Category: Asean

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Norway makes fishing vessel data accessible to the world

Norway to become first European nation to share its vessel tracking information on Global Fishing Watch map

Lisbon, Portugal, June 30, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Norway has become the first country in Europe to partner with Global Fishing Watch—an international nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing ocean governance through increased transparency—and will share its vessel tracking data for the Norwegian fishing fleet on the organization’s public map.

The announcement was made at the second United Nations Ocean Conference in Lisbon, Portugal where countries from around the world are gathering to mobilize action and innovative solutions to some of the ocean’s most pressing threats.

Under the memorandum of understanding, which was signed between Global Fishing Watch and Norway’s Directorate of Fisheries, Norway has agreed to share the vessel monitoring system data for vessels 15 meters or more in length on the Global Fishing Watch map.

“Wild living marine resources are a common good and belong to everyone,” said Frank Bakke-Jensen, director general of the Directorate of Fisheries in Norway. “When a commercial fishing fleet is licensed to utilize this common good, we are obliged and committed to share fisheries data documenting the environmental footprint of commercial fishing activity. We hope that others will follow this approach and share more fisheries data.”

“We believe that improved transparency of fishing data is necessary to reduce the risk of illegal fisheries and set the groundwork for improved compliance,” said Thord Monsen, head of monitoring, control and surveillance at the Directorate of Fisheries.

The incorporated data will span a total of approximately 600 vessels—all vessels 15 meters in length or more predominantly operating in Norwegian waters and the northeast Atlantic Ocean. Norway is currently expanding its VMS requirement to include all commercial fishing vessels, as well as increasing the frequency that vessels need to report their position—a requirement which will be implemented over the coming years in a phased approach.

“We’re seeing more and more countries embrace fisheries transparency, demonstrating their understanding of just how essential public data is to the effective management of fishing activity,” said Tony Long, chief executive officer of Global Fishing Watch. “Norway has taken a leading global role in the sustainable ocean economy and is using its experience and expertise to promote better ocean governance. By bringing its fishing fleet into our map, Norway is paving the way for other countries, including developed nations, to follow suit.”

Since October 2019 Norway has shared its VMS tracking information on the Fisheries Directorate website in support of transparency and as part of an effort to make government data public whenever possible. The partnership with Global Fishing Watch will help make its vessel tracking data more accessible to a wider range of stakeholders—a substantial benefit in the sphere of international fisheries management.

With a coastline of more than 83,000 kilometers, including islands and fjords, the fishing sector is a key element to Norway’s economic, social and cultural identity. Norway is the second largest exporter of fish and fish products by value in the world and is home to some of the most productive marine areas in the world. An influential voice when it comes to fisheries issues and a leader on blue economy issues, Norway’s decision to partner with Global Fishing Watch and amplify its vessel tracking data demonstrates how fisheries transparency can be adopted in countries where fishing represents such a significant part of the economy.

“Data can be a powerful tool in protecting the environment, as we have seen in our work on climate change. The more data we have about the ocean, the better we can protect it and the people that rely on it. Norway’s commitment to making fishing vessel data accessible to the world – via Global Fishing Watch – is a great step forward for ocean transparency,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, Founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and ​UN Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions. “Their commitment to data-sharing is a model other countries can follow, and it will help demonstrate the effectiveness – environmentally and economically – of sustainable fishing.”

Norway joins a growing number of progressive countries from around the world that are dedicated to advancing, and benefiting from, fisheries transparency, which include: Benin, Brazil, Belize, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, Peru and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

Global Fishing Watch is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing ocean governance through increased transparency of human activity at sea. By creating and publicly sharing map visualizations, data and analysis tools, we aim to enable scientific research and transform the way our ocean is managed. We believe human activity at sea should be public knowledge in order to safeguard the global ocean for the common good of all. globalfishingwatch.org

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Sarah Bladen
Global Fishing Watch
+44 79 20333832
sarah@globalfishingwatch.org
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The European Union supports Dominica’s efforts to become climate-resilient

Roseau, June 30, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Financial Secretary of the Commonwealth of Dominica had a discussion with the European Union (EU) dignitaries in Brussels, Belgium, on 23 June 23, to discuss Dominica’s journey to becoming the world’s first climate-resilient nation.

Denise Edwards represented the country during the discussions with the European Member of Parliament (MEP) – Stéphane Bijoux, and the new MEP from Martinique Max Orville.

MEP Stéphane Bijoux lauded Dominica’s efforts to become a climate-resilient nation and to promote eco-tourism. He also assured support for the country as it forges ahead with a number of initiatives that will enable it to realise this goal and establish resilient infrastructure to withstand natural catastrophes.

Furthermore, Bijoux asserted, “Climate change is a severe threat that impacts everyone regardless of creed or stature – sadly, Small Island Developing States such as Dominica are bearing the brunt of catastrophic weather patterns. It is our responsibility to partner with developing countries as solidarity is needed in the fight against climate change.”

Dominica has garnered appreciation for promoting as well as encouraging sustainable tourism and preserving its natural assets. The country has been at the frontline of the war against natural disasters, including hurricanes, tropical storms, and cyclones. Additionally, Bijoux mentioned that the country is recovering very well from the global crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dominica has been shattered by various hurricanes and tropical storms, and the country has been building back better after 90 percent of its infrastructure was devastated by Tropical Storm Erika (2015) and Hurricane Maria (2017).

The EU provided €8.9 million in financial assistance under the European Development Fund (EDF) to Dominica at the time Tropical Storm Erika hit the country in 2015. In addition to that, the European Commission’s Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid department also provided €250,000 in emergency humanitarian aid to Dominica following the severe destruction caused by Hurricane Maria, which devastated the island in 2017.

Further, Dominica has also signed the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), which emphasises development cooperation.

The island nation of Dominica is making the right strides in its quest to become a climate-resilient nation. The construction of its geothermal plant is almost complete.

The plant will enable the country to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels.

In 1992 the United Nations made an urgent call to all countries to tackle climate change amongst other issues and, in 2015 the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were developed.

Dominica is already on its way to achieving six of the 17 SDGs for its nation, these include No Poverty; Good Health and Wellbeing; Affordable and Clean Energy; Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure; Sustainable Cities and Communities, and Climate Action.

As hurricanes become more frequent and more intense, Dominica and other small islands are seeking new opportunities which lie in decarbonisation and renewable energy technologies to aid more sustainable forms of tourism and digitisation of the economy.

The country, which can be counted among the few nations that can be termed “carbon neutral” is enhancing its resilience agenda by utilising resources on the island to generate energy.

The geothermal plant will ensure that the country is powered by renewable energy, reducing energy costs and carbon emissions while simultaneously creating jobs.

Along with the geothermal plant, the island is ensuring that all infrastructure on the island is developed with sustainability and resilience in mind – all buildings from homes to hospitals, are built to withstand weather disasters.

Dominica’s tourism sector is also witnessing a green revitalisation, thanks to the introduction and construction of boutique environmentally sensitive villas and resorts.

As the country moves towards complete climate resilience, visitors can be confident that their trip helps preserve and boost the environment. Those who fall in love with the country can be pleased to know that they can make it their ideal second home.

PR Dominica
Commonwealth of Dominica
001 (767) 266 3919
cbiusecretary@dominica.gov.dm
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Business School Graduates Enter White-Hot Job Market as Employers Signal Growth, Confidence in Their Credentials

MBA and business master’s degrees remain hot commodity despite recession fears and COVID challenges

RESTON, Va., June 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), a global association of leading graduate business schools, today released its annual hiring report, the GMAC Corporate Recruiters Survey – 2022 Summary Report. The report explores the state of employer demand for graduate business school talent (MBA and business master’s degree recipients) in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and includes responses from nearly 1,000 corporate recruiters and staffing firms around the world. While rising inflation and the war in Ukraine were just at the onset during the time when the survey was conducted in February and March 2022, hiring projections of graduate management education (GME) graduates remain bullish this year, with 92 percent of corporate recruiters expecting to hire newly minted MBAs. Promisingly, 2 in 3 responding corporate recruiters describe the current direction of their organization as expanding or growing (67%) and a similar proportion plan to increase their overall headcount (65%). Also, most recruiters (63%) project that demand for new business school talent will increase in the next five years, with business master’s hiring intention the highest among recruiters for East and Southeast Asia and Middle East companies.

“The latest GMAC findings of the Corporate Recruiters Survey show that nearly 9 out of 10 corporate recruiters feel confident or highly confident in the ability of business schools to prepare students to be successful in their organizations,” said Sangeet Chowfla, president and CEO of GMAC. “That’s an extraordinary figure. It shows that despite the pandemic and the limitations it brought on student mobility, public and mental health, and remote learning, business schools managed to find ways to build an impressive cohort whom corporate recruiters and staffing agencies worldwide continue to bank on as prime sources for talent.”

Other Key Findings

MBA starting salaries continue to provide a premium and Business master’s median starting salaries are on the rise

Recruiter responses suggest companies in the United States plan to offer increased starting salaries to business master’s graduates in 2022 compared to last year. In addition, median MBA starting salary levels eclipse those being offered to bachelor’s graduates by 22 percent to 40 percent across the world regions for which there is sufficient sample to report. Median starting salaries are largest in the United States, where the median starting salary offered to new MBA hires this year ─ US$115,000 — has remained unchanged for the past three survey years. In the current inflationary environment, the relative stability of median MBA salaries suggested by the survey findings means the real value of MBA salaries is declining.

In a likely response to combat the effect of inflation, corporate recruiters look to benefits packages—including educational assistance—to meet the changing needs of new graduates. Educational assistance like tuition reimbursement and scholarships has become an increasingly common benefit, with 54 percent offering it in 2022—up from 35 percent last year.

U.S. international hiring bounced back to pre-pandemic levels with potential of continued growth for 2022

The world regions with the highest percentage of recruiters affirming that they plan to hire international candidates in 2022 are the Middle East (52%) and Western Europe (40%). In the United States, this year’s survey results suggest an improving situation for international MBA and business master’s graduates. Looking back at last year’s actual hiring, 43 percent of U.S. recruiters confirmed they hired international talent in 2021—a bounce back from 35 percent in 2020 and 41 percent in 2019. In this year’s survey, 56 percent of U.S. recruiters say that they either plan to make international hires in 2022 (35%) or are willing to (21%), up from 48 percent that said the same in the 2021 survey. Furthermore, 83 percent of U.S. tech companies say they either plan to make international hires in 2022 (62%) or are willing to (21%)—the most of any U.S. industry.

“As travel restrictions ease around the world and student mobility continues to bounce back, we are thrilled to have more international students back on campuses across the country. Our mission is to help our students find success and our graduates reap the benefits of the strong job market in the U.S.,” said incoming GMAC Board Member and Dean of Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business Isabelle Bajeux-Besnainou.

Global corporate recruiters appear to be becoming more accepting of online degrees—with the noteworthy exception of the United States

The percentage of global recruiters who view graduates of online and in-person GME programs equally increased from 34 percent in 2021 to 60 percent in 2022, suggesting a significant growth in the acceptance of online programs. However, the notable outlier is corporate recruiters in the United States—where the lion’s share of the world’s online MBA enrollments are. Among responding U.S. corporate recruiters, just 29 percent agree that they view graduates of online and in-person GME programs equally, the lowest of any world region and down from 33 percent of respondents from the 2021 sample.

“The growth of online MBA programs has been so strong in the United States that for the first time, the total number of enrollments in online programs exceeded that of full-time, in-person MBA enrollments in the 2020-21 academic year, according to data from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB),” said Sabrina White, vice president of school and industry engagement at GMAC. “Business schools are presented a unique opportunity to align expectations and outcomes for graduates and employers as online delivery emerges from the pandemic as an important part of the graduate management education industry.”

About the Report
First launched more than two decades ago, the Corporate Recruiters Survey of 2022 was conducted by GMAC, together with survey partners EFMD and the MBA Career Services and Employer Alliance (MBA CSEA), in association with the career services offices at participating graduate business schools worldwide. In a change from previous years, GMAC Research worked with a market research firm to recruit additional participants to make the overall sample more globally representative. In total, 941 respondents from 38 countries completed this survey, including 539 corporate recruiters and 402 from staffing firms. Recognizing that nearly all responses in previous years came from corporate recruiters, only 2022 responses from corporate recruiters were leveraged to create multi-year comparisons. However, the robust sample of corporate recruiters and staffing firms allowed us to develop geographical snapshots in 2022 that were less apparent in previous years.

About GMAC

The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) is a mission-driven association of leading graduate business schools worldwide. Founded in 1953, GMAC provides world-class research, industry conferences, recruiting tools, and assessments for the graduate management education industry, as well as resources, events, and services that help guide candidates through their higher education journey. Owned and administered by GMAC, the Graduate Management Admission Test™ (GMAT™) exam is the most widely used graduate business school assessment.

More than 12 million prospective students a year trust GMAC’s websites, including mba.com, to learn about MBA and business master’s programs, connect with schools around the world, prepare and register for exams and get advice on successfully applying to MBA and business master’s programs. BusinessBecause and The MBA Tour are subsidiaries of GMAC, a global organization with offices in China, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

To learn more about our work, please visit www.gmac.com

Media Contact:

Teresa Hsu
Sr. Manager, Media Relations
202-390-4180 (mobile)
thsu@gmac.com

A PDF accompanying this announcement is available at http://ml.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/3388f75b-1d4e-4329-be0c-ca4a494b76ce

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Citeline and Norstella Unite to Offer Life Sciences Clients a Full Suite of Commercial and Clinical Solutions

The new organization will help life sciences companies improve strategic decision-making and accelerate the mission of smoothing access to therapy from pipeline to patient

Yardley, PA, June 28, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Norstella, an organization that helps life sciences companies navigate the complexities of the drug life cycle, and Citeline (formerly Pharma Intelligence)—a leading provider of specialist intelligence, data and software for clinical trials, drug development and regulatory compliance—have announced an agreement to merge the companies.

By uniting Norstella, which is comprised of four prominent pharmaceutical solutions providers—Evaluate, MMIT, Panalgo and The Dedham Group—with Citeline, the combined company will be well positioned to help life sciences companies reach patients faster by providing clients with the intelligence and answers they need from early clinical development through to commercialization. This move reflects the shared goal of becoming an end-to-end solution provider, helping patients access life-saving therapies.

As life sciences companies drive innovation toward more specialized therapeutics across all disease areas including oncology and rare disease, and patient populations become more targeted, they need to make critical decisions about how to bring the right drugs to market, how to construct clinical trials leveraging the latest innovations in real-world data and data science—and with end points that consider future payer reimbursement decisions—and, ultimately, how to reach patients in need.

“Accelerating innovation and ensuring that every patient gets the therapy that they need is our North Star,” said Norstella CEO Mike Gallup. “By bringing clinical and commercial intelligence together—along with real-world data—the combined company will be well positioned to deliver on its mission.”

Together, Norstella and Citeline will play a critical role in helping pharmaceutical manufacturers plan for and overcome barriers to access, not just during clinical trials but at every stage in the drug development life cycle. Citeline’s solutions, including its portfolio of clinical trial products, provide insights that improve the speed and efficiency of clinical trials and reduce risk. Now, the Citeline solutions—along with MMIT’s PAR data and other complementary Norstella data assets—can be powered by Panalgo’s Instant Health Data Analytics platform to provide transformative answers that will improve workflow and decision-making and, ultimately, help products get to market and to patients quicker than ever before.

“At Citeline, our mission is to accelerate the connection of treatments to patients and patients to treatments. Ultimately, this marriage of commercial and clinical capabilities will advance the mission and enable the pharmaceutical C-suite to manage portfolio strategy like never before,” said Ramsey Hashem, CEO, and Jay Nadler, Executive Chair, of Citeline. “This includes deciding which drug to bring to market, what new indications to pursue for a drug and how to target patients for clinical trials more quickly and with reduced cost. And now, this includes understanding how to design clinical trials that yield the types of data that payers need to make appropriate reimbursement and formulary decisions.”

“It’s about making a difference in the lives of patients,” said Gallup. “This move will help us make our vision of a more innovative, accessible healthcare marketplace a reality.”

The merger is expected to close in the second half of 2022 subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.

About Norstella
At Norstella, our mission is simple: to help patients gain access to life-saving therapies. Norstella consists of several prominent organizations—Evaluate, MMIT, Panalgo and The Dedham Group—that have united to offer a full range of pharmaceutical consultancy services and solutions. As one organization, Norstella provides life sciences clients with the right tools and expertise to navigate complexities at each step of the drug development life cycle, from pipeline to patient. For more information, visit Norstella and follow on LinkedIn.

About Citeline
Citeline (formerly Pharma Intelligence) powers a full suite of complementary business intelligence offerings to meet the evolving needs of health science professionals to accelerate the connection of treatments to patients and patients to treatments. These patient-focused solutions and services deliver and analyze data used to drive clinical, commercial, and regulatory related-decisions and create real-world opportunities for growth.

Our global teams of analysts, journalists and consultants keep their fingers on the pulse of the pharmaceutical, biomedical and medtech industries, covering it all with expert insights: key diseases, clinical trials, drug R&D and approvals, market forecasts and more. For more information on one of the world’s most trusted health science partners, visit Citeline.

Melody Udell
Norstella
312-618-5968
melody.udell@norstella.com

Blair Dawson
Citeline
919-413-4616
blair.dawson@informa.com
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Hitachi Energy and Petrofac to collaborate in growing offshore wind market

Collaboration combines complementary technologies and expertise of both companies to increase customer value and help accelerate the energy transition

Zurich, Switzerland, June 28, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Hitachi Energy a market and technology leader in transmission, distribution and grid automation solutions, and Petrofac, a leading international service provider to the energy industry, have entered into a collaboration to provide grid integration and associated infrastructure to support the rapidly growing offshore wind market.

This collaboration builds on the complementary core technologies and expertise of both companies in offshore wind to support the decarbonization of power systems and deliver clean energy. It covers high-voltage direct current (HVDC), as well as high-voltage alternating current (HVAC) solutions.

Hitachi Energy’s HVDC Light® and modular HVAC grid technologies and solutions and Petrofac’s world-class engineering, procurement, construction and installation capabilities for offshore platforms and offshore and onshore civil works, will bring considerable benefits to the efficient implementation of offshore wind projects and help accelerate the energy transition.

“We are delighted to collaborate with Petrofac to help meet the growing need for large-scale offshore wind generation and deliver clean renewable electricity to consumers. As leaders in our respective fields, this collaboration will create added value for our customers and help accelerate the energy transition,” said Niklas Persson, Managing Director of Hitachi Energy’s Grid Integration business. “Our HVDC and HVAC solutions are key enablers of the transition to a global energy system that is more sustainable, flexible and secure.”

“Offshore wind plays a crucial role in the transition to clean, affordable energy and we’ve been successfully delivering major projects in the sector for more than a decade now,” said Elie Lahoud, Chief Operating Officer, Engineering & Construction of Petrofac. “Hitachi Energy is well known for its long track record in providing innovative technologies and solutions across the power grid value chain. We look forward to bringing our industry-leading experience and deep domain knowledge together, to benefit our customers and power millions more homes using renewable energy.”

Recent Hitachi Energy HVDC offshore wind projects include Dogger Bank, the world’s largest offshore wind farm off the UK coast, and four of the DolWin and BorWin HVDC hubs that connect multiple wind farms in the North Sea to the German power grid.

Hitachi Energy is also a global leading supplier of grid connection solutions for the AC offshore wind farms industry.

Editor’s notes

Offshore wind is undergoing unprecedented growth globally. In 2021, a record 15.7 gigawatts (GW) of capacity were added, compared to around 5.2 GW per year in 2020 and 2019, according to World Forum Offshore Wind.1

Hitachi Energy pioneered HVDC almost 70 years ago and has delivered more than half of the world’s HVDC projects and more than 70 percent of the world’s voltage source converter (HVDC Light) installations. HVDC Light is the technology of choice for transferring power over long distances from offshore wind farms to the mainland grid. Its defining features include uniquely compact converter stations (which is extremely important in space-critical applications like offshore wind platforms), exceptionally low electrical losses of less than 1 percent, and black-start capability to restore power after a grid outage.

  1. https://wfo-global.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/WFO_Global-Offshore-Wind-Report-2021.pdf

About Hitachi Energy Ltd.

Hitachi Energy is a global technology leader that is advancing a sustainable energy future for all. We serve customers in the utility, industry and infrastructure sectors with innovative solutions and services across the value chain. Together with customers and partners, we pioneer technologies and enable the digital transformation required to accelerate the energy transition towards a carbon-neutral future. We are advancing the world’s energy system to become more sustainable, flexible and secure whilst balancing social, environmental and economic value. Hitachi Energy has a proven track record and unparalleled installed base in more than 140 countries. Headquartered in Switzerland, we employ around 38,000 people in 90 countries and generate business volumes of approximately $10 billion USD.

https://www.hitachienergy.com

https://www.linkedin.com/company/hitachienergy

https://twitter.com/HitachiEnergy

About Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi drives Social Innovation Business, creating a sustainable society with data and technology. We will solve customers’ and society’s challenges with Lumada solutions leveraging IT, OT (Operational Technology) and products, under the business structure of Digital Systems & Services, Green Energy & Mobility, Connective Industries and Automotive Systems. Driven by green, digital, and innovation, we aim for growth through collaboration with our customers. The company’s consolidated revenues for fiscal year 2021 (ended March 31, 2022) totaled 10,264.6 billion yen ($84,136 million USD), with 853 consolidated subsidiaries and approximately 370,000 employees worldwide. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company’s website at https://www.hitachi.com.

Jocelyn Chang
Hitachi Energy Ltd.
jocelyn.chang@hitachienergy.com