GOVERNMENT & TECH

• How Trump's Policies Have Shaken America's IT Departments
• Vance Promotes AI Deregulation Strategy Overseas
• Trump to Nominate Sean Cairncross as National Cyber Director

TECH INDUSTRY TRENDS

• Why Enterprises are Turning to Small AI Models
• Quantum Computing Is Closer Than Ever. Everybody's Too Busy to Pay Attention.
• Extended-range EVs Could Ease Cost, Range Fears

MED-TECH TRENDS

• Cedars-Sinai Names 1st Chief AI Officer
• Avelios Nabs $31M to Fix Ailing World of Healthcare IT
• Candid Health Gets Another $52.5M to Ease Medical Billing; Total Raised Now $99.5M

In How to Train Employees for Ransomware Phishing Scenarios, Alvaka covers setting the stage for effective training, common tactics used by cybercriminals, recognizing red flags in emails and links, developing relatable scenarios based on real-world examples, utilizing multimedia and visual aids to enhance comprehension, and more.
        ALSO, Click here to read more of Alvaka's article, including: "Evaluating Disaster Recovery as a Service for Ransomware;" "Critical Steps for Securing IoT Devices Against Ransomware;" "Managing Third-Party Risk to Prevent Ransomware Infections;" and "Cyber Insurance for Ransomware Protection: A Critical Guide." (FRI)

In his recent Forbes article - The 2025 Workplace: How Leaders Can Prepare For Waves Of Change, Chris discusses: Human-Centric Leadership is Non-Negotiable; Hybrid Work is Here to Stay; Employee Well-Being is a Strategic Priority; AI is a Tool, Not a Threat; Adaptability is the New Leadership Superpower; and more.
        ALSO, watch Chris's video on What if the secret to great leadership isn't about leading from the top - but leading side by side, AND read his Fast Company article - From Burnout to Breakthrough: Creating Cultures That Thrive.
        MEANWHILE, Chris has been named to Inspiring Workplaces' list of The Top 101 Global Employee Engagement & Experience Influencers 2025.
        PLUS, click here to check out Chris's Q1 speaking schedule. (FRI)

Eckert & Ziegler (EZ) SE has signed a license agreement with Qi Kang Medical, Ltd (QKM), a joint venture between EZ and the Chinese company DC Pharma, for the cyclotron technology used by EZ to manufacture Actinium-225 (Ac-225). The agreement is an important step towards establishing EZ as a major supplier of Ac-225 for the radiopharmaceutical industry. Currently, Ac-225-based radiopharmaceuticals are under clinical investigation for various cancers.
        ALSO, EZ and GlyTherix Ltd, an Australian targeted radiotherapy company specializing in developing antibody radiopharmaceuticals for solid tumors, announced the expansion of their existing Lutetium-177 based collaboration with a global supply agreement for Ac-225. EZ will provide high-quality Ac-225 to support GlyTherix's clinical R&D activities on innovative alpha radiotherapeutics. (FRI)

Jason Ciment, CEO of Get Visible, recently talked "all things AI, Personal Branding, and Niche Success" on the Horizon Search, Inc. podcast. Tune in to hear actionable insights on: AI-powered marketing evolution, building genuine industry authority, AI uses for content creation, automation, and business solutions, and avoiding shiny object syndrome. (FRI)

In How to Choose a CSR Platform for Your Organization: Top Tips, Groundswell examines corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives as a highly effective way to engage employees, improve your organization's reputation, and ensure your impact on the world is positive. Groundswell explains what a CSR platform is, key features of a CSR management platform - choosing the right technology, and more. (FRI)

iMediSync is presenting a two-part webinar on February 20 and March 13 - Mastering Brainwaves: A 2-Part Series on EEG and QEEG Fundamentals and Interpretation - offering an in-depth introduction to understanding brainwave activity, from raw EEG data to interpreting QEEG reports with confidence.
        MEANWHILE, Dave's recent article - What founders often get wrong! - states that there are only five metrics that truly matter in your first 18 months: 1. Cash runway (in months); 2. Customer acquisition cost; 3. Monthly burn rate; 4. Net revenue retention; 5. Gross margin.
        AND, in Find great advisors for your team!, Dave says that whether you find advisors from family, friends, faculty or fellow managers, great advisors can become an informal resource that rivals that of more formal resources. As such, it's important that you recognize their worth and be most careful not to overuse the gift of their time. (FRI)

In AI in Automotive Customer Service: How myKaarma is Revolutionizing Dealer Communications, myKaarma shares how it's using AI-driven tools to simplify dealership communication, improve customer interactions, and ensure that no critical message is missed.
        AND, in Why Message Tagging is Essential for Dealerships: Improving Communication and Accountability, myKaarma notes that with the volume of messages that service departments handle daily, it's easy for important information to get lost in the shuffle. That's where message tagging comes in - a feature designed to organize and track communications, ensuring nothing slips through the cracks. (TH)

In The Ultimate Guide to Loan Servicing Workflow Management, Nortridge Software says that without a well-organized system, loan servicing can become a tangled mess of approvals, verifications and follow-ups. That's where workflow management comes in, which can improve efficiency, reduce manual work, and keeps operations running smoothly.
        Click here to read other articles from Nortridge, including "6 Benefits of a Lending Platform That Grows with Your Business;" "Top 3 Ethical Ways to Collect Debt: Balancing Revenue and Customer Care;" "What is API Integration? A Lender's Guide;" and more. (TH)

In AI in the Future of Marketing, Payani Media delves into the future of marketing, exploring how AI will revolutionize creative and content development, and what this means for marketers and businesses.
        AND, in Marketing Transformation: Transforming Your Brand in 2025, Payani notes that with consumers increasingly expecting personalized, omnichannel experiences, companies must adapt and evolve to stay ahead of the curve. At the heart of this is brand transformation - a fundamental shift in how a brand presents itself, engages with its audience, and delivers value to customers and shareholders. (FRI)

The Joy Factory, a global leader in rugged accessories' mobile solutions, has unveiled its refreshed brand identity and launched its redesigned website: www.thejoyfactory.com. The updates embody the company's mission to deliver innovation, resilience, and joy to mobile workforces operating in the world's most challenging environments, in industries that include Oil & Gas, Energy & Utilities, Manufacturing, Mining and Construction. The new brand design, by Payani Media, features modernized visuals and a comprehensive brand guide, ensuring consistent communication across all platforms while allowing flexibility and creativity. (TH & FRI)

Marshall will be a keynote speaker at the AI Agent & Copilot Summit, March 17-19 in San Diego, where he'll talk about how AI is changing how people learn.
        AND, a recent episode of Marshall's and Joel Kotkin's The Feudal Future podcast - The Changing Face of Education and the Power of Tech, with visionary tech entrepreneur Ramit Varma, explores how technology is reshaping education, the challenges and opportunities ahead, and what this means for students, educators, and the future workforce. (TH)

Covisus participated in a recent paper - Tracking Unique Device Identifiers (UDIs) of Mini Fragment Implants with a Novel Optical Imaging System - published in the Journal of Orthopaedic Experience & Innovation. As Covisus' CEO, Naresh commented, "we are proud to be part of this project and grateful for our collaboration with the amazing people at Geisinger. Implementing UDI is an FDA requirement of all medical implants that saves lives while reducing costs but it's not being implemented. vTag now makes it possible." (LA)

Eitan Medical's article - Empowering Pharma with Innovative Infusion Technologies Amid U.S. Policy Changes - was recently published in ONdrugDelivery. The article explores how U.S. regulatory shifts, including the Inflation Reduction Act and the Waste REFUND Act, along with the presidential administration change, are transforming the pharmaceutical landscape.
        MEANWHILE, Eitan has introduced a new feature in Eitan Insights - Sapphire pump program mirroring, which provides remote visibility into treatment data and supporting better decision-making and compliance monitoring. (OC)

Elemeno Health has welcomed Tim Coulter as the company's new CEO, to which he brings a wealth of experience leading healthtech companies and serving health systems. Whether growing Medicity to serve 100 health systems and 1,000 hospitals, or leading Dina as President & COO to Newsweek's 2024 listing of World's Best Digital Health Companies, Tim has maintained a laser focus on both clients and culture. Arup Roy-Burman, MD, remains Elemeno's Founder and Chief Medical Officer. (BA)

The Society for Family Health Rwanda recently posted about its partnership with MedWand and CGFNS International as they pilot the Nurse-Led Model of Care at two health posts in the Bugesera district. "At the heart of this initiative is the MedWand device - a state-of-the-art tool combining an array of diagnostic capabilities," they share. Rwanda faces a shortage of healthcare professionals, so by equipping nurses with the tools and training to deliver care traditionally requiring doctors, the Nurse-Led Model of Care bridges the gap, ensuring that patients in underserved areas receive timely, accurate diagnoses. (OC)

Praia Health, a digital health spinout from Providence DIG, has been granted a second patent for its innovative account and experience orchestration technology. The patent acknowledges Praia's foundational identity access capabilities and is titled, "Simultaneously Administering User Accounts in Two Related Information Systems, Such as an EMR and a Separate Health System Single Sign-On System." (LA)

Speaking at The Wall Street Journal's recent CIO Network Summit in Menlo Park, tech leaders said the new Trump administration's approach to tariffs, AI governance, cybersecurity and immigration are all spurring talk of changes in strategy. At the same time, many are watching Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency with quiet admiration. In some cases, they were jealous of, even inspired by, the sledgehammer approach to bureaucracy. In other cases, they voiced concern about contracts and funding drying up and DOGE's approach to cutting potentially valuable talent.
      CIOs said the tariffs are likely to raise prices on everything from laptops to computing chips even as IT budgets remain stagnant, forcing them to find efficiencies elsewhere. As a result, some CIOs are trying to squeeze as much life as they can out of existing devices, like laptops and postponing refreshment cycles. Others are pushing forward replacement cycles to get orders in before tariff-related price increases take effect.
      Although implementing AI is something organizations are overall keen for, they also have whiplash over the shifting government stance on AI regulation. Last month, President Trump revoked his predecessor's 2023 executive order on AI on his day one flurry. For some it simply created uncertainty about where they should or shouldn't deploy AI, stalling their plans. Many expressed interest in the creation of an entity reporting to the president that would monitor the escalation of AI threats that could put the public in danger.
      One area where technology leaders felt positive was any push by the administration toward boosting technical education, particularly in cybersecurity. There was a sense among Summit attendees that the new administration could fuel more venture dollars and more innovation - even as it creates risks in other areas, like possibly reducing the number of visas for skilled tech workers. (https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-trumps-policies-have-shaken-americas-it-departments-c987c3de?mod=article_inline)

Vice President Vance outlined the Trump administration's approach to AI governance during the recent AI Action Summit in Paris, underlining its push for U.S. leadership and its distaste for regulation. "We believe that excessive regulation of the AI sector could kill a transformative industry just as it's taking off, and we'll make every effort to encourage pro-growth AI policies," Vance said in his keynote speech. "I'd like to see that deregulatory flavor making its way into a lot of the conversations at this conference."
        The VP also said the administration plans to take a "pro-worker growth path" for AI. "We refuse to view AI as a purely disruptive technology that will inevitably automate away our labor force," he said. The U.S. and U.K. did not sign an international agreement on AI at the global summit, Politico reported. More than 70 governments and organizations, including the EU and China, signed the statement affirming priorities on AI governance moving forward, such as making AI sustainable. (https://www.ciodive.com/news/JD-Vance-Paris-AI-Summit-US-strategy-deregulation/739847/)

President Trump intends to nominate former administration official and GOP lawyer Sean Cairncross as the next national cyber director, according to a document obtained by POLITICO. Cairncross served as CEO of the Millenium Challenge Corporation for two years under the first Trump administration, a U.S. foreign aid agency that provides grants to stimulate economic growth in other nations. Prior to being confirmed to lead the MCC, Cairncross served as a deputy assistant to the president under the first Trump term. He does not appear to have held formal roles in cybersecurity. (https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/11/sean-cairncross-cyber-director-nomination-00203759)

Grappling with rising compute costs and model hallucinations, CIOs are turning to small language models to improve enterprise AI strategies. Large language models gained popularity for their versatility, broad domain knowledge and ability to solve complex, multistep problems. Smaller models offer enterprises a less resource-intensive way to complete specific tasks with tailored expertise. While LLMs have been more prevalent in enterprises in years past, lightweight models have gained traction and business use is set to rise further this year, analysts told CIO Dive. (https://www.ciodive.com/news/small-language-models-AI-LLMs/740281/)

PsiQuantum says it will have a commercially useful quantum computer available as soon as 2027. But whether businesses are ready to take advantage of that accelerated timeline is another story, according to a poll of tech executives at a Wall Street Journal event. The Palo Alto startup is working to build quantum computers in Australia as well as Chicago. And it is doing so by tapping into existing infrastructure used to build more conventional computers to help speed development, said Pete Shadbolt, a company founder and its chief scientific officer.
      Companies have long recognized the powerful technology's potential in areas such as drug discovery, finance, energy, aerospace and semiconductor manufacturing. Some firms are already building their own quantum algorithms and running them over simulators and early-stage machines in preparation for the day a commercial-grade quantum machine is available. PsiQuantum is also working with customers to develop quantum software that will ultimately run on the hardware of the future. But tech leaders attending the event said they were more focused on other priorities, including getting AI to work reliably and parrying new Trump-era tech policies. (https://www.wsj.com/articles/quantum-computing-is-closer-than-ever-everybodys-too-busy-to-pay-attention-898bc921)

Extended-range electric vehicles are gaining attention as a solution to range anxiety and the cost of buying a vehicle, potentially accelerating the transition to electric vehicles. A McKinsey survey shows significant interest in EREVs among car buyers in the US, Germany and the UK, with many consumers saying they would opt for an EREV over a legacy vehicle if available. (https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/automotive-and-assembly/our-insights/could-extended-range-evs-nudge-more-car-buyers-toward-full-electric)

Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai appointed its inaugural Chief Data and Artificial Intelligence Officer in December to boost its systemwide AI strategy. Mouneer Odeh, the former vice president of analytics at Fairfax, Va.-based Inova Health System, told Becker's he accepted the position to use technology to strengthen healthcare overall. In a recent Q&A, he said: The advancements in AI and analytics are unprecedented. The cost of computing has decreased, data availability is at an all-time high, and AI has transformed how we interact with that data. While progress in the short term may seem slow, the long-term impact will likely exceed what we can imagine today. (https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/ai/why-cedars-sinai-named-its-1st-chief-ai-officer.html)

The race is on to build a new generation of healthcare software to replace legacy hospital systems that in some cases may not have been updated in decades. A startup out of Munich, Germany, called Avelios, has ambitions to build a new kind of end-to-end operating system, leaning into more modern tooling using AI and cloud services. It recently announced $31 million in Series A funding as it gains momentum. (https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/06/avelios-nabs-31m-led-by-sequoia-to-fix-the-ailing-world-of-healthcare-it/)

Candid Health, a revenue cycle management platform for healthcare providers, announced it raised $52.5 million in Series C funding, bringing its total funding raised to $99.5 million. Candid Health aims to simplify medical billing by giving providers the ability to focus on delivering care. The company's revenue cycle platform leverages automation to reduce the cost to collect and hike net collections rates. The company will use the funds to expand its customer relationships with provider groups in multiple locations nationwide. (https://www.mobihealthnews.com/news/candid-health-secures-525m-broaden-customer-reach)

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