dickson, Chief Executive Officer of WindEurope, said: “It's good to see the high level of investments in offshore wind - up 40% year on year.  The new installations are in line with trend rate of the last 5 years after a spike in 2015. This was due to a backlog of grid connections."

To address increasing software complexity in devices such as autonomous vehicles and industrial control systems, this approach allows for the isolation of safety-critical functions from those that require less stringent control. In addition, it enables the consolidation of applications onto fewer electronic control units (ECUs) to both manage complexity and reduce cost.

New link across over 1,800 km will be capable of bringing electricity to more than 80 million people.

ABB has teamed up with India’s national electricity grid operator Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (POWERGRID) in a mega project worth over $640 million for ABB to deliver a transmission link that will have the capacity to bring reliable electricity to more than 80 million people. The Raigarh-Pugalur 800 kilovolt (kV) ultra-high-voltage direct current (UHVDC) system will connect Raigarh in Central India to Pugalur in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

Volvo Cars, the premium car maker, has announced that it will introduce Skype for Business, Microsoft’s leading collaborative productivity app, to its new 90 Series cars. Volvo Cars is the first carmaker to launch such an in-car productivity tool.

“We’ve all been there. Sitting in the car trying to join a conference call. You either fumble with or drop your phone while trying to connect or you forget the long pin code to join. It’s not the best way to start an important call in the car. On top of all that your attention is not where it should be – on the road. With the addition of Skype for Business all that goes away,” said Anders Tylman-Mikiewicz Vice President Consumer Connectivity Services at Volvo Car Group.