Tag: 3BL

Texas Capital is proud to partner with Harmony House in their mission to empower homeless individuals on their journey to permanent housing and independence. Hear more from Meg Pohodich, CEO of Harmony House, here.

About Texas Capital

Texas Capital is a full-service financial services firm that delivers customized solutions to businesses, entrepreneurs and individual customers. Founded in 1998, the firm is headquartered in Dallas with offices in Austin, Houston, San Antonio and Fort Worth, and has built a network of clients across the country. With the ability to service clients through their entire lifecycles, Texas Capital has established commercial banking, consumer banking, investment banking and wealth management capabilities. For more information, please visit www.texascapital.com.

SAN DIEGO, September 26, 2023 /3BL/ – Today, the Identity Theft Resource Center® (ITRC), a nationally recognized nonprofit organization established to support victims of identity crime, in partnership with the Chicago-based Black Researchers Collective (BRC), released its Identity in Practice Report, which seeks to understand and examine identity crime victimization across Black communities in the United States. The project is supported by LifeLock (a part of Gen™), Synchrony and the Wells Fargo Foundation. This comes ahead of Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2023, of which the ITRC is a supporter of the annual initiative.

As part of a two-year research project, the BRC collected responses from participants who identified as Black or African American. (See the “About the Research” section below for more information.) The BRC conducted quantitative and qualitative research, including focus groups in Philadelphia, Atlanta and Chicago, in cooperation with local community groups.

Among the findings:

Most participants were victimized by strangers (56 percent), but a large minority (40 percent) said they were victimized by someone they knew, with at least 13 percent being family members.Revictimization was also prevalent in the three cities (83 percent in Atlanta and Chicago each; 86 percent in Philadelphia) where qualitative focus groups were conducted. For those who experienced financial loss, most lost at least $500.Fifty-three (53) percent of participants across the focus groups expressed emotional and psychological impacts after becoming a victim, as well as challenges accessing financial accounts, securing tax returns, obtaining identity PINs and dealing with penalties for reporting identity fraud.

DOWNLOAD THE IDENTITY IN PRACTICE REPORT

“This research is an important step in gathering more data around identity theft victimization in Black communities,” said Eva Velasquez, President and CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center. “In 2018, when the ITRC identified a dramatic increase in the number of victims from Black communities contacting the Center for assistance and searched for existing research that might indicate why, there was none. That led to this multi-year, multi-phase study.

The findings in this report show that identity theft is a growing concern and that Black communities face distinct challenges. Action must be taken to reduce victimization, particularly repeat victimization, but it is also clear that Black communities need more support to adequately address the issues surfaced here.

We are eager for the next phase of this initiative so we can begin developing and testing specific identity crime materials and advice that will lead to meaningful change.”

Other findings in the report include the following:

Twenty-five (25) percent of identity theft cases remained unresolved, revealing the prevalence of identity theft incidents lacking closure. Only 11 percent of participants reported successfully resolving their issue with minimum barriers.Of those who were a victim of an identity crime in the last five years, 25 percent were victimized during COVID-19.

Recommendations for the next steps highlighted in the research include:

The need for comprehensive financial support and recovery mechanismsEducational awareness, like government workshops focused on credit and the integration of identity theft awareness into the K-12 curriculumLegal and regulatory measures such as higher penalties for identity crimes and identity verification for tax filingSupport and empowerment, emphasizing spaces to share experiences and empathy from customer service representatives

This three-year initiative looks to develop culturally aware identity services in Black communities, including specific identity education and protection programs. The initiative is similar to a program previously funded by the U.S. Department of Justice – Office of Victims of Crime that focused on developing identity protection programs for the blind/low vision and deaf/hard of hearing communities.

The ITRC is proud to release this report before Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2023. Founded in 2004 and held each October, Cybersecurity Awareness Month is the world’s foremost initiative aimed at promoting cybersecurity awareness and best practices.

“The ITRC has been a supporter of Cybersecurity Awareness Month from the beginning,” Velasquez said. “We hope that releasing this report prior to Cybersecurity Awareness Month will help bring recognition to the lack of assistance programs around identity theft victimization that take into consideration the unique issues required to be effective in assisting Black communities.”

For Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2023, the ITRC will also release its Q3 2023 Data Breach Analysis, which looks at the data breach findings from the third quarter of the year, and 2023 Business Impact Report, which analyzes the impacts of identity crimes and cyberattacks on small businesses.

Anyone who believes they are the victim of an identity crime can contact the ITRC toll-free by phone (888.400.5530) or live chat on the company website www.idtheftcenter.org.

About the Research

In the spring of 2023, the Black Researchers Collective (BRC) conducted six focus groups – two in each city – with people who both self-identified as Black and reported being a victim of an identity crime across three major cities in the Midwest, East Coast and the South. Across the focus groups, BRC met with a total of 55 participants, the average age of whom was 44 years old. Although the age profiles were fairly balanced across all three cities, most focus group participants (82 percent) were under the age of 55. The majority of participants who participated in the focus groups were cisgender women (71 percent), while 29 percent of participants were cisgender men. Most of the focus group participants (80 percent) had household incomes under $75,000, and over half (56 percent) made under $50,000 a year despite over half of the sample also being college-educated with degrees (53 percent). The majority of participants (71 percent) also experienced what BRC defined as compounding factors, meaning that in addition to being a victim of an identity crime, they were also experiencing one or more of the following factors while also experiencing victimization: recently justice-involved, recently homeless, recently housing insecure (moving more than two or more times in a calendar year; spend more than 35 percent of income on housing), or had at least one minor (dependent) in their household they care for.

About the Identity Theft Resource Center

Founded in 1999, the Identity Theft Resource Center® (ITRC) is a national nonprofit organization established to empower and guide consumers, victims, business and government to minimize risk and mitigate the impact of identity compromise and crime. Through public and private support, the ITRC provides no-cost victim assistance and consumer education through its website live chat idtheftcenter.org and toll-free phone number 888.400.5530. The ITRC also equips consumers and businesses with information about recent data breaches through its data breach tracking tool, notified. The ITRC offers help to specific populations, including the deaf/hard of hearing and blind/low vision communities. 

Media Contact 
Identity Theft Resource Center     
Alex Achten     
Director of Communications & Media Relations      
888.400.5530 Ext. 3611     
media@idtheftcenter.org   

“Action Against Hunger is supporting the construction and generation of common cooking pots as a community tool not only in the face of the response we have experienced but also in preparation for the emergency that El Niño Global may generate,” mentioned the director of the NGO in Peru, America Arias.

Read more on La Prensa Latina. 

Otis colleagues in Malaysia recently hosted a Kids Safety Ambassador Program in partnership with its customer, Angsana Johor Bahru Mall, and local government authorities. The exciting program taught local children escalator and elevator safety tips through fun animations, quizzes and coloring contests.

One of the highlights of the event was incorporating the Otis “Little Engineers” STEM volunteer program, which gave the children an opportunity to build miniature elevator models alongside Otis volunteers.

Special thanks to Otis volunteers for their efforts and making this event a success as they help inspire the next generation of young innovators!

Click here to learn more about how Otis is working to encourage early STEM learning through volunteerism as we work towards 500,000 volunteer hours by 2030.

Welcome to the forefront of corporate citizenship, where the Civic 50, an initiative by Points of Light, stands as a beacon for businesses. For the past 11 years, Points of Light has recognized the 50 most community-minded companies through a rigorous annual survey. Only a few companies, including Citi and Hasbro, have been honored every year.

For honorees, it’s not just a badge of recognition but a strategic advantage, offering insights into where they stand relative to competitors and how to enhance their social impact. And for those businesses yet to participate, it serves as a blueprint for how to align their time, talent, and resources for impactful social change within both their operations and communities.

We invited Kevin Colman, Senior Director of Global Philanthropy and Social Impact at Hasbro, and Brandee McHale, Head of Community Investing and Development at Citi and President of Citi Foundation, to share practical advice and examples for how leading companies embed social responsibility and community impact into their business strategies and cultures.

Listen for insights on:

Connecting highly innovative social impact initiatives to business valuesSupporting grantees in the impact data collection processCompleting the Civic 50 survey — and what you have to gain from submitting it

Listen to the full episode and others here.

Scaling e-mobility technologies more efficiently is critical to accelerating widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EV) and reducing carbon emissions worldwide. Fortunately, because of hardware and software innovations, the future of EVs and securing a healthier planet is closer than ever.

Keysight recently sponsored an executive briefing paper by MIT Technology Review Insights about how innovation will fuel e-mobility adoption.

Here are three solutions to some of today’s most complex electric vehicle (EV) adoption challenges.

1. Partnerships form to solve EV electrical grid power and charging station challenges

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) predicts a worldwide increase of nearly 50% in electricity consumption by 2050, primarily due to the rising adoption of electric vehicles.

Crucial to EV adoption success is advancing technology and standards to handle the expected high demand for electrical-grid power and charging stations. As electric vehicle adoptions accelerate, organizations are forming mutually beneficial partnerships and co-innovating to meet evolving technology and standards to better ensure a robust, connected EV infrastructure and sustainable e-mobility ecosystem.

Two other significant hurdles to EV adoption include expanding a vehicle’s driving range and battery capacity. A vehicle’s range depends on the size of its battery and how efficiently the car uses that energy.

Solving these EV challenges often starts with test and measurement hardware and software innovations.

2. Use an EV emulator to verify and ensure charging interoperability

Among the most significant EV charging problems is poor interoperability. The failure of an electric vehicle to properly communicate with a particular charging station can adversely impact a driver’s experience, especially when compared to how easily motorists can access traditional gas stations.

For years, evaluating interoperability required connecting a physical vehicle with a physical charging stationThis approach was time-consuming and made it difficult for engineers to troubleshoot the causes of errors

One of today’s solutions to interoperability challenges uses a sophisticated EV testing system to emulate an electric vehicle or a charging station or as a “person-in-the-middle” tester to verify communications between an EV and an EVSE.

A charging discovery system monitors the communication and power flow in a virtual or lab test environment. The ability to check the status of a charging station in real-time allows engineers to assess charging quality, identify potential areas for errors, and analyze root causes.

3. Accurately measure EV battery cell self-discharge in minutes with a self-discharge analyzer

Engineers who design battery-powered devices must know the probable self-discharge rate of the cells they use. Self-discharge is the rate at which a lithium-ion cell’s open-circuit voltage decreases over time when not connected. This information enables engineers to calculate the maximum range of an EV.

In the past, measuring a cell’s self-discharge involved placing a battery on a shelf and waiting for it to discharge completely.

Lithium cells take a long time to discharge on their own. As a result, finding a defective cell by looking at how much it discharges can take days or weeks.

To solve battery cell discharge problems, today’s engineers increasingly rely on direct self-discharge measurements using a self-discharge analyzer. These devices can accurately measure the self-discharge current of lithium-ion cells in minutes or hours instead of taking weeks or months.

Policy changes and consumer demand continue to accelerate the EV future

Governments worldwide are implementing policies that support the development and adoption of EVs. For example, California’s Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) regulation requires manufacturers to sell increasing percentages of zero-emission heavy-duty trucks.

Evolving consumer demand is also helping make e-mobility the norm. According to the consulting firm AutoPacific, consumer demand in the U.S. increased to 5.6% of total light vehicle sales in 2022 compared to 3.3% in 2021. One reason for this boost is that consumers seek eco-friendly alternatives to traditional vehicles, which contribute approximately one-quarter of all energy-related carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere.

With the right scalable software platform, engineers and business leaders can harness the benefits of enhanced operational efficiency to tackle the growing electric vehicle design, test, and measurement complexities.

View the complete MIT report

Scaling e-mobility technologies more efficiently is critical to accelerating widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EV) and reducing carbon emissions worldwide. Fortunately, because of hardware and software innovations, the future of EVs and securing a healthier planet is closer than ever.

Keysight recently sponsored an executive briefing paper by MIT Technology Review Insights about how innovation will fuel e-mobility adoption.

Here are three solutions to some of today’s most complex electric vehicle (EV) adoption challenges.

1. Partnerships form to solve EV electrical grid power and charging station challenges

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) predicts a worldwide increase of nearly 50% in electricity consumption by 2050, primarily due to the rising adoption of electric vehicles.

Crucial to EV adoption success is advancing technology and standards to handle the expected high demand for electrical-grid power and charging stations. As electric vehicle adoptions accelerate, organizations are forming mutually beneficial partnerships and co-innovating to meet evolving technology and standards to better ensure a robust, connected EV infrastructure and sustainable e-mobility ecosystem.

Two other significant hurdles to EV adoption include expanding a vehicle’s driving range and battery capacity. A vehicle’s range depends on the size of its battery and how efficiently the car uses that energy.

Solving these EV challenges often starts with test and measurement hardware and software innovations.

2. Use an EV emulator to verify and ensure charging interoperability

Among the most significant EV charging problems is poor interoperability. The failure of an electric vehicle to properly communicate with a particular charging station can adversely impact a driver’s experience, especially when compared to how easily motorists can access traditional gas stations.

For years, evaluating interoperability required connecting a physical vehicle with a physical charging stationThis approach was time-consuming and made it difficult for engineers to troubleshoot the causes of errors

One of today’s solutions to interoperability challenges uses a sophisticated EV testing system to emulate an electric vehicle or a charging station or as a “person-in-the-middle” tester to verify communications between an EV and an EVSE.

A charging discovery system monitors the communication and power flow in a virtual or lab test environment. The ability to check the status of a charging station in real-time allows engineers to assess charging quality, identify potential areas for errors, and analyze root causes.

3. Accurately measure EV battery cell self-discharge in minutes with a self-discharge analyzer

Engineers who design battery-powered devices must know the probable self-discharge rate of the cells they use. Self-discharge is the rate at which a lithium-ion cell’s open-circuit voltage decreases over time when not connected. This information enables engineers to calculate the maximum range of an EV.

In the past, measuring a cell’s self-discharge involved placing a battery on a shelf and waiting for it to discharge completely.

Lithium cells take a long time to discharge on their own. As a result, finding a defective cell by looking at how much it discharges can take days or weeks.

To solve battery cell discharge problems, today’s engineers increasingly rely on direct self-discharge measurements using a self-discharge analyzer. These devices can accurately measure the self-discharge current of lithium-ion cells in minutes or hours instead of taking weeks or months.

Policy changes and consumer demand continue to accelerate the EV future

Governments worldwide are implementing policies that support the development and adoption of EVs. For example, California’s Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) regulation requires manufacturers to sell increasing percentages of zero-emission heavy-duty trucks.

Evolving consumer demand is also helping make e-mobility the norm. According to the consulting firm AutoPacific, consumer demand in the U.S. increased to 5.6% of total light vehicle sales in 2022 compared to 3.3% in 2021. One reason for this boost is that consumers seek eco-friendly alternatives to traditional vehicles, which contribute approximately one-quarter of all energy-related carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere.

With the right scalable software platform, engineers and business leaders can harness the benefits of enhanced operational efficiency to tackle the growing electric vehicle design, test, and measurement complexities.

View the complete MIT report

Logitech Blog

Adora Nwodo is the definition of versatility. She’s a software engineer at Microsoft, founder of the nonprofit NexaScale, an author, a content creator, and a DJ. Adora grew up in Lagos, Nigeria. When she was six years old, her family got a computer and she found her calling. Today she is using her skills, experience, and interest in technology to help build the metaverse. As this month’s Logitech MX #WomenWhoMaster feature, Adora shares how staying true to herself led to turning her lifelong passion into a career in coding.

Q: When did you first become passionate about technology?

When I was six years old my dad brought a computer to the house. We all used it. That’s when I started doing things on the computer. I used CorelDRAW to create cards — very ugly ones — but still, I was creating something. I used PowerPoint to create movie screenplays and PageMaker to create posters and graphics. I was able to learn and have fun. Then we got internet access and I found Phoebe.net. That’s how I got interested in programming. I thought it was cool to build things. The first thing I built was a simple calculator that could add, subtract, divide, and multiply. At that point, I knew I wanted to be a programmer.

Q: Was your family supportive of your interests?

My older brothers and mom supported me, but my dad wasn’t having it. He wanted me to study law. But when I was 12, I chose to major in STEM. I just really wanted to do something I liked.

“I’ve always thought that if you’re able to combine talent with a genuine love for something, success will follow.”

Eventually, my dad accepted that I had chosen STEM. But he wanted me to be a computer engineer. I said, “No, I’ve done my research. Computer engineering is going to push me to hardware. I don’t want to do hardware, I want to write code, I want to do computer science.” I had to convince the man that this is what I want to do and why.

Q: What is your job and how did you get there?

My first job was a software development internship at an advertising agency during university. After my internship, I stayed on and worked until I graduated and one year post-graduation. Then in 2019, I was hired by Microsoft.

At my job now, I build mixed reality on the cloud. Essentially, I’m one of the people building the metaverse. That involves software development and cloud engineering. Security is important as well so sometimes I have to do some security compliance work.

Q: How do you bring your whole self to work?

For me, bringing my whole self to work means bringing everything to give my best at my job, advocating for myself, and making sure that I am doing my best to help others. It’s important to me to not just help others acquire technical skills but also be a mentor and advocate for them.

Q: What are the top STEM skills the next generation should learn?

Pay attention to emerging technologies. One of the most important skills is cybersecurity. A lot of businesses are on the internet and there are a lot of threats to them. So it makes a lot of sense for businesses to invest in cybersecurity and investing in cybersecurity requires more talent. AI skills are also important because so much of the world is moving towards AI and machine learning. They should also learn cloud engineering skills and blockchain skills.

“Digital skills aren’t just for traditional tech roles. The next generation can go beyond the technical skills in tech and be social media managers, SEO experts, product designers, product managers, growth managers, or marketers.”

Engineers are building all these really amazing things and we need people to sell them. Getting all those roles requires some digital skills.

Q: What inspired you to start the nonprofit NexaScale?

There’s a very common problem I’ve noticed with entry level techies. Many of them have acquired a lot of training from different organizations and they have certifications to prove it, but not all of them are able to get jobs after. I’ve met people that have up to four certifications in one field, but had to get a job doing something else because that’s where they saw opportunity and they needed the money. The main goal in NexaScale is to create programs that help people start and scale their STEM careers. We have partners for internship and job placement programs, open-source contributions, and hackathons. I wanted to create something that would allow people to build projects, so that they could have rich portfolios that can increase their employability.

Q: What makes NexaScale different from other tech programs?

We aren’t teaching people tech skills, many people do that already. Some of our members pursue internships and other entry level opportunities through our programs. We also offer courses to help those who want to grow in their careers. We are trying to help them contribute to the digital technology space with the skills they’ve already acquired and we are constantly seeking partnerships to help us do this for everyone.

“I am a woman in STEM and it is my dream that other women build STEM careers too.”

Another arm of NexaScale involves going to different high schools and talking to the young girls there about STEM careers. With the consent of their parents and the school board, we are also creating STEM mentorship programs for these girls so that they have the support they need to start their own careers when they get older.

Q: Imagine that your great-granddaughter chose the same career as you. She’s graduating college in the year 2100. What do you want her future to look like?

Whatever the technology landscape is, I hope she is building it and excels in whatever technology field that she finds herself in. I want her to be a leader in her space, possibly involved in communities as well, and giving back and paying it forward because that’s something that I did and I’m doing.

Connect with Adora on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. Learn more about her work on her website or buy her books Cloud Engineering for Beginners and Beginning Azure DevOps.

Women Who Master puts a spotlight on women who have made outstanding contributions to STEM fields. The goal of the series is to celebrate those contributions, inspire future leaders, and help close the gender gap in technology.

Logitech Blog

Adora Nwodo is the definition of versatility. She’s a software engineer at Microsoft, founder of the nonprofit NexaScale, an author, a content creator, and a DJ. Adora grew up in Lagos, Nigeria. When she was six years old, her family got a computer and she found her calling. Today she is using her skills, experience, and interest in technology to help build the metaverse. As this month’s Logitech MX #WomenWhoMaster feature, Adora shares how staying true to herself led to turning her lifelong passion into a career in coding.

Q: When did you first become passionate about technology?

When I was six years old my dad brought a computer to the house. We all used it. That’s when I started doing things on the computer. I used CorelDRAW to create cards — very ugly ones — but still, I was creating something. I used PowerPoint to create movie screenplays and PageMaker to create posters and graphics. I was able to learn and have fun. Then we got internet access and I found Phoebe.net. That’s how I got interested in programming. I thought it was cool to build things. The first thing I built was a simple calculator that could add, subtract, divide, and multiply. At that point, I knew I wanted to be a programmer.

Q: Was your family supportive of your interests?

My older brothers and mom supported me, but my dad wasn’t having it. He wanted me to study law. But when I was 12, I chose to major in STEM. I just really wanted to do something I liked.

“I’ve always thought that if you’re able to combine talent with a genuine love for something, success will follow.”

Eventually, my dad accepted that I had chosen STEM. But he wanted me to be a computer engineer. I said, “No, I’ve done my research. Computer engineering is going to push me to hardware. I don’t want to do hardware, I want to write code, I want to do computer science.” I had to convince the man that this is what I want to do and why.

Q: What is your job and how did you get there?

My first job was a software development internship at an advertising agency during university. After my internship, I stayed on and worked until I graduated and one year post-graduation. Then in 2019, I was hired by Microsoft.

At my job now, I build mixed reality on the cloud. Essentially, I’m one of the people building the metaverse. That involves software development and cloud engineering. Security is important as well so sometimes I have to do some security compliance work.

Q: How do you bring your whole self to work?

For me, bringing my whole self to work means bringing everything to give my best at my job, advocating for myself, and making sure that I am doing my best to help others. It’s important to me to not just help others acquire technical skills but also be a mentor and advocate for them.

Q: What are the top STEM skills the next generation should learn?

Pay attention to emerging technologies. One of the most important skills is cybersecurity. A lot of businesses are on the internet and there are a lot of threats to them. So it makes a lot of sense for businesses to invest in cybersecurity and investing in cybersecurity requires more talent. AI skills are also important because so much of the world is moving towards AI and machine learning. They should also learn cloud engineering skills and blockchain skills.

“Digital skills aren’t just for traditional tech roles. The next generation can go beyond the technical skills in tech and be social media managers, SEO experts, product designers, product managers, growth managers, or marketers.”

Engineers are building all these really amazing things and we need people to sell them. Getting all those roles requires some digital skills.

Q: What inspired you to start the nonprofit NexaScale?

There’s a very common problem I’ve noticed with entry level techies. Many of them have acquired a lot of training from different organizations and they have certifications to prove it, but not all of them are able to get jobs after. I’ve met people that have up to four certifications in one field, but had to get a job doing something else because that’s where they saw opportunity and they needed the money. The main goal in NexaScale is to create programs that help people start and scale their STEM careers. We have partners for internship and job placement programs, open-source contributions, and hackathons. I wanted to create something that would allow people to build projects, so that they could have rich portfolios that can increase their employability.

Q: What makes NexaScale different from other tech programs?

We aren’t teaching people tech skills, many people do that already. Some of our members pursue internships and other entry level opportunities through our programs. We also offer courses to help those who want to grow in their careers. We are trying to help them contribute to the digital technology space with the skills they’ve already acquired and we are constantly seeking partnerships to help us do this for everyone.

“I am a woman in STEM and it is my dream that other women build STEM careers too.”

Another arm of NexaScale involves going to different high schools and talking to the young girls there about STEM careers. With the consent of their parents and the school board, we are also creating STEM mentorship programs for these girls so that they have the support they need to start their own careers when they get older.

Q: Imagine that your great-granddaughter chose the same career as you. She’s graduating college in the year 2100. What do you want her future to look like?

Whatever the technology landscape is, I hope she is building it and excels in whatever technology field that she finds herself in. I want her to be a leader in her space, possibly involved in communities as well, and giving back and paying it forward because that’s something that I did and I’m doing.

Connect with Adora on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. Learn more about her work on her website or buy her books Cloud Engineering for Beginners and Beginning Azure DevOps.

Women Who Master puts a spotlight on women who have made outstanding contributions to STEM fields. The goal of the series is to celebrate those contributions, inspire future leaders, and help close the gender gap in technology.

KANSAS CITY, Mo., September 26, 2023 /3BL/ – Across the vast global life sciences supply chain, data, digitalization, automation, and artificial intelligence are telling complex and compelling stories about how we move vital vaccines, therapies and cures to patients. Are we ready to listen?

The answer, found in CRB’s newest survey-based Horizons: Life Sciences report, is an emphatic “yes” as the industry embraces data analytics, automation and AI technologies to streamline how groundbreaking products scale quickly and efficiently from R&D to commercial production. The report, released today as a free download, also explores shifts within mRNA technologies, cell and gene therapies and antibody drug conjugates as manufacturers place increased focus on increasing patient access to groundbreaking therapies.

Underpinning the industry’s transformation, the report finds, is its progress along the digital plant maturity model, with companies of all sizes adopting an agility mindset. Digitalization investments, the survey data finds, are driving advances in drug discovery, quality control and regulatory compliance.

CRB’s Horizons report is fueled by the survey responses of more than 500 industry leaders representing North American, European, and multinational companies. In his executive summary exploring the industry’s renewed focus on patient access, CRB Vice President of Life Sciences Noel Maestre offers a pointed prescription: “The distance between an emerging therapy with regulatory approval and mainstream access for the patients who need it remains wide in many cases. For that to change,” he writes, “funding systems designed to support ongoing treatment need to prepare for a future of one-time curative therapies. The science behind these new advanced modalities is way too promising and can only be held back for so long by financial hurdles until the floodgates finally break wide open.”

The report also features a Q-A session with Max Moore, Vice President of Manufacturing and Operations at Ionis Pharmaceuticals, who describes how the company’s patient-centered focus drives his teams and the firm’s growth: “By inviting patients to the table (figuratively and literally), that’s what we do: we generate stronger engagement from our employees, who see meaning in their work and feel loyal to our mission in a way that no benefits package or salary bracket could foster on its own.”

Of the Horizons report’s 506 respondents, 93 percent report their companies are implementing strategies to collect, analyze and act on data. More than three quarters of respondents said plans were in place to use AI tools within the next two years to help speed their products to market – a level of investment that brightly underlines the big bet C-suite leaders are placing on digital transformation. Many companies are using AI, for instance, to design molecules, which reduces safety risks and regulatory complexity.

“Adopting a mindset of manufacturing in the early stages can lead to significantly faster technology transfers and reduced time for regulatory filings,” Niranjan Kulkarni, CRB’s Senior Director of Consulting Services, and Ryan Thompson, Senior Specialist for Industry 4.0, write in the report. “Further, with the flexibility and scalability of cloud and software-as-a-service offerings it’s often cheaper to take this approach versus developing complicated, paper-based data collection programs and incurring the associated technical debt.”

The report also provides deep, prescriptive analysis on additional critical industry trendlines, including:

Coding RNA technologies: While nearly all surveyed mRNA experts pointed to the potential of mRNA for therapeutic vaccines, vaccine developers continue to embrace coding RNA to prevent infectious diseases. David Estape, a CRB Senior Fellow, Biopharmaceutical Process, joins Steve Attig, Fellow, Bioprocess Design, in reporting that despite universally high expectations for the development and production of therapeutic vaccines, significant differences exist between U.S. and European producers in their approaches.

Cell therapies: More than three-quarters of respondents reported having a cell therapy product in their pipeline, stamping this submarket – once the focus of boutique researchers – as a clear industry mainstay. Breakthroughs are happening rapidly, and the report’s authors explore the role that gene editing plays in getting more therapies to the patients who need them, more quickly.

Gene therapies: Survey data reveals a curious split affecting gene therapy’s place in the broader life sciences industry. As Peter Walters, CRB’s Fellow, Advanced Therapies, writes, some companies are pulling back, some are investing in stable producer cell lines to bring viral-based products to market, while a third group “has its sights set on emerging non-viral manufacturing methods to move them from the research bench to the bedside.” With more than 20 years in pharmaceutical process and facility design, Walters offers an insider’s perspective on the effect these paths have on manufacturers, contractors and, ultimately, patients.

Antibody-drug conjugates: The exciting ascendancy of antibody-drug conjugates is tempered by the difficulties of manufacturing these highly toxic drugs. CRB chemical engineering expert Ashley Harp analyzes what ADC developers and manufacturers are doing to navigate those challenges, shining a light on how new purification technologies—like continuous chromatography—promise to reduce solvent use while accelerating production.

Drug product manufacturing: Luke Stockhausen, a CRB process engineer with deep experience in parenteral and biopharmaceutical manufacturing, explores the impact of the recent EudraLex Annex 1 deadline on European and U.S. producers, and finds divergent geographic approaches to comply with the new regulations – including a broad reluctance by the European cohort to push forward with new technologies before they understand how Annex 1 plays out.

About CRB

CRB is a leading provider of sustainable engineering, architecture, construction, and consulting solutions to the food and beverage and life sciences industries. Led by its innovative ONEsolution™ service, CRB provides successful integrated project delivery for clients demanding high-quality solutions, on time and within budget. The company’s more than 1,500 employees provide world-class solutions that drive success and positive change for clients, people, and communities. CRB is a privately held company with a rich history of serving clients throughout the world, consistently striving for the highest standard of technical knowledge, creativity, and execution.

Media Contacts:

Chris Clark

Director of Communications, CRB

816-674-0572

chris.clark@crbgroup.com

Bonnie Quintanilla

Clarity Quest

877-887-7611

bonnie@clarityqst.com