The most important stories on industrial digitalization from around the world in the past two weeks.

UK looks to low-carbon hydrogen: A new strategy released by the UK government defines an approach to developing a low-carbon hydrogen sector. The ambition is to reach 5GW of low-carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030.

European Commission proposes renewable energy directive revision: The revision would increase the overall binding target for renewable energy in the EU energy mix from the current 32% to 40%.

“Green Gold Rush” continues: Countries are investing in alternative energy and technologies to reach net-zero goals and examine geopolitical consequences of a decarbonizing world.

US Senate passes biggest infrastructure package in decades: The deal includes $1 trillion in spending on upgrading transportation, clean energy, power infrastructure, and broadband.

Extreme weather puts pressure on industries and governments to accelerate climate actions: Heatwaves, drought, and floods have hit three continents this summer. Energy resiliency is critical for cities and communities. Are our power grids prepared for these external threats? Also see the updated UN report on climate change that finds Earth is warming faster than previously thought.

In a 2014 blog post, Information Week contributing editor Lenny Liebmann looked at the emergence of big data and saw a need for a set of best practices to ensure that data science happens efficiently and reliably.  Liebmann called this discipline “DataOps,” or “the set of best practices that improve coordination between data science and operations. Seven years later, DataOps is a “top trend,” according to VentureBeat, and the race is on to sharpen the definition and claim a piece of the market.

COVID-19 may well have been the kick in the pants needed to push remote operations into the industrial mainstream, and there’s no shortage of surveys and trends reports to back this up.

In a November 2020 McKinsey insights report, a majority of companies said that the potential for remote work is determined by tasks and activities rather than occupations. That sentiment jives well with a similarly timed AIRINC survey among oil and gas companies.

While an overwhelming 80% of oil and gas respondents said that more work will be done remotely, they acknowledge that this simply won’t work for all types of tasks in their industry.

Save the date for Ignite Talks 2021: Sept. 21-23. The industries that power the world’s economies are transforming. Their goal: a greener, smarter second half of the century. What can we do — and what must we do — now through 2050? Get the answers at Ignite Talks 2021.

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