Tag: MENA

Companies to collaborate on software for biotech and pharmaceutical companies to create improved patient treatments faster

SALT LAKE CITY, TORONTO and MONTRÉAL, July 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Recursion (NASDAQ: RXRX), a leading clinical stage TechBio company decoding biology to industrialize drug discovery, today announced a $50 million investment by NVIDIA, which was executed as a private investment in public equity (PIPE). Recursion also announced plans to accelerate development of its AI foundation models for biology and chemistry, which, in collaboration with NVIDIA, it intends to optimize and distribute to biotechnology companies using NVIDIA cloud services.

“Our collaboration with NVIDIA represents two best-in-class companies coming together to help solve one of the world’s most difficult challenges, drug discovery,” said Chris Gibson, Ph.D., Co-founder and CEO of Recursion. “With our powerful dataset and NVIDIA’s accelerated computing capabilities, we intend to create groundbreaking foundation models in biology and chemistry at a scale unlike anything that has ever been released in the biological space.”

Recursion plans to utilize its vast proprietary biological and chemical dataset, which exceeds 23 petabytes and 3 trillion searchable gene and compound relationships, to accelerate the training of foundation models on NVIDIA DGX Cloud for possible commercial license/release on BioNeMo, NVIDIA’s cloud service for generative AI in drug discovery. NVIDIA will also help optimize and scale Recursion foundation models leveraging the NVIDIA AI stack and NVIDIA’s full-stack computing expertise. BioNeMo was announced earlier this year as a cloud service for generative AI in drug discovery, offering tools to quickly customize and deploy domain-specific, state-of-the-art biomolecular models at-scale through cloud APIs. Recursion anticipates using this software to support its internal pipeline as well as its current and future partners.

“Generative AI is a revolutionary tool to discover new medicines and treatments,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “We are delighted to collaborate with Recursion’s world-class team, which is doing pioneering work in digital biology and chemistry with NVIDIA DGX and NVIDIA AI software to accelerate the development of the world’s largest biomolecular generative AI models and speed drug discovery for biotech and pharmaceutical companies.”

Recursion, through its recent acquisition of Valence Discovery, aims to accelerate the development of new technologies to feed the biopharma industry, while simultaneously democratizing access to large-scale models that have maximum impact in drug discovery.

About Recursion
Recursion (NASDAQ: RXRX) is a clinical stage TechBio company leading the space by decoding biology to industrialize drug discovery. Enabling its mission is the Recursion OS, a platform built across diverse technologies that continuously expands one of the world’s largest proprietary biological and chemical datasets. Recursion leverages sophisticated machine-learning algorithms to distill from its dataset a collection of trillions of searchable relationships across biology and chemistry unconstrained by human bias. By commanding massive experimental scale — up to millions of wet lab experiments weekly — and massive computational scale — owning and operating one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world, Recursion is uniting technology, biology, and chemistry to advance the future of medicine.

Recursion is headquartered in Salt Lake City, where it is a founding member of BioHive, the Utah life sciences industry collective. Recursion also has offices in Toronto, Montréal and the San Francisco Bay Area. Learn more at www.Recursion.com, or connect on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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Forward-Looking Statements
This document contains information that includes or is based upon “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, without limitation, those regarding the acceleration and advancement of development of AI foundation models, as well as optimizing, licensing, and distributing such models; using BioNeMo software to support Recursion’s internal pipeline and well as Recursion’s current and future industry partners; Recursion accelerating development of new technologies through its Valence Discovery acquisition; and all other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements may or may not include identifying words such as “plan,” “will,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “believe,” “potential,” “continue,” and similar terms. These statements are subject to known or unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements, including but not limited to: challenges inherent in pharmaceutical research and development, including the timing and results of preclinical and clinical programs, where the risk of failure is high and failure can occur at any stage prior to or after regulatory approval due to lack of sufficient efficacy, safety considerations, or other factors; our ability to leverage and enhance our drug discovery platform; our ability to obtain financing for development activities and other corporate purposes; the success of our collaboration activities; our ability to obtain regulatory approval of, and ultimately commercialize, drug candidates; our ability to obtain, maintain, and enforce intellectual property protections; cyberattacks or other disruptions to our technology systems; our ability to attract, motivate, and retain key employees and manage our growth; inflation and other macroeconomic issues; and other risks and uncertainties such as those described under the heading “Risk Factors” in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K. All forward-looking statements are based on management’s current estimates, projections, and assumptions, and Recursion undertakes no obligation to correct or update any such statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments, or otherwise, except to the extent required by applicable law.

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 8872969

QUEBEC CITY, July 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — LeddarTech^®, an automotive software company that provides patented disruptive low-level sensor fusion and perception software technology for ADAS and AD, is thrilled to announce the successful integration of LeddarTech’s advanced LeddarVision software with Ficosa’s cutting-edge surround-view camera system, along with other sensors such as radars, IMU and GPS. Ficosa is a leading global company dedicated to the research, development, production and marketing of advanced vision, safety and efficiency solutions for the automotive industry.

This significant milestone marks a major step forward in the strategic collaboration announced in December 2022 by Ficosa regarding integrating the LeddarVision software into Ficosa’s advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) for parking. LeddarVision is a high-performance sensor fusion and perception software stack that provides extremely accurate 3D models of the vehicle’s surroundings, developed using raw data inputs from sensor systems. Integrating this software with Ficosa’s renowned vision technology unlocks the full potential of this software to enable Ficosa’s smart parking assistant for ADAS and AD.

In pursuit of their shared vision towards the consolidation of the autonomous vehicle, LeddarTech and Ficosa continue to strengthen their strategic collaboration towards developing a pioneering Intelligent Parking Assistance system, allowing even more detailed and precise perception of the surroundings. The hardware and software system architecture teams will begin equipping a car in Israel that will be used, in collaboration, to develop and demonstrate the smart parking assistance perception and driving features. Following this, two other vehicles in Europe will be added to the fleet showcasing the full software and hardware implementation for smart parking assist.

“LeddarTech is very pleased to partner in this collaboration and celebrate the success of integrating our LeddarVision software and Ficosa vision technology.” So stated Charles Boulanger, CEO of LeddarTech. “This relationship is driven by our commitment to pushing the boundaries of automotive technology by delivering cutting-edge solutions that enhance safety, efficiency and driver experiences. Our team is very excited to continue working with Ficosa on the next phase of the collaboration,” Mr. Boulanger concluded.

“At Ficosa, we strive to contribute to building a safer, more comfortable and efficient mobility of the future for everyone,” stated Josep Maria Forcadell, Chief Technology Officer at Ficosa. “In this sense, this innovative, intelligent automatic parking assistant that combines the fusion of LeddarTech’s low-level sensor and perception capabilities and Ficosa’s surround-view camera system will have a significantly positive impact, providing even more detailed and accurate perception of the environment,” Mr. Forcadell concluded.

About Ficosa

Ficosa is a leading global company dedicated to the research, development, production and marketing of advanced vision, safety and efficiency solutions for the automotive industry, with a vocation to contribute to society through its commitment to technological innovation, human values and energy efficiency. Founded in 1949 and with headquarters in Barcelona, Ficosa currently employs more than 8,500 people and has production and R&D centers and sales offices in Europe, North and South America, Asia and Africa. The Rear-View System (interior/side mirror) is Ficosa’s main, globally renowned business, which is recognized by the world’s leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). www.ficosa.com

Social media: Twitter @FICOSA_Int; LinkedIn Ficosa

For more information: Ficosa Communication Department
Mònica Acero: [email protected] +34 615 07 59 81
Pau Guerrero: [email protected]

About LeddarTech

A global software company founded in 2007 and headquartered in Quebec City with additional R&D centers in Montreal, Toronto and Tel Aviv, Israel, LeddarTech develops and provides comprehensive perception software solutions that enable the deployment of ADAS and autonomous driving (AD) applications. LeddarTech’s automotive-grade software applies advanced AI and computer vision algorithms to generate accurate 3D models of the environment, allowing for better decision making and safer navigation. This high-performance, scalable, cost-effective technology is available to OEMs and Tier 1-2 suppliers to efficiently implement automotive and off-road vehicle ADAS solutions.

LeddarTech is responsible for several remote-sensing innovations, with over 150 patents granted or applied for that enhance ADAS and AD capabilities. Better awareness around the vehicle is critical in making global mobility safer, more efficient, sustainable and affordable: this is what drives LeddarTech to seek to become the most widely adopted sensor fusion and perception software solution.

Additional information about LeddarTech is accessible at www.leddartech.com and on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Contact:
Daniel Aitken, Vice-President, Global Marketing, Communications and Investor Relations, LeddarTech Inc. Tel.: + 1-418-653-9000 ext. 232 [email protected]

• Investor relations website: https://investors.leddartech.com
• Investor relations contact: Kevin Hunt, ICR Inc. [email protected]
• Financial media contact: Dan Brennan, ICR Inc. [email protected]

Leddar, LeddarTech, LeddarVision, LeddarSP, VAYADrive, VayaVision and related logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of LeddarTech Inc. and its subsidiaries. All other brands, product names and marks are or may be trademarks or registered trademarks used to identify products or services of their respective owners.

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 8871621

Sustainable hot melt adhesives pave the way for textile reworking and recycling.

Bedford, Mass., July 11, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — When more than 92 million tons of textile waste are landfilled annually, new solutions are needed to enable fabric reworking in manufacturing and recycling on a mass scale. Conagen, the biotechnology innovator, announced the development of a groundbreaking debondable textile adhesive made from high-performance materials sourced from sustainable and natural biomolecules.

Conagen’s debondable adhesive offers a major application in the realm of reworkability during clothing production. Traditionally, when mistakes occur during manufacturing, it can lead to material wastage and additional production costs.

The reworkability aspect of Conagen’s adhesive presents a game-changing solution for the clothing industry. It allows for quick and efficient correction of errors without the need to discard and waste valuable materials. Adjustments can be made by simply debonding the adhesive and the fabric components can be seamlessly reworked, resulting in improved production efficiency, reduced material waste, and significant cost savings for manufacturers.

Moreover, debonding textile fabric plays a vital role in textile recycling by enabling efficient material separation, preserving material quality, expanding recycling opportunities, and advancing the goals of a circular economy.

Traditional adhesives used in garment manufacturing often create a permanent bond, making it challenging to separate fabric components during recycling. Conagen’s debondable adhesive not only drives sustainability through fabric recycling but also offers a practical and economical solution for optimizing production processes in the clothing industry. The ability to debond and rework materials bring newfound flexibility and efficiency, benefiting manufacturers and the environment.
Top of Form
Bottom of Form

“Conagen’s pioneering adhesive has unlocked new possibilities and opportunities. This groundbreaking development enables efficient material separation during reworking and recycling processes and preserves the integrity of textile fibers, ensuring their quality for future utilization,” stated Sara Johnson, senior materials scientist. “With the introduction of Conagen’s adhesive, we are taking a significant stride towards achieving a more sustainable and environmentally responsible textile industry.”

Having previously created debondable adhesives for other sectors, such as appliances, smartphones, cars, and more, Conagen identified the significant benefits such an adhesive could bring to the textile and clothing industry and tailored a new product specifically to its needs.

Adhesives and tapes are commonly used today in garment manufacturing, either alone or in combination with stitching. This is particularly evident in the manufacturing of women’s underwear, where up to six layers of material are often glued together to achieve the desired fit and comfort. It is essential to bring attention to these modern manufacturing methods as they reflect the evolution of textile production.

Conagen’s new adhesive offering provides strength comparable to existing fabric adhesives but with the added feature of controlled debondability at end-of-life. Inspired by self-healing materials, Conagen utilizes sustainable and natural ingredients to create high-strength debondable hot melt adhesives. Unlike traditional offerings, this new adhesive is designed with reversibility, exhibiting the strength of conventionally cured adhesives, with the added benefit of transitioning to a flowable material after heating.

Conagen’s high-strength debondable textile adhesive can be used for garments, but also extends to accessories and other soft goods applications. Furthermore, the technology is compatible with both natural and synthetic fibers and materials.

To develop sustainable debondable textile adhesives, Conagen leverages its precision fermentation technology, independent of plant source materials, to create more efficient and sustainable bio-based ingredients compared to chemically-synthesized versions.

“Conagen’s fermentation technology is forging a path towards a more sustainable future, where the utilization of sustainable biocompounds and biomaterials takes center stage in propelling high-performance solutions that prioritize environmental consciousness,” said J. McNamara, vice president of chemical applications.

The seam tapes market stood at $128 million in 2020. It was projected to exhibit a CAGR of 6.9% between 2020 and 2025, making Conagen’s adhesive formulation lucrative for a supplier to distribute to clothing manufacturers.

Debondable adhesives have the potential to significantly impact the market by offering a more sustainable and efficient solution for fabric bonding. The ability to easily debond materials could lead to increased adoption of adhesive-based manufacturing techniques and open up new opportunities for textile reworking and recycling, thereby potentially expanding the market for debondable adhesive products.

Conagen’s hallmark in biotech specialty and industrial space lies in discovering applications from the platform of natural biocompounds and biomaterials, ushering in a new era of high-performing and sustainable materials.

“By harnessing the power of fermentation, Conagen is leading the charge in promoting greener alternatives and revolutionizing industries with its commitment to sustainability and innovation,” said McNamara.

Conagen’s commitment to green chemicals and sustainability has been greatly reinforced by its strategic partnership with Sumitomo Chemical. The collaboration represents a major step forward in their shared vision of developing biosolutions for a more sustainable future.

About Conagen

Conagen is a product-focused, synthetic biology R&D company with large-scale manufacturing capabilities. Our scientists and engineers use the latest synthetic biology tools to develop high-quality, sustainable, nature-based products by precision fermentation and enzymatic bioconversion. We focus on the bioproduction of high-value ingredients for food, nutrition, flavors and fragrances, pharmaceutical, and renewable materials industries. www.conagen.com

Attachments

• Adhesives and tapes are commonly used today in garment manufacturing, either alone or in combination with stitching. 
• Conagen’s high-strength debondable textile adhesive extends to accessories and other soft goods applications.

Ana Capretz, Head of Public Relations and Communications
Conagen
+1-781-271-1588
[email protected]

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 8872187

Bridge Nigeria pupil in class

NAIROBI, Kenya, July 11, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Bridge International Academies is drawing attention to the urgency of educating African girls this World Population Day (11th July) – the first time Sub-Saharan Africa will have the largest population of children on the planet.

The schools network, which includes Bridge Kenya, Bridge Nigeria and Bridge Uganda, supports children and parents in underserved communities by providing an excellent education.

This World Population Day focuses on the theme of ‘gender equality and women’s empowerment as a key factor in reducing poverty.’

Reuben Wambugu, Bridge Group Managing Director, said, “By 2050 Africa and Asia will be home to 85% of the world’s young people, with the larger proportion in Africa. Currently, only 10% of children in sub-Saharan Africa are able to read a simple sentence by the age of 10. If these young people aren’t provided with an adequate education, there will be a global shortage of scientists, doctors and engineers. This could lead to a range of possible global catastrophes. Educating women and girls has proved particularly effective in reducing poverty on a local level in the short term. And with the children of educated women shown to be healthier and better educated, this leads to faster and sustained poverty reduction through generations.

He continued, “While Bridge has seen fantastic improvements in learning outcomes for all those attending our schools, it is particularly heartening that Bridge’s methodology has succeeded in achieving gender parity in the classroom. A new study by Nobel Prize winning economist Professor Michael Kremer in our Bridge Kenya schools confirms this, finding girls make the same leaps in learning as boys.”

Speaking on the success of Bridge’s methods, Bridge Nigeria Managing Director Foyinsola Akinjayeju said, “Bridge’s model focuses on arming teachers with scientifically proven techniques to elevate the learning of girls. Through approaches, such as gender sensitive instruction in lesson and textbook materials, expecting equal participation through ‘cold calling’ of boys and girls in the classroom and the use of female school leaders as role models, girls are empowered to succeed. By pushing this approach and the importance of women’s empowerment, Bridge Nigeria alone has provided a life-changing education to tens of thousands of girls in underserved communities, helping them complete primary school, do well in secondary school and open up opportunities offering prosperity and success.”

To learn more about the Bridge methodology – visit their website here.

You can reach out to Bridge International Academies at info@bridgeinternationalacademies.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/db9775c7-c35b-483b-b919-d894909f989d

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 1000829295

The Apollo4 Lite and Apollo4 Blue Lite System-on-Chips (SoCs) Help Enhance Devices’ Functionalities and Battery Life to Accelerate the Adoption of Remote Monitoring

News Highlights:

• The new Apollo4 Lite and Blue Lite SoCs offer feature-rich capability, optimized memory, powerful graphics performance, and secureSPOT^® for robust security in a lightweight solution
• Ideal for digital health applications, such as digital stethoscopes, patient monitoring, and continuous glucose and blood pressure monitoring
• The Apollo4 Blue Lite offers secure Bluetooth^® Low Energy connectivity for communication to handheld devices, host equipment, and the Cloud

AUSTIN, Texas, July 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Ambiq^®, a technology leader in ultra-low power semiconductor products and solutions, introduces the Apollo4 Lite and Apollo4 Blue Lite SoC to its expanding portfolio of SoCs for IoT endpoint devices, especially the remote monitoring products of the healthcare sector. This announcement follows Ambiq’s release of its Heart Kit, an optimized open-source AI model utilizing multi-head neural networks (MH-NNs) to enable a variety of real-time heart-monitoring applications.

The Apollo4 Lite and Blue Lite product line is the latest generation system processor solutions built upon Ambiq’s proprietary Subthreshold Power-Optimized Technology (SPOT^®) platform, enabling new features while reducing devices’ overall system power consumption to extend their battery life. Both SoCs are embedded with an ultra-low power Cortex-M4 core that can operate at up to 192 MHz with turboSPOT, an audio subsystem, GPU, and ample MRAM and SRAM. They are also conveniently pin-compatible with Ambiq’s Apollo4 Plus and Blue Plus¹, providing developers with optimum flexibility for innovation.

“Today’s patients are more empowered to monitor and advocate for their own health, and healthcare providers require more data analytics to prescribe holistic treatment,” said David Priscak, VP of Technical Solutions at Ambiq. “With bold graphics and long battery life, state-of-the-art health tracking is now more affordable and accessible thanks to these new additions to our Apollo4 SoC family.”

Apollo4 Lite / Blue Lite Chart

“The global remote patient market in terms of revenue was estimated to be worth $53.6 billion in 2022 and is poised to reach $175.2 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 26.7% from 2022 to 2027,” said Ms. Anu Dhiman – Lead Healthcare Analyst – MarketsandMarkets Research Pvt. Ltd. “The predominant factors influencing the growth of the market include the benefits of remote patient monitoring to reduce the burden on medical resources, the monitoring benefits of telehealth and remote patient monitoring services, advancements in telecommunications, as increasing geriatric population, and the growing need to expand healthcare access.”

The Apollo4 Lite and the Apollo4 Blue Lite are designed for extended battery life, advanced security, and powerful graphics in small form factors, which are critical for the continued adoption of these devices. Both are now in mass production, targeting digital health products, smartwatches, fitness bands, animal trackers, voice-activated remotes, industrial maintenance, and smart home IoT devices. For more product information, visit www.ambiq.com/apollo4-lite and www.ambiq.com/apollo4-blue-lite.

¹ – Apollo4 Lite is pin-compatible with Apollo4 Plus (AMAP42KP-KBR); Apollo4 Blue Lite is pin-compatible with Apollo4 Blue Plus (AMA4B2KP-KXR.)

About Ambiq

Ambiq’s mission is to develop the lowest-power semiconductor solutions to enable intelligent devices everywhere by developing the lowest-power semiconductor solutions to drive a more energy-efficient, sustainable, and data-driven world. Ambiq has helped leading manufacturers worldwide develop products that last weeks on a single charge (rather than days) while delivering a maximum feature set in compact industrial designs. Ambiq’s goal is to take Artificial Intelligence (AI) where it has never gone before in mobile and portable devices, using Ambiq’s advanced ultra-low power system on chip (SoC) solutions. Ambiq has shipped more than 200 million units as of March 2023. For more information, visit www.ambiq.com.

Contact

Charlene Wan
VP of Branding, Marketing, and Investor Relations
[email protected]
+1.512.879.2850

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/620a2f10-acfe-4d54-b9c3-0983c58c06f6

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/fd179ebf-2f60-4195-8fca-b88c7b7a852c

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 8870834