ReleaseWire

Hackers don't have the best reputation - for most businesses the idea of working with someone who has the skills to take advantage of network and system vulnerabilities is an intimidating thought. However, this is also a key step in protecting assets, as decentralized finance platform Poly Network recently discovered.

Medical innovation has been crucial to the global response to COVID-19. However, this is not something that has been particularly easy to achieve in countries where resources are scarce and funding low. In locations such as this, frugal design has been providing options in order to strengthen vital medical response.

COVID-19 research has been a vital part of the progress that has been made in combating the virus and bringing its spread under control. Now, investigators from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus have taken this a step further by creating a COVID multidimensional dataset that can be shared in real time.

The gender imbalance in biotech recruitment is a topic that is often hotly debated. While women tend to make 80% of all healthcare buying decisions and make up 65% of the healthcare workforce nationwide in the USA, very few women hold positions of power in biotech and healthcare companies. One report found that women hold just 13% of CEO roles in this industry and only 25 - 30% of C-suite roles.

The traditional drug development process has been somewhat thrown on its head following the incredible speed with which the world developed vaccines to combat COVID-19. As a result, there are now calls to disrupt the process of clinical cancer trials in order to bring breakthrough therapies to patients more quickly.

It may only be the end of summer but we have started to see retail CEOs and brands telling consumers that the best time to start shopping for the Holidays this year is now. This advice is being driven by the fact that there have been so many problems with supply chains in recent months.

Earlier this summer, Google announced a new manufacturing-specific platform that is designed to automate product inspections and help to reduce defects. This is a prime example of how manufacturing recruitment and technology development hiring is helping to change the way that production is handled today. The Visual Inspection AI that has been created by Google is a cloud platform that will fulfill two key functions: identifying defects and examining product assembly. Defects can be a big problem for this industry and are estimated to reduce overall sales revenue by up to 20%. Human error during the manufacturing process can be the cause of up to 23% of all downtime in manufacturing so automation such as this, which can also be far more reliable than the human eye, could be essential to improving both efficiency and the bottom line. Manufacturing recruitment and technology development hiring is crucial to establishing the kind of innovation that could change the face of the sector completely.

Supply chains have been severely disrupted in many different ways over the past 12 months, thanks to the impact of COVID-19. Now, the biggest US trade gateway with Asia is struggling with traffic with the longest waits for berth space in major ports that we have seen in some time. There are currently 37 ships anchored outside the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, more than there have been at any time in the past six months. It's almost double the size of the queue that existed in mid-July and is coming close to the all-time record. One of the reasons for the significant increase in traffic is disruption to transport routes caused by partial closures of a major Chinese port due to a COVID-19 outbreak there. As a result of the queues the average wait for berth space is now 6.2 days - although this is longer than the figures for June it has yet to reach the peak of 8 days that was set in April.

A recent survey of institutional investors and wealth managers from the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the United Arab Emirates, who collectively manage $275 billion in assets revealed that security concerns about digital assets and custodial services are a 'significant hurdle' preventing many from investing in crypto assets for the first time.

Stocks and shares of airlines have been unstable since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, with international travel having been subjected to some of the strictest restrictions across Europe. Earlier this month, Germany lifted some of the tough restrictions placed on visitors from countries such as the UK and Portugal, which resulted in a positive uptick but then quickly nosedived. Airlines such as Lufthansa, Ryanair, and the International Airlines Group all saw gains before the stocks across Europe fell with the pan-European Stoxx 600, London, Paris, and Frankfurt all seeing decreases.

The reopening roadmap continues apace in the UK and as we pass the latest milestone with more businesses bringing staff back into offices and warehouses, there are warnings about the consequences that this could have for energy consumption.

To take advantage of the digital transition that is underway in every aspect of modern life, procurement professionals must adapt and adjust to the new technologies and possibilities that can yield higher levels of productivity. The majority of older procurement procedures were designed around the aims of procurement, rather than processes that could have been helpful for those within the business. Procurement teams are now able to put the needs of the business at the core of every decision as a direct result of digitalisation. Platforms that concentrate on what users want can help improve compliance and play a greater role in generating development across an organisation.

A new report by HFM and the Alternative Investment Managers Association indicates that there is an increasing enthusiasm for hedge fund investment. In fact, around a third of investors are going to increase the investments they make in hedge funds during the second half of 2021.

According to the latest Biotech-Report for Germany conducted by Boston Consulting Group for VFA Bio, Germany remains the second largest manufacturer of active biopharmaceutical substances licenced by the European Union, with biopharmaceutical sales accounting for 30.8% of the overall medicines market. Based on the current study, biopharmaceutical sales (in the pharma and hospital sector) reached €14.6 billion in 2020, up 14% from the previous year.

Over the last century pharmaceutical researchers have been able to produce increasingly effective medications based on particular active components. Thanks to professionals in the research and development roles, we as a global society have been able to overcome numerous epidemics in very short periods of time through innovative and ground-breaking treatments.

In the current climate of working from home and online meetings, video conference tools like Zoom have safeguarded businesses' abilities to continue working effectively during the coronavirus pandemic. However, when conducting international business, language barriers can continue to impede effective trade.

Innovation is being pushed up to the top of the agenda in the UK thanks to the government seeking to co-invest alongside private enterprise in new and emerging technology. A £375 million fund has been announced that will mark a new era of R&D investment designed to make the UK a leader in its field in terms of tech innovation.

In May, the German Bundestag approved new legislation with regards to autonomous driving cars and is just awaiting the signature of the Chancellor. This new regulation paves the way for businesses to begin turning a profit from autonomous driving services, which, in turn, would boost research and development into the technology.

Digital banking has made huge progress over the past year with widespread adoption driven partly by the need to adapt to pandemic conditions and partly by momentum already in play. It's become obvious to consumers and organisations alike that the advantages of digital banking are real and tangible.

Bavaria, Germany's southernmost state, is in discussions with Intel to establish a European chip factory to alleviate supply constraints that have hindered automobile manufacturing, according to ministers. The US-based manufacturer has been pursuing 8 billion euros in government subsidies to establish a semiconductor manufacturing facility in Europe. A scarcity of semiconductors is causing problems for Europe's car manufacturers and may jeopardise Germany's economic recovery in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fintech has been a significant growth area and has exciting potential for those pursuing financial services careers in Hong Kong. However, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) is currently taking steps to rein in the monopolistic behaviour that many fintech firms have been displaying. Most recently, Jack Ma's Ant Group has been on the receiving end of sanctions from the PBOC. According to the central bank, Ant Group is not the only offender as many other mobile payment companies have breached anti-monopoly laws and the PBOC intends to take action against them.

The law is a key tool in dealing with cyber security attacks and acting as a deterrent to those who may be tempted to engage in this kind of crime.

"Empty shelves" has been a headline that we have started to see a lot more of in the past month. Fears about disruption to supply chains as a result of Brexit and the pandemic are becoming very real. UK and Europe procurement and supply chain recruitment is crucial to ensuring that shelves remain stocked and supplies remain available all over the country.

According to some reports, the impact of the pandemic has been to accelerate the expansion of eCommerce by around six years. Grocery is one area that has seen a huge surge thanks to the lockdowns that have required almost entire populations to begin ordering in. While this represents a big opportunity for enterprises within this industry it's also a significant challenge.

COVID-19 has proven to be one of the most resilient of viruses with new waves rising up all the time. June and July 2021 have seen fresh clusters of the virus in the Asia Pacific region and this has continued to have an ongoing negative effect on global supply chains. Vaccination programmes in this part of the world have yet to achieve the same reach as in many others and, as a result, outbreaks can have significantly more impact.