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DFA Awards 2021 Winners Announcement

Hong Kong Design Centre

HONG KONG SAR - Media OutReach - 19 October 2021 - The DFA Awards is a flagship programme of the Hong Kong Design Centre (HKDC). It is comprised of five major awards to acknowledge leaders for their outstanding contributions to the design industry and celebrate projects at the forefront of design excellence with Asian perspectives. Three trailblazers in the world of design have been awarded in 2021: Patrick Whitney, Professor in Residence of Harvard T.H.Chan School of Public Health - DFA Lifetime Achievement Award (DFA LAA), Min-Liang Tan, CEO & Co-founder of Razer Inc. - DFA Design Leadership Award (DFA DLA), and Freeman Lau, Founder of KL&K Creative Strategics - DFA World's Outstanding Chinese Designer (DFA WOCD). In addition, 180 awards were conferred under the DFA Design for Asia Awards (DFA DFAA). Organised by the Hong Kong Design Centre (HKDC) with Create Hong Kong (CreateHK) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government as the lead sponsor, the DFA Awards was launched in 2003 to underpin the role of designers within society, celebrate design excellence with positive influence and impacts in Asia. Upon reflection of this year's awards, Professor Eric Yim, Chairman of HKDC states: "Design is a vital part of Hong Kong, a city that brings people, culture and ideas together. This is especially critical at a time when the world has witnessed so much uncertainty brought on by the pandemic. This year, I am delighted to honour three exceptional leaders: Patrick Whitney, Min-Liang Tan, and Freeman Lau, all have shown through their work, dedication and leadership how design can be used to inspire communities, unite people from all walks of life through one singularity, and contribute to the betterment of society in Asia and beyond." DFA Lifetime Achievement Award 2021 (DFA LAA) Patrick Whitney - Professor in Residence, Harvard T.H.Chan School of Public Health Patrick Whitney is the Professor in Residence of D-lab in the Harvard T.H.Chan School of Public Health, a leading laboratory that explores and demonstrates how design methods and frameworks can improve human well-being. He is widely regarded as a thought leader for pioneering the notions of human-centred design and strategic design. He is a highly esteemed speaker at multiple international design events, on topics such as innovation, sustainability and human well-being. Global Entrepreneur Magazine named him as one of 25 people worldwide contributing the most in bringing new ideas to businesses in China. DFA Lifetime Achievement Award 2021 honours Whitney's vast contribution to the design industry through design strategy development, education programmes, and his advisory work to governing design bodies, actively strengthening the relationship between design theory and practice. DFA Design Leadership Award 2021 (DFA DLA) Min-Liang Tan - CEO & Co-founder, Razer Inc. As the pioneer of e-sports hardware, former lawyer Min-Liang Tan is seen as a trailblazer for the younger generation, of someone following their dream and at the same time adding valuable contributions to society. As CEO, Co-founder and Creative Director of the world's leading lifestyle brand for gamers – Razer Inc., Tan has demonstrated how forward-thinking and innovative design can disrupt the gaming industry. DFA Design Leadership Award 2021 honours his leadership throughout the years in pushing the boundaries of the gaming industry and driving industry innovation through design. Under Tan's strategic and creative direction, Razer has gone from a two-man startup to a multinational market leader and Unicorn in the technology world. DFA World's Outstanding Chinese Designer 2021 (DFA WOCD) Freeman Lau - Founder, KL&L Creative Strategics Freeman Lau is a Hong Kong designer, renowned for his art and design innovations. He is the brains behind some of Hong Kong's most iconic designs such as the Watson Water bottle, which earned him multiple awards. The design aesthetics and its functionality has lauded a critical breakthrough in the history of bottled water. In addition, Lau has been tirelessly promoting the development of design in Hong Kong, Greater China and Asia. Lau's creative prowess spans across the entire design spectrum, from graphic design, packaging design, to fine arts. His contributions are widely recognised in society His creative contributions have a significant, cultural impact in Asia, which is best demonstrated by his 'Chairplay' series. The series includes a range of furniture and sculptures, which has been shown worldwide at different exhibitions. The notion of Chairplay is a metaphor for the exploration of different human centric issues and is one of Lau's signature works. DFA World's Outstanding Chinese Designer 2021 honours his devotion and contribution to promoting the design, creative industry and culture of Hong Kong and Asia. DFA Design for Asia Awards 2021 (DFA DFAA) Since its launch in 2003, the DFA Design for Asia Awards has served to celebrate design excellence and acknowledge outstanding designs with Asian perspectives. It has been a stage upon which design talents and corporations can showcase their design projects internationally. It consists of the Grand Award and Category Award. Category Award entries are recruited by open submission to one of 24 categories under four key design disciplines, namely Apparel & Accessory Design, Communication Design, Environmental Design, and Product & Industrial Design; Gold, Silver, Bronze and Merit awards are presented to the outstanding projects. Gold award winners from the Category Award and other nominated design projects will be considered for the Grand Award. Dr Joseph Wong, Executive Director of Hong Kong Design Centre mentions that: "Amidst the pandemic, creativity and innovation proves to be the remedy for improving our quality of life. We are pleased to award projects that meaningfully address critical issues such as humanitarian needs, environmental, cultural and sustainable development, revitalisation through technological advancements, and marriage of functionality and aesthetics." The Awards' international judging panel comprises experienced design professionals and experts. Entries were judged and 180 winners through rounds of judging and deliberation were conferred. These awards include 12 Grand Awards, six Grand Award with Special Mention and 162 Gold, Silver, Bronze and Merit under the Category Award. This year, companies from Mainland China and Japan are at the top of leaderboard with 52 awards, followed by Hong Kong awardees claiming 41 awards. For more information and the DFA Awards 2021 full list of awardees, please visit www.dfaawards.com. About DFA Awards ( www.dfaawards.com ) In 2003, the Hong Kong Design Centre launched the DFA Awards to underpin the role of designers in society, to celebrate design leadership and exemplary designs and projects with impact in Asia, as well as to recognise the rising force of emerging Hong Kong designers since 2005. The DFA Award, through its five major award programmes, has grown in its international influence in Asia. The five award programmes include DFA Lifetime Achievement Award, DFA Design Leadership Award, DFA World's Outstanding Chinese Designer, DFA Design for Asia Awards and DFA Hong Kong Young Design Talent Award. #DFA About Hong Kong Design Centre ( www.hkdesigncentre.org ) Hong Kong Design Centre (HKDC) is a non-governmental organisation, and was founded in 2001 as a strategic partner of the HKSAR Government in establishing Hong Kong as an international centre of design excellence in Asia. Our public mission is to promote wider and strategic use of design and design thinking to create business value and improve societal well-being. HKDC's flagship programmes include Business of Design Week (BODW; since 2002) – Asia's leading annual event on design, innovation and brands; DFA Awards (since 2003) – a well-recognised annual awards that celebrate outstanding designs with Asian perspectives; and Knowledge of Design Week (KODW; since 2006) – an annual thematic programme that gathers the global design community to explore how design can solve complex challenges of our society. We also manage a Design Incubation Programme and Fashion Incubation Programme (since 2012 and 2016) – 2-year programmes to nurture future design and fashion entrepreneurs; and launched FASHION ASIA HONG KONG (since 2016) – an initiative combining conversations, interactions and cultural exchanges to position the city as an Asian hub for fashion trade and business development. #HongKongDesignCentre #HKDC About Create Hong Kong ( www.createhk.gov.hk ) Create Hong Kong (CreateHK) is a dedicated agency set up by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in June 2009. It is under the Communications and Creative Industries Branch of the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau and dedicated to spearheading the development of creative industries in Hong Kong. Its strategic focuses are nurturing talent and facilitating start-ups, exploring markets, and promoting Hong Kong as Asia's creative capital and fostering a creative atmosphere in the community. CreateHK sponsors the Hong Kong Design Centre to organise the DFA Awards for years and other projects to promote Hong Kong design. Disclaimer: The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region provides funding support to the project only, and does not otherwise take part in the project. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in these materials/events (or by members of the project team) are those of the project organizers only and do not reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Communications and Creative Industries Branch of the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau, Create Hong Kong, the CreateSmart Initiative Secretariat or the CreateSmart Initiative Vetting Committee. Contact Details Keith Yip keith.yip@hkdesigncentre.org

October 19, 2021 11:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Agora Data to Present at 2021 NIADA/NABD Convention

Agora

Agora Data’s Senior Vice President of Sales, Chris Barry, is slated to speak at the 2021 NIADA/NABD Automotive Finance & BHPH Expo. Barry will present “Groundbreaking Changes in Auto Financing to Fuel Growth” at 2:15 p.m. on November 2 in Orlando, Florida. Barry will share how new and revolutionary ways of accessing capital can help dealers compete with online retailers and large used-car superstores. Agora is pioneering change in the auto finance industry by completing the first-ever crowdsourced subprime securitizations in December 2020 and May 2021. Agora plans to execute these transactions regularly thereby permitting more and more dealers to tap into the capital markets. “Unlike any other time in history, independent and Buy Here Pay Here dealers are competing with mega-sized auto retailers who have the advantage of abundant capital with low rates and attractive terms. They may not know they have access to their competitors’ “secret sauce,” said Barry, who has more than 30 years of experience in auto lending, servicing, and ancillary products. “That’s why I’m excited to present at this year’s NIADA/NABD convention. I plan to spell out the most beneficial funding opportunities for independent and Buy Here Pay Here dealers, along with some bonus tips on leveraging robust data to improve loan portfolio performance.” At the convention, Barry will also participate in the BHPH Contract Purchasers Capital Panel, moderated by Ken Shilson. During this panel discussion, Barry and other industry experts will reveal the pros and cons of obtaining funding via securitization, bulk purchase or point of sale. Afterward, dealers can talk directly with Barry and the Agora team at the convention’s Finance Fair. “It’s extremely rewarding to see the looks on dealers’ faces when they find out they can now enjoy the same financial advantages typically reserved for big retail operations,” Barry said. “Much like their customers, Buy Here Pay Here dealers are underserved and underbanked. But Agora is here to change that.” Dealers are invited to drop by Agora’s booth #423 any day during the show to discuss the company’s groundbreaking capital solutions and learn how to access Agora’s completely free-of-charge, comprehensive portfolio analytics. About Agora Data, Inc: Founded in 2017, Agora Data’s platform delivers a suite of tools to empower Buy Here Pay Here dealers and finance companies to maximize their success. Agora is disrupting and influencing the industry by connecting its dealers and finance company members to Wall Street and other capital resources previously only available to large dealer groups. Agora Data’s family of auto finance products provides a wide range of critical funding paths so originators can obtain the cash they need to fuel growth. Powered by Agora’s proprietary, radical, AI-infused technology platform, originators now have access to robust data analytics and planning resources to help optimize the performance of their portfolio. Agora Data made history by closing the first-ever Crowdsourced Subprime Auto Securitization in 2020 and followed that up with its second transaction in early 2021. For more information, visit agoradata.com or contact us at 877-592-4672. Contact Details Shelly Vandeven +1 682-282-4130 media@agoradata.com Company Website https://agoradata.com/

October 19, 2021 09:03 AM Eastern Daylight Time

ElementalTV Surpasses 1B+ CTV Ad Impressions in First Year of Business; Company Debuts ELM, a New Proprietary CTV Ad Platform, to Accelerate Expansion

ElementalTV

ElementalTV, an emerging media technology company and a division of Adoppler, has generated more than one billion connected TV (CTV) advanced ad impressions in its first year in the market, as the company pursues its mission to provide leading brands, advertisers and publishers with the tools necessary to unlock the full potential of the CTV ad experience. Today, ElementalTV immersive ad experiences reach 57% of CTV households in the U.S. and, after just one year of providing its proven CTV advertising solutions to some of the world’s top brands and content partners, ElementalTV is now debuting its new, proprietary Engagement Lift Media (ELM) platform to a wider marketplace. The ELM platform is the first and only fully vertically integrated platform, offering advanced ad decisioning, a demand-side platform (DSP), creative optimization, transcoding and stitching capabilities. This unified offering enables ElementalTV’s partners to deliver cost-effective, next generation CTV ad experiences, from localizing national video ad creatives via its innovative SmartFrame technology, to adding dynamic messaging within ad units, and contextual ad targeting. “CTV is the fastest growing medium today, but its ad experience is suboptimal,” says Omer Latif, CEO at ElementalTV. “We built our platform to reimagine the future of CTV advertising -- to create innovative and smart tech solutions for brands, to help publishers realize the full value of their content, and to pioneer a new and improved viewing experience for growing CTV audiences worldwide. Our approach is bold and breaks barriers. Through the ELM platform’s product suite, we enable our partners to leverage the addressability of digital to evolve audience engagement to a new standard.” The success over the past year and increasing demand for the new ELM platform are behind ElementalTV’s decision to accelerate the scaling of its business, including broadening its strategic partnership with top programmatic firm MPW Digital. The partnership with MPW Digital expands the company's efforts to introduce advertisers to the next generation of advanced CTV advertising capabilities and formats. “Our next phase of growth requires having the right partners who share our vision of being true pioneers and innovators in CTV advertising technology,” says Albert Yu, VP Analytics & Monetization at ElementalTV. “MPW Digital has been on this journey with us and we’re excited to have them play a critical role in our expansion.” “Over the past year we've seen ElementalTV’s ability to rapidly innovate and grow. It has been exciting to see their SmartFrame technology add value to advertisers' CTV campaigns,” says Marcus Weiss, COO at MPW Digital. “This is just the beginning and we’re looking forward to serving as a close extension of their team as they advance into the next phase of commercialization of ELM and continue to transform the CTV ad experience.” ElementalTV, a division of Adoppler, was started in 2020 to focus on technology solutions for CTV, creating breakthrough ad experiences for CTV audiences while delivering innovation and added value to advertisers and publishers. Today, through the ELM platform, ElementalTV is delivering more than 100 million advanced ad impressions per month. To learn more about ElementalTV and its solutions, visit www.elementaltv.com. About ElementalTV: Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Pasadena, CA, ElementalTV is pioneering the next generation of CTV ad innovation. ElementalTV pushes the boundaries of how technology can immerse an audience’s advertisement experience. Its proprietary vertically integrated platform, ELM, combines a wide range of capabilities including advanced ad decisioning, demand-side platform (DSP), creative optimization, transcoding, and stitching to allow for seamless, next generation ad experience. To learn more, visit elementaltv.com. Contact Details Kite Hill PR Angelina Kaliszak angelina@kitehillpr.com Company Website https://www.elementaltv.com/

October 19, 2021 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Living With Narcolepsy: Symptoms and Misconceptions

YourUpdateTV

Confusion, stereotypes, and stigma about the sleep disorder narcolepsy persist to this day. This can lead to a long time to diagnosis and prevent people who think they have narcolepsy from reaching out to a healthcare professional to learn more. So, what is narcolepsy? Narcolepsy is a rare, chronic, debilitating neurological disorder that affects the way the brain controls sleep-wake cycles. 1,2 Narcolepsy affects approximately 165,000 Americans, with one of its main symptoms being excessive daytime sleepiness, or the inability to stay awake and alert during the day. 1 Other symptoms may include cataplexy, which is the sudden and brief loss of muscle strength or tone brought on by certain emotions or situations, sleep paralysis, vivid hallucinations when falling asleep or waking up, and disturbed nighttime sleep. 3,4 Narcolepsy is estimated to be severely underdiagnosed. 5,6 It can take an average of 10 years for people living with narcolepsy to be diagnosed after experiencing their first symptoms. 5 Narcolepsy can disrupt everyday life, 1 but the symptoms of narcolepsy aren’t always obvious, and may be inaccurately attributed to other medical conditions. 3,7 Getting to know narcolepsy means recognizing the symptoms, understanding their impact, and finding resources and support to help manage the disorder. Dr. Michael J. Thorpy, a world-renowned sleep specialist and narcolepsy expert based in New York, New York, and Jessica, a person living with narcolepsy, conducted a nationwide media tour in conjunction with Your Update TV and Harmony Biosciences to help address misconceptions, learn more about the signs and symptoms, find out what it is like to live with narcolepsy, and discover resources to help those impacted. For more information visit: WWW.KNOWNARCOLEPSY.COM and WWW.KNOWNARCOLEPSY.COM/STORIES References: 1 National Institutes of Health. Narcolepsy. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. May 2017. 2 Narcolepsy Fact Sheet. NIH Publication No. 17-1637. https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/Patient-Caregiver-Education/Fact-Sheets/Narcolepsy-Fact-Sheet. 3 American Academy of Sleep Medicine. International Classification of Sleep Disorders. 3rd ed.; 2014. 4 Silber MH, Krahn LE, Olson EJ, Pankratz VS. The epidemiology of narcolepsy in Olmsted County, Minnesota: a population-based study. Sleep. 2002;25(2):197-202. 5 Overeem, Sebastiaan & Reading, Paul & Bassetti, Claudio. (2012). Narcolepsy. Sleep Medicine Clinics. 7. 263–281. 10.1016/j.jsmc.2012.03.013. 6 Carter LP, Acebo C, Kim A. Patients' journeys to a narcolepsy diagnosis: a physician survey and retrospective chart review. Postgrad Med. 2014;126(3):216-224. 7 Thorpy M, Morse AM. Reducing the clinical and socioeconomic burden of narcolepsy by earlier diagnosis and effective treatment. Sleep Med Clin. 2017;12(1):61-71. About YourUpdateTV: YourUpdateTV i s a social media video portal for organizations to share their content. It includes separate channels for Health and Wellness, Lifestyle, Media and Entertainment, Money and Finance, Social Responsibility, Sports and Technology. Contact Details YourUpdateTV +1 212-736-2727 yourupdatetv@gmail.com

October 15, 2021 03:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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News Direct Introduces NewsBoost™, a Story Syndication Program that Fast-Tracks Coverage from News Releases

News Direct

News Direct, the state-of-the-art news and content distribution service designed to meet the demands of modern media outreach, today launches NewsBoost, a novel story syndication program powered by its partnership with Broadry, a newsroom that offers content partnership opportunities for online publishers. NewsBoost utilizes Broadry’s team of journalists to quickly turn news releases into publication-ready news articles to be shared across its nationwide network of digital newspapers and websites. News releases are made to be distributed to newsrooms but they can often fall short at engaging with reporters enough to transform company news into unique coverage. To ensure immediate editorial coverage and wider reach for press announcements, NewsBoost allows News Direct users to: Create awareness of brands, services, and products through customized articles Reach an additional 800,000 to 1,000,000 impressions Receive detailed reporting of article pickup Similar to News Direct, Broadry harnesses innovative features to stay in tune with the changing landscape of journalism, and through NewsBoost, they’re able to extend their content-creating capabilities to help generate coverage around company announcements. The partnership between the two companies will facilitate even more efficient and modernized news dissemination to meet the needs of businesses and communication professionals. “PR professionals are under pressure to improve the news distribution process to better generate unique coverage in crowded market spaces,” said Gregg Castano, CEO and founder of News Direct. “Broadry’s innovative approach is key to NewsBoost’s ability to elevate press release distribution and generate content that helps companies promote their brand easily and efficiently.” NewsBoost also helps brands that may otherwise find difficulty in securing earned media to increase their press coverage. This is done by harnessing Broady’s team of journalists to convert news releases into nationwide digital coverage to better ensure that content is represented in the media. News Direct is dedicated to identifying synergistic solutions designed to help industry professionals excel in media outreach, and with this goal in mind, their launch of NewsBoost was made in tandem with other purpose-built offerings that enhance the release distribution process. This includes SimpliFi, a new solution that streamlines the process of creating and distributing financial content, and DB Direct, an in-platform global media database. Combining NewsBoost with the company’s recent product updates allows News Direct to go beyond the requirements of a top-tier news distribution service and provide relevant, meaningful solutions to drive value for PR and IR professionals. To learn more about News Direct, please visit newsdirect.com. About News Direct News Direct provides news and content distribution for PR, IR, Corporate Communications and Marketing professionals. Our automated platform delivers a completely-reimagined, intuitive workflow, industry-leading security, transparent, flat-rate pricing and actionable analytics. Further, News Direct has deployed an array of innovation including advanced automation, isolation cloud technology and custom software for the most dynamic, efficient and flexible platform available today. To learn more visit newsdirect.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or YouTube. About Broadry Broadry develops innovative and efficient content solutions for today's fastest growing media companies. Backed by a team of forward-thinking journalists dedicated to creating products and services to support news organizations, public relations and marketing professionals, and large consumer brands. To learn more about Broadry and our suite of newsroom services, visit Broadry.com. Contact Details North 6th Agency Kevin Pryor +1 212-334-9753 newsdirect@n6a.com Company Website http://www.newsdirect.com

October 13, 2021 09:07 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Charlie Pesti Increases Bespoke Logistics and Supply Chain Media & PR Offerings with Addition of Hariesh Manaadiar

CHARLIE PESTI

Logistics and Supply Chain Media & PR Company Charlie Pesti has announced the addition of Hariesh Manaadiar as Director, Market & Data Intelligence. Manaadiar joined the company effective October 1 and will be actively executing the company’s vision of becoming the world's best publicist of logistics and supply chain technologies. “ We have had a strong and long-standing relationship with Hariesh through Shipping and Freight Resource (SFR) and are very excited about what this partnership will bring. Through the collaboration, we will continue to regularly bring our clients in front of thousands of decision makers, creating millions of dollars worth of business, while receiving invaluable insights from the ever growing and highly engaged SFR community. As owner of our data and market intelligence efforts, Hariesh will be working closely with customers to turn their operational data into market intelligence and actionable insights that can be presented to industry and mainstream media on a regular basis. We will also be expanding into market reports and research to continue providing stakeholders with crucial data sets essential for their business operations, ” said Charlie Pesti, Founder and Executive Director at CHARLIE PESTI. Hariesh Manaadiar, brings with him 3 decades of experience in global shipping, maritime, logistics, freight, and supply chain management. He holds a Masters in Shipping & Logistics, a Diploma in Journalism and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers and a Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport. Hariesh has been educating Joe Public globally on the various requirements and vagaries of the industry since 2008 through his hugely popular Shipping and Freight Resource. The site is popular for its educational content, Executive Insights, and Product Reviews. Hariesh is a regular speaker at container seminars and has engaged with entities such as the FMC on matters relating to critical issues such as demurrage and detention and port congestion. “ I have always been passionate about assisting customers in the logistics and supply chain space with their pain points and aiding them in their efforts to find innovative solutions. CHARLIE PESTI was a good fit for me to pursue this passion based on their involvement and experience in working with LogTech companies. Working with start-ups, unicorns and scale-ups, CHARLIE PESTI has tripled their revenue and quadrupled profit in the past year alone. I am definitely excited to be part of this growing team and add my expertise to the business, ” adds Hariesh Manaadiar. CHARLIE PESTI covers the supply chain and logistics markets in the geographies of US, EU, APAC & South Africa. About CHARLIE PESTI Charlie Pesti is focused on and obsessed with being the world's best publicist of logistics technologies. They bring their clients to decision-makers, who are eager to engage with them, pay them, and talk about them. The Charlie Pesti team is expert in content creation, industry and mainstream media relations, lead generation, and conferences. Learn more at — www.pesti.io Contact Details CHARLIE PESTI Priyanka Ann Saini +91 98332 68264 priyanka@pesti.io

October 12, 2021 03:33 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Elsevier data shows UK a world leader in sustainable development research

Elsevier

UK above world average volume of research in 11 out of 16 of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals UK producing more research that is more frequently cited than the US, China and Germany heavyweights Less than one month from the UK hosting the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), new data from Elsevier, a global leader in research publishing and information analytics, has revealed that the UK is a world leader in sustainable development research. Elsevier analyzed more than 25.6m research papers published between 2012 and 2020, exploring the quantity and quality of research dedicated to the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 1 While the UK outperformed many countries across the full suite of SDGs, it fell behind on some of the climate related SDGs—work that will be critical to the world finding lasting solutions to the climate crisis. Lesley Thompson, PhD, Director of Academic & Government Strategic Alliance, Elsevier, said: “Ahead of the UK’s moment on the center stage at COP26, it’s encouraging to see the UK’s research community leading the way in sustainable development. Research has a crucial role to play in finding solutions for many societal problems, from climate change to eliminating poverty. “That said, there is a disconnect between the UK government’s climate priorities and the research volume dedicated to these areas: to be globally competitive the UK needs to consider how it will increase support for research and innovation in affordable and clean energy, and responsible consumption and production, whether that be additional funding, higher prioritisation or a drive to attract new talent in these fields.” The analysis found that the UK exceeds the average output share of research among world-leading countries related to 11 out of 16 SDGs: No Poverty (1), Good Health and Well-Being (3), Quality Education (4), Gender Equality (5), Decent Work and Economic Growth (8), Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure (9), Reduced Inequalities (10), Climate Action (13), Life Below Water (14), Life On Land (15) and Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions (17). However, the UK is lagging behind the average of world-leading countries in the volume of research related to several of the SDGs which also align with the UK Government’s agendas focused on the growth of sustainable industries in the UK, including: Affordable and Clean Energy (7), Responsible Consumption and Production (12), Sustainable Cities and Communities (11), Clean Water and Sanitation (6), and Zero Hunger (2). The quality of the research produced in the UK relating to the UN’s SDGs is world-leading across all 16 areas mapped. This feat was also achieved to a lesser degree by the USA, Italy and Germany as illustrated in the Appendix. China and India led the way in the volume of research in the fields of clean energy and water. To determine the UK’s performance against the average of eight world-leading countries (China, India, Japan, USA, France, Germany and Italy), each paper was analyzed and categorized in terms of subject focus and author location, before being mapped by Relative Activity Index (RAI) and Field Weighted Citation Index (FWIC) 2. Last week also saw the launch of the Welsh Government Office for Science report “United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: Wales’ Research Performance” Kumsal Bayazit, Elsevier’s CEO, speaking at the launch said: “We all know that the creation, sharing and application of new knowledge is vital to addressing the societal grand challenges. Targeted investment in research, development and innovation have repeatedly delivered solutions to grand challenges and positive impact on society. It is encouraging that the UK has an ambitious plan to continue to increase R&D investment as percent of the overall GDP.” Notes for editors 1 The 17 th UN Sustainable Development Goal, Partnerships for the Goals, targets collaboration and could not be assessed through publication analysis. 2 Relative Activity Index (RAI) is defined as the share of a country’s article output in a subject relative to the global share of articles in the same subject. A value of 1.0 indicates that a country’s/an institute’s research activity in a field corresponds exactly with the global activity in that field; a value higher than 1.0 implies a greater emphasis; and a value lower than 1.0 suggests a lesser focus. Field Weighted Citation Index (FWCI) is an indicator of the citation impact of a publication. It is calculated by comparing the number of citations actually received by a publication with the number of citations expected for a publication of the same document type, publication year, and subject. An FWCI of more than 1.00 indicates that the entity’s publications have been cited more than would be expected based on the global average for similar publications; for example, a score of 2.11 means the entity's publications have been cited 111% more than the world average. An FWCI of less than 1.00 indicates that the entity’s publications have been cited less than would be expected based on the global average for similar publications; for example, an FWCI score of 0.87 means the publications have been cited 13% less than the world average. Main methodology Since 2018, Elsevier has generated SDG search queries to help researchers and institutions track and demonstrate progress towards the targets of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In 2020, Elsevier, through its Science-Metrix group, taking the research community feedback into account, improved the search queries significantly. Those queries were then complemented by a machine learning model, which helped increase the number of papers identified for each SDG. As a result, this year’s “Elsevier 2021 SDG mapping” captures on average twice as many articles as the 2020 version. About Elsevier As a global leader in information and analytics, Elsevier helps researchers and healthcare professionals advance science and improve health outcomes for the benefit of society. We do this by facilitating insights and critical decision-making for customers across the global research and health ecosystems. In everything we publish, we uphold the highest standards of quality and integrity. We bring that same rigor to our information analytics solutions for researchers, health professionals, institutions and funders. Elsevier employs 8,100 people worldwide. We have supported the work of our research and health partners for more than 140 years. Growing from our roots in publishing, we offer knowledge and valuable analytics that help our users make breakthroughs and drive societal progress. Digital solutions such as ScienceDirect, Scopus, SciVal, ClinicalKey and Sherpath support strategic research management, R&D performance, clinical decision support, and health education. Researchers and healthcare professionals rely on our 2,500+ digitized journals, including The Lancet and Cell; our 40,000 eBook titles; and our iconic reference works, such as Gray's Anatomy. With the Elsevier Foundation and our external Inclusion & Diversity Advisory Board, we work in partnership with diverse stakeholders to advance inclusion and diversity in science, research and healthcare in developing countries and around the world. Elsevier is part of RELX, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. www.elsevier.com Contact Details Andrew Davis Vice President, Corporate Communications andrew.davis@elsevier.com Company Website https://www.elsevier.com/

October 07, 2021 08:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Facebook and Disney execs raise $4.5m for 100ms to build live video infrastructure for the world

100ms

Live video infrastructure platform 100ms has announced a $4.5M seed round of funding led by Accel with participation from Strive.vc. 100ms provides infrastructure that allows any company to add Zoom-style video conferencing inside their app within hours. It was founded by the team that built live video infrastructure powering billions of video minutes a day at Facebook and Disney. In the pandemic, people’s lives moved to Zoom for studying, consulting doctors, meetings, even hanging out. However, users’ experience remained broken as consumers had to juggle between different apps and Zoom. As a result developers rushed to try and add live video inside their apps to provide a seamless user experience. However, adding live video to apps with current developer platforms is a long, cumbersome and expensive process. Current developer platforms that enable live video take months to integrate. And video still doesn’t work at Zoom-quality. Kshitij Gupta, Aniket Behera and Sarvesh Dwivedi solved these problems while building some of the world’s largest live video infrastructure deployments at Facebook and Disney. They launched 100ms in October 2020 with a view to democratise access to live video infrastructure for everyone. Having operated in beta for a long period, they launched powerful but fully customizable software development kits (SDKs) that allow developers to add Zoom-quality video to their apps in hours, instead of months. 100ms has quickly signed up clients like Paytm Insider, BookMyShow Townscript, Circle among others and were voted #1 product of the day on producthunt. “Being a video engineer all my life, I understand the complexity of adding live video at scale. For a long time, this infrastructure has only been available to very few developers. We started 100ms to build live video infrastructure for the world. Our SDKs are supported on all platforms including ios/android/web and are equipped to build high quality video along with all the edge cases in just a few lines of code. Our infrastructure is designed to handle the scale and offers super low latency across the world," commented Kshitij, co- founder and CEO, 100ms. The market for live audio/video infrastructure services is forecast to grow from $4.2B in 2019 to $17.7B in 2024. The rapid growth is being driven by enterprises across industries who are unbundling Zoom - edtech, telehealth, retail, gaming, fitness, social networks, virtual events. Audio rooms - which is all the rage after clubhouse, didn’t exist as a category before the pandemic. Aniket, co-founder and COO added: “Zoom is getting unbundled. Huge markets are being unlocked which are now leveraging white labelled video/audio - edtech, telehealth, gaming retail, fitness, audio rooms among others. 100ms aims to be the infrastructure layer for all these industries.” The funds raised will be used to build the world’s best video engineering team and product enhancement creating 100s of templates of live use cases, simplifying video access for companies across the world. On leading the investment round Abhinav Chaturvedi, Partner at Accel, said, “We believe all apps in the future will have video and audio embedded in them. 100ms is the best team to create the best in class developer product to enable this.” "An open extendable platform, built by experts in audio/video streaming, and supported by a budding engaged community instantly convinced us that the 100ms team is building a global-leading dev infra company,”said, Nikhil Kapur, Partner at STRIVE.vc who also participated in the investment round. About 100ms 100ms provides infrastructure that allows any company to add Zoom-style video conferencing inside their app in hours. The founding team built live video infrastructure powering billions of minutes a day at Facebook and Disney. About Accel Accel is a global venture capital firm that is the first partner to exceptional teams everywhere, from inception through all phases of private company growth. Accel has been operating in India since 2008, and its investments include companies like BookMyShow, Browserstack, Flipkart, Freshworks, FalconX, Chargebee, Clevertap, Cure Fit, Musigma, Moneyview, Myntra, Moglix, Ninjacart, Swiggy, Stanza Living, Urban Company, Zetwerk, and Zenoti, among many others. We help ambitious entrepreneurs build iconic global businesses. For more, visit www.accel.com or https://twitter.com/Accel_India. About Strive.vc STRIVE is a B2B/SaaS-focused fund with over 80 investments across India, Southeast Asia, and Japan, and managing over $200M in AUM. The firm has invested in several dev infra and SaaS companies in India including Hasura, Testsigma, and Classplus. Contact Details 100ms Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 b.mahmood@stockwoodstrategy.com

October 05, 2021 08:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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News Direct Introduces DB Direct, an In-Platform Global Media Database

News Direct

News Direct, the state-of-the-art news and content distribution service designed to meet the demands of modern media outreach, now offers clients the ability to augment their distribution and amplify their message with DB Direct, an in-platform global media database powered by Agility PR Solutions, a subsidiary of Innodata Inc. (NASDAQ: INOD). The partnership provides subscribers with a seamless workflow integration that maximizes potential visibility and engagement opportunities. Featuring more than one million contacts and outlets from around the globe, DB Direct enables PR and communications professionals to identify key journalists, online influencers, analysts, and bloggers, resulting in more effective and targeted campaigns. Agility has consistently earned top honors for its comprehensiveness, ease of use, and customer support. "News Direct's robust global distribution combined with the convenient, in-platform access to the high-performance DB Direct media database significantly enhances efficiency and ROI opportunities for our clients," observed Gregg Castano, founder and CEO of News Direct. "DB Direct is another example of News Direct's synergistic approach to PR solutions, illustrating our commitment to introduce clients to best-in-class service providers." The intuitive database platform provides numerous tools to facilitate list creation. Keyword search functionality draws results from billions of past articles to surface the most relevant influencers. Additional search criteria include by beat, media type, and location, among other variables. Backed by Agility’s research team that leverages AI to makes 2 million annual updates, DB Direct includes phone, email, and social media details. Agility's dedicated customer success team provides training sessions, tutorials, as well as chat, phone, and email support. To learn more about News Direct, please visit https://newsdirect.com. About News Direct News Direct provides news and content distribution for PR, IR, Corporate Communications and Marketing professionals. Our automated platform delivers a completely-reimagined, intuitive workflow, industry-leading security, transparent, flat-rate pricing and actionable analytics. Further, News Direct has deployed an array of innovation including advanced automation, isolation cloud technology and custom software for the most dynamic, efficient and flexible platform available today. To learn more visit newsdirect.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or YouTube. About Innodata and Agility Innodata (NASDAQ: INOD) is a leading data engineering company. Prestigious companies across the globe turn to Innodata for help with their biggest data challenges. By combining advanced machine learning and artificial intelligence (ML/AI) technologies, a global workforce of over 3,500 subject matter experts, and a high-security infrastructure, we're helping usher in the promise of digital data and ubiquitous AI. Agility is Innodata's AI-enabled, SaaS industry platform for PR and communications professionals. Visit www.innodata.com and www.agilitypr.com to learn more. Contact Details Kevin Pryor +1 212-334-9753 newsdirect@n6a.com

September 29, 2021 09:07 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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