Month: January 2024

Originally published on bloomberg.com

Bloomberg announced that it has received seven prestigious awards and certifications for its commitment to LGBTQ+, D&I and disability hiring initiatives in Japan. The various forms of recognition were all announced within the last month and include:

The D&I Awards ‘Grand Prize’ from JobRainbowThe D&I Awards ‘Best Workplace’ from JobRainbowThe PRIDE Index Gold Certification from work with PrideRainbow Certification on the PRIDE Index from work with PrideThe Ability Advocator ACE Award and ‘Grand Prize’ from Accessibility Consortium of Enterprises (ACE)The Environment Creation ACE Award from ACE

Bloomberg received a Diversity Score of 99 from JobRainbow, which evaluates a company’s D&I framework in the areas of gender, LGBTQ+, disability, multiculturalism and childcare & caregiving. In assessing that score, JobRainbow also bestowed its highest honors on Bloomberg for the first time: its Grand Prize and Best Workplace awards.

In awarding these honors, JobRainbow cited Bloomberg’s work to address challenging topics such as intersectionality and HIV in Japanese working culture, calling Bloomberg a role model for all companies for its contribution to local communities and for its collaboration with academia on these issues.

Bloomberg also won its fourth consecutive Gold Certification in the PRIDE Index 2023 and has also been awarded the ‘Rainbow’ certification, recognizing our cross-sector collaboration in support of LGBTQ+-related initiatives.

The PRIDE Index was created by work with Pride, a foundation that supports the promotion of LGBTQ+-related initiatives within businesses in Japan. The index evaluates organizations’ LGBTQ+-related initiatives based on five criteria: policy, representation, inspiration, development, and engagement & empowerment.

The Rainbow certification is awarded to companies that satisfy three criteria: previous Gold certification in the PRIDE Index, public support for LGBTQ+ legislation in Japan, and implementing initiatives to promote the understanding and protection of LGBTQ+ rights, both within their own organization and in collaboration with other entities that transcend sectors.

Finally, Bloomberg was honored with two awards from ACE. Yasumasa Nakagomi, from Bloomberg’s data team in Tokyo, was recognized with an individual honor, receiving the ACE Ability Advocator Award as well as the ‘Grand Prize’, the latter of which is only awarded in exceptional circumstances. Yasumasa was recognized for excelling in his work by taking lessons from living with a disability and applying them as a source of competitive advantage, and in advocating for people with developmental disabilities, including proactive outreach to students with disabilities and their families to help them create robust support networks.

The Environment Creation Award, also awarded by ACE, was given to the company in recognition of Bloomberg’s efforts to foster a workplace where employees, including those with mental and developmental disabilities, can work with peace of mind.

Commenting on the various awards and certifications, Pamela Hutchinson, Bloomberg’s Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion said, “At Bloomberg, our vision is to create a workplace which is inclusive of all and exclusive of none. While these honors reflect many different aspects of diversity, the one thing they have in common is that they reflect our absolute commitment to creating safe, inclusive spaces for our employees wherever they are around the world.”

“We are deeply grateful to these organizations for the time and effort they put into D&I advocacy within Japan. We are honored to be recognized by these organizations and will continue to work tirelessly as we strive towards our D&I vision,” Hutchinson said.

For more on Bloomberg’s Diversity & Inclusion efforts, read here. You can find more information about each of these honors directly from the organizations overseeing them:

For more information about the ACE Awards, read here.For more information about the work with Pride awards and certification process, read here.For more information about JobRainbow and its Diversity Scores, read here.

Media Contact

Yuri Imaizumi DeNicola 
yimaizumi4@bloomberg.net

Originally published on Illumina News Center

The San Diego Zoo cares for the largest population of koalas outside Australia. The zoo is world renowned for its specialized veterinary care and decades-long commitment to wildlife conservation work, and one of the biggest challenges their koala population faces is koala retrovirus (KoRV). This virus is associated with numerous fatal conditions—susceptibility to bacterial infections, leukemia, lymphoma, and other cancers—and 100% of koalas in North America carry it. Research shows that 100% of wild koalas in the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales have it, and between 15% and 70% in Victoria have it, too. How is this possible?

Everyone is part virus

Viruses that are transmitted horizontally—that is, through infection—are exogenous. These are the kind we’re most familiar with. They inject their genetic code into an organism’s somatic (nonreproductive) cells, tricking them into making copies of the virus, which can then go on to infect other organisms.

However, some viruses hit the proverbial motherlode and inject their genetic code into an organism’s germline (reproductive) cells—the sperm or eggs. Once this happens, the viral DNA can become a permanent part of their host’s genome: an endogenous virus, transmitted not horizontally but vertically, from one generation to the next.

It sounds alarming, but it’s commonplace. All living organisms have accumulated retroviral DNA as part of their own. The remains of endogenous retroviruses constitute up to eight percent of the human genome. But in most species, these viral integrations transpired millions of years ago, and the DNA has degraded to the point where it can no longer infect other hosts nor cause health problems. (A virus that killed its host and also couldn’t transmit outside the body would quickly be eliminated by natural selection.)

“We don’t know what happens to the host between the time a retrovirus is exogenous and when it becomes a relatively harmless hitchhiker,” says Alex Greenwood, head of the Department of Wildlife Diseases at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research. “We also do not know how the virus changes, if at all, during this time to better adapt to the host.”

Rachael Tarlinton, associate professor of Veterinary Cellular Microbiology at the University of Nottingham, adds that “in some cases these viruses are also beneficial for their hosts, changing gene expression and introducing new genetic diversity. We just don’t know how this process happens, or how quickly the changes to host and virus take to settle down.”

Koalas at risk

KoRV is a different case. It only started endogenizing within the last 50,000 years—on an evolutionary timescale, that’s practically yesterday—so some of its subtypes are still exogenous, and none of its sharp edges have yet been sanded down, so to speak.

KoRV subtype A is endogenous: That’s the kind that 100% of the San Diego Zoo’s koalas and most wild koalas have. But subtypes B, C, and so on are still exogenous, and all subtypes are associated with serious health problems. A few years ago, the zoo briefly detected exogenous subtypes in its koalas using PCR tests, and they were able to change their care and breeding practices to keep these subtypes from spreading.

It helps that koalas are naturally solitary and sleep up to 20 hours a day—they don’t breed freely in large social groups like some animals do. Instead, the zoo’s wildlife care specialists manage their genetic diversity using careful records of mean kinship, which keep track of how closely the animals are related. For each female, they maintain a list of the most suitable males, and introduce them to her one at a time until she accepts one to mate with.

A female koala becomes sexually mature at two years old and typically lives 12 to 14 years. In that time she can have eight to 10 babies (called “joeys”), but among wild koalas, chlamydia is a widespread and pernicious cause of infertility. Thankfully, it’s easily detectable, and the zoo’s careful breeding management keeps their population free of it.

However, all koalas remain at high risk for cancer. Cora Singleton, senior veterinarian for the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, describes its occurrence as sudden and heartbreaking: “Koalas are very good at hiding early stages of some cancers. They may appear normal one day, then show a subtle behavior change the next day. We check the blood and bone marrow and find that they have late-stage cancer, which progresses rapidly.” Sadly, there’s no known treatment for the koalas at that point.

KoRV is associated with these health issues and widely hypothesized to be what’s causing them, but more genomic research is needed to bridge that gap. “It’s difficult to prove that causative link,” says Damien Higgins, professor of wildlife health and pathobiology at the University of Sydney. “We see a whole range of conditions in koalas that often occur with immune suppression or dysfunction, and we see association of higher levels of koala retrovirus in those animals, but it’s a bit of a chicken-or-egg situation.”

The iConserve koala retrovirus sequencing project

In 2021, Greenwood, Tarlinton, Singleton, Higgins, and David Alquezar, manager of the Australian Centre for Wildlife Genomics at the Australian Museum, hosted the Second Koala Retrovirus Workshop to facilitate multidisciplinary discussions about KoRV and koala management.

One of that workshop’s ultimate recommendations recognized a need for longitudinal studies, across multiple generations, to investigate the genetic causation of these health conditions—and in 2023, Singleton contacted iConserve, a community program at Illumina, to begin just such a study with the cooperation of her workshop colleagues.

The San Diego Zoo preserves genetic samples of most koalas in their care, including many from former generations dating all the way back to the current population’s founders in the 1970s—and Illumina performed whole-genome sequencing on all of them. This data, spanning five generations, was uniquely valuable. “It’s a closed system whose pedigree we understand, which would not be possible from a population in the wild,” Alquezar explains. “It’s a longitudinal study that’s really relevant in this particular case. We’ve never had this type of information before.” Ultimately, the project will represent the largest pedigree of any koala genomic database to date.

The study will compare the known causes of death in the zoo’s pedigree with any KoRV integration patterns revealed in the sequencing data, to see how strongly particular integration sites associate with negative health outcomes. For example, Singleton explains, “If we see that specific KoRV integration patterns are associated with certain cancers in koalas from the past, we may be able to predict which koalas in the future will be at higher risk of developing these cancers.” Information like this would be critical to take into account when, for example, the wildlife care specialists plan which pairs would be best for breeding.

This knowledge will also inform management decisions for koalas in the wild. The marsupials’ natural habitat range has drastically fragmented in recent years, due in part to the terrible bushfires that struck Australia in 2019 and 2020. Disconnected populations lead to lower genetic diversity and lower resistance to disease. Conservation workers can translocate specific animals from one group to another to increase genetic diversity, and can avoid introducing a new subtype of KoRV to a population where it didn’t previously exist.

Discovering whether retroviral integration sites are associated with immunological genes would be a huge boon to research. “There are very few examples of such a virus that is currently endogenizing,” Alquezar says. “So for us to be able to understand those mechanisms of endogenization, how it might actually cause disease, is very interesting. We’re able to decipher that using this particular model. This has implications on koala health and may be an important factor in their conservation.”

To intervene or not to intervene

Considering how ubiquitous retroviral DNA is in animal genomes, the scientific community has raised the question of whether humans should intervene at all in the slow and likely inevitable process of KoRV endogenization. But those involved in this iConserve study recognize our collective responsibility in this case.

“Yes, it is a natural process,” Higgins says, “but it’s going on in an unnatural environment and context that humans are causing. It’s up to us to create an environment where that natural process can unfold. From an evolutionary perspective, it’s hard to adapt to something if you’ve got all these other pressures. We’re identifying which populations are most at risk and focusing on removing other risks to allow them to cope.”

Singleton agrees. “Over time, we expect the koala to adapt to this endogenizing virus. Until this happens, koalas are threatened by KoRV as well as by habitat loss and fragmentation. We can’t eliminate KoRV from koalas, but we can preserve and protect the healthy ecosystems that they need to survive.”

As of this writing, the sequencing phase of the project is complete, and Guilherme Neumann, a postdoctoral bioinformatician at the Leibniz Institute, has already identified over 1500 KoRV insertions across the 91 animals sequenced. As expected for a relatively small zoo population, these koalas generally share more KoRV integration sites than their wild counterparts do. “The interesting part now,” Greenwood says, “will be to see if the shared integrations are generally in parts of the genome where they do less harm—and if so, to focus on the ones that are less widely shared, which may contain the more problematic KoRV integrations. Those might end up being targets for potential management.”

In the meantime, Singleton is optimistic that this research could be a turning point for koala conservation. “We’ve known for many years that we have something really special in the data from the North American koala population, but we haven’t been able to access the technology to analyze it,” she says. “Through our partnership with Illumina, we are achieving research objectives that seemed unreachable back in 2021. Bringing together this international team, learning from our koala population to help koalas in their native range, is a career pinnacle for me as a zoo veterinarian.”

The problem with being a picky eater

Koalas eat only eucalyptus, a leaf that’s toxic to other animals. They’ve evolved special metabolic and gut microbiome adaptations specifically for digesting it, giving them exclusive access to a food that other species have learned to avoid. Ironically, this may be one reason it’s so difficult to treat some diseases in koalas. “In order to eat eucalyptus, the koala is very good at degrading plant toxins,” Singleton says. “Similarly, koalas are able to degrade many medications to the point that they become ineffective.

Aramark volunteers around the world give their time and talent to their local communities throughout the year, but their generosity showed no limits during the 2023 season of giving. With more than 90 volunteer projects happening from November to December, we’re highlighting some of the projects where our volunteers truly shined in support of their local communities.

“Every year, I’m in awe of hospitality and selflessness our volunteers exhibit during the holiday season. In a time when they’re faced with end of year deadlines, responsibilities to their families, and so much more, they find it within themselves to dig a little bit deeper to find time to give back to those that need it most,” said Jami Leveen, VP of Community Partnerships at Aramark. “These volunteers live Aramark’s mission each day, and I thank them for continuing to do great things for our people, our partners, and our communities.”

Supporting Food Pantries at Their Busiest Time

The Sunshine Hub of Aramark’s women’s focused employee resource group (ERG), EMPOWER, joined with Feeding Tampa Bay at Tampa Convention Center for an incredible dual-team bonding and volunteer project. Sunshine Hub members also joined colleagues from across the state for a “Holiday Day of Service” at Feeding South Florida, where they sorted, packed, and shipped 15,000 pounds of food, enough food for 12,500 meals.

“Our EMPOWER ERG hosts volunteer projects and partners with Aramark’s South Florida Star Team throughout the year, but supporting local food pantries during the holidays is especially meaningful to members because it provides the extra hands required to support the increase in need. It also gives our volunteers the chance to connect with one another and work together on one final project before the start of the New Year. It’s amazing to see the collaboration between all our lines of business to support the community,” said Linda DeMaria, General Manager and EMPOWER Sunshine Hub Leader.

A team of volunteers from Aramark’s Austin Star Team provided holiday meals and led activities with senior residents of Foundation Communities, a local nonprofit which empowers residents and neighbors to achieve educational success, financial stability, and healthier lifestyles. The volunteers prepared and served holiday breakfast to 50 senior residents, and facilitated games and holiday activities, including BINGO.

The Miami Star Team collected nearly 500 pounds of food and toys to support Kids In Distress (KID, Inc.), a shelter for the youngest victims of child abuse in the greater Fort Lauderdale area.

“Our experience with Aramark volunteers was outstanding. There was great communication and volunteers went above and beyond for the children and families we serve,” said Yolanda Watson-Brown, Donor Engagement & Database Manager, KID, Inc.

Bringing Joy Through Holiday Meal Service

Throughout the month, volunteers from Aramark’s interfaith ERG, Synergy, and members from Aramark’s Corporate Affairs team visited Philadelphia’s Broad Street Ministry, an organization that helps Philadelphians living in deep poverty stabilize their lives through a variety of social services, to serve lunch, sort mail, and assemble hygiene kits for guests.

In Toronto, Canada, volunteers distributed 50 cases of soup and provided 200 meals for the food program at Working Women Centre, as part of Aramark’s year-round support providing “Wellness Wednesday” lunches.

Aramark’s Boston volunteers worked alongside Community Servings’ kitchen staff to help prepare and package medically tailored meal kits for chronically and critically ill individuals and their families, while employees from across the region collected over 100 toys for Toys for Tots and 500 pounds of healthy food.

Collecting Toys and Warm Weather Items

The Aramark Philadelphia Star Team hosted a holiday wrapping party at Aramark headquarters, where volunteers wrapped holiday gifts that were donated to local families. The group also hosted a Holiday Donation Drive to bring joy to local families. Over 800 toys and comfort items were collected and donated to four Philadelphia community-based nonprofit organizations.

Volunteers in Alberta, Canada, collected dozens of toys and comfort items to fulfill wish lists for students from Hull Services.

Following a leadership retreat to LEGOLAND, Aramark employees donated LEGO kits to support law enforcement families through the Casey Doolin Memorial Fund. The fund aids law enforcement families, siblings, and caregivers with children who have cancer or other life-threatening illnesses. dozens of boxes of LEGOS will be distributed to patients at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).

Giving Back to Those Who Serve

Aramark is proud to employ service members, veterans, and military spouses in a wide variety of roles and positions across the company. Aramark also works with a network of organizations to help attract and engage military-connected talent with a passion for service. These connections provide Aramark volunteers with a great opportunity to give back to those that serve. Read about the work volunteers did for this community during the holiday season.

“Serving others is a cornerstone of Aramark’s hospitality culture and the holiday season provides an incredible opportunity for our employees to come together to support the causes that mean the most to them,” said Abigail Charpentier, Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer at Aramark. “It’s become a tradition for me and my family to participate in the Wreaths Across America event. It is rewarding to see our dedicated volunteers return to the projects they hold near and dear to their hearts, to make a difference in their communities.”

Marathon Petroleum is bringing the Truckers Against Trafficking program to drivers and leaders in its Transport and Rail organization.  Truckers Against Trafficking is a nonprofit organization focused on educating others about human trafficking, how to identify it and how to report suspicious activity.  Marathon Petroleum has already certified nearly 500 employees through the training program.  

Marathon Petroleum’s Transport and Rail organization has rolled out a training program from Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT), a nonprofit organization focused on educating members of the truck, bus and energy industries about the realities of human trafficking and how they can combat it. Marathon Petroleum has started training transport drivers, company leaders and other employees to identify human trafficking situations on the road and how to report suspicious activity. 

“We are trying to get as many of our employees certified as possible,” said Robert Leipheimer, Transport Operations Senior Manager with Marathon Petroleum. “We have an opportunity to take an extremely active role in fighting this and stopping it when we see it.” 

Marathon Petroleum has more than 1,000 truck drivers across the country. The TAT training is voluntary, and leaders are encouraged by the interest so far. Nearly 500 Marathon Petroleum employees have been trained to recognize and report human trafficking through the TAT program. 

John Miracle was an over-the-road truck driver for 20 years before becoming a transport manager at Marathon Petroleum. He was visibly upset after watching the Truckers Against Trafficking training video in November. He shared with the group of leaders in his training session that he didn’t realize that he had witnessed human trafficking situations in the past and didn’t recognize what it was. 

“I remember seeing some of the ‘red flags’ of human trafficking when I was an over-the-road truck driver, but I didn’t recognize them at the time,” said Miracle. “This is really eye opening and a great opportunity for our drivers to help put a stop to it.” 

John Brosnan, a Transport Driver in Niles, Michigan, was one of the first drivers certified through the TAT program at Marathon Petroleum.  

“I feel like this is an appropriate responsibility for our fleets, and we’ll definitely be able to make a difference,” said Brosnan. “They’ve given us tools to respond when we see something so proper authorities can respond in time. It doesn’t take people long to move on, so the sooner we can alert authorities, the better.” 

Human Trafficking Red Flags – What to Look for:  

Any time you see a minor engage in a commercial sex act Any time you believe you are witnessing someone under the control of a pimp, regardless of the age or gender of the victim If a passenger vehicle pulls into the truck parking area of a rest area or truck stop and multiple people (usually females) get out of the vehicle and begin going from truck to truck Any time you hear a suspected victim mentioning that he/she has to make a quota People that seem to have a lack of knowledge of their surroundings or area Someone that appears to have restricted or controlled communication or is unable to speak for her/himself Suspected victims that have signs of branding (tattooing that would indicate ownership of a particular trafficker) 

Reporting human trafficking 

Call 911 if it is an emergency or you are witnessing a crime in progress. Call National Human Trafficking Hotline 1-888-373-7888 to make an anonymous report. Never approach a trafficker. Allow law enforcement to deal with traffickers and recover victims. Have description of vehicle, description of people. 

Source: Truckers Against Trafficking

Originally published on 3M News Center

ST. PAUL, Minn., January 11, 2024 /3BL/ – 3M Health Care’s Medical Solutions Division, the world leader in advanced wound care, was awarded $34.2 million from the U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity to develop a range of new solutions for infection prevention, wound management and wound healing. 3M will lead a program focused on treatment strategies that can be used in austere settings, especially those related to mass casualty and delayed evacuation situations — a critical objective of the Department of Defense Combat Casualty Care Capability Assessment. In addition, the program will work to assess biofilm control, biomarker monitoring and healing in acute trauma situations such as blasts, burns, and gunshot wounds that occur in civilian and military settings.

3M will collaborate with the University of Minnesota Medical School, the 59th Medical Wing Science & Technology Office of the Chief Scientist (59MDW/ST, lead military partner), Naval Medical Research Unit-San Antonio (NAMRU-SA) and The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) in this program. The awarded funding will support four separate product solutions, with studies that range from prototype and formulation development to completion of two clinical studies to be used for product registration.

“Successful treatment of acute, traumatic wounds requires a continuum of care that begins with easy-to-use dressings and effective infection prevention that can be applied at the point of injury, continues with portable solutions for transport, and transitions to more sophisticated solutions in hospital settings suitable for rehabilitation and reintegration of patients,” said Raymond Chiu, senior vice president, research & development, 3M Health Care Business Group. “3M is proud to be working with civilian and military partners to bring these solutions to fruition.”

The planned work involves at least six principal investigators leading studies at three different sites across the United States. Over 125 support personnel will be involved in the research efforts to be performed over the FY 2023 – FY 2027 award period.

Addressing and stabilizing traumatic injuries in the field requires fast, effective and easy-to-use solutions that provide more capability at the point of injury. The novel solutions developed and demonstrated in this program will also be well suited for use in civilian traumatic, burn and chronic wound care.

The U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity, 808 Schreider Street, Fort Detrick MD 21702-5014 is the awarding and administering acquisition office. In conducting research using animals, the investigator(s) adheres to the laws of the United States and regulations of the Department of Agriculture. This work [is] was supported by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, in the amount of $34,191,124, through the Defense Health Agency Expeditionary Medicine Research and Development Program under Award No. HT94252320059. Opinions, interpretations, conclusions and recommendations are those of the author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Department of Defense.

About 3M 
3M (NYSE: MMM) believes science helps create a brighter world for everyone. By unlocking the power of people, ideas and science to reimagine what’s possible, our global team uniquely addresses the opportunities and challenges of our customers, communities, and planet. Learn how we’re working to improve lives and make what’s next at 3M.com/news.

Schneider Electric

In our last blog, we explored what the term Eco-Design actually mean and how it impacts you as a consumer. Here, we’re taking you through the journey that every product at Schneider Electric goes through, and how Eco-Design plays into this.

What does Eco-Design mean to us?

Schneider Electric’s climate commitments are built on a genuine desire for change, with our strategy and actions driven by education, empowerment and insight.

That’s why a number of the principles that underpin Eco-Design have shaped our activity for many years now, with leading energy efficiency credentials and long-life cycles inherent in our approach to design and manufacturing. In the present day, the implementation of Eco-Design is being rolled out across all activities across Schneider Electric at a much larger scale.

Going green

At present, 80% of our products meet the criteria of our Green Premium label – a standard we introduced in 2008 as a method of communicating which individual products could best support homeowners, building managers, architects, distributors, or original equipment manufacturers with their sustainability goals.

As a wider understanding of the importance of sustainability has grown and those requirements have changed, our Green Premium range has adapted to reflect this, while maintaining its core values of:

Trust – We’re trusted by customers to use minimal hazardous substances up to and beyond compliance levelsTransparency – We’re clear and open regarding environmental disclosures and end-of-life instructionPerformance – Prioritising environmental performance in our product development

Examples in Eco-Design

Let’s take a look at how Eco-Design, and our commitment to our Green Premium range, have helped develop our products.

For example, Acti9 Active is the all-in-one protection device which brings together an integrated Arc Fault Detection Device, Residual Current Device and Miniature Circuit Breaker, as well as inbuilt connectivity.

The multi-purpose nature of the product means a reduction in manufacturing and packaging materials, as well as emissions related to transport while delivering a cutting-edge product to customers without any form of compromise.

Broken down, our packaging consists of a minimum of 70% recycled content, made from at least 56% post-consumer recycled plastic content. The end result of this is has resulted in a 14% C02 equivalent saving on the manufacturing of the product.

Eco-Design and net-zero targets

Eco-Design is critical when it comes in making progress to meeting our targets and other environmental commitments. Plus, it also plays an important role in our ability to meet the steadily increasing expectations from customers, partners, and regulators.

Our Net-Zero targets, which have been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), include:

Running carbon-neutral operations in 2025Achieving a 25% absolute carbon reduction across our entire value chain by 2030 and becoming ‘Net-Zero ready’ in our operationsEnd-to-end carbon neutral value chain in 2040Net-Zero CO2 emissions across our entire value chain in 2050

These targets are certainly ambitious, which is why all aspects of our operations are viewed through the prism of lessening our environmental impact while continuing to provide the highest quality service and products to our customers.

Eco-Design will be a key factor in helping us achieve these, with everything from the materials we use for product packaging, to the transportation of our products optimised to avoid damage to the environment.

Building an understanding of Eco-Design

Our Eco-Design principles can only have a true impact when they are understood on an intellectual and emotional level by the teams responsible for implementing them.

To ensure our people are familiar with the importance of Eco-Design and how it fits into our wider sustainability strategy, we are committed to providing helpful, easy-to-access education and having honest, informative communication on the topic.

One key way we’re achieving this is with the upcoming launch of the Eco-Design Training Path campaign, which aims to:

Reinforce and showcase that Eco-Design is a priority for our leadershipHelp people understand our expectations on Eco-Design performance and how this will inform processes going forwardEnable teams to build a base-level understanding of the key principles of Eco-Design

The Eco-Design Training Path will be split into several different levels, allowing multiple roles, departments and audiences to develop their understanding in a way that is relevant and applicable to them.

Moving forward

We are already making great strides when it comes to implementing an Eco-Design philosophy across Schneider Electric and we understand that this is a process that will continue to evolve.

From focusing on the training and education of our people to analysing how we transport our products around the world, we are always looking back at the core principle of Eco-Design – that when we make a design choice, we aim to make the least harmful choice available for the environment with the technologies and innovations we are capable of.

Learn more about homes of the future from Schneider Electric.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, & PARIS & NEW YORK, January 11, 2024 /3BL/ – Expo City Dubai, the legacy site of Expo 2020 Dubai and the venue of the recent COP28 climate summit, has partnered with EcoVadis to assess and improve the sustainability performance of its supply chain. The announcement reflects a commitment to best practice in the field of sustainable procurement, as Expo City Dubai continues to serve as a blueprint for sustainable urban living and a people-centric city of the future.

In addition to creating efficiencies for suppliers in the onboarding, assessment, transparency and improvement processes, collaboration across EcoVadis’ global platform unlocks powerful insights and analytics that help network members accelerate on their sustainability journeys. These capabilities enhance visibility across the supply chain’s sustainability performance, resulting in a positive message toward the supplier community and providing clear direction to enable targeted improvement.

Using a holistic ratings methodology, EcoVadis rates companies’ sustainability performance on a scale of 0 to 100. The rating covers 21 sustainability criteria that are grouped into four themes based on international standards: Environment, Labor & Human Rights, Ethics, and Sustainable Procurement. With each rating and improvement cycle, they build resilience, enhance value creation, and drive positive impacts for the planet and society.

EcoVadis will provide Expo City Dubai with aggregated performance reports, as well as individual supplier reports (the “Scorecard”). Suppliers will get a clear understanding of their company’s sustainability performance with ratings on each of the four themes, including details of strengths and areas for improvement.

The benefits of the ESG assessment to the suppliers are:

Suppliers compare their company’s sustainability performance against industry and regional benchmarksSuppliers share their company’s sustainability performance with multiple clients through the EcoVadis platformSuppliers take and demonstrate action on improvement areas and collaborate with their clients using the Corrective Action Plan featureSuppliers embark on a continuous improvement journey with annual reassessments of sustainability performance and update their network of the reassessments

“Given the broad range and scope of infrastructure and services offered by Expo City Dubai, they have a tremendous opportunity to drive positive change by engaging their value chain partners through sustainable procurement and set an example for the MENA region. We are glad to be supporting them in assessing and improving supplier practices and outcomes across all the industries they touch – from hospitality, to construction, to transportation, and beyond.” said Richard Eyram, CCO of Ecovadis.

”At Expo City Dubai, we embrace sustainable best practice and believe in creating value for all stakeholders including customers, suppliers, employees, and the broader community. Partnering with EcoVadis will help us to better integrate sustainability into our partners selection decision-making process and in implementing our Sustainable Procurement strategy more broadly.” said Anis Tabka, Senior Vice President – Procurement and Contracts, Expo City Dubai.

Matt Brown, Chief Sustainability Officer, Expo City Dubai, said: “Expo City Dubai is committed to maximising its social, environmental, and economic impact, and we continue to work along the length of our supply chain to ensure sustainable best practice is adhered to. The agreement with EcoVadis is an important step in our roadmap towards achieving net zero by 2050 and a strong example of the purposeful efforts we are making to address climate change and other sustainability challenges.”

About Expo City Dubai

An inclusive, innovation-driven, people-centric city of the future and one of five hubs on the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan, Expo City Dubai is committed to maximising its positive social, environmental and economic impact.

The legacy of Expo 2020 Dubai, Expo City Dubai connects businesses, government, organisations, educational institutions, residents and visitors, working together to drive progress and create a better, more equitable, more sustainable future for all.

Discover Expo City Dubai | The Human-centric City of the Future

Press Contact: Anis Tabka, Senior Vice President- Procurement and Contracts

About EcoVadis: EcoVadis is a purpose-driven company whose mission is to provide the world’s most trusted business sustainability ratings. Businesses of all sizes rely on EcoVadis to comply with ESG regulations, reduce scope 3 emissions, monitor and improve the sustainability performance of their business and trading partners. Its expert intelligence, evidence-based ratings, actionable scorecards and benchmarks guide an improvement journey for environmental, social and ethical practices across 200 industry categories and 175 countries. Industry leaders such as Johnson & Johnson, L’Oréal, Unilever, LVMH, Bridgestone, BASF and JPMorgan are among the 125,000 businesses that collaborate with EcoVadis to drive resilience, sustainable growth and positive impact worldwide. Learn more on ecovadis.com, Twitter or LinkedIn. For solution information, contact : Antoine Martin-Regniault, Regional lead for MEA, amartinregniault@ecovadis.com

Press contact for EcoVadis: Corporate Ink

617-969-9192, ecovadis@corporateink.com

Qualcomm products mentioned within this press release are offered by Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries.

JOHANNESBURG, January 11, 2024 /3BL/ – Qualcomm Incorporated announced the launch of L2Pro Africa IP e-learning Platform, a free online training program designed to empower startups, SMEs, and researchers in Africa to protect, secure, and maximize their innovations. This program has been created in collaboration with Adams and Adams, Africa’s leading intellectual property (IP) law firm.

The L2ProAfrica platform will provide comprehensive training on intellectual property fundamentals, including patents, copyrights, trademarks, and IP integration into business models. The program draws from globally applicable IP principles developed by IP law experts for L2ProIndia and The Inventor’s Patent Academy in the US. Both courses have been authored by IP law professors and EDI experts who have made this complex topic accessible and useable by inventors.

“In Africa, where innovation and creativity are abundant, the level of patenting remains significantly lower than in other regions.”, said Sudeepto Roy, VP, Engineering, Qualcomm Incorporated, and the lead of Qualcomm’s Africa Innovation Platform initiative. “With only miniscule percentage of global patents filed in Africa, we are missing out on the immense economic potential that the continent’s ingenuity holds. This new free online training program, L2ProAfrica, is a critical step towards empowering African inventors with the knowledge and tools they need to protect their ideas and bring their inventions to life. We have seen at first hand, the impact of similar programs in Europe, US and in India, and are confident that by nurturing a culture of intellectual property protection, we can foster economic growth, create jobs, and transform Africa into a global hub of innovation.”

A crucial part of the course, authored by attorneys at Adams and Adams, focuses on individual filing procedures for patents, industrial designs and trademarks in the countries of Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, Ghana, Rwanda and within the two African patent organisations, ARIPO and OAPI. These step-by-step descriptions of per-country filing requirements empower inventors to interact effectively with IP professionals such as a IP attorneys and their respective IP offices.

Adams & Adams, is a renowned expert in IP law, comprising of a team of seasoned professionals with extensive experience in drafting, prosecuting, and managing patents, trademarks and designs. The firm’s commitment to promoting patent education and empowering inventors is evident in its numerous initiatives, including workshops, seminars, and publications designed to demystify the patenting process and encourage innovation across the continent. Adams & Adams’ expertise and dedication to fostering a thriving IP ecosystem make it an invaluable partner in this collaborative effort to enhance patent education and empower African innovators.

“We are excited to partner with Qualcomm in the L2ProAfrica program to increase awareness about the important role of IP and to improve access to the IP systems on the continent. As a result of our extensive expertise and experience in securing and protecting IP across Africa, we are able to share our knowledge on navigating the various IP systems and provide support to start ups and innovators, who make a valuable contribution to economic development of the continent. Our involvement in the program demonstrates our ongoing commitment to strengthening the IP ecosystem and realising Africa’s abundant potential,” said Nicky Garnett, Partner, Adams & Adams.

The launch of L2ProAfrica complements Qualcomm’s commitment to democratizing knowledge about IP systems and empower aspiring innovators of all backgrounds worldwide. Qualcomm has implemented similar programs in other countries and regions, including L2Pro in Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, France, and L2ProIndia (in collaboration with the Government of India and National Law University), and The Inventor’s Patent Academy in the US (in collaboration with Invent Together, an alliance aimed at ensuring broader access to the patent system and greater diversity among patent holders).

About Qualcomm 
Qualcomm is enabling a world where everyone and everything can be intelligently connected. Our one technology roadmap allows us to efficiently scale the technologies that launched the mobile revolution – including advanced connectivity, high-performance, low-power compute, on-device intelligence and more – to the next generation of connected smart devices across industries. Innovations from Qualcomm and our family of Snapdragon platforms will help enable cloud-edge convergence, transform industries, accelerate the digital economy, and revolutionize how we experience the world, for the greater good.

Qualcomm Incorporated includes our licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority of our patent portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries, substantially all of our engineering, research and development functions, and substantially all of our products and services businesses, including our QCT semiconductor business.

Qualcomm is a trademark or registered trademark of Qualcomm Incorporated. Qualcomm branded products are products of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries. Qualcomm patented technologies are licensed by Qualcomm Incorporated.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, January 11, 2024 /3BL/ — KeyBank has awarded $90,000 in grants to 10 Alaska-based organizations including the Chugach Heritage Foundation, Native Village of Afognak, United Way of Anchorage and others listed below during the second and third quarter of 2023. The grants will help each organization continue their mission of supporting programs and services for Alaska residents.

Anchorage Community Land Trust invests in commercial corridors because they believe that community wealth building starts with strong, locally owned small businesses.

The Arctic Education Foundation (AEF) is a private, nonprofit organization committed to providing support and assistance to students pursuing higher education.

The Chugach Heritage Foundation is a nonprofit that provides scholarships to Chugach Alaska Corporation Original Shareholders and Lineal Descendants and works to utilize, preserve and promote the cultural heritage of the Chugach region.

The Copper Mountain Foundation supports cultural preservation, education and career advancement for the well-being of the Native Village of Tatitlek.

The Fairbanks Resource Agency is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to assuring that Interior Alaskans with disabilities and their families have equal opportunity to be fully included in the community where education, employment, housing, recreation and family services are available in the same places, at the same times, and with the same respect afforded any member of the community.

Habitat for Humanity Anchorage believes in a future Anchorage that has broad and diverse community engagement committed to the elimination of substandard housing and the availability of safe, decent and affordable places to live for all neighbors.

The Native Village of Afognak’s mission is to embrace, protect, develop and enhance Alutiiq culture; protect their traditional use areas; and encourage unity among the Alutiiq of the Kodiak Archipelago.

The Seward Association for the Advancement of Marine Science/Alaska SeaLife Center generates and shares scientific knowledge to promote understanding and stewardship of Alaska’s marine ecosystems.

The Tanana Chief Conference (TCC) is an Alaska Native non-profit corporation, also organized as Dena’ Nena’ Henash or “Our Land Speaks.” They work towards meeting the health and social service needs of Tribal members and beneficiaries throughout the region.

The United Way of Anchorage unites caring people to give, volunteer and take action to remove barriers to opportunity and solve the community’s toughest challenges.

“Our goal at KeyBank is to establish and support safe, healthy, affordable and inclusive communities,” said Lori McCaffrey, KeyBank’s Alaska market president. “KeyBank is proud to award grants to these organizations for the work they do daily in support of Alaska residents in need.”

Learn more about KeyBank’s commitment to helping clients and communities thrive.

About KeyCorp

KeyCorp’s roots trace back nearly 200 years to Albany, New York. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Key is one of the nation’s largest bank-based financial services companies, with assets of approximately $188 billion at September 30, 2023. Key provides deposit, lending, cash management, and investment services to individuals and businesses in 15 states under the name KeyBank National Association through a network of approximately 1,000 branches and approximately 1,300 ATMs. Key also provides a broad range of sophisticated corporate and investment banking products, such as merger and acquisition advice, public and private debt and equity, syndications and derivatives to middle market companies in selected industries throughout the United States under the KeyBanc Capital Markets trade name. For more information, visit https://www.key.com/. KeyBank is Member FDIC.