Tuesday, May 31, 2022

Hitachi Energy secures Deutsche Bahn order to provide powerful converter station

KUALA LUMPUR, May 31 (Bernama) -- Hitachi Energy, the global technology and market leader in power grids, announced it has won an order from Deutsche Bahn to provide a 120 megawatt (MW) converter station which enables DB Energie to secure power supply for the Greater Berlin rail network.

According to a statement, the network serves a metropolitan population of around 3.5 million people and is the hub for multiple high-speed train services to cities throughout Germany and neighbouring countries.

“We are delighted that Deutsche Bahn has selected Hitachi Energy as partner of choice to secure the 16.7 Hz power supply for their rail network,” said Niklas Persson, Managing Director of Hitachi Energy’s Grid Integration business.

“This is an excellent example of how we collaborate together with customers and partners to accelerate the energy transition and advancing a sustainable energy future for all.”

The Thyrow converter station, south of Berlin, will enable Deutsche Bahn to convert electricity from the public three-phase power distribution grid, which operates at a frequency of 50 hertz (Hz) to 16.7 Hz, and feed it into the rail power grid used to power trains and rail infrastructure.

The order follows one awarded last year by Deutsche Bahn to Hitachi Energy for the 160 MW Delitz converter station in the greater Halle/Leipzig area, which will be one of the most powerful converter stations for rail power worldwide.

The Hitachi Energy solution for the Thyrow converter station comprises three compact 40 MW static frequency converter modules, which use Hitachi Energy’s advanced power semiconductors to provide a steady and reliable power supply at maximum availability and with minimal electrical losses.

The solution includes a 30-year service contract and a digitalisation package to provide Deutsche Bahn with condition-based and reactive maintenance and data insights into the system status of the converter station over the life cycle.

-- BERNAMA

Monday, May 30, 2022

​KPS POSTS MODERATE REVENUE GROWTH, STEADY PROFIT AMIDST OPERATING CHALLENGES

· PAT grew by 34%, supported by core profits and other income
· COVID lockdowns in China and protracted supply chain challenges are expected to continue to pose headwinds for the Group

SHAH ALAM, Malaysia, May 30 (Bernama) -- Kumpulan Perangsang Selangor Berhad’s
(“KPS” or “the Company” or “the Group”) (KPS, Bursa: 5843; Bloomberg: KUPS:MK; Reuters: KPSB.KL) reported a 7% growth in revenue to RM329.2 million for the quarter ended 31 March 2022, as compared with RM308.4 million in the corresponding quarter last year. The operating profit recorded a 37% growth to RM33.3 million from RM24.3 million in the corresponding period last year, following which, the Group Profit After Tax (“PAT”) for the quarter increased 34% to RM16.4 million from RM12.2 million in the corresponding quarter in the previous year.

​KPS POSTS MODERATE REVENUE GROWTH, STEADY PROFIT AMIDST OPERATING CHALLENGES

LintonPharm to release data on Catumaxomab for advanced Gastric Cancer at 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting

KUALA LUMPUR, May 30 (Bernama) -- LintonPharm Co Ltd, a China-based biopharmaceutical company, announced that preliminary results of Catumaxomab for advanced Gastric Cancer (GC) with peritoneal metastasis has been published online at the 2022 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting.

Abstract Title:Global multi-center phase I trial of the intraperitoneal infusion of anti-EpCAM x anti-CD3 bispecific antibody catumaxomab for advanced gastric carcinoma with peritoneal metastasis.

The abstract is about the cohort A, stage I of the ongoing global phase Ⅲ trial that evaluates the safety and efficacy of Catumaxomab in advanced GC patients with peritoneal metastasis.

According to a statement, worldwide, GC is one of the most common cancers, contributing to more than one million cases per year and 5.6 per cent of all cancer diagnoses.

Approximately, 50 per cent of the advanced GC patients will develop peritoneal metastasis after radical resection, along with malignant ascites in most cases.

Furthermore, peritoneal metastasis is associated with poor prognosis and quality of life compared with metastasis to other organs. Peritoneal metastasis is treated with systemic therapies.

The estimated survival period for the patients who fail to respond to third-line therapy is limited to only 2.3-2.4 months according to multiple RCTs.

In its study, nine GC patients with peritoneal metastasis (33 per cent had failed third-line therapy) were treated with Catumaxomab, the median overall survival was 3.4 months, with remarkable ascites regression.

Catumaxomab as an T cell engaging immunotherapy has showed promising early efficacy signals. Catumaxomab was approved by the European Medicines Agency in 2009 for the treatment of malignant ascites.

LintonPharm Co Ltd is a clinical-stage, research-oriented biopharmaceutical company committed to developing innovative T cell engaging bispecific antibodies with the goal of turning malignant cancers into manageable and possibly curable diseases.

More details at www.lintonpharm.com.

-- BERNAMA

Gradiant Receives Coveted Global Water Awards

KUALA LUMPUR, May 30 (Bernama) -- Gradiant, announced it has been recognised with distinction as ‘Water Technology Company of the Year’ and, its recently acquired AI business, Synauta, was named ‘Breakthrough Technology Company of the Year’ at the Global Water Intelligence (GWI) Global Water Awards in Madrid, Spain.

Each year, these prestigious awards recognise the most important achievements in the global water industry. The winners are selected by the global water industry’s business leaders, investors, and technologists from the private and public sectors.

“It’s an honour to be recognised by our industry peers for our business growth, innovation, and technology adoption,” said CEO of Gradiant, Anurag Bajpayee in a statement.

“Our expertise in digitising and optimising water has created new long-term value for our customers and competitive differentiation. We are grateful to our customers to trust Gradiant for solving their unique water challenges.”

Gradiant, a global solutions provider and developer of cleantech water projects was recognised for its significant contributions to the field of water and digital technology, specifically for its Counterflow Reverse Osmosis (CFRO) technology that made membrane brine concentration a reality for industrial and municipal users worldwide.

The other contribution involves global deployment of SmartOps digital platform which offers continuous optimisation of systems with variable feedwaters – one of the biggest challenges for zero and minimum liquid discharge technologies.

Also including is the Pipeline of disruptive innovations resulting in more than 250 patents and applications that allow the company to address a broad range of emerging end-use applications.

GWI said at the time of award: “No other company has brought more solutions to the industrial sector’s difficult water treatment challenges in the last 10 years.”

Synauta, which was recently acquired by Gradiant, was awarded for its commercial breakthroughs in global water technology. Synauta optimises the performance of desalination plants through machine learning algorithms.

With over 400 employees, Gradiant operates from its global headquarters in Boston, regional headquarters and global technology labs in Singapore, and offices across 10 countries.

-- BERNAMA

Saturday, May 28, 2022

GLOBAL SURVEY FINDS 80% OF CONSUMERS PREFER IDENTITY VERIFICATION MEASURES WHEN CHOOSING ONLINE BRANDS

 

(Graphic: Business Wire)

New global research from Jumio reveals preferences around use of digital identity across financial services, healthcare, social media sites and more 

PALO ALTO, Calif., May 26 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- Jumio, the leading provider of orchestrated end-to-end identity proofing, eKYC and AML solutions, today released the findings of its global research conducted by Opinium, which shows the impact of the increasing use of digital identity on consumer preferences and expectations.
 
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220525005293/en/ 

The research questioned 8,000 adult consumers split evenly across Singapore, the UK, U.S. and Mexico. Singapore stands out as a country where digital identity is used the most. On average, Singaporeans access 12 online accounts each week — which is the highest compared to other countries — and 70% have to use their digital identity “constantly” or “often” to access online accounts.

The research found that Singaporeans think financial services (63%) is the most important industry to use a digital identity, followed by healthcare (54%) — arguably the sectors whereby the most sensitive personal information is shared. Overall, 84% of Singaporeans agree that they trust companies who complete identity checks to handle their personal information securely when signing up for an account. Nevertheless, 49% of Singaporeans abandon the online process when it becomes too complicated. 

Friday, May 27, 2022

TRILLIANT PARTNERS SAMART, DEPLOYING AMI FOR PROVINCIAL ELECTRICITY AUTHORITY, THAILAND

KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 (Bernama) -- Trilliant, a leading global provider of utility solutions for advanced metering and smart grid systems, has announced a new partnership with SAMART to deploy Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) for the Provincial Electricity Authority of Thailand (PEA).

The deployment demonstrates Trilliant’s continued commitment to utilities in the Asia Pacific region at market-leading performance levels.

“Trilliant is dedicated to providing innovative solutions for our customers across the globe,” said Andy White, Chairman & CEO of Trilliant.

“Our platform allows for the deployment of hybrid-wireless technologies that can be used effectively with a variety of applications, allowing utilities to provide top level service to their customers. Partnering with SAMART allows us to deliver our software platform to support multiple meter brand deployments.”

According to a statement, PEA Thailand has awarded the contract to STS Consortium comprising SAMART Telcoms PCL and SAMART Communication Services.

“The fine selection of quality products from Trilliant, a world-class technology provider, has strengthened our solution offerings to PEA. We look forward to our long-term partnership and future collaboration in Thailand,” said Suchart Duangtawee, EVP of SAMART Telcoms PCL.

Trilliant has already connected more than three million smart meters for customers in India and Malaysia, with plans to deploy an additional seven million meters over the next three years through existing partnerships.

With the addition of PEA, Trilliant’s technology will soon be deployed in millions of new homes, helping utilities provide reliable access to electricity to their customers.

The continued deployments in APAC are a testament to Trilliant’s purpose-built technology for utilities and communities. Recently recognised by Frost & Sullivan as the 2021 Asia-Pacific Smart Utility Communications Platform Company of the Year, Trilliant remains dedicated to its technology innovation path.

For more information, visit www.trilliant.com.

-- BERNAMA

CR Asia Group declares rebranding, name change to CR3

KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 (Bernama) -- CR Asia Group has announced a rebranding of its name to CR3 together with a new corporate logo reflecting its strategic emphasis on sustainability and clean energy.

“The corporate name change is a significant milestone for us as it offers a more focused message of providing energy efficient solutions to meet today’s carbon challenges.

“Our new brand sharpens our market image of who we are and what makes CR3 unique. We believe that this distinctive identity will guide and accelerate our business growth and evolution,” said CEO of CR3, Mark Stansfield.

According to a statement, CR3 will continue to build on the group’s reputation for excellence in energy engineering solutions while pursuing future opportunities in the energy transition to a lower carbon economy.

The CR3 brand and logo will replace the CR Asia name used in the past on its organisation, operations, and logo. Its new CR3 brand is committed to expanding further beyond its traditional markets in Asia to better serve its clients.

With a 30-year history, CR3 is a leading energy engineering solutions business operating across Asia serving customers in 18 Asian countries from its permanent bases in Singapore, Thailand, India, and Malaysia.

The new CR3 brand identity comes at an important time as its customers who operate in a variety of industries pursue continuous improvements in energy efficiency and decarbonisation.

The CR3 visual identity will be seen across all the business assets, company names, and communications and will be implemented over the next several months.

CR3’s branding and messaging will accentuate its position as a leading provider of energy engineering solutions while facilitating a low carbon transition for new and existing customers.

CR3’s new logo is effective immediately and will be implemented across the Group’s companies, solutions, assets, services, products and equipment.

-- BERNAMA

CROCUS TECHNOLOGY ENHANCES ACCURACY OF ENERGY METERING SOLUTIONS

TMR Sensor Reference Design with Digital Output Simplifies Implementation

MILPITAS, Calif., May 25 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Crocus Technology Inc., developer of XtremeSense® TMR sensors, today announced the release of a high accuracy energy metering solution with isolated current sensing and a digital output. The solution is capable of measuring power, voltage and current while providing 1,820 VPK isolation in AC or DC applications. The result is a smaller and more efficient design without the use of large current transformers. The solution is ideal for a range of smart devices such as power supply monitors, electric vehicle chargers, household appliances, motor control and smart lighting.

The solution consists of the Crocus’ CT430 TMR isolated current sensor, Microchip’s ATtiny426 microcontroller, Printed Circuit Board (PCB), design files, microcontroller firmware, Bill of Materials (BoM) list, user guide and relevant support for designing a fully functional power monitoring solution. The design solution has been verified to accurately read and quantize the voltage and current values prior to calculating the instantaneous and Root Mean Square (RMS) power components, active and reactive power, as well as power factor. These power values are stored in registers which can be accessed by an external microcontroller via the SPI interface. By offloading the design effort of measuring and calculating power, the Crocus metering solution simplifies the addition of metering capabilities to any smart device.

The key to precise power measurements is the CT430 current sensor which provides better than 1% current measurement accuracy over the -40°C to +125°C operating range. It is available in a small 16-lead SOIC-Wide package, eliminating the need for bulky current transformers and allowing for more compact designs. The CT430 solution can also be customized with different bus interfaces such as I2C, SENT and CAN. By leveraging the solution, manufacturers and designers can quickly develop accurate and compact power monitoring capabilities for their products. See the figure below for the system diagram of the Crocus reference design kit for power measurements. 

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.

Thursday, May 26, 2022

GPDRR: Indonesia offers sustainable resilience to address disaster risk




President Joko Widodo (center), UN deputy secretary-general Amina Mohammed (fourth left), vice president of Zambia W.K. Mutale Nalumango (fourth right) take a picture with the head of National Agency for Disaster Management Suharyanto (left), special representative of the secretary-general for Disaster Risk Reduction Mami Mizutori (second left), coordinating minister for Human Development and Cultural Affairs Muhadjir Effendy (third left), president of the United Nations General Assembly Abdulla Shahida (third right), foreign affairs minister Retno Marsudi (second right), Bali governor Wayan Koster (right), and several delegations ahead of the opening ceremony of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GPDRR) 2022 in Nusa Dua, Bali, Wednesday (May 25, 2022). The GPDRR is held in Bali, raising the theme of "From Risk to Resilience: Towards Sustainable Development for All in a COVID-19 Transformed World". ANTARA FOTO/Akbar Nugroho Gumay/foc.



KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 (Bernama) -- At the 2022 Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GPDRR) event, the Government of Indonesia offered the world, the concept of sustainable resilience as solution to address the challenges of systemic disaster risk.

According to a statement, Indonesian President Joko Widodo recently highlighted the concept at the opening ceremony of the 2022 GPDRR in Nusa Dua.

The sustainable resilience concept was considered a solution to tackle all forms of disasters, including facing a pandemic and concurrently supporting the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Jokowi remarked, highlighting the need to apply several measures to build sustainable resilience.

“First, we should strengthen an anticipatory, responsive, and adaptive disaster preparedness culture as well as institutions in dealing with disasters,” he said, adding that disaster mitigation education and government institutions synergistic and responsive to disasters must become a shared priority.

He explained the second measure deemed necessary was for every country to invest in science, innovation, and technology, including in ensuring access to finance and technology transfer.

On the third measure, Jokowi said was by building infrastructure resilient to disasters and climate change.

Lastly, he invited all countries to commit to implementing global agreements at the national and local levels. “The Sendai Framework, the Paris Agreement, and the SDGs are important international agreements in the efforts to reduce disaster risk and climate change. I invite all countries to be committed and serious about implementing it.”

On the occasion, several United Nations (UN) officials -- President of the 76th Session of the UN General Assembly Abdulla Shahid, UN Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed, and Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Disaster Risk Reduction Mami Mizutori -- lauded Indonesia on its success in controlling COVID-19, so that the 2022 GPDRR forum could be held in-person in Nusa Dua, Bali.

Indonesia hosts a series of meetings of the 7th Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GP2022) in Bali on May 23-28.

-- BERNAMA

SFA Group Unveils Environmental Division: SFA enviro

KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 (Bernama) -- SFA, a World-Renowned Group, specialised in the design and manufacture of Wastewater Treatment Equipment since 1958, has launched its Environmental Division: SFA enviro.

The group is mainly known for having revolutionised the sanitary equipment market with more than 1,000 employees in 27 countries worldwide, the SFA Group has a portfolio of leading brands, including Europelec and Aquaturbo.

The Group’s core business is closely linked to the Treatment of Municipal and Industrial Wastewater with a DNA focused on the Design and Manufacturing of Aeration Equipment.

According to a statement, companies part of SFA enviro Division: Europelec (France), Aquasystems International N.V. (Belgium) and Aquaturbo Systems Inc (USA). R&D Department work in partnership with French and other higher education and research institutions.

Thanks to 100 years of cumulative and international experience, SFA enviro supplies most of the equipment for Wastewater Treatment plants - from pre-treatment to sludge management - including process and treatment tanks and specific ancillary equipment used to settle, decant, aerate, and thicken Wastewater.

Since the beginning, the Group has never stopped looking to the future and adapting to the ever-changing Market Place.

Innovation, R&D, respect for the environment and customer service are at the heart of the Group's Core values. The SFA Group is committed to offering high performance with quality products, manufactured in Europe and the USA.

Much of the Equipment has been in service Worldwide for more than 30 to 35 years, with references in many Industrial Sectors such as Dairy Industry, Pulp and Paper, Mining, Food Processing, Meat Rendering, Oil and Gas, and, Pharmaceutical Industry, among others.

More details at www.sfa-enviro.com.

-- BERNAMA

FINANCIAL PLANNING EDUCATION IS MORE VITAL POST COVID-19

KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Financial Planning Council (MFPC) signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) today with MAHSA University, recognising the University as one of MFPC’s education providers.

As of May 2022, a total of 25 public and private universities in Malaysia are listed as MFPC education providers, enabling undergraduates of these universities to obtain an affiliate MFPC qualification and more importantly, be equipped with sufficient financial planning knowledge to practise effective financial planning in their own lives. Further, the qualification will enable them to pursue careers in the financial planning sector, thus enlarging the pool of qualified financial advisors, necessary to equip Malaysians with much-needed financial education and advice.

MFPC’s RFP and Shariah RFP designations are approved qualifications for individuals embarking on careers in personal financial advisory. The designations are approved by Bank Negara Malaysia for the application of the Financial Adviser’s Licence (FAR) and by Securities Commission for the Capital Market Services Representative’s Licence (CMSRL). The RFP and Shariah RFP programmes are also accredited by the Finance Accreditation Agency (FAA), an agency set up by the regulators and that is responsible for certifying the standards and quality of professional learning and development in the financial services industry.
FINANCIAL PLANNING EDUCATION IS MORE VITAL POST COVID-19

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

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.

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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.