JNTO’S NEW INSIDER GUIDE TO JAPAN FEATURES SOUL SOOTHING TRAVEL SPOTS

 

Photo courtesy of Moerenuma Park

KUALA LUMPUR, June 30 (Bernama) -- Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO)’s new insider guide to Japan features things to do and see that will sooth the visitor’s soul.

These contents are associated with the ‘Wellcation’ concept that helps visitors relieve stress and anxiety arising from difficulties of the past year, according to a statement.

Japan is often associated with big cities like Tokyo and Osaka, but 70 per cent of Japan’s topography consists of dense forests and mountainous terrain.

Leveraging this landscape, Japan has long excelled at harmoniously mixing art and nature, with countless open-air art facilities across the archipelago showcasing a cornucopia of sculptures and installations.

Among them is Moerenuma Park, a municipal facility (part of Sapporo City’s Circular Greenbelt Concept) with a landscape dreamed up by artist Noguchi Isamu.

In addition, visiting Upopoy in Shiraoi Town, Hokkaido Prefecture is another way to discover Japan’s beautiful nature. This new national centre celebrates and showcases the culture of the Ainu, the indigenous people of northern Japan and first settlers of Hokkaido.

For those desiring a spiritual experience, Mount Koya may be the perfect place to go. This sacred religious site is the ninth-century birthplace of Japan’s Shingon sect of Buddhism, and home to numerous Buddhist temples.

Among stories featured in the JNTO’s New Insider Guide include All about Ainu at Upopoy; Foodie Hiroshima Region; Echigo Tsumari Art Triennale; Open-air museums across Japan; The Charm of Japanese Tea; and, Magic of Mount Koya.

More details at https://www.japan.travel/en/

-- BERNAMA

NIPPON EXPRESS OPERATIONS IN SLOVAKIA HAS BEGUN

KUALA LUMPUR, June 30 (Bernama) -- Nippon Express (Deutschland) GmbH (NE Germany), a local subsidiary of Nippon Express Co Ltd has established a branch office in the Slovak capital of Bratislava that opened for business early this month.

Located at the heart of Europe, Slovakia has thriving automobile manufacturing and electrical equipment/component manufacturing industries, having enjoyed an economic growth rate of three to four per cent in recent years.

According to a statement, it will likely continue to see strong economic growth into the future.

By opening its own location in Slovakia, NE Germany is seeking to boost sales to companies doing business there and provide wider range of logistics services.

It will also be working to acquire procurement logistics business from suppliers and other firms in the automotive industry.

Nippon Express will be utilising the new Bratislava Branch to enhance its logistics services in Central and Eastern Europe and continue meeting diversifying logistics needs worldwide.

More details at http://www.nipponexpress.com/

-- BERNAMA

JAPAN LIFE INSURANCE MARKET NEGATIVE OUTLOOK MAINTAINED - AM BEST

KUALA LUMPUR, June 29 (Bernama) -- AM Best is maintaining its negative market segment outlook on Japan’s life insurance segment, citing social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on life insurers’ top-line growth and significantly dampened investment income due to low interest rates.

The United States-headquartered global credit rating agency’s new Best’s Market Segment Report, ‘Market Segment Outlook: Japan Life Insurance’, notes Japan continues facing ongoing pressure domestically and abroad from the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Consequently, AM Best’s negative outlook primarily reflects an anticipation of headwinds for the near-term operating performance metrics of Japan life insurers, and in its view, the current and forecast macroeconomic conditions are likely to suppress top-line growth and profitability of most domestic life insurance companies.

However, AM Best notes most life insurers maintain very strong risk-adjusted capitalisation, and are expected to be able to withstand the potential impact on capital changes that may result from volatility in the global financial markets.

According to the report, domestic life insurance sales in Japan recovered gradually over the second half of fiscal year 2020-2021, on the back of a slow but steady resumption of sales activity, and the implementation of new business strategies.

Based on a statement, these new initiatives include the increased use of online and digital tools to mitigate the impact of reduced face-to-face sales activity, as well as the promotion of new product features addressing heightened and emerging customer needs.

Downward pressure on economic activity may be exacerbated by uncertainty over the country’s vaccination rollout, although the risk of reduced activity is skewed toward business sectors that involve extensive face-to-face interaction.

AM Best is confident most Japanese life insurers’ will be able to maintain at least very strong levels of risk-adjusted capitalisation, while the major threat to Japan life insurers’ prospective economic solvency ratios continues to be the possibility of a steep reduction in domestic interest rates, especially excessive declines in super long dated bond yields.

For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

-- BERNAMA

FRESENIUS MEDICAL CARE OPENS FIRST TRAINING CENTRE IN KOREA

 

KUALA LUMPUR, June 28 (Bernama) -- Fresenius Medical Care recently announced the grand opening of its first training centre in Korea, offering comprehensive education programmes and sharing its knowledge and experience in renal care, critical care, and treatment strategies with healthcare professionals.

The training programmes and other events at the centre will help strengthen the collective knowledge within the industry, unlocking the potential for improvement in patient care, according to a statement.

The opening ceremony on June 24, was officiated by Professor Yang Chulwoo, President of the Korean Society of Nephrology (KSN) and Clare Kim, Managing Director of Fresenius Medical Care Korea, with the attendance of members of KSN’s executive committee.

“Going forward, we are committed to providing comprehensive academic programmes to support the development of healthcare professionals. We will also continue to deliver high-quality products and services to meet the needs of the patients, community and industry,” said Kim.

The Fresenius Medical Care Training Center, the first healthcare education facility in Korea to be run by a dialysis product provider, was established to support doctors, nurses, and clinical technicians in accessing the latest knowledge and skills within their professional practice.

The centre offers a dedicated education hub for healthcare professionals to undertake training and upskilling programmes in Yeouido, the city centre of Seoul, providing an opportunity to have hands-on experience with Fresenius Medical Care’s most advanced medical equipment used for hemodialysis (HD), automated peritoneal dialysis (APD) and continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT).

Certified trainers from Fresenius Medical Care, together with regional clinical education experts from across Asia Pacific, will provide best practice training for healthcare professionals within the renal care field.

With the opening of the Training Center, Fresenius Medical Care Korea pledges ongoing support of healthcare professional education.

Fresenius Medical Care is the world's leading provider of products and services for individuals with renal diseases. More details at www.freseniusmedicalcare.asia.

-- BERNAMA

SYNCHRONOSS ANNOUNCES US$125 MILLION PUBLIC OFFERING OF SENIOR NOTES PRICING

KUALA LUMPUR, June 28 (Bernama) -- Synchronoss Technologies Inc (Synchronoss) recently announced the pricing of an underwritten public offering of US$125 million aggregate principal amount of 8.375 per cent senior notes due 2026, including the exercise in full by the underwriters of the underwriters’ option to purchase an additional US$5 million aggregate principal amount of senior notes. (US$1 = RM4.148)

Synchronoss, a global leader and innovator in cloud, messaging and digital products and platforms, in a statement said the offering was expected to close on or about June 30, subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

Synchronoss and the senior notes both received a rating of BB- from Egan-Jones Ratings Company, an independent, unaffiliated rating agency.

The Company has applied to list the senior notes on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol ‘SNCRL’ and expects the notes to begin trading within 30 business days of the closing date of the offering, if approved.

All of the senior notes in the offering are being sold by Synchronoss.

Synchronoss anticipates using the net proceeds from the offering, and from the offering of common stock and sale of Series B Preferred Stock, to fully redeem all outstanding shares of Synchronoss’ Series A Convertible Participating Perpetual Preferred Stock and repay amounts outstanding under Synchronoss’ revolving credit facility.

B. Riley Securities Inc (BRS) is acting as the sole book-running manager for the offering. Northland Capital Markets, Aegis Capital Corp. and EF Hutton, division of Benchmark Investments LLC, are acting as lead managers for the offering.

Concurrently with the offering, the Company is offering, by means of a separate prospectus supplement, US$100 million of shares of its common stock.

The senior notes described above are being offered by Synchronoss pursuant to a shelf registration statement on Form S-3 previously filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and declared effective by the SEC on Aug 28, 2020.

-- BERNAMA

NIPPON EXPRESS (CHINA) NEW OFFICE IN JINAN, SHANDONG PROVINCE OPENED

 

KUALA LUMPUR, June 28 (Bernama) -- Nippon Express (China) Co Ltd (NE China), a local subsidiary of Nippon Express Co Ltd, recently set up a new office in the city of Jinan in Shandong Province which opened for business early this month.

Shandong Province is China's second most populous province with nearly 100 million residents, and the area is seeing remarkable economic growth, achieving a growth rate of 3.6 per cent last year and anticipating a rate of six per cent or higher in 2021.

The provincial capital, Jinan, hosts a cluster of IT, medical/pharmaceutical and heavy equipment companies, and there is rising demand for logistics services that satisfy industry-specific needs, according to a statement.

An opening ceremony for the office held last month, was accompanied by a symposium for local government officials and parties involved in logistics that briefed participants on Nippon Express's business expansion in the Jinan area, the company's initiatives utilising the China Railway Express (rail cargo services linking China and Europe), and other matters of interest.

As the first Japanese logistics company to establish an office in Jinan, NE China will be offering forwarding services for a variety of transport modes (ocean, air, rail and truck) and logistics services (bonded warehousing, general warehousing, and domestic transport).

This also includes developing multimodal services combining ocean, air and rail transport to take advantage of Shandong Province's proximity to Japan and South Korea.

The Nippon Express Group remains committed to meeting the diversifying needs of customers worldwide and contributing to society through logistics.

More details at http://www.nipponexpress.com/

-- BERNAMA

LANTRONIX SMARTEDGE PARTNER PROGRAM AWARDS WINNERS ANNOUNCED

KUALA LUMPUR, June 25 (Bernama) -- Lantronix Inc, a global provider of secure turnkey solutions has announced the winners of its SmartEdge™ Partner Program Awards, with awards given at Lantronix’s 2021 SmartEdge Partner Summit held virtually recently.

According to a statement, Lantronix’s SmartEdge Partner Program Awards were given to winners in three categories: Distribution Partner; StrategicEdge Partner; and, Edge Partner, covering three regions: North America, Europe/Middle East/Africa and Asia Pacific.

North America winners are North America Distributor Partner of the Year: Tech Data; North America StrategicEdge Partner of the Year: SHI; and, North America Edge Partner of the Year: Presidio.

Meanwhile, Europe/Middle East/Africa (EMEA) winners are EMEA Distributor Partner of the Year: Atlantik Elektronik; EMEA StrategicEdge Partner of the Year: Arki Technology; and, EMEA Edge Partner of the Year: Data Equipment.

In addition, Asia Pacific (APAC) winners are APAC Distributor Partner of the Year: Acromax; APAC StrategicEdge Partner of the Year: Rahi Systems, India; and, APAC Edge Partner of the Year: Enthu Technology Sdn Bhd.

“We are pleased to honour the SmartEdge Partner Program winners, all of which have exceeded our programme requirements and expectations in driving sales and building long-term relationships with our mutual customers,” said VP of WW Sales at Lantronix, Roger Holliday.

“With our SmartEdge Program, our channel partners offer Lantronix’s integrated offering of software, hardware and service solutions, providing their customers with everything they need to build robust, secure connectivity-based solutions,” said VP of Strategy at Lantronix, Jonathan Shipman.

Lantronix’s SmartEdge Partner Program has been named to the industry’s leading partner programme guide, the CRN Partner Program Guide.

More details at www.lantronix.com.

-- BERNAMA

TOSHIBA TEC UNVEILS E-BRIDGE NEXT UPDATES

TOSHIBA MFP, e-STUDIO series (Graphic: Business Wire)

KUALA LUMPUR, June 25 (Bernama) -- Toshiba Tec Corporation, a Toshiba’s group company, will launch an updated version of its MFP platform e-BRIDGE Next on June 25, adding new features to the current line-up of Toshiba MFPs.

According to a statement, these features are designed to help organisations overall efficiency along with an increase to their security.

The updated e-BRIDGE Next will support new cloud services, such as Universal Print from Microsoft and Native Print from Chrome OS.

Universal Print and Native Print enable users to print directly from the cloud service, allowing users to print from anywhere via the internet.

Cloud Managed Document Service enables the company’s MFPs to directly communicate with cloud services, and e-Bridge Cloud Login allows users to login to cloud services using mobile device or PC for the first time authentication.

The second login becomes automatic and does not require authentication using mobile device or PC, allowing the access to be convenient yet safe and secure.

Remote Assistant Menu is added in case users have an issue on their MFP or just need some assistance. They can ask the Call Center for assistance simply by clicking the icon on the control panel.

The menu features Log Transmission, Remote Service, and Remote Panel Operation enabling the Call Center to access the MFP to investigate the issue or remotely operate the control panel based on customer requests.

More details at https://www.toshibatec.com/

-- BERNAMA

GRADUATE MANAGEMENT ADMISSION COUNCIL ANNOUNCES 4 NEW MEMBERS TO BOARD

KUALA LUMPUR, June 24 (Bernama) -- The Graduate Management Admission Council™ (GMAC™), a global association of leading graduate business schools, has announced the addition of four new members to its board of directors.

Katy Montgomery, Associate Dean, Degree Programmes, INSEAD; François Ortalo-Magné, Dean, London Business School; and, Giuseppe Soda, Dean, SDA Bocconi School of Management, Bocconi University, will begin their terms on July 1, according to a statement.

In addition, Yuan Ding, Vice President and Dean of China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), has been appointed board director in January to fill the seat vacated by Enase Okonedo of the Pan-Atlantic University.

Yuan Ding has been honoured three times with the CEIBS Teaching Excellence Award. He is the author of multiple books on financial reporting and his research appears in leading academic journals.

As the INSEAD Associate Dean of Degree Programmes, Montgomery is responsible for the commercial leadership of the INSEAD Degree Programme portfolio across four campuses: Fontainebleau, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, and San Francisco.

Meanwhile, Ortalo-Magné is the ninth Dean of London Business School (LBS). He has led the relaunch of the LBS brand, the growth of degree programmes and a significant increase in philanthropic support for scholarships.

Giuseppe ‘Beppe’ Soda is the Dean of SDA Bocconi School of Management and Full Professor of Organization Theory and Network Analysis at Bocconi University. Soda’s research investigates the performance consequences of the interplay between organisational architectures and organisational networks.

Besides the aforementioned newly-elected board members, Martin Boehm, Professor of Marketing and former Dean of IE Business School and soon the new Rector of EBS Universität für Wirtschaft und Recht, and Themin Suwardy, Dean of Postgraduate Professional Programmes, Singapore Management University, were re-elected for a second term.

GMAC also recognises its outgoing board members, Leila Guerra, Vice Dean (Education) of Imperial College Business School, and Peter Tufano, Peter Moores Dean and Professor of Finance of Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.

More details at www.gmac.com.

-- BERNAMA

YUGO PRIVATE AVIATION EXPANDS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

^{Yugo Private Aviation's Gulfstream G200 midrange private jet (Photo: Business Wire)}


SINGAPORE, June 25 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- Yugo the fast growing private aviation platform has recently released its newest charter routes in Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and the Philippines; a sign that the Singapore based private aviation company is gearing up for growth in Asia.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210623005498/en/

 

Leveraging on its network of helicopters and jets, Yugo is the first air mobility platform that connects Southeast Asia to the whole of Asia Pacific.

With only a few clicks and based on their preferences, customers are able to request and search flights of private jets and helicopters from a curated inventory of available flights and routes.

Currently operating in Southeast Asia, Yugo has been growing its customers reach and its fleet in the region within less than a year, amid the pandemic.

According to Camille Ngo, Commercial Manager of Yugo: "Our mission is to provide the possibility for our customers to fly private anywhere, anytime, by helicopters or private jets."

Camille, who leads the commercial operations of the company adds "We aim to reach a sustainable state of aviation, taking into account environmental aspects and societal responsibility".

Today, in order to propose charter flights to over 150 destinations in Asia, Yugo has built a fleet of more than 50 aircrafts in its network, from some of the aviation industry’s best aircrafts manufacturers such as Gulfstream, Bombardier, Cessna Textron Aviation and Dassault Falcon private jets as well as Bell, Airbus, Leonardo or Robinson helicopters. The aircrafts are selected for the comfort and privacy of passengers from Dubai to Langkawi, Cebu to Bali, Sihanoukville to Shanghai or Koh Samui to El Nido, traveling for business or leisure.

Jim Baldy, CEO of Yugo commented "Covid-19 has reshaped the travel industry since 2020. This is the most challenging chapter of aviation in history and it has tested our resilience. We have adjusted our value proposition to best serve our customers in the most flexible, safe and secured way possible. With all obstacles we faced, we had to find ways to innovate, maintain our performance and move forward through 2020 and 2021.”

From Southeast Asia to Asia Pacific, popular flights include on-demand helicopter flights, airport transfers, helicopter tours, private islands transfers, cross border medical flights, in country emergency evacuations or cross border business jets flights among others.

Indeed, while commercial aviation has not yet fully picked up, private aviation has been recovering at a faster pace. Yugo is poised continue to providing flights services to customers with needs to fly private within Asia Pacific.

About Yugo

Yugo Global Industries Pte Ltd is a private aviation company that focuses on providing private flights by helicopters and business jets at optimized costs anywhere, anytime. Yugo’s flight services are powered by its air mobility platform and its global network throughout Asia Pacific.

View source version on businesswire.com: 
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210623005498/en/

Contact

Camille Ngo
Commercial Manager
camille@yugoplus.com
www.yugoplus.com

Source : Yugo Global Industries Pte Ltd

SYNCHRONOSS ANNOUNCES PROPOSED US$120 MILLION PUBLIC OFFERING OF SENIOR NOTES

 

KUALA LUMPUR, June 25 (Bernama) -- Synchronoss Technologies Inc (Synchronoss) has announced that the Company intends to offer and sell, subject to market and other conditions, US$120 million aggregate principal amount of senior notes due 2026 in an underwritten public offering. (US$1 = RM4.155)

A global leader and innovator in cloud, messaging and digital products and platforms, Synchronoss also expects to grant the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase an additional US$5 million aggregate principal amount of senior notes in connection with the offering.

There can be no assurance as to whether or when the offering may be completed, or as to the actual size or terms of the offering, according to a statement.

Synchronoss and the senior notes both received a rating of BB- from Egan-Jones Ratings Company, an independent, unaffiliated rating agency.

All senior notes in the offering are to be sold by Synchronoss, with net proceeds of the offering, and of the anticipated offering of common stock and sale of Series B Preferred Stock, expected to be used to fully redeem all outstanding shares of Synchronoss’ Series A Convertible Participating Perpetual Preferred Stock and repay amounts outstanding under Synchronoss’ revolving credit facility.

B. Riley Securities Inc (BRS) is acting as the sole book-running manager for the offering. Northland Capital Markets, Aegis Capital Corp. and EF Hutton, division of Benchmark Investments LLC, are acting as lead managers for the offering.

Concurrently with the offering, the Company anticipates offering, by means of a separate prospectus supplement, US$100 million in shares of its common stock.

The senior notes described above are being offered by Synchronoss pursuant to a shelf registration statement on Form S-3 previously filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and declared effective by the SEC on Aug 28, 2020.

A preliminary prospectus supplement relating to and describing the terms of the offering will be filed with the SEC and will be available on the SEC’s web site, while the final terms of the proposed offering will be disclosed in a final prospectus supplement to be filed with the SEC. 

-- BERNAMA

HONG KONG TOURISM BOARD DEBUTS GREAT OUTDOORS SUMMER VIDEO SERIES

 

KUALA LUMPUR, June 24 (Bernama) -- Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) has initiated a series of uniquely soothing sensory videos created under the 360 Hong Kong Moments, which have managed to capture and bottle the city’s auditory essence into highly immersive and pleasurable viewing experiences.

According to a statement, this summer, Hong Kong’s great outdoors will be very much within reach to those who reside abroad.

A highlight of the Great Outdoors Hong Kong (GOHK) 2021-2022 summer campaign, four distinctly themed Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) videos will each feature 30-second snapshots of dreamy environmental acoustics heard in far-flung corners of the city.

The videos are designed to stimulate the senses and heighten one’s sensitivity to the harmonic countryside symphonies, just a stone’s throw from the city.

ASMR in Peng Chau invokes a ship’s horn, a temple’s chimes and the hypnotic kau cim (shaking of fortune sticks), while swaying leaves, dripping waterfalls, chirping birds and flapping wings angle for attention in ASMR in Shing Mun Reservoir.

Both calming and provoking, the video series stars curious individuals exploring the outskirts of Hong Kong through a hyper-focused lens, and culminates in a three-minute magnum opus, bringing all the contrasting elements together into one beautifully euphoric whole.

The ASMR videos form part of the broader GOHK summer campaign, which will also showcase 13 seasonal routes, covering hiking and sightseeing destinations, island-hopping itineraries and water sports experiences.

The entire Great Outdoors Hong Kong 2021-2022 campaign is hosted on its own dedicated campaign website, and is packed to the brim with useful information, like insider tips, dining recommendations and transportation suggestions.

On top of the signature ASMR vignettes, the site features a colourful mix of photos, written itineraries and 13 videos-for-beginners, offering an overview and en route experiences about each seasonal route to inspire future trips.

More information and full summer video series of Great Outdoors Hong Kong 2021-2022, at www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/explore/great-outdoor/wellness.html.

-- BERNAMA

EUROPEAN AUTOMOTIVE RETAIL LEADER SELECTS DAWEX TECHNOLOGY TO DEPLOY DATA EXCHANGE PLATFORM

 

KUALA LUMPUR, June 24 (Bernama) -- Dawex announced a European leader in retail for automotive has chosen Dawex technology to deploy its Data Exchange Platform to distribute, exchange and commercialise data products securely, in compliance with regulations.

Dawex is the leading data exchange and data marketplace technology company.

Relying on Dawex technology, the Data Exchange facilitates access to data products, accelerates data circulation and monetisation, and orchestrates a data ecosystem.

This data hub enables the entire sector to propose new services, improve productivity and efficiency, mitigate risk, and generate new revenue streams, according to a statement.

Dawex Data Exchange technology brings the technical, contractual, financial, and regulatory compliance conditions for secure data sharing and monetisation, bringing flexibility, traceability, and trust over the circulation of data.

“The Data Exchange will enable our customer to offer new services, and fuel data-powered innovations, turning the company’s data ecosystem into the essential place where data partnerships in the retail for automotive industry happen,” said Dawex co-CEO, Fabrice Tocco.

Through Dawex Data Exchange Advisory Services, the organisation defined a comprehensive data exchange strategy and roadmap.

Dawex experts identified company-generated data sets and over 100 associated data products, segmented and prioritised use cases to address the data exchange needs of the retail for automotive ecosystem.

-- BERNAMA

Grand Prize Winner Announced in $5M IBM Watson AI XPRIZE Competition

 

Winning technology from Zzapp Malaria will demonstrate how humans can work with AI to tackle global challenges

LOS ANGELES, June 24 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- XPRIZE, the world’s leader in designing and operating incentive competitions to solve humanity’s grand challenges, and IBM Watson, IBM’s AI technology for business, today announced the Grand Prize Winner in the $5M IBM Watson AI XPRIZE Challenge. First launched in 2016, the five-year global competition looked to accelerate adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and spark creative, innovative and audacious demonstrations of the technology that are truly scalable to solve societal grand challenges.

Winning first place honors is Zzapp Malaria, in second place is Aifred Health, followed by Marinus Analytics. These finalists were selected out of a pool of 10 semifinalists following presentations of their solutions to a panel of judges during an event held at TED headquarters in New York City last year. A $3 million grand prize, $1 million second place prize, and $500k third place prize will be awarded to the teams. In total, over 150 teams throughout the world joined the competition.

"After five years of hard work and dedication, XPRIZE is thrilled to announce Zzapp Malaria as the grand prize winner of IBM Watson AI XPRIZE,” said Anousheh Ansari, CEO of XPRIZE. “Zzapp Malaria, Aifred Health and Marinus Analytics are on the forefront of AI advancement, and we are looking forward to seeing firsthand the positive impact they will have on our future.”

"Each of the three finalists of the IBM Watson AI XPRIZE showcase what's possible when the power of AI is used to address some of the world’s toughest challenges,” said Daniel Hernandez, General Manager, IBM Data and AI. “It’s inspiring to witness how the AI technologies we developed at IBM help these organizations realize and scale their good tech solutions to drive positive societal change.”

Based out of Tel Aviv, Israel, Zzapp Malaria is committed to malaria elimination. The team’s AI technology is geared towards tackling the main challenges faced by malaria elimination campaigns by creating custom models, built with tools like IBM Watson Studio for Cloud Pak for Data, to predict the number of small water bodies caused by weather, enabling it to optimize the timing for launching larviciding operations.

• Marinus Analytics (based out of Pittsburgh, PA): A woman-owned company founded in 2014 out of Carnegie Mellon Robotics that is driven by a single social mission: To fight human trafficking. Their solution, Traffic Jam, is a suite of analytics tools that saves hours and sometimes days of investigative time to find traffickers and recover victims by quickly turning big data into actionable intelligence. Marinus Analytics has used IBM Watson Discovery and IBM Watson Assistant to extend their Traffic Jam application, aiding investigation into financial fraud and the illicit flow of proceeds to international crime groups.

• Aifred Health (based out of Montreal, Canada): A digital health company focused on clinical decision support in mental health, starting with depression. The team’s solution uses AI to learn from thousands of patients to help tailor treatment, reducing the time it takes for a patient to reach remission. IBM Watson Health is providing Aifred Health with millions of records of observational depression data to improve their ML models.

To determine the winner, XPRIZE AI convened a global jury of representatives from around the world. The jury evaluated each team based on their performance in the following four dimensions: achieved technical impact, evidenced real-world impact, scalability of real-world impact, and ethics and safety.

The winning teams were announced today in partnership with WIRED during the IBM Watson AI XPRIZE’s AI For Good fireside chat featuring Anousheh Ansari, CEO of XPRIZE, and Seth Dobrin, IBM’s Chief AI Officer. The two discussed the challenge and the importance of AI for the future of humanity. As part of their partnership with WIRED, XPRIZE opened up a public vote for the Most Inspiring Team, and Zzapp Malaria was selected as the winner. You can watch the full fireside chat and view additional content via WIRED’s content hub linked here.

About XPRIZE

XPRIZE, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is the global leader in designing and implementing innovative competition models to solve the world’s grandest challenges. Active competitions include the $100M XPRIZE Carbon Removal, $15M XPRIZE Feed the Next Billion, $10 Million XPRIZE Rainforest, $10 Million ANA Avatar XPRIZE and $5 Million XPRIZE Rapid Reskilling. For more information, visit xprize.org.

About IBM Watson

Watson is IBM’s AI technology for business, helping organizations to better predict and shape future outcomes, automate complex processes, and optimize employees’ time. Watson has evolved from an IBM Research project, to experimentation, to a scaled, open set of products that run anywhere. With more than 40,000 client engagements, Watson is being applied by leading global brands across a variety of industries to transform how people work. To learn more, visit: https://www.ibm.com/watson.

View source version on businesswire.com: 

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210623005848/en/

Contact

Media Contacts:
Sunshine Sachs
xprize@sunshinesachs.com

Katerina Stamatiou, XPRIZE
prcontact@xprize.org

IBM Watson
Zachery Bishop
zachery.bishop@ibm.com

Source : XPRIZE

COGNITE DATA FUSION™ BAGS MM RESEARCH INSTITUTE AWARD IN ‘SMART SOLUTIONS: DIGITAL TWIN’ CATEGORY

KUALA LUMPUR, June 23 (Bernama) -- Cognite, a global leader in industrial software innovation, has announced that Cognite Data Fusion™ has received the MM Research Institute Award in the ‘Smart Solutions: Digital Twin’ category.

The award was established in July 2004 by MM Research Institute with the aim of creating opportunities to promote the development of markets and industries in the information and communications technology (ICT) field.

Professor Jun Murai of Keio University served as the chair of the evaluation committee, and this year marks the 18th time the award has been presented to a company that is actively developing new products and markets with superior ICT technology, according to a statement.

“We are convinced that Cognite Data Fusion will help manufacturers relate and integrate diverse silos of data and use them to achieve sustainability by optimising production volume and improving the efficiency of maintenance operations,” said Nori Tokusue, president of Cognite Japan.

Cognite Data Fusion™ is an industrial data operations (DataOps) and contextualisation platform that puts raw data into real-world industrial context, enabling rapid application and solution creation at scale.

Cognite Data Fusion™ powers companies with contextualised OT, IT, and ET data to develop solutions that increase safety, sustainability, efficiency, and drive revenue.

MM Research Institute’s evaluation emphasised the capabilities of Cognite Data Fusion™ within data processing, including 3D data; its support for the construction of dynamic virtual models and digital twins; and its contribution to the realisation of data-based maximisation of production volume and maintenance efficiency.

More details at www.cognite.com.

-- BERNAMA

INTELLIGENT WAVE INC PROVIDES IP FLOW-MONITORING SOLUTION TO FINLAND’S BROADCASTER YLE

KUALA LUMPUR, June 23 (Bernama) -- Intelligent Wave Inc (IWI), a leading company in online network infrastructure development in the finance industry, announced it has provided Yleisradio Oy (Yle), a national public service media, with ‘EoM’, an IP flow-monitoring solution.

According to a statement, Yle has implemented EoM in a plan to monitor and analyse IP flows in an upcoming renewed MCR Control Room.

The points highly evaluated during the POC include compatible with 100GbE, and supports a variety of protocols; expectation on higher availability without additional cost with 24/7 monitoring; detailed troubleshooting made possible with past data analysis; and, integration with third-party network management system.

EoM is co-developed with Japan's public broadcaster NHK aimed towards the broadcasting industry. EoM combines IWI's high-speed data-processing technology from its payment system development business and the power of FPGAs,

With the spread of 4K/8K broadcasting, it is becoming vital for broadcasters to shift to IP transmission, which calls for a tool to monitor IP flows in detail in order to maintain/increase the quality.

EoM functions/features include monitoring of 12 protocols with a supported speed of 10GbE / 25GbE / 100GbE; alert according to user-set threshold; decoding of audio and video packet; and, integration with third-party network management system.

Based in Tokyo, IWI will continuously develop features and functions that will contribute to supporting and maintaining the quality of IP broadcast.

More details at https://www.iwi.co.jp/en.

-- BERNAMA

NIPPON EXPRESS (CAMBODIA) SECURES GDP CERTIFICATION FOR DOMESTIC TRANSPORT SERVICES

KUALA LUMPUR, June 24 (Bernama) -- Nippon Express (Cambodia) Co Ltd (NE Cambodia), a local subsidiary of Nippon Express Co Ltd, recently obtained Good Distribution Practice (GDP) certification for its domestic transport services in Cambodia.

This evidenced its compliance with standards for the proper distribution of pharmaceuticals, according to a statement.

Cambodia presently relies in large part on imports for the pharmaceuticals used in its hospitals, clinics, etc.

As the country has few transport companies equipped with refrigerated trucks or capable of providing properly controlled frozen storage, NE Cambodia opened the Phnom Penh Logistics Center, fully equipped with refrigerators and freezers, in December 2019.

This Logistics Center has garnered attention from government officials and others as one of the country's leading pharmaceutical storage facilities.

In April this year, NE Cambodia began offering storage services for medical equipment and pharmaceuticals to be used at Japanese hospitals in Cambodia.

With increasing demand for pharmaceuticals anticipated, the company will be developing services that provide customers with safer and more secure delivery and help improve Cambodia's healthcare environment.

Nippon Express will continue endeavoring to enhance its services to meet increasingly sophisticated and diverse pharmaceutical transport needs, and provide high-quality transport services tied into the company's global network that constitutes one of its key strengths.

More details at http://www.nipponexpress.com/

-- BERNAMA

CLOUDFLARE NEW INTEGRATIONS TO HELP CUSTOMERS MAKE MOST OF SECURITY DATA

KUALA LUMPUR, June 23 (Bernama) -- Cloudflare Inc has announced new integrations with Microsoft Azure Sentinel, Splunk®, Datadog, and Sumo Logic to make it easier for businesses to connect and analyse key insights across their infrastructure.

Now, businesses will be able to funnel security insights from Cloudflare directly into their preferred analytics platform to easily analyse in the context of their entire technology stack – without the cost or complexity of building custom integrations.

“CISOs want their security teams to focus on security, not building clunky and costly integrations just to get insights from all of the different applications and tools in their infrastructure," said Cloudflare co-founder and chief executive officer, Matthew Prince.

"We saw an opportunity to make that process faster, easier, and cheaper, working with other top analytics platforms to bring added value to our customers. Now, we can give security teams the tools they need to have visibility and added security across the entire stack, even the parts beyond Cloudflare."

With these integrations, security teams can now extend the valuable insights provided by Cloudflare Logs to their entire stack, according to a statement.

Cloudflare’s security logs can be ingested directly to Azure Sentinel, Datadog, Splunk, and Sumo Logic within a few clicks. As a result, security teams can view the insights from Cloudflare in the context of their broader infrastructure.

With these integrations, Cloudflare is also arming customers with the ability to get insights from new datasets; take logs anywhere with support for any storage destination; and, easily visualise data in a new user interface.

Cloudflare is the security, performance, and reliability company helping to build a better Internet. Its suite of products protect and accelerate any Internet application online without adding hardware, installing software, or changing a line of code.

More details at www.cloudflare.com.

-- BERNAMA

SKINCARE SALES TARGET US$181 BILLION BY 2025 WITH CONSUMERS ON 'SKINIMALISM' QUEST

KUALA LUMPUR, June 22 (Bernama) -- The global beauty and personal care market is expected to rebound in 2021, with a three per cent growth largely driven by Asia Pacific, according to global market research company Euromonitor International.

In its latest webinar 'Beauty in recovery: going green and clean', Euromonitor delves into the industry's future outlook, exploring the key themes that will shape the beauty sector in the coming years.

By 2025, skin care will steal the brightest spot of the global beauty industry, as the category is estimated to reach US$181 billion sales, mostly led by Asia Pacific, as consumers are increasingly self-educating on active ingredients and will continue their quest for ‘skinimalism’ happening in the form of simplified brand messaging, formulations and routines. (US$1 = RM4.142)

“Fifty-one per cent of beauty companies surveyed stated that they would implement digital strategies to embrace new ‘phygital’ reality, from contactless experiences to deployment of AR/VR to integrate virtual processes in physical spaces,” said Consultant at Euromonitor International, Gabriella Beckwith, in a statement.

Meanwhile, Beauty and Fashion Consultant at Euromonitor International, Kayla Villena said: “Brands that play on trust and transparency, as well as those with science-backed credentials and ‘clinical’ efficacy will continue to resonate well.”

The e-commerce acceleration predicted to take course over the next five to 10 years occurred in one single year, as the pandemic boosted consumers' adoption of online platforms for their everyday needs.

E-commerce sales of beauty and personal care increased by 23 per cent over 2020-2021, while virtually enabled at-home experiences will remain an imperative to drive e-commerce sales.

-- BERNAMA

NIPPON EXPRESS (CHINA) OPENS NEW LOGISTICS LOCATIONS IN JIASHAN, HANGZHOU AND CHANGSHU

TOKYO, June 22, 2021 /Kyodo JBN-AsiaNet/ --

- Aims to Address Yangtze River Delta's Diverse Logistics Needs in Holistic Manner -   Nippon Express (China) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter, "NE China"), a local subsidiary of Nippon Express Co., Ltd., has opened and begun operations at new logistics locations in Jiashan, Hangzhou and Changshu in the Yangtze River Delta.   Logo: https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/img/202106186445-O2-pW62k1Hc   As part of China's national strategy, integrated development has been pursued in the Yangtze River Delta, comprising 16 cities in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River in Shanghai, Jiangsu Province and Zhejiang Province. This has drawn in numerous companies not only from the electric appliance, electronics, automotive, equipment and other industries but also from the domestic demand-oriented retail and apparel industries that serve local consumers.   Taking a holistic approach to the Yangtze River Delta, NE China has set up the three new logistics centers in Jiashan, Hangzhou and Changshu to handle automotive parts and general consumer goods, and also develop high-quality logistics services offering uniform operational quality across all locations with an eye to beginning handling medical equipment.   Moving forward, NE China will be looking to actively introduce automated transport equipment and other cutting-edge technologies to save on labor, and to establish a forklift training center to improve handling techniques and safety with the aim of establishing model warehouses in China that represent an ideal fusion of hardware and software.   Profile of new location in Jiashan -Warehouse name: Nippon Express (China) Co., Ltd., Jiashan Logistics Center -Address: Jiadi China International Logistics Park, No. 199 Qiantangjiang Road, Jiashan County, Jiaxing City, Zhejiang -Warehouse area: Leased area: 4,699.43 m2 (storage area: 3,744 m2) -Warehouse specifications/equipment: One-story structure, four dock levelers   Photo1: Exterior view of Jiashan Warehouse https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/img/202106186445-O4-BYGjyV80   Photo2: Interior view of Jiashan Warehouse https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/img/202106186445-O3-16BA561z   Profile of new location in Hangzhou -Warehouse name: Nippon Express (China) Co., Ltd., Hangzhou Logistics Center -Address: B02, Kouan logistics Park, No. 26, 11th Street, Xiasha, Qiantang New District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang -Warehouse area: Leased area: 1,550 m2 (storage area: 1,300 m2) -Warehouse specifications/equipment: Multi-tier 1F, raised-floor platform   Photo3: Exterior view of Hangzhou Warehouse https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/img/202106186445-O1-X3k6L7eJ   Photo4: Interior view of Hangzhou Warehouse https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/img/202106186445-O7-4UIut2i0   Profile of new location in Changshu -Warehouse name: Nippon Express (China) Co., Ltd., Changshu Logistics Center -Address: No. 15 Zhizhou Rd, Haiyu Town, Changshu City, Jiangsu -Warehouse area: Leased area: 6,458 m2 (storage area: 6,158.5 m2) -Warehouse specifications/equipment: Multi-tier 1F (two sections), truck dock   Photo5: Exterior view of Changshu Warehouse https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/img/202106186445-O5-313kL5M8   Photo6: Interior view of Changshu Warehouse https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/img/202106186445-O6-c5S8656d   Nippon Express website: http://www.nipponexpress.com/   Official LinkedIn account: NIPPON EXPRESS GROUP https://www.linkedin.com/company/nippon-express-group/     Source: Nippon Express Co., Ltd.  http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=40337