ReleaseWire

Clean energy is having a big impact on many industries, including banking and financial services. One of the key investment banking developments in China & Hong Kong is the remodeling of sectors such as natural resources, metals and mining, as banks look to take steps towards better serving the sustainability needs of their corporate clients.

A partnership between Singapore's central bank and the private sector is being put in place to help develop the asset management industry in the region.

The most recent Investment Managers Outlook Survey from the Investment Management Association of Singapore offers essential perspective on how the industry is likely to evolve in this part of the world in the coming months and years. It provides effective insight into the latest investment management news Singapore and the challenges, developments and trends that are incoming.

Australia is a country with one asset that is particularly useful when it comes to renewable energy: a lot of space. However, this has not been one of the country's top priorities - until now. Earlier this year, renewable energy zones and dispatchable energy storage were listed as "high priority initiatives'' by Infrastructure Australia for the first time.

Renewable energy career opportunities across Asia Pacific encompass a very wide range of different specialities, both established and innovative. The Asia Pacific Region is home to some of the most forward-thinking projects in this field and a location where there is currently a lot of activity.

Longer lead times have been a consistent issue over the past year or so. While these longer lead times and supplier deliveries operating on a much slower scale are not unique to individual industries, electronic supplies have been particularly badly affected. In July 2021, the Institute for Supply Management's Manufacturing Business Survey Committee highlighted how lead times are now at record highs across multiple industries and that this is likely to be a continuous problem going forward. In May this year, lead times for production materials came in at around 85 days. By June this had risen to 88, which is the highest number that has been recorded since monitoring first began. The increase is very stark in an area such as electronics - one respondent to the recent survey identified that lead times for components had shot up from 16 weeks to more than 62 weeks. This is a significant shift and one that even an investment in procurement recruitment may not produce an easy solution to.

The recent geopolitical developments, in regards to the pandemic, have appeared to create a fiasco in the commodities sector. From national lockdowns disrupting supply chains to monetary and fiscal stimulus fuelling inflation fears, many are debating whether we have entered a commodity supercycle where the supply and demand ratio becomes skewed.

Becoming a whistleblower is not an easy step for any professional. However, one of the whistleblowers in the most renowned cases of financial fraud has recently highlighted how crucial it is to protect those who are courageous enough to step forward in a situation where the rules have been broken. Sherron Watkins was an Enron executive who warned management about the fraud and created a report of Enron's use of complex off-balance sheet vehicles to try and disguise millions of dollars in losses. She has now spoken out about the importance of having confidentiality and anti-retaliation protection for whistleblowers, saying that what she did would have been much easier for her if the current protections had been in place at the time. Ms. Watkins highlighted how being labelled a whistleblower has impacted her career in the years since. She said that if current protections had been in place, she would have been able to submit her report in confidence and avoid many of the challenges that followed.

Payments and digital currency company Circle has had a successful recent history and this has led to speculation about whether it is about to go public. Now, this has been confirmed via the announcement of a deal with special purpose acquisition company Concord Acquisition Corp which is due to happen later this year. The deal is worth $4.5 billion and will create the opportunity for Circle to make its public move. The motivation for signing the deal was described by Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire as "an incredible opportunity to grow rapidly and grow around the world." Circle is now an eight-year-old start-up and has expanded in strength over the years. It has been responsible for co-creating USDC, which is the US dollar-backed stablecoin USD coin. While the deal announcement is clearly cause for celebration it also comes amid rumors that there is likely to be more regulation in the stablecoin market in the near future.

Machine learning is technology that is creating seismic changes across many different areas of the economy and the financial sector is no different. Quants is a notoriously innovative field so it's perhaps no surprise that this would be an area where the advances of technology are being swiftly integrated. Replication is something that could allow financial firms to use, and monetize, data that they previously didn't have access to and this is a situation that is creating some concerns in terms of privacy. A great example of the way that this technology can be used comes from an investment firm looking to find out how a specific part of the menu at a restaurant might affect the bottom line. Anonymized time stamped credit card information provides the answer. Privacy concerns are being voiced around the fact that anonymizing techniques are not foolproof and could be compromising confidentiality in some instances. It remains a key challenge for those keen to use this technology to find the right balance.

Cryptocurrencies tend to make headlines all year round but have recently been under the spotlight for a much-publicized downturn. The price of Bitcoin has dropped around half since its peak and currencies like Dogecoin have suffered even more. For the longer-term investors this isn't as troubling as it might be for brokers or those looking to make a fast buck. But it does raise questions about the future of cryptocurrencies, something that many people now feel is going to be found in proof-of-stake protocols. The motivation behind this is all about securing the integrity of cryptocurrency. Proof-of-stake is different to the proof-of-work protocols that many legacy cryptocurrencies rely on and which revolve around tokens in return for computers solving complex algorithmic puzzles. Proof-of-stake is where tokens are put up as collateral and is being put forward as the more democratic approach because it doesn't require a lot of expensive mining equipment. It could also reduce the negative environmental impact of the proof-of-work approach. However, proof-of-stake does have vulnerabilities, and switching could be complex, so it's not yet clear which approach will win out.

Facebook has been at the heart of many a controversy in recent years and now has been directly targeted by the US President for allowing the spread of COVID-19 vaccine mis-information. While President Biden originally described the social media platform as "killing people" by allowing the fake news to spread, this language has since been withdrawn and softened, moving the emphasis from Facebook itself to those who spread vaccine misinformation. A recent report revealed that there are just 12 individuals who have been responsible for the vast number of problematic posts on this topic on Facebook and who triggered the wave of misinformation that the nature of a social media network has amplified. In response to the criticism, it has received in recent months Facebook has introduced rules against making specific false claims about COVID-19 and vaccines and claims to be a reliable source of information. However, there are still widespread concerns about the way that some users have been able to exploit the platform to get a broader reach for a false message.

Drug delivery is often inhibited by the blood-brain barrier that protects the brain. However, now a new study may have gained insight into how to 'trick' this part of the body in order to make it easier to treat many of the diseases of the central nervous system. The study was focused on so-called nanoparticle liposome drug carriers, which act like a Trojan Horse, making it simpler to allow drug delivery to the brain without the blood-brain barrier getting in the way. This development could have vital implications for diseases of the nervous system, including Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and Sclerosis. This is one of the first studies to establish that nanoparticle entry to the brain is possible and to show why, when and where it happens. Researchers used two-photon imaging to deconstruct the blood-brain barrier to understand how nanoparticles interact with it. This kind of innovation is only possible through building the kinds of exceptional teams that come from great technology and pharmaceutical research & development recruitment.

High speed rail projects have had something of a tough time in recent years but with the arrival of a more transit-friendly administration in Washington there is now a drive towards securing more federal support for deployment of these systems across the USA. The current focus on infrastructure has been identified as a 'once in a generation opportunity' to get more support in place for all transport systems, including high speed rail. American Public Transportation Association President and CEO Paul Skoutelas has suggested that there is a need to now establish a long-term funding source for projects such as high-speed rail, along the lines of the Highway Trust Fund. Many routes that have been earmarked for high-speed rail currently face significant challenges and secure funding could make all the difference. That's especially so given the opportunities that exist for integrating electrified high-speed rail as a solution to climate change.

Sustainability has been a keen focus for many organizations over the past year, not just in terms of internal systems and processes but also the way that supply chain partners operate. Some of the biggest brands in the world have been taking steps towards more environmentally sound practices, something that is currently being reflected in planning and supply chain recruitment. Walmart, one of the biggest names in global retail, has been a part of this sustainability push, including via Flipkart. Walmart acquired a majority stake in Flipkart in 2018 and the business is expected to grow at four times the rate of overall retail in India. It was recently announced that Flipkart had eliminated single use plastic from its Indian fulfilment centers by swapping these out for more sustainable options, such as paper bags. With its goal achieved, Flipkart is now focusing on minimizing the use of single-use plastics among its seller partners.

Successful biotech recruitment has the potential to change lives by bringing together talented minds with the organizations where innovation can happen. One prime example of this today comes from scientists who have been working on technology that would allow someone who is unable to speak to communicate via text on a screen. Results of the work by Scientists at the University of California were recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine and show that tests on a patient with post-stroke anarthria and spastic quadriparesis were successful. The technology at the heart of this is electrocorticography (ECoG), which could be used to pioneer huge leaps forward in motor and speech control for those patients who are affected by a range of different neurological disorders, including ALS. ECoG is hugely innovative, using a subdural, high-density, multielectrode array placed directly on the exposed surface of the brain, and could be totally transformative for many patients' lives.

There are many reasons why we're currently on the edge of a new era of risk management recruitment USA thanks to initiatives in areas like diversity and equality. Just as important are the changes that are coming from the need to start considering climate-related risk when it comes to risk management. This is an area that is advancing at a pretty swift pace and one that presents plenty of challenges in terms of how the financial sector can begin to adapt to the need to account for these risks in investment, lending and other areas of financial decision making. In this new era of risk management recruitment in the USA, it is going to be key for businesses to be able to build teams with the insight and understanding that these risks entail so that they can be fully covered off. Inevitably, this also means getting the regulator on board in terms of looking at how these risks affect markets and the economy as a whole.

Clinical trials inclusion and diversity is a topic that has been moving higher up the agenda in recent years. Despite the recent spotlight on the issue, it's actually not a new topic - the U.S. Food and Drug Administration provided its guidance on inclusion and diversity in clinical trials a decade ago. Even so, not a great deal of change has been achieved in that time and some of the outreach options suggested - such as local barbershops - have been seen by many as small scale and, often, insulting. Many patients have also suffered from a lack of face-to-face time with a primary care physician and being unaware of the various options that exist when it comes to clinical trials for certain conditions. Clinical operations recruitment can help to support more inclusion and diversity across clinical trials. Study sites that have a diverse team with members who can use the language of the patients targeted as part of the study could potentially make a big difference.

Electric Vehicles (EV) are gathering a huge amount of momentum and the drive is today coming from consumers as much as trendsetters and fans of cutting-edge tech. This has generated a huge increase in the amount of manufacturing being devoted to EVs with new projects being announced all the time across the USA. One of the most recent is SK Siltron's US unit, which is planning to invest $300 million in Michigan, at a time when US car makers are funneling tens of billions of dollars into the EV market. The injection of investment by SK Siltron's US unit will focus on expanding the company's silicon carbide wafer manufacturing. It is forecast to generate around 150 jobs in Michigan in the EV production market in the state. It's not just consumers and the auto world that are increasingly focusing on EVs as a solution to future problems. The Biden Administration has also made this a priority, seeking out $174 billion-worth of funding to grow charging networks and create more EV subsidies. EVs are going to have a key role to play in manufacturing recruitment and technology development going forward.

Renewable energy engineering projects tend to be a hotbed for innovation with some of the most talented minds in the world focused on finding new ways to generate cleaner power. Solar has long been a great source of renewable energy but there have also been challenges, such as securing enough land for the solar PV design and systems that are required to generate the energy that we need. Now, a new era in renewable energy engineering projects is dawning as engineers start to look at how to do this on water. A new partnership, called PV2 Float, has been put together to look at floating solar PV, analyzing whether this might be a cost-effective way forward, as well as identifying technical requirements and the ecological impact of this approach. The PV2 Float project will run over three years and is designed to show how it's possible for organizations to expand their solar capacity without taking up any extra land space to do it.

Hearing aids provide the opportunity for many people to improve the way they experience the world - or that's the theory at least. However, a new study that has focused on analyzing the neural coding of speech sounds has identified an issue that could explain why so many hearing aids end up back in the box. The study found that the sound-processing algorithms that are used by hearing aids can have a negative impact on the wearer when it comes to their ability to discriminate sounds. This isn't the first study that has been focused on why we tend to discard our hearing aids but it could provide an opportunity to tweak hearing aid design so that the technology is much more useful. Rather than patients claiming that their hearing aids simply don't work that well, overcoming the problem that hearing aids don't provide clear and comfortable speech recognition in many of the environments we pass through every day could make the devices much more widely useful.

According to a new report from Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Center for Transportation and Logistics and the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals, most companies managed to maintain their supply-chain sustainability goals despite the COVID-19 pandemic. The study found that 2020 objectives that were focused on sustainability as well as issues of supplier diversity and worker welfare remained a priority even as the pandemic began to spread. Not only that but around 80% of the directors who took part in the survey said that the pandemic didn't affect commitments to supply chain sustainability, in fact in some cases this created even more focus on it. This is an achievement in particular given the disruption that resulted from lockdowns and economic closures that put pressure on businesses up and down the supply chain. Other social goals also became much more of a priority, including equality, inclusion and employee safety. This shift is already affecting logistics and supply chain recruitment in 2021.

Disabled Veteran and Military Spouse, Lindsay Helm has proudly announced the launch of an inspiring new project called Empower Employ, with an aim to empower the veterans and their families. The project primarily aims at helping military veterans and their families with quality career opportunities and Lindsay has recently launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo to raise funds and support for this inspiring project.

MASC Medical is an esteemed specialist in recruitment specifically for medical and healthcare professionals. Its service has helped numerous healthcare institutions and organizations find the best staff for their needs – and vice versa. Today, the firm offers an even more convenient and much easier service with its online form, which anyone can fill out and get the quick answers and assistance they need.

MASC Medical Recruitment Firm is a long-standing recruitment specialist that has helped a significant number of medical and healthcare professionals and healthcare institutions and organizations, and its expertise continues to be even more in-demand today. The firm understands precisely what it takes to match those who are the best in healthcare to bring about a mutually beneficial relationship. Today, it releases the latest news in the industry right on its Resources page, which now includes more guidelines for both medical institutions and professionals.