Technology

European Union institutions have reached a political agreement over an update to the bloctelecoms rules thatrattled the cages of incumbent telcos.

Agreement was secured late yesterday after months of negotiations between the EU parliament and Council, with the former pushing for and securing a price cap on international calls within the bloc — of no more than 19 cents per minute.Texts will also be capped at a maximum of 6 cents each, Reuters reports.

While roaming charges for EU travelers were abolished across the bloc last summer, the parliament was concerned that charges for calls and texts between EU Member States is often disproportionately high — hence pushing for the cap, which was not in the original EC proposal.

The Commission proposed a new European Electronic Communications Codeback in 2016, to modernize telecoms rules that had stood since 2009 — to take account of technology and market shifts, and align the rules with its wider Digital Single Market strategy.

The proposal broadly focused on pushing for consistency in spectrum policy and management; reducing regulatory fragmentation; ensuring a level playing field for market players and protections for consumers; and incentivizing investment in high-speed broadband networks.

And on the incentivization front, the new rules agreed yesterday update the powers of national regulators to act against dominant players — such as by being able to impose access to their network.

For a case study on why such interventions might be necessary you could look at the fiber investment and network-access foot-dragging of a former incumbent telco such as BT in the UK, for example, which has long favored eking out copper. While its network infrastructure division OpenReach was last year ordered to be legally separated— around a decade after it was functionally separated by the regulator. Yet complaints over BTlack of investment in broadband infrastructureand access for rivals to its networks have, nonetheless, persisted.

On the consumer front, the new EU telecoms Code also includes measures intended to make it easier to change service provider and keep the same phone number; measures around tariff transparency to make it easier for people to compare contractual offers, and the ability to terminate a contract without incurring additional costs; as well as additional protections around bundled services.

For operators there are deregulation measures for co-investments — intended to promote &risk sharing in the deployment of very high capacity networks&. And the Code sets wireless spectrum licenses at at least 20 years — also intended to give carriers the &predictability& they need to speed up 5G and fiber deployments.

Though this is shorter than operators had hoped, and the European Telecommunications Network Operators& Association (ETNO) — whose membership is made up of incumbent telcos such as BT — has been quick to voice its displeasure, describing the code as a &missed opportunity&, and complaining that it adds extra complexity while also failing to incentivize investment.

&The Code will not ignite the much needed rush to invest in 5G and fibre networks and it will add complexity to an already burdensome system,& it writes. &The agreed law foresees only limited progress on spectrum policy, a complex and watered down compromise on incentivising fibre investment, uncertain triggers for imposing regulatory remedies and no fair playing field for digital services users and providers.&

Smaller, fiber-to-the-home broadband players are sounding much happier though…

ETNO also criticizes what it describes as &the unfortunate decision to regulate intra-EU calls& — arguing this is an unjustified, populist measure, and snipingthat it creates legal uncertainty by setting what it couches as &ahighly dangerous precedent for all other European industries&.

Thatnot the view of the European Consumer Organization, BEUC, which describes the measure as&a good next step towards a real single market for consumers&.

&Consumers should no longer have to worry about excessive costs when calling another EU country from home. The end of roaming charges was a big first step, but it did not deal with the high costs of phone calls to another EU country when at home,& its director general, Monique Goyens, told us in a statement.

&Market concentration is bad for prices and consumer choice. A small group of players should not be able to take control of the market. Thanks to what has been agreed, national regulators can take measures to intervene and maintain a healthy level of competition,& she added.

&Telecom services regularly rank among the top most complained-about markets. This new law upgrades some important consumer protection measures. Telecom clients will for instance be able to end their contract early and choose a better deal.&

And of course the Commission is putting a positive spin on the outcome, two years on from its proposal to modernize the rules.

In a statement welcoming the end of the negotiations, Andrus Ansip, the VP in charge of the Digital Single Market, said: &This agreement is essential to meet Europeans& growing connectivity needs and boost Europecompetitiveness. We are laying the groundwork for the deployment of 5G across Europe.&

In another supporting statement, Mariya Gabriel, commissioner for digital economy and society, described the new rules as &bold and balanced& — saying they would provide &faster access to radio spectrum, better services and more protection for consumers, as well as greater investment in very high speed networks&.

While political accord on the new telecoms code has indeed been reached between the EU institutions, members of the EU parliament and Council still need to vote to adopt it — after which the blocMember States will have two years to transpose it into their national laws.

Synthego, a provider of gene editing services for genomics research and experimentation, has launched a new suite of products that give researchers access to edited genetic material to make experimenting with programmable biology easier.

The companynew service will provide researchers with genetic material that has already been edited using the CRISPR process so that scientists can test their hypotheses around new treatments for diseases or new expressions of genetic traits faster.

&Gene editing technologies like CRISPR have dramatically improved how researchers make genomic modifications. As with many new biological tools, not everyone has the access, time and ability to learn and use CRISPR efficiently to get the results they want. Due to these barriers, there is significant demand for products that make CRISPR accessible to the masses so researchers can focus on experimental outcomes rather than method development,& said George Church, Robert Winthrop Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and Professor of Health Sciences and Technology at Harvard and MIT, in a statement.

CRISPR technology allows scientists to edit genetic material to suppress or promote certain biological traits and has broad applications from material science to energy to agriculture to health.

What Synthego is offering is basically gene editing as a service, according to the companychief executive Paul Dabrowski.

There are two basic functions that people use CRISPR for, said Dabrowski. The first is to remove a gene or function and the second is adding a function to genetic material.

Both of those processes involve three (very complicated) steps. First scientists have to identify the gene that they want to target and then understand what genetic material within that gene they want to target for removal. Then a research team would need to identify and procure the reagents and components they need to edit a gene. Finally, the team would need to figure out whether the edit was made successfully and watch for results when the edited genetic material is cultivated.

&There are about 100 ways to make it go wrong,& says Dabrowski.

Synthegofirst set of products were designed to simplify the process for identifying and designing genetic material for experimentation. This next set of tools are supposed to help scientists by providing them with the material they want to observe or experiment with.

&Tell us the gene you want modified and we will give you the modified gene with the full analysis,& Dabrowski said.

Right now, Synthegogenetic material are just for research purposes only, Dabrowski said. &The overall point here is that we&re trying to speed up the development process and make things better.&

The new tools are significant because they&re among the first in the industry to guarantee the efficacy of genetically modified material. &We&ve been at this for five or six years getting all of this working,& he said. &The high throughput allows us to collect data and understand whatgoing on in relatively unprecedented ways. We&re able to predict some outcomes prior to doing the gene edit.&

Ultimately, the goal is to bring down the cost of targeted gene therapies and make them accessible for everyone, not just the billionaires that Synthego counts among its backers (the company is backed by venture firms including Peter ThielFounders Fund and 8VC — the investment firm launched by Palantir and Addepar founder Joe Lonsdale).

&The access to clinical gene therapies can&t be million dollar drugs,& says Dabrowski. &These need to be closer to a vaccine. The potential in the next year or two is to start curing thousands of diseases, but you can see how these products are all about access… Either these things become million dollar medicines or we need to change how we think.&

The Europas Unconference - Awards is back on 3 July in London and we&re excited to announce major European investor Saul Klein, founder and partner of LocalGlobe, is joining as a main speaker. He&ll be talking about his ideas for startups in this new era, as well as bringing Zinc.vc, his new initiative to back ‘startups for good&.

Saul is a Founding Partner at Localglobe, a seed fund focussed on helping Londongreat most ambitious founders build game-changing businesses. Previously, Saul was a Partner at Index Ventures from 2007 until May 2015. In 2012 David Cameron appointed Saul to be the UKfirst tech envoy to Israel and a Technology Business Ambassador.

Saul is a serial entrepreneur with two decades of experience building and exiting companies in the US, Israel and Europe. He has a passion for working with seed and early-stage businesses. Most recently Saul co-founded Kano and Seedcamp, as well as a co-founder and original CEO of Lovefilm International (acquired by Amazon). He was also part of the original executive team at Skype (acquired by eBay).

Additionally, we&ll also be joined by Eileen Burbidge of Passion Capital, the early-stage VC fund based in London. She brings extensive operational experience to her investment activities gleaned from business and product roles at Yahoo!, Skype, Apple and elsewhere.

In addition to Passion Capital, Eileen is also the Chair of TechNation UK, which is the British government-backed organisation supporting digital business across the UK. She is also HM TreasurySpecial Envoy for FinTech appointed by then Chancellor George Osborne; Tech Ambassador for the Mayor of Londonoffice and served on former Prime Minister David CameronBusiness Advisory Group.

Eileen was made an MBE for services to Business in June 2015 and holds a BSc Engineering degree in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

You&ll also hear from angels and investors including SeedcampCarlos Eduardo Espinal; Accel Partners& Andrei Brasoveanu; Jeremy Yap; Candice Lo of Blossom Capital; Scott Sage of Crane Venture Partners; Tugce Ergul of Angel Labs; Stéphanie Hospital of OneRagtime; Connect Ventures& Sitar Teli and Jason Ball of Qualcomm Ventures.

There will be more speakers and panel sessions as the event takes shape.

Crypto and Blockchain will be a major theme this year, and we&re bringing together many of the key players. TechCrunch is once again the key media partner, and if you attend The Europas you&ll be first in the queue to get offers for TC events and Disrupt inEurope later in the year.

You can also potentially get your ticket for free just by sharing your own ticket link with friends and followers. See below for the details and instructions.

To recap, we&re jumping straight into our popular breakout sessions where you&ll get up close and personal with some of Europeleading investors, founders and thought leaders.

The Unconference is focused into zones including AI, Fintech, Mobility, Startups, Society, and Enterprise and Crypto / Blockchain.

Our Crypto HQ will feature two tracks of panels, one focused on investing and the other on how blockchain is disrupting everything from financial services, to gaming, to social impact to art.

We&ve lined up some of the leading blockchain VCs to talk about what trends and projects excite them most, including Outlier Ventures& Jamie Burke, KR1George McDonaugh, blockchain angel Nancy Fenchay, Fabric Ventures& Richard Muirhead and Michael Jackson of Mangrove Capital Partners.

Thinking of an ICO vs crowdfunding Join Michael Jackson on how ICOs are disrupting venture capital and Ali Ganjavian, co-founder of Studio Banana, the creators of longtime Kickstarter darling OstrichPillow to understand the ins and outs of both.

We&ve also lined up a panel to discuss the process of an ICO & what do you need to consider, the highs, the lows, the timing and the importance of community. Linda Wang, founder and CEO of Lending Block, which recently raised $10 million in an April ICO, joins us.

We are thrilled to announce that Civil, the decentralised marketplace for sustainable journalism, will be joining to talk about the rise of fake news and VerisartRobert Norton will share his views on stamping out fraud in the art world with blockchain. Min Teo of ConsenSys will discuss blockchain and social impact and Jeremy Millar, head of Consensys UK, will speak on Smart Contracts.

Our Pathfounders Startup Zone is focused purely on startups. Our popular Meet the Press panel is back where some of techfinest reporters will tell you what makes a great tech story, and how to pitch (and NOT pitch them). For a start, TechCrunchSteve O&Hear and QuartzJoon Ian Wong are joining.

Sound great You can grab your ticket here.

All you need to do is share your personal ticket link. Your friends get 15% off, and you get 15% off again when they buy.

The more your friends buy, the more your ticket cost goes down, all the way to free!

The Public Voting in the awards ends 11 June 2018 11:59: https://theeuropas.polldaddy.com/s/theeuropas2018

We&re still looking for sponsor partners to support these editorially curated panels.

Please get in touch with This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more details.

SPEAKERS SO FAR: Jamie Burke, Outlier Ventures

Jeremy Millar, ConsenSys

Linda Wang, Lending Block

Robert Norton, Verisart

George McDonaugh, KR1

Eileen Burbidge, Passion Capital

Carlos Eduardo Espinal, Seedcamp

Sitar Teli, Connect Ventures

Michael Jackson, Mangrove Capital Partners

Min Teo, ConsenSys

Steve O&Hear, TechCrunch

Joon Ian Wong, Quartz

Richard Muirhead, Fabric Ventures

Nancy Fechnay, Blockchain Technologist + Angel

Candice Lo, Blossom Capital

Scott Sage, Crane Venture Partners

Andrei Brasoveanu, Accel

Tina Baker, Jag Shaw Baker

Jeremy Yap

Candice Lo, Blossom Capital

Tugce Ergul, Angel Labs

Stéphanie Hospital, OneRagtime

Jason Ball, Qualcomm Ventures

The Europas Awards The Europas Awards are based on voting by expert judges and the industry itself. But key to the daytime is all the speakers and invited guests. Thereno &off-limits speaker room& at The Europas, so attendees can mingle easily with VIPs and speakers.

Vote for your Favourite Startups

Public Voting is still humming along. Please remember to vote for your favourite startups!

Awards by category:

Hottest Media/Entertainment Startup

Hottest E-commerce/Retail Startup

Hottest Education Startup

Hottest Startup Accelerator

Hottest Marketing/AdTech Startup

Hottest Games Startup

Hottest Mobile Startup

Hottest FinTech Startup

Hottest Enterprise, SaaS or B2B Startup

Hottest Hardware Startup

Hottest Platform Economy / Marketplace

Hottest Health Startup

Hottest Cyber Security Startup

Hottest Travel Startup

Hottest Internet of Things Startup

Hottest Technology Innovation

Hottest FashionTech Startup

Hottest Tech For Good

Hottest A.I. Startup

Fastest Rising Startup Of The Year

Hottest GreenTech Startup of The Year

Hottest Startup Founders

Hottest CEO of the Year

Best Angel/Seed Investor of the Year

Hottest VC Investor of the Year

Hottest Blockchain/Crypto Startup Founder(s)

Hottest Blockchain Protocol Project

Hottest Blockchain DApp

Hottest Corporate Blockchain Project

Hottest Blockchain Investor

Hottest Blockchain ICO (Europe)

Hottest Financial Crypto Project

Hottest Blockchain for Good Project

Hottest Blockchain Identity Project

Hall Of Fame Award & Awarded to a long-term player in Europe

The Europas Grand Prix Award (to be decided from winners)

The Awards celebrates the most forward thinking and innovative tech - blockchain startups across over some 30+ categories.

Startups can apply for an award or be nominated by anyone, including our judges. It is free to enter or be nominated.

Instead of thousands and thousands of people, think of a great summer event with 1,000 of the most interesting and useful people in the industry, including key investors and leading entrepreneurs.

• No secret VIP rooms, which means you get to interact with the Speakers

• Key Founders and investors speaking; featured attendees invited to just network

• Expert speeches, discussions, and Q-A directly from the main stage

• Intimate &breakout& sessions with key players on vertical topics

• The opportunity to meet almost everyone in those small groups, super-charging your networking

• Journalists from major tech titles, newspapers and business broadcasters

• A parallel Founders-only track geared towards fund-raising and hyper-networking

• A stunning awards dinner and party which honors both the hottest startups and the leading lights in the European startup scene

• All on one day to maximise your time in London. And itsunny (probably)!

Thatjust the beginning. Theremore to come…