Biometrically authenticated remote mobile payments reach US$1.2 trillion by 2027 - Juniper Research

KUALA LUMPUR, May 30 (Bernama) -- A new study from Juniper Research has found the value of biometrically authenticated remote mobile payments will reach US$1.2 trillion globally by 2027; rising from US$332 billion in 2022. (US$1 = RM4.373)

These transactions use biometrics, typically facial and fingerprint recognition, to authenticate remote mobile payments.

According to a statement, this growth of 365 per cent is driven by recent regulatory changes, with the introduction of SCA (Strong Customer Authentication) pushing greater adoption.

The new research, Mobile Payment Biometrics: Key Opportunities, Regional Analysis & Market Forecasts 2022-2027, identified OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer)-Pay solutions, including Apple Pay, as a driver of mobile payment biometrics adoption.

The report urged OEM-Pay vendors to use their influence over smartphone design to enhance built-in biometric systems within devices and ensure that security is maintained as new threats emerge.

The SCA requirement of PSD2 (Second Payment Services Directive) has pushed financial institutions to implement biometric authentication. To meet this requirement, financial institutions have capitalised on smartphone biometric authentication capabilities; accelerating the technology’s adoption.

To maintain trust and reduce fraud, financial institutions are implementing step-up authentication, where certain transactions are escalated for biometric approval based on risk scoring.

Therefore, vendors must offer multiple ways to authenticate, as well as developing new techniques to keep biometrics secure.

In addition, the report found that facial recognition is paving the way for greater adoption of biometrics in mobile payments, with OEM-Pay solutions leveraging the near ubiquity of facial recognition capabilities to provide frictionless checkout experiences for customers.

-- BERNAMA

AM BEST AFFIRMS CREDIT RATINGS OF FUSURE REINSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED

HONG KONG, May 26 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “a-” (Excellent) of FuSure Reinsurance Company Limited (FuSure) (Hong Kong). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable.

The ratings reflect FuSure’s balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its adequate operating performance, limited business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management (ERM). The ratings also reflect the implicit and explicit support from its ultimate parent, Tencent Holdings Limited (Tencent), including capital, business development, investment, risk management and operational support.

AM Best projects FuSure’s risk-adjusted capitalisation to remain at the strongest level throughout the forecast period up to 2025, as measured by Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR). This result is underpinned by expected capital support from its shareholders, prudent investment strategy and retrocession support. Partially offsetting factors to the balance sheet strength include the modest size of the capital base and the projected fast-increasing underwriting leverage.

As a start-up reinsurer, FuSure projects moderate net losses during the first few years of operation. Notwithstanding, the company reported a significantly smaller-than-expected net loss in 2021, attributed to its higher earned premium with more favorable claims and expense experiences. The company targets to achieve break-even by 2023 and deliver a mid-to-high single-digit return on equity by 2025. In addition, its book of business benefits from lowered underwriting volatility due to the sliding-scale commission structure of major treaties. FuSure’s investment return is projected to remain stable at low single digit over the forecast period, given that most of its invested assets are short-term investment-grade bonds. 

http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=43255

NEW NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SERIES HIGHLIGHTS KAUST AS GLOBAL SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH HUB

KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 (Bernama) -- National Geographic is shining the spotlight on Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Chasing Answers, a new four-part series that explores the emergence of the Thuwal-based institution as a hub for groundbreaking scientific research and development in the region and the world.

According to a statement, the documentary, produced by National Geographic, will premiere on National Geographic (English) and National Geographic Abu Dhabi (Arabic) on June 1 at 9pm KSA.

Home to elite scientists from all over the world, KAUST focuses on research that applies science and technology to areas of global concern.

The series delves into three areas in particular - human need, social advancement and environmental sustainability - highlighting important projects with significant impact on both nature and mankind.

Episodes include Powering the Future, which will take a look at a team of KAUST researchers, as they spend countless hours tackling climate change and testing alternative energy solutions. Red Sea Explored is a deep dive into projects that include underwater internet and coral spawning.

The episode (Feeding) The 10 Billion Challenge shows the inroads being made by the KAUST team in answering the ever-daunting question of how to feed the world’s growing population. We Are Doers focuses on a group of problem-solvers as they look for ways to use technology to help overcome issues ranging from the global microchip shortage to filling knowledge gaps in our understanding of the past and our ambitions for the future.

Chasing Answers will air at 9pm KSA time each Wednesday for four weeks starting June 1.

Established in 2009, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) is a graduate research university devoted to finding solutions for some of the world’s most pressing scientific and technological challenges in the areas of food and health, water, energy, environment and the digital domain.

KAUST is a catalyst for innovation, economic development and social prosperity in Saudi Arabia and the world, with research resulting in novel patents and products, enterprising startup businesses, collaborative regional and global initiatives, and original published papers.

-- BERNAMA

Network engineers, CIOs: Cybersecurity biggest risk in digital transformation

KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 (Bernama) -- Network engineers and CIOs agree that cybersecurity issues represent the biggest risk for organisations that fail to put networks at the heart of digital-transformation plans.

According to research commissioned by Opengear, a Digi International company, 53 per cent of network engineers and 52 per cent of CIOs polled in the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, and Australia rank cybersecurity among the list of their biggest risks.

The concerns are fuelled by an escalating number of cyberattacks. In fact, 61 per cent of CIOs report an increase in cybersecurity attacks/breaches from 2020-21 compared to the preceding two years. For digital transformation of networking, 70 per cent of network engineers say security is the most important focus area, and 31 per cent say network security is their biggest networking priority.

CIOs also understand the importance of the issues. More than half (51 per cent) of network engineers say their CIOs have consulted them on investments to deliver digital transformation plans, the highest priority in the survey.

What’s more, 41 per cent of CIOs rank cybersecurity among their organisation’s most important investment priorities over the next year, with 35 per cent stating it is among the biggest over the next five years. In both cases, cybersecurity ranks higher than any other factor.

“Through the pandemic, we have seen the importance of cybersecurity skyrocket for businesses as employees switch to working remotely and cyber-criminals ramp up their activity,” said Opengear President, Gary Marks in a statement.

“Forward-thinking businesses understand these challenges and the importance of investing more in security and ensuring it is woven more closely into the fabric of their networks and digital transformation efforts.”

Opengear, a Digi International company, delivers secure, resilient access and automation to support critical IT infrastructure, even when the network is down. The company is headquartered in New Jersey, with R&D centres in Silicon Valley and Brisbane, Australia.

For more information, visit www.opengear.com.

-- BERNAMA

nib nz insurance limited Credit Ratings withdrawn - AM Best

KUALA LUMPUR, May 27 (Bernama) -- Global credit rating agency, AM Best has removed from under review with developing implications and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of ‘a-’ (Excellent) of nib nz insurance limited (nib nz insurance) New Zealand.

According to a statement, the outlook assigned to these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable. Concurrently, AM Best has withdrawn the ratings as the company has requested to no longer participate in AM Best’s interactive rating process.

These rating actions follow the completed acquisition of 100 per cent ownership of Kiwi Insurance Limited (Kiwi Insurance) on April 29, 2022, by nib nz holdings limited (nib nz holdings).

The transaction, previously announced in November 2021, also includes the establishment of an exclusive relationship with Kiwibank Limited (Kiwibank), which will see the bank refer its retail customers to nib nz holdings for their life insurance needs. Following the transaction, Kiwi Insurance has been renamed as nib nz insurance.

The ratings reflect nib nz insurance’s balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as strong, as well as its adequate operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management (ERM).

In addition, the ratings factor in a neutral impact from the company’s ultimate ownership by nib holdings limited (nib group), a health insurer listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) that provides health insurance in Australia and New Zealand.

nib nz insurance’s balance sheet strength assessment is underpinned by its risk-adjusted capitalisation, as measured by Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR), which was at the strongest level as of fiscal year-end 2021 and is expected to remain at this level over the medium term.

This reflects the company’s moderate underwriting leverage and conservative investment allocation. Over the medium term, AM Best expects full earnings retention to support the company’s business initiatives.

Based on an assessment of the credit fundamentals of nib group, as well as consideration of the perceived strategic importance and integration of nib nz insurance to the group, no rating lift or drag has been applied to nib nz insurance’s ratings.

More details at www.ambest.com.

-- BERNAMA

ADAGENE ANNOUNCES PUBLICATION AT ASCO OF INTERIM MONOTHERAPY DOSE ESCALATION DATA SHOWING COMPELLING SAFETY PROFILE OF ANTI-CTLA-4 SAFEBODY® ADG126, WITH REPEAT DOSING ACROSS DOSE LEVELS

 

- First clinical data demonstrating potential of SAFEbody technology platform to create best-in-class therapeutics -

- Additional data from ongoing ADG126 clinical program to be presented in second half of 2022, including safety in combination with anti-PD-1 therapies -


SAN DIEGO and SUZHOU, China, May 27 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Adagene Inc. (“Adagene”) (Nasdaq: ADAG), a company transforming the discovery and development of novel antibody-based therapies, today announced the publication of data showing the potential best-in-class safety profile of its anti-CTLA-4 monoclonal antibody (mAb), ADG126. Interim results from the Phase 1 dose escalation portion of an ongoing Phase 1b/2 trial of ADG126 are published in an abstract on the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting website in conjunction with the 2022 Annual Meeting taking place in Chicago from June 3-7, 2022.

Key data in the abstract, titled “Phase 1 study of ADG126, a novel masked anti-CTLA-4 SAFEbody, that combines tumor-localized activation with strong Treg depletion and soft ligand blocking in patients with advanced solid tumors,” include the following:

• In this dose escalation of 16 patients with advanced metastatic solid tumors, approximately one third received three or more lines of prior therapies, and approximately one third had progressed from immuno-oncology (IO) therapy. ADG126 was administered to this heavily pretreated patient population intravenously as monotherapy once every three weeks at doses up to 10 mg/kg.
• No dose-limiting toxicities or treatment-related SAEs were observed and only Grade 1 treatment related adverse events (TRAEs) were reported with repeat dosing across all dose levels; fatigue (19%) and pruritis (13%) were most common.
• Plasma pharmacokinetics (PK) were approximately linear and the activated ADG126 accumulated steadily during repeat dosing across different dose levels. As the first clinical data validating the SAFEbody precision masking technology, the approximately 1.7-fold increase in half-life of total ADG126 is reflective of prolonged exposures of activated ADG126 in the tumor microenvironment (TME).
• In an early indication of antitumor activity, two heavily pretreated patients with cold tumors (one ovarian and one uveal melanoma) showed durable reductions in target lesions (over 20%) and increased CD8+ T cells post-dosing. After the seventh cycle of ADG126 treatment at 1 mg/kg the ovarian cancer patient also showed a 77% reduction in CA-125 levels, an established biomarker of clinical benefit for ovarian patients. This activity is likely due to the accumulation of activated ADG126 in the TME upon repeat dosing at 1 mg/kg. The uveal melanoma patient was resistant/refractory to prior IO-IO combination therapy, having progressed on the combination of nivolumab and ipilimumab.
• At the data cut-off of February 15, 2022, stable disease was seen in 5/16 patients, including the ovarian cancer and uveal melanoma patients. Dose escalation in this trial continues at 20 mg/kg and dose expansion has started at 10 mg/kg.

Commenting on the findings, Dr. Gary Richardson, OAM, MBBS, FRACP, Group Director at Cabrini Health Research, Neil Beauglehall Endowed Chair, Medical Oncology Research, and Professor of Medicine at Monash University, Australia, said, “With the emerging clinical data evaluating this novel immunotherapy candidate ADG126, a masked anti-CTLA-4 SAFEbody, we have the opportunity to detangle safety from efficacy, and deeply understand the benefits of Treg depletion while we optimize anti-CTLA-4 therapy as a cornerstone of future therapy. Another exciting and surprising aspect of these interim findings is that we see early signals of efficacy in certain ‘cold’ tumors with SAFEbody ADG126, which further builds on prior clinical evidence with its parental antibody ADG116, targeting a unique epitope of CTLA-4 to enable not only a safer but potentially better therapy than the options we have available today.”

ADG126 SAFEbody applies precision-masking technology to the parental anti-CTLA-4 antibody, ADG116, for conditional activation in the TME to expand the therapeutic index and further address safety concerns with existing CTLA-4 therapies. Binding to the same unique epitope as ADG116, the masked ADG126 is designed to provide enhanced safety and efficacy profiles due to the combination of the potent Treg depletion in the TME and soft ligand blocking.

“Following these monotherapy dose escalation results, we look forward to releasing further data in coming months to confirm if the strong safety profile of ADG126 is preserved in combination with anti-PD-1 therapy, consistent with our preclinical observations,” said Peter Luo, Ph.D., Co-founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Adagene.

About Adagene

Adagene Inc. (Nasdaq: ADAG) is a platform-driven, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to transforming the discovery and development of novel antibody-based cancer immunotherapies. Adagene combines computational biology and artificial intelligence to design novel antibodies that address unmet patient needs. Powered by its proprietary Dynamic Precision Library (DPL) platform, composed of NEObody™, SAFEbody^®, and POWERbody™ technologies, Adagene’s highly differentiated pipeline features novel immunotherapy programs. Adagene has forged strategic collaborations with reputable global partners that leverage its technology in multiple approaches at the vanguard of science.

For more information, please visit: https://investor.adagene.com. Follow Adagene on WeChat, LinkedIn and Twitter.

SAFEbody^® is a registered trademark in the United States, China, Australia, Japan, Singapore, and the European Union.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding certain clinical results of ADG126, the potential implications of clinical results of the product candidate, and Adagene’s advancement of, and anticipated clinical development, regulatory milestones and commercialization of Adagene pipeline candidates. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including but not limited to Adagene’s ability to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of its drug candidates; the clinical results for its drug candidates, which may not support further development or regulatory approval; the content and timing of decisions made by the relevant regulatory authorities regarding regulatory approval of Adagene’s drug candidates; Adagene’s ability to achieve commercial success for its drug candidates, if approved; Adagene’s ability to obtain and maintain protection of intellectual property for its technology and drugs; Adagene’s reliance on third parties to conduct drug development, manufacturing and other services; Adagene’s limited operating history and Adagene’s ability to obtain additional funding for operations and to complete the development and commercialization of its drug candidates; Adagene’s ability to enter into additional collaboration agreements beyond its existing strategic partnerships or collaborations, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Adagene’s clinical development, commercial and other operations, as well as those risks more fully discussed in the “Risk Factors” section in Adagene’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to Adagene, and Adagene undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

Investor & Media Contact:
Ami Knoefler
Adagene
650-739-9952
ir@adagene.com 


SOURCE : Adagene Inc.

TDCX unveils first quarter 2022 financial results

KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 (Bernama) -- TDCX Inc (TDCX or the Company), an award-winning digital customer experience (CX) solutions provider for technology and blue-chip companies, has announced its unaudited financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2022.

In a statement, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of TDCX, Laurent Junique said: “Despite the volatile operating environment, we stayed focused on executing and delivering our plans to achieve a strong first quarter performance. Our performance demonstrates the grit and resilience of our people and the strong foundation that we have built for our business.

“Since our last earnings announcement, we have added new key clients, including a leading global short-form video social media platform and a leading Southeast Asia e-commerce platform. Later this month, TDCX will also be included in the MSCI Global Small Cap Index.

“Looking ahead, growing geopolitical and economic instabilities may create headwinds for our business, primarily in the short term. However, we remain optimistic about our market opportunities and long-term growth potential.”

First Quarter 2022 Financial Highlights include total revenue of US$112.6 million, representing 26.9 per cent year-on-year growth; Adjusted Net Income of US$22.3 million, representing 34.9 per cent year-on-year growth; and, Q1 2022 Net Cash from Operating Activities of US$37.1 million, representing 188.1 per cent year-on-year growth. (US$1 = RM4.392)

Meanwhile, Business Highlights include added 10 new logos in Q1 2022, more than double the four logos added in Q1 2021; 55 clients as of March 31, 2022, a 41 per cent increase as compared with 39 clients as of March 31, 2021; and, Reinforced Global English capabilities with the launch of a new campus in Hyderabad, India.

Singapore-headquartered TDCX provides transformative digital CX solutions, enabling world-leading and disruptive brands to acquire new customers, to build customer loyalty and to protect their online communities.

TDCX employs more than 14,000 employees across 26 campuses globally, specifically Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Mainland China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, India, Romania, Spain and Colombia.

More details at www.tdcx.com.

-- BERNAMA

Tricor Group offers insights on global market expansion focusing ASEAN

KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 (Bernama) -- Following last year’s relatively subdued global economic rebound, the economies of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are well positioned for growth and foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2022 and beyond, according to Tricor Group’s ASEAN in Focus: Economic Outlook, Insights & Business Opportunities.

It is a compilation of business insights to guide multinational companies (MNCs), SMEs and entrepreneurs interested in establishing, operating and scaling business growth across ASEAN.

Tricor Group CEO, Lennard Yong said: “The passage of the RCEP trade bloc is a defining moment for global trade and a pivotal development that will inevitably redirect FDI flows in the months and years ahead. Notably, the maturing economies of ASEAN serve as a linchpin for activating the deal.

“At Tricor, we are keeping a strong pulse on how this landmark agreement is triggering new global trade trends, bolstering pan-Asian supply chains and expanding opportunities for foreign investors. Tricor’s specialised local expertise and dynamic connections reinforce our status as the ‘go-to’ partner for enterprises seeking to expand throughout ASEAN, APAC and beyond.”

The report offers perspectives, observations and analyses from senior Tricor executives on how global trade trends are impacting trade, investment and global market expansion in the economies of ASEAN.

According to a statement, the report contains a special section on the landmark signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

Connecting 15 countries and covering 30 per cent of the world’s population as part of the largest trading bloc globally, the RCEP is expected to reduce tariffs at between 90 per cent and 93 per cent of cross-border tariff lines.

The report also contains an overview of each ASEAN market, with dedicated sections for business incorporation, tax considerations and the labour environment.

Key highlights from Tricor’s ASEAN in Focus: Economic Outlook, Insights & Business Opportunities include a deep dive into business incorporation, tax considerations and the labour environment for each of the 10 ASEAN economies; and, an exploration of how ASEAN is serving as a growth engine for the investment and expansion strategies of MNCs from mainland China.

Together with Tricor's services and expertise, the guidance provided in the report arms companies with profound insights to further business objectives and take advantage of the latest global trade trends transforming ASEAN, APAC and beyond.

More details at www.tricorglobal.com.

-- BERNAMA

VONAGE LEADS THE 2022 CPAAS OMDIA UNIVERSE REPORT

 Company Ranked in Top Position on Customer Experience and Solutions Capability


HOLMDEL, N.J., May 26 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- Vonage (Nasdaq: VG), a global leader in cloud communications helping businesses accelerate their digital transformation, has been named the Leader in the Omdia Universe: Selecting a CPaaS Platform 2022* report. Omdia calls out the strength of Vonage’s CPaaS platform, its community of more than one million registered developers, wide geographic reach, enterprise-grade services, and robust global communications network.

Noting Vonage’s history as a pioneer in the Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) space, Omdia also recognizes the Company for its prominent status as a global leader in providing a cloud-based communications platform and applications, like unified communications and contact centre, to enterprises.

Also noted is Vonage’s strong and steady growth in its CPaaS business, reporting a 42% increase for 2021, as well as its ability to integrate with the power of the full Vonage Communications Platform (VCP) to provide enterprise communications solutions. VCP is a unique and powerful combination of CPaaS, Unified Communications, Contact Centre and Conversational Commerce solutions, all of which are increasingly critical for businesses to perform better, connect easier and create more meaningful customer engagement.

Pamela Clark-Dickson, Principal Analyst, Advanced Messaging and Communications for Omdia, commented: “In this increasingly digital world, CPaaS capabilities have become a must for businesses across industries that want to make meaningful connections with customers and to keep those loyalties in an incredibly competitive landscape. Vonage has been ranked as a leader in the Omdia Universe because it scored highly across a range of categories for its CPaaS capabilities, including APIs, value-added services and packaged solutions, access and integration, and use cases, among others.”

The Leader in CPaaS

As one of the largest CPaaS vendors by revenue, Vonage is a Market Leader taking the top spot in eight of the ten categories that Omdia scored, including access and integrations, use cases, and partnerships with the highest results coming from APIs (95%) and technical support (92%). Just as important, Vonage scored big with its customers in Recommendation, as well as Product and Vendor Experience. Overall, Vonage placed ahead of competitors with the leading total Capability Score derived from top marks in Solution Breadth, Solution Innovation and Strategy / Roadmap.

“We are honoured to be recognized as a leader by Omdia for the breadth and depth of our CPaaS offerings and for the way we are leveraging the full power of the Vonage Communications Platform,” said Rory Read, Vonage CEO. “With our CPaaS platform, our vast developer community has the APIs to develop an unlimited number of enterprise-focused communications use cases to create better engagement and experiences for their customers. It is powerful for developers and can provide businesses with powerful and disruptive solutions for their industries.”

Building on CPaaS

By leveraging Vonage communications APIs to embed programmable capabilities – Video, Voice, Chat, Messaging, Verification, and AI – into existing products, workflows and systems, including Vonage Business Communications and Vonage Contact Centre, businesses can build better relationships with customers across the entire journey to serve them better and drive revenue.

The Omdia Universe also calls out Vonage’s ability to continue to build upon the strength of its CPaaS platform and Communications API capabilities through the acquisitions of conversational AI platform, Over.ai and conversational commerce solution, Jumper.ai. A natural extension of the Vonage API portfolio, Conversational Commerce enables businesses to drive customer engagement and business growth, turn conversations into sales, communicate with customers on the channels they prefer, and elevate the customer journey with orchestrated omnichannel experiences – all within the single, integrated Vonage Communications Platform.

To learn more, download the full report.

*Omdia Universe: Selecting a CPaaS Platform Provider 2022, Pamela Clark-Dickson, May 25, 2022.

About Vonage

Vonage, a global cloud communications leader, helps businesses accelerate their digital transformation. Vonage's Communications Platform is fully programmable and allows for the integration of Video, Voice, Chat, Messaging, AI and Verification into existing products, workflows and systems. Vonage's fully programmable unified communications and contact center applications are built from the Vonage platform and enable companies to transform how they communicate and operate from the office or remotely - providing the flexibility required to create meaningful engagements.

Vonage is headquartered in New Jersey, with offices throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. To follow Vonage on Twitter, please visit www.twitter.com/vonage. To become a fan on Facebook, go to facebook.com/vonage. To subscribe on YouTube, visit youtube.com/vonage.

To learn more about Vonage, visit https://www.vonage.com/.

View source version on businesswire.com: 
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220525006010/en/

Contact

Vonage Media Contact: Elise Leonard, 732 837 3801, elise.leonard@vonage.com

Vonage Investor Contact: Monica Gould, 212-871-3927, ir@vonage.com

Source : Vonage

TIGERGRAPH'S GRAPH FOR ALL MILLION DOLLAR CHALLENGE WINNERS IMPRESS WITH INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS TO GLOBAL ISSUES USING GRAPH TECHNOLOGY

 

Top Projects Address Mental Health, Refugee Support, Detecting Organized Crime, Fighting Global Misinformation, and More


REDWOOD CITY, Calif., May 26 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TigerGraph, provider of a leading graph analytics platform, today unveiled the winners of the Graph for All Million Dollar Challenge — awarding $1 million in cash to game-changing, graph-powered projects that analyze and address many of today’s biggest global social, economic, health, and climate-related concerns. The winning projects, announced at this week’s Graph + AI Summit, were hand-selected by the global judging committee from more than 1,500 registrations from 100+ countries. Mental Health Hero claimed the $250k Grand Prize for creating an application to help provide greater access and personalization to mental health treatment.

“From addressing mental health issues to supporting Ukrainian refugees to predicting how supply shocks will spread through the world economy, the submissions we received tackle real-world concerns and demonstrate innovative approaches to resolving them with graph technology,” said Dr. Yu Xu, founder and CEO of TigerGraph. “We wanted to create a challenge that produced new and innovative applications of graph technology and the global community did just that. The overwhelming focus on global issues in this challenge shows that regardless of geography, we all share many of the same concerns and challenges, and that graph technology can help address them.”

Graph For All Million Dollar Challenge Winners
After extensive review by the global judging committee, consisting of 32 experts from industry, academia, and TigerGraph, the following are the 15 award-winning projects.

Graph For All Million Dollar Challenge Grand Prize Winner
Grand Prize, $250,000: Mental Health Hero - Mental Health Hero is a graph-based approach to solving one of the largest public health epidemics today: the prevalence of untreated mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. According to the CDC, 400 million people globally are not receiving essential treatment for their mental health disorders [1]. Additionally, only 40% of adults with mental illness are estimated to receive treatment for it [2].

Graph For All Million Dollar Challenge Top Awards
Most Impactful 1st place, $100,000: UAWelcome - The global refugee crisis reached a new level of awareness with the war in Ukraine. In response, UAWelcome created a platform that uses graph technology to connect individual refugees and their needs with a fast-growing community of volunteers and the limited and scattered resources. Their application is already in use connecting volunteers and scattered resources with Ukrainian refugees and helping refugees seek asylum in the U.S.

Most Innovative 1st place, $100,000: Universe Planner - A multiverse-metaverse planning app that allows users to solve complex problems by tapping into and leveraging social knowledge. It also socially connects users to others working on the same or similar mission, plan, or task.

Most Ambitious 1st place, $100,000: ShockNet - Allows users to adjust assumptions, investigate the predicted chains of shocks through the world economy, and identify ways to avoid economic crises by gaining visibility into how and why shocks spread. ShockNet includes an app that allows policymakers to visualize and adjust the model to better understand how to offset or avoid a future crisis.

Most Applicable 1st place, $100,000: BioDex - BioDex combines our natural curiosity with the motivation of gaming. By gamifying the experience of connecting to nature, players can snap images of nature, identify its species, and display its properties in real time while striving to identify as many species as possible and contributing biodiversity information to research.

Women Who Graph, $30,000: Diagnosx - After seeing first hand in the ER the dual struggles of patients not understanding their health conditions and doctors trying to draw pictures to help explain conditions, Bree Day knew there had to be a better way. Her idea to get 3D models to illustrate breadth and depth of a patient's diagnosis into all patients’ hands is realized in Diagnosx. The application presents a 3D model of a patient's diagnosis and medical history to better illustrate the findings and diagnosis, and decrease disparities in doctor/patient communication.

Most Popular, $20,000: Multimodality Cancer Graph - Many diseases are related to each other, and complications from a certain disease could cause another. Through the power of graphs and machine learning, this project aims to uncover new disease links and help researchers better prepare for future pandemics or emerging diseases.

Additional Winners
Most Impactful

• 2nd place, $50,000: Fact-Checker: Fighting Misinformation at Scale - A multi-platform, multi-lingual, real-time fact-checking system powered by machine learning and graph technology.
• 3rd place, $25,000: Project Athena - An automatic, generic knowledge graph framework that builds itself from textual unstructured data and uses natural language to query and apply data.

Most Innovative

• 2nd place, $50,000: RepoLinks - A graph that shows the dense, complex interconnections between software developers, programming languages, and software projects, to better understand factors such as skill sets, productivity, and technology evolution within organizations.
• 3rd place, $25,000: Gemini - An eclectic news search engine that cuts through the noise and allows readers to dig deep into a specific topic or explore multiple facets of the news they are most interested in.

Most Ambitious

• 2nd place, $50,000: Finding Drug Interactions in Silico with Graph - Identifies drug interactions and potential side effects using graph machine learning during the pharmaceutical development process.
• 3rd place, $25,000: Candoor - A social networking site for people seeking to connect with others for candid conversations on anything from professional industry advice to tips for pursuing a hobby.

Most Applicable

• 2nd place, $50,000: TigerGraph for United Nations (UN) Data - Makes UN data, the most robust dataset in the world, easily accessible to anyone by harnessing the power of graph technology.
• 3rd place, $25,000: BiasCheck - A cool new Google Chrome extension that fosters critical thinking by identifying bias/accuracy of all news sources. The technology also allows users to explore specific topics with differing viewpoints that challenge the status quo.

The Graph for All Million Dollar Challenge judging committee was comprised of the world’s brightest and most recognizable data scientists, professors, PhDs, distinguished engineers, and founders of global companies focusing on artificial intelligence (AI), analytics, knowledge graph, and other industry experts with deep knowledge of graph technology, graph use cases, and graph deployments. The judging committee included eight PhDs, three academics from top universities, an NSF Graduate Research Fellow, a marine geoscientist, and a 2x Kaggle Grand Master. TigerGraph engineers and product experts also joined the panel as employee judges.

“Wow! The creative use of graph and data in these solutions really shows how a graph approach with the right data can address so many global issues,” said Juan Sequeda, principal scientist, data.world and Graph for All Million Dollar Challenge judge. “What is truly exciting is that most of these projects can be expanded and applied in many different situations and use cases in the future. The projects serve as templates that can be adjusted, augmented, and adapted for other situations, helping make life better for even more people. Like the project created to help Ukrainian refugees, while it is excellent for refugee situations, that same application could be used to help people impacted by natural disasters throughout the world.”

Helpful Links

• Graph for All Million Dollar Challenge
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About TigerGraph
TigerGraph is a platform for advanced analytics and machine learning on connected data. Based on the industry’s first and only distributed native graph database, TigerGraph’s proven technology supports advanced analytics and machine learning applications such as fraud detection, anti-money laundering (AML), entity resolution, customer 360, recommendations, knowledge graph, cybersecurity, supply chain, IoT, and network analysis. The company is headquartered in Redwood City, California, USA. Start free with tigergraph.com/cloud.

Media Contacts:

North America
Tanya Carlsson
Offleash PR
tanya@offleashpr.com
+1 (707) 529-6139

EMEA
Anne Harding
The Message Machine
anne@themessagemachine.com
+44 7887 682943

APAC
Rasheed Abu Bakar
Sandpiper
rasheed.abubakar@sandpipercomms.com
+65 9112 6504 


¹ References
[1] https://futuresrecoveryhealthcare.com/blog/barriers-to-mental-health-treatment/
[2] https://towardsdatascience.com/data-science-in-mental-health-ccd09ba2148a 


SOURCE : TigerGraph, Inc.