Queen Elizabeth II donned an ermine-trimmed robe and diamond-studded crown Wednesday to announce government promises to put Britain at the cutting edge of technology and social progress in the 21st century. Plans for prison reform, a sugar tax and commercial spaceports were among 21 bills announced in the Queen's Speech, an annual tradition that mixes lavish pomp and modern politics. Prime Minister David Cameron called it a "progressive, one-nation" program, but some measures are sure to meet resistance -- and next month's referendum on European Union membership is casting a shadow over the government's plans. The annual State Opening of Parliament is steeped in centuries-old symbolism of the power struggle between Parliament and the British monarchy. In a display of regal wealth and finery, the queen traveled from Buckingham Palace in the horse-drawn Diamond Jubilee State Coach, and delivered the speech -- written for her by the government -- wearing the Imperial State Crown, studded with 3,000 diamonds.

China's biggest manufacturer of home appliances, Midea Group, announced Wednesday an unsolicited takeover bid for German robot maker Kuka, offering 115 euros ( 130) for each share of the German company, valuing it at over 5 billion. The Chinese company, which has a market cap of about 21 billion based on its listing in the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, had, on Feb. 4, announced it raised its stake in Kuka to 10.2 percent and currently owns 13.5 percent of the German company's shares. The offer, made through Midea subsidiary MECCA International, of 115 euros is a 59.6 percent premium to Kuka's closing share price on Feb. 3, which was 72.05 euros per share. The company said in its statement it "is committed to maintaining Kuka's independence as a publicly listed company in Germany and has no intention of entering into a domination agreement regardless of the result of the takeover offer." Midea has previously announced its intent to increase its stake in Kuka, and the current bid is to keep in line with regulatory framework that makes it mandatory for an acquiring company to make an open offer for all issued shares of the company being acquired, if its stake exceeds 30 percent.

THE best manufacturers used to be the firms that made the best widgets. As the "internet of things" spreads to the factory floor, products are being packed with ever more sensors and connected to the internet. That is transforming manufacturing--and the mindset that firms need to succeed. The first shift is from products to services. By one estimate the number of wirelessly connected products in existence (excluding smartphones or computers) will rise from 5 billion today to 21 billion by 2020.

Artificial intelligence, popularly known as AI is slowly taking over the industry. More and more companies and brands turn to AI to give their customers better service. According to new reports, eBay is also considering AI to improve product searches on their site. According to Forbes, eBay is very aggressive in fulfilling its goal of making its platform simple and more efficient. Their website is a popular buy and sell platform.

CMIS Group, together with Holland FinTech, is glad to invite you to Money in a Minute, on the 20th of May in Amsterdam. Facing increasing competition and understanding the need to innovate and improve our customer relationships, CMIS Group initiates Money in a Minute, an event with the main purpose of creating valuable and successful partnerships with startups. Money in a Minute is an event with a free afternoon program where a selected group of startups will pitch in front of the audience. During this event, attendees will have the chance to get in touch with five high-level European start-ups in the fields of Artificial intelligence, Credit-scoring and Robo advisory. For any enquiries, please send your email to events@hollandfintech.com

Following a similar business tactic that drug dealers have employed for ages, developer Blizzard is giving folks who check out the upcoming Warcraft movie a free, full, copy of World of Warcraft. That's assuming you see the movie at certain Regal Cinemas (which is running a promo to send folks to BlizzCon, as well), United Artists Theaters or Edwards Theaters here in the United States. The promo is supported abroad too, with Australia, Brazil, Europe, Southeast Asia and New Zealand all getting in on the action.

I've been skim-reading articles in The Economist, The Sunday Times and The Evening Standard lately about the coming wave of robotics and automation. Those articles are all the same. They talk vaguely about how robots will replace lots of white collar workers within ten years. And they skim over the question of how the technology works. Ten years is a nice time scale for a prediction: far enough out that you can make amazing claims, close enough that they seem vaguely urgent.

IBM researchers have just revealed a new storage memory breakthrough that has the potential to speed up machine learning and access to the Internet of Things (IoT), as well as mobile phone apps and cloud storage. For the first time, scientists have demonstrated reliably storing three bits of data per cell using a new memory technology known as phase-change memory (PCM). While memory types span from DRAM to hard disk drives to flash, over the past few years, PCM has become quite popular in the industry as well, due to its combination of read/write speed, endurance, non-volatility and density. The experimental multi-bit PCM chip used by IBM scientists is connected to a standard integrated circuit board. For example, unlike DRAM, PCM doesn't lose data when powered off, and it can endure at least 10 million write cycles, while an average flash USB stick tops out at 3,000 write cycles.

I will be in London, UK, at the Centre for Central Banking Studies, invited as a keynote speaker for a major conference.

This story was delivered to BI Intelligence Apps and Platforms Briefing subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here. Consulting firm Accenture has announced a partnership with artificial intelligence software company, IPsoft, aimed at spurring the use of AI in the enterprise, ZDNet reports. The deal will see Accenture integrate IPsoft's AI program, Amelia, into a new business unit called Accenture Amelia. Amelia is similar to other virtual assistants such as Apple's Siri or Amazon's Alexa, however, IPsoft's program is reportedly more expressive and capable of showing empathy than other programs.