Crowded art shows and galleries, auctions, and fairs seem a distant memory. The global COVID-19 pandemic has radically impacted many industries and art is no exception.

AFP via Getty Images

Its a pivotal moment, Frances Morris, director of Tate Modern told The Guardian. Were going to talk in terms of before and after. The virus will change a lot of things for art.

While the situation is grave for many, it also offers opportunities. Rather than talking about technology and how it can make art more accessible, people are being forced to embrace it.

Small private galleries all the way up to the internationally renowned Art Basel have launched online viewing rooms. Others have gone further and utilized immersive technology as a response to the current situation, but it should be adopted as a more long-term solution to open up the industry to the masses.

Frieze

With the physical New York art fair being canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, a virtual online version of the event is being held in its place. It will allow over 200 galleries to showcase up to 30 works each in individual Viewing Rooms from 8th-15th May.

The site is also using augmented reality to offer users the ability to view artworks, such as paintings or photographs, to-scale and upon their own walls. Audiences will also be able to view video art and narrative content and search for works by artist, price, medium, gallery, and section, amongst other fields.

Registration for the Frieze Viewing Room will be free and open to all once it opens. Keep your eyes on the Frieze website for information.

A peek at Frieze New York online.

Felipe Pantone

Spanish graffiti artist Felipe Pantone has turned to virtual reality to share his work during the COVID-19 lockdown. Felipe has shared videos on his Instagram profile of his artwork using VR graffiti simulator KingSpray Graffiti on an Oculus Quest, tagged GRAFFITI in times of CORONAVIRUS. The two videos posted on his page so far have seen a virtual wall and truck as the canvases for his unique geometric rainbow style, captioned with his ten facts and benefits to painting in VR:

1. Paint doesnt smell.

2. Theres no masking tape in VR.

3. The ladder seems to be more stable in real life.

4. Hands dont get dirty.

5. You can make every color metallic.

6. No need to wait for the paint to dry.

7. It never gets dark and it never rains.

8. Theres no undo button.

9. I can paint your truck during a pandemic.

10. No cops but crashes often do the same thing.

@felipepantone on Instagram

Vortic XR

Entrepreneur Oliver Miro is the founder of Vortic, an extended reality platform created to address the unique needs of art galleries and collectors, offering customized and sustainable solutions to exhibit works of art using AR and VR technologies. It is due to be released this month, alongside a presentation of works in collaboration with the David Zwirner and Victoria Miro galleries.

The platform will allow curators to create bespoke XR exhibitions and invite collectors to engage with works of art from any location using Vortic Curate, as well as see how 2D and 3D works will appear in-situ using augmented reality app Vortic Collect.

In addition, Vortic VR will enable audiences to fully immerse themselves in virtual reality exhibitions, private views, and art fair previews. Supported by Oculus VR headsets, the VR app will enable audiences to experience exhibitions in 3D and walk around a gallery space as though they were physically there.

Miro told Observer: We have prioritized the launch of the gallery app due to the current situation with COVID-19 but in the meantime, collectors will be able to use the apps AR function to view works of art in their own homes.

A mockup of the Vortic Curate App showing a VR representation or Grayson Perrys exhibition Super ... [+] Rich Interior Decoration at Victoria Miro.

All World

A newly launched platform called All World allows artists and designers to upload and sell their self-published works via AR. Users can visualize how the art will look in their own homes by selecting pieces and then previewing them via a See in AR toggle on their mobile phones.

Artists can create their own AR exhibitiona useful tool during the global COVID-19 crisisits also a way for investors to keep their collections stocked. Works include a Social Distancing Installation by Joe Doucet, Eric Cahan's "I'd kill for a Noble Peace Prize" graphic, and Irene Soyfer's line-drawn women. While All World is primarily a commercial platform, it also allows people to enjoy artwork while at home.

New York-based designer Sebastian Errazuriz developed the platform with fellow artist Zander Eckblad and a team of engineers. Sebastian believes AR is the future of the art world and will democratize art so everyone can have access to it. Speaking in a video on this Instagram page, he said: Augmented reality will disrupt the art and design world in the same manner as digital platforms disrupted the entire music industry, or the news media industry, or the film industry.

He goes on to talk about how technology will usher the next wave of creative expression, from interactive works to those that recognize the user.

Hauser and Wirths ArtLab

Mega-gallery Hauser and Wirth has announced a new technology and research division, ArtLab. The recent lockdown has enabled the gallery to pick up the project again, which was originally started in 2019.

Gallery co-founder Iwan Wirth told Artnet News,We accelerated it because of the current situation of being isolated, he said, adding, When? if not now?

ArtLab will be based in Los Angeles, and will launch its first project later this montha VR exhibition modelHWVR. ArtLab will also offer an artist residency and give the gallery artists opportunities to experiment with the technology in their own practices.

ArtLab is a longterm project. The ambition isnt to replace art fairs but redefine them and expand the audience.

ArtLab, Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles interior view, created in HWVR. Works pictured by Jack Whitten ... [+] and Louise Bourgeois.

Lisson Gallery

Lisson Gallery operates out of London, New York, and Shanghai. The gallery recently developed a platform with software company Augment, which allows users to place one of 100 available works into their home environments using augmented reality.

The platform launched on April 23rd, after a year and a half of development, and is Augments first collaboration with an arts organization. CEO of Augment, Dimitri Duffeleer, said in a statement: We are particularly excited about this creative collaboration with Lisson, as one of the most influential and innovative international contemporary art galleries in the world, it allows us to use this technologya democratic, self-service SAAS [software as a service] platformto make art much more accessible to a wider audience, available to anyone, anywhere in the world.

Initially, the app was going to be a licensed Lisson Gallery app, but with the current global crisis impacting the art world, the development was fast tracked to make the technology available to all, with a subscription.

Lisson Gallerys Executive Director Alex Logsdail said: Our hope is that Augment can be beneficial to the business beyond the current situation. In a time when galleries should be more conscious about our impact, it solves the problem of shipping works for approval, which can be expensive, complicated and wasteful.

Lisson Gallery

More here:

COVID-19 Is Accelerating The Art Worlds Adoption Of Technology - Forbes

Smart cities are regarded as an ecosystem of technologies driven by data and analytics to manage assets and resources efficiently. The idea of what a smart city is, and the technology that will be used to create it, is constantly changing. Were now seeing the idea of smart city solutions come to the fore, where localities can rapidly shape and customise user-specific applications to enhance public safety.

Advancements in transport and energy sectors are expected to be the big drivers of smart city spending over the coming decade, with global spend reaching nearly $124 billion this year alone. The vision of a fully connected city through technological innovations have well surpassed what current infrastructure can provide. That said, some advancements in this sector are already playing a huge role in the safety of operations throughout Europe - UK, Germany, Belgium - to name a few.

From roadways, streets, and intersections, to buildings, critical infrastructure and public spaces, smart sensing solutions are becoming an essential part of the technology needed to improve the safety of public operations. These systems are already making a difference and are allowing us to visualise a future connected city based on situational awareness and data driven operations - but how can we tap into the technology and infrastructure already available?

Thermal imaging technology tracks heat movement, in any situation or condition, and extends the visibility of traditional cameras by up to four-times. This has been rolled out in many cities across the globe. By connecting cities through the implementation of intelligent transportation solutions like smart thermal and visible imaging systems that monitor traffic flow and detect incidents cities can better inform road users of hazards, delays and alternate routes to keep everyone moving.

Hamburg, one of the most congested cities in Germany, is building a reputation as the most innovative smart city in the country. Smart solutions provide resolution to the issue Hamburgs commuters face, with 113 hours a year being wasted to traffic jams - by providing a better picture of traffic dynamics. City authorities are installing thermal imaging technology to traffic and street lights by 2021 which will allow authorities to see data-points. These cameras are interconnected via a cloud-based system which allows for high-resolution and real-time information to be collected and analysed, resulting in fully comprehensive datasets from 420 intersections across Hamburg.

Traffic controllers are able to differentiate between pedestrians, vehicle types and cyclists allowing them to accurately count and process how busy the roads are, enabling them to adjust signals in real-time. The cloud-based system allows for the seamless transfer of information across the city, meaning that controllers can improve long-term planning and reduce blockages across the city, so traffic flow is adapted to minimise daily congestion.

Technological advancements in this sector are already playing a huge role in the safety of operations throughout Europe. In Durham, UK, city authorities recently deployed FLIRs thermal imaging sensors onto pre-existing road signs to build a unique collision avoidance system that reduced the number of collisions at the junction to zero. By putting electronic road signs that spur signalisation into action, upon the detection of a passing object, has helped prevent crashes and save lives. Over-time this can change driver behaviour through early-warning systems that prevent heavy breaking, allow drivers to adapt their speed accordingly and drive more economically.

Having this data to hand enables city authorities to analyse the information and utilise this to optimise infrastructure performance and make roads safer. By getting ahead of rush hour on busy arterials to posting travel-times on variable messaging boards, across the city, technology is enabling urban planners and dwellers to make smarter, safer transport decisions.

As city agency operators and first responders can share data and detect incidents in real-time, this also allows for more collaborative and efficient interactions, maximising safety. Working with a single platform to enable data sharing, inter-device connectivity and end-user infrastructures provides greater control for command centres to enhance public safety operations.

The dynamics and scalability of cloud platforms enables these solutions to be tailored to address specific needs and operate seamlessly within any city-level operation, management platform, and associated interface. Through one central node of communication, control centres are granted a unified access point with global displays and AI driven-data processing, allowing for a faster, more unified response across the city - and regardless of the scenario.

By connecting cities through intelligent transportation solutions like FLIRs smart thermal and visible imaging systems that monitor traffic flow and detect incidents we can better inform travellers of hazards, delays and alternate routes to keep people moving. These systems are already making a difference and allow for the visualisation of a future connected city based on situational awareness and data-driven operations. An upcoming webinar, on 19th May, focuses in on Hamburg is further developing and renewing existing infrastructure.

The concept of smart cities, and their possibilities, are constantly changing while their purpose remains centred on public safety. Communities are empowered by having greater capacity to shape and customise user-specific applications to meet their needs, while the vision of a fully connected city through innovation has exceeded what the current infrastructure can provide. As weve seen through city operations in Hamburg and Durham, its possible to transform existing infrastructure into part of an interconnected ecosystem of technologies. Through this, citizens are kept better informed of hazards, delays and alternative routes - keeping them moving and keeping communities safe.

Michael Deruytter, Director of Product, Intelligent Traffic Systems, FLIR Systems

Excerpt from:

Smart thermal: Using technology to enhance situational awareness & data-driven operations - ITProPortal

Social distancing measures and the subsequent shift to remote working, socializing and school led to questions about the technology available to us, namely Zoom, which was labelled a privacy disaster. Yet amid the challenges of implementing technology into our home lives, families are having to embrace technology to keep things normal, and finding increasingly creative ways to stay organized and educated online along the way.

People who never expected nor ever wanted to use digital technology to communicate or work now must, and so they are learning how, explains Sean Michael Morris, director of the Digital Pedagogy Lab at the University of Colorado Denver. We could look at this integration of technologies into family life in a positive light, in that the use of these technologies at home necessitates a new level of digital literacy for everyone, but theres an equally important downside to the movement of work-related technologies into home life, too. Technology is useful, but it is not a substitute for the classroom.

Where the gaps between classroom learning and homeschooling are most apparent a wave of apps aimed at supporting remote learning have risen to prominence. Seesaw, which allows students to build a digital portfolio of work to share with parents or teachers, has seen a tenfold increase in usage since US schools began to shut down in March.

There are two types of technologies that have been particularly powerful during this time, explains Seesaw Co-Founder Adrian Graham. The first is live video calling such as Zoom. The second is technology that supports activities that enable personalized attention for students, even in the midst of so many of our routines being disrupted. Often kids are parked in front of technology as a passive solitary experience, but I hope people start to see the immense learning potential that technology has to enable kids to express their thinking and then receive feedback from people who care about them.

Although technology that is specifically catered to remote learning such as Seesaw has seen significant interest, there has also been widespread repurposing of traditionally workplace-based technologies. The meteoric popularity of Zoom is one example, but Trello, a work management tool for organizing projects, also saw a 73% increase in sign-ups in March compared to last year. The company credits a substantial portion of this to its decision to provide free access to its premium package to educators in order to help combat the challenges of school closures.

Its important to remember that parents are now serving as the only direct touchpoint that teachers have with younger students. Trello is being used as the central hub to share assignments, attach proof of work and leave comments and questions, says Michael Pryor, founder and head of Trello at Atlassian. Weve heard from teachers that they started using Trello because they found themselves thrown into this situation, but they plan to keep it up in the long run.

Trello is already beginning to plan for a more multipurpose future, currently working on perfecting a new template gallery for teachers and parents, and adding integrations to enable users to customize lesson plans and workflow. For parents and teachers now communicating with their students digitally the rethinking of existing technology for use in an education setting is important, but questions remain about what remote learning can teach us about schooling more broadly.

If any time is the best time to reinvent school for the better, this time certainly has given us the impetus and rationale and taken away any excuses built on a narrative that this is how it has to be because this is the way weve always done it, says Sarojani S Mohammed, Founder of research group Ed Research Works. I think that theres an opportunity here to collectively see and experience how personalized learning and true learner-centered instruction can be accomplished. Parents should consider technology to be a tool for interactive learning, for socializing and for social-emotional health and wellbeing at this time. 2020 is illustrating to us what the true non-negotiables are in our conventional education systems, what our critical goals are for learners and alternatively where we do, in fact, have room to innovate.

The pivot to remote learning has surfaced inequalities that, though already present, were not highlighted by classroom-based education

Yet in addition to forcing educators and parents to consider how technology can better support education, the sudden shift to remote learning has also exposed profound problems. The expectation on parents to provide adequate time and technology to educate their children lays bare vast economic divides, and many families may be concerned by the impact of remote schooling on their childs educational development as well as their ability to focus on their own work.

If there are any technologies that will remain useful once we go back to the classroom, I think they will be those which helped us stay in touch with one another, and those that could best provide equitable access to the most marginalized, says Morris. Too many students are without internet at home, or adequate enough broadband to be able to participate in school. Too many families cant afford computers or mobile devices. The pivot to remote learning has surfaced inequalities that, though already present, were not highlighted by classroom-based education. I think the best technological innovation or change that should come next would come as a result of looking carefully at issues of equity and either redesigning existing technologies, or revisiting the whole endeavor.

For many, the future of technology in education does not rely solely on creating new, exciting and innovative tools, but in thinking about how technology can make digital learning safe, accessible and equal for all. The Covid-19 crisis has demonstrated how important technology can be in times of change and uncertainty. The next test for educators and technology companies will be utilizing and shaping digital tools to make the opportunities that they offer equally available to all, inside as well as outside the classroom.

Read the rest here:

We're embracing tech during lockdown but can it replace the classroom? - The Guardian

Exchange-traded financial productslike stocks, treasuries, and currencieshave had the benefit of a tremendous wave of technological innovation in the past 20 years, resulting in more efficient markets, lower transaction costs, and greater transparency to investors.

However, large parts of the capital markets have been left behind. Valuation of instruments composing the massive $500 trillion market in over-the-counter (OTC) derivativessuch as interest rate swaps, credit default swaps, and structured productslack the same degree of immediate clarity that is enjoyed by their more straightforward siblings.

In times of increased volatility, traders and their managers need to know the impacts of market conditions on a given instrument as the day unfolds to be able to take appropriate action. Reports reflecting the conditions at the previous close of business are only valuable in calm markets and even then, firms with access to fast valuation and risk sensitivity calculations have a substantial edge in the marketplace.

Unlike exchange-traded instruments, where values can be observed each time the instrument trades, values for OTC derivatives need to be computed using complex financial models. The conventional means of accomplishing this is through traditional Monte Carloa simple but computationally expensive probabilistic sweep through a range of scenarios and resultant outcomes- or finite-difference analysis.

Continue reading here.

Read more here:

Azure GPUs with Riskfuel's technology offer 20 million times faster valuation of derivatives - HPCwire

The University of Arkansas and its Office of Technology Ventures have endorsed guidelines that allow for rapid sharing of discoveries that will aid in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The U of A joins research universities such as Stanford, Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology as signatories to the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) COVID-19 Licensing Guidelines, which stipulate that innovations will be made accessible through "time-limited, non-exclusive royalty-free licenses, in exchange for the licensees' commitment to rapidly make and broadly distribute products and services to prevent, diagnose, treat and contain COVID-19 and protect healthcare workers during the pandemic."

The Office of Technology Ventures is working to make transfer of COVID-19 breakthroughs its top priority.

"The University of Arkansas, like other major research institutions around the world, is a rich source of intellectual property and know-how that companies could use to create the next COVID-19 diagnostic test, therapeutic, vaccine or personal protective equipment improvement, which could have a huge impact in our battle to overcome this pandemic," said David Snow, executive director of Technology Ventures. "The AUTM framework reiterates our commitment as a community partner to foster access to U of A technologies as quickly as possible."

Technology Ventures is a unit of the Office of Economic Development and works closely with the Office of Research and Innovation.

About the University of Arkansas Technology Ventures: The University of Arkansas Technology Ventures has initiated a program to commercialize a wide range of research tools, whether patented or not. Technology Ventures manages, protects and commercializes the intellectual property portfolio of the University of Arkansas. Technology Ventures serves the university's faculty, staff and students as well as external inventors and entrepreneurs to disseminate knowledge, technology and products to the public market to generate revenue and future research support. In this way, we also serve the public as it is our responsibility to enable public utilization of products derived from university research.

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U of A Signs on to Sharing Technology and Innovation to Respond to COVID-19 - University of Arkansas Newswire

With at least one in five British homes using smart speakers, the devices are becoming increasingly important in our day to day lives.

Welsh has long been one of the few languages that were not supported by Amazon Alexa.

The technical challenges of ensuring that the Alexa system was able to understand commands in Welsh were so herculean that its no surprise that no one has been able to achieve this feat, yet Swansea based Mobilise Cloud has managed to develop the technology that allows Alexa to understand the Welsh language: a world first.

The Welsh language content for the Alexa system was provided by Y Pod.

Y Pod (https://ypod.cymru/) is a service that brings Welsh podcasts together in one place. With over 70 podcasts on offer, it has something for everyone.

Amazon Alexas ability to understand Welsh has the potential of making technology accessible for 1000s of people who communicate in the language.

As an example of the application of the technology, S4C has launched a new skill for Amazon Alexa called Welsh Language Podcasts that allows people to search for specific content through the medium of Welsh.

As the name suggests, Welsh Language Podcasts is a collection of podcasts in Welsh. What makes it truly unique is that, once you open the skill, you browse by chatting to Alexa in Welsh

said Rhodri ap Dyfrig, S4C's Online Content Commissioner.

This is the first time such technology has ever been developed on the Alexa system, so it's something S4C, Mobilise Cloud Services and Y Pod are very proud of.

This innovative skill is available free of charge to anyone with an Alexa device, such as Echo or Dot. It works in a similar way to an app, so all you need to do is install the skill through Amazon.

James Carnie of Mobilise said:

After months of planning and trialling it's great to see Welsh Language Podcasts live,

We built a Welsh language interpretation model a while ago that works well on Amazon Lex allowing us to build Welsh language chatbots accessible by Amazons Connect telephony platform. This was the first time we have used the technology inside an Alexa skill

Hopefully people will use the skill to show that there is a demand for such services. It's exciting to think that this can trigger more voice technology developments in the Welsh languageadded James.

Aled Jones of Y Pod said:

My teenage son and daughter helped with testing they cant wait for their friends to have a go. As my wife and children are all fluent Welsh speakers, the conversation at home often turns to English for my benefit. This will be something we can all do together, in Welsh, and I will certainly be using it to practice and learn.

With more of us looking for entertainment as we stay at home, Podcasts that help with learning Welsh such as Welsh Word of the Day and Pigion (Highlights for Welsh learners) are proving really popular at the moment. Ffit Cymru and Clic or Archif are also in high demand.

All Y Pod content is available within the skill so you can access music sports, current affairs, comedy and much more. You can search by category or ask Alexa to choose something for you if youre feeling lucky.

Such a development is very timely, as the number of people using voice technology is expected to increase significantly because of coronavirus as it is more hygienic than touch-enabled devices.

If you have an Alexa device, this is a great opportunity to be part of something special and speak Welsh with Alexa. You can even do it through the Alexa app on your smartphone. It's surreal! Try it out, explore the great content on offer and make sure you rate it and leave a review says Aled.

Welsh Language Podcasts is available at https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0876JFYX8/

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Technology Developed to Allow Alexa to Understand the Welsh Language - Business News Wales

To suggest that this marks the end of the office as we know it is absurd, as face-to-face discussions are better for communication and the social aspect of the work environment cannot be overstated.

But people have adapted to home working and the systems are in place to make it happen. A balance of office and remote work is certain to be a feature of any post-recovery world.

This means that two of the major themes within the wider technology space are likely to be at the vanguard of sector beneficiaries namely cloud computing and cyber security. These areas of spending are not discretionary in the current environment.

Cloud computing essentially the centralisation of data on third-party severs that makes information available to many users over the internet will clearly be a winner. Of course, the whole point of thematic investing is to position investors in a trend for long-term returns, not just the current market circumstances.

Cloud computing meets these requirements, too, as the advent of 5G mobile services will continue to drive opportunities in the sector.

Decentralised working also means that cyber security is a must have, rather than a discretionary spend. Indeed, since the Covid-19 epidemic grabbed the headlines, there has been a leap in phishing emails from criminals trying to exploit it.

Link:

Why you need to be targeted when investing in technology - Telegraph.co.uk

ANN ARBOR, Mich. The streets are empty of cars in Ann Arbor, but robot traffic is up.

Refraction AIs robot restaurant food delivery service has seen demand increase by four times since the COVID-19 crisis shut down Michigan last month, and the companys engineers are working furiously to expand the companys small fleet of three-wheeled REV bots.

Refraction is part of a surge in robot activity as the U.S. economy struggles to get back on track while maintaining self-distancing and exposing as few workers as possible in the workplace. The virus is accelerating robotics trends from auto plant assembly lines to grocery store cleaning robots to security patrols and that is likely to have enormous implications for the jobs of the not-so-distant future.

This moment is a call to arms for robotics makers to really bring their technology to market that helps people. Particularly now in a time when there are so few options for doing tasks that we dont want to put people at risk for, said Refraction AI CEO Matthew Johnson-Roberson, an associate professor of engineering at the University of Michigan with 20 years of experience in the robotics field.

Refraction autonomous REVs (Refraction Electric Vehicles) began restaurant food deliveries at the first of the year from four restaurants to a small group of beta customers within a 2-mile radius in downtown Ann Arbor.

With the states closure of in-restaurant dining and subsequent shelter-in-place order, Refractions customer list has ballooned to 400, taxing the startups five robots which have been hustling to and fro along the edges of abandoned city streets.

A bunch of new restaurants have said we have to have delivery now. The big limiting factor is the number of robots we have, said Johnson-Roberson, 36. Weve been working to expand to groceries, which is the more important need of the moment than takeout food.

Johnson-Roberson says the shutdown has accelerated customers acceptance of robots as fear of COVID-19 has drawn them to technologies think of the Zoom chat revolution that they were unaware of before.

It really changes consumer behavior across the board, he said. A lot of what were getting help with here is people getting comfortable with robots.

That comfort has been reinforced with strict safety guidelines to mitigate virus spread. The robots are wiped down between every delivery; upon food delivery, customers can open the 5-foot tall robots door by phone instead of keypad; and the company has installed UV lights a coronavirus killer in the interior to disinfect the compartment and food.

With the added demand, the 15-person autonomous startup is looking to hire in these job-lean times. Some of its new employees come from the hard-hit restaurant industry.

Weve always thought about robotics as to how to improve peoples lives. It can do things people dont want to do like bomb disposal robots, nuclear inspection robots, said the robotics professor. Theyve figured out a task thats unpleasant for human beings and can do it better.

One of those unpleasant tasks is cleaning grocery aisles after hundreds of patrons have filed through in a typical COVID economy day.

San Diego-based Brain Corp. is the worlds largest maker of autonomous navigation software for robotics giants like Minuteman, Tennant and Karcher. Its business has expanded as grocery retailers like Walmart have brought in more cleaning robots.

As retailers are required to clean more frequently and deliver more cleaning coverage, BrainOS-powered autonomous floor care robots are providing 8,000-plus hours of daily work over 250,000 hours over the next 30 days that otherwise would have to be done by an essential worker, said a company spokesperson. This allows workers to focus on other tasks that are essential during this health crisis.

Walmart is one of Brain Corps biggest clients and 110 BrainOS-powered robots are in service across Michigan in retail, grocery, and education applications.

Security robots are also in demand as companies have abandoned workplaces and employees work from home. For example, autonomous Cobalt Robotics bots are patrolling Metro Detroit businesses.

The U.S. auto industry is not likely to be immediately impacted with more robots in part because it is already heavily automated to reduce costs. Today, humans are scarce in giant assembly plants except at the assembly-line tail and are therefore spaced safely. Stamping, painting, and body welding departments are crowded robot zones.

But with the enormous travel restrictions caused by COVIDs spread, industry insiders say the auto supply chain is going to change drastically and robots will play their part. In pursuit of lower costs, the supply chain in recent decades has expanded to China, Vietnam, and elsewhere.

Now, we see huge risk of the supply chain when something like this happens, said Doug Betts, a manufacturing veteran and president of J.D. Powers auto division. The management of risk will reel the supply chain back in to the U.S. Labor costs are going to be high and that supply chain is likely to be established here with more robotics than whats used in other markets.

Example? A paint supplier abroad might use the cheaper labor of local people to spray paint onto parts. As those jobs move back to the U.S., they will be filled more by robots than people for safety, environmental and cost reasons.

Says robotics expert Johnson-Roberson: Part of what were talking about is job displacement and that is something that is a concern. We want to be careful that whatever we are doing here is making life better on the whole.

Amidst the coronavirus business devastation in Ann Arbor, he says robotics can help provide job and health security.

People who run restaurants arent sure they can come through this, said the Refraction CEO. The fear that 25-to-50% (of) restaurants will go away is terrifying to me. And the jobs from dishwashers to bus people to caterers to line cooks their livelihoods depend on their customers. If (the COVID crisis) goes on for six months with one wave after another we have to come up with a sustainable way to do this.

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Robots on the rise in the COVID-19 economy | Technology | gmtoday.com - Greater Milwaukee Today

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Wave Energy Market by Technology (OSW, OBC, & Overtopping Converters), Location (Onshore, Nearshore, Offshore), Application (Desalination, Power Generation, and Environmental Protection), and Region - Global Forecast to 2025" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The wave energy market is projected to reach USD 107 million by 2025, at a CAGR of 19.3 % from 2020 to 2025.

Rising adoption of renewable energy generation and other applications is helping manufacturers to invest more in R&D leading to the growth of the wave energy market.

The power generation segment is expected to be the fastest-growing market during the forecast period.

The wave energy market, by application, is segmented into desalination, power generation, and environmental protection. Power generation segment of the wave energy market is growing rapidly because of the widespread adoption of renewable energy generation. Renewable and non-conventional sources of energy generation have gained momentum in recent years in line with several countries that are focusing on reducing their carbon footprint from power generation activities.

The nearshore segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR from 2020 to 2025.

Wave energy market, by location, is segmented into onshore, nearshore and offshore installations. Nearshore segment is expected to be the largest and fastest-growing wave energy market, by location, during the forecast period. Nearshore installations have been happening in almost all the regions and is a preferred choice by manufacturers owing to the fact that these installations offer better efficiency than onshore ones and easier installations when compared with offshore locations.

Europe is expected to lead in the global wave energy market.

Europe is both the largest and the fastest-growing wave energy market, followed by North America and the Asia Pacific. It is expected in Europe that there will be maximum adoption and implementation of wave energy conversion devices owing to the presence of a large number of companies working in the research and development of wave energy converters. Major countries in this region include Germany, the UK, Spain, the Nordic Countries, and the Rest of Europe. Rest of Europe includes Ireland and Italy. The European region experiences cold ambient temperatures throughout the year simultaneously having high buying power. Both these factors lead to an increased demand for power, ultimately increasing the demand. To reduce carbon emissions from power generation activities, the countries are emphasizing on renewable technologies for power generation.

Market Dynamics

Drivers

Restraints

Opportunities

Challenges

Companies Profiled

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/lcvanm

Link:

Wave Energy Market by Technology, Location, Application, and Region - Global Forecast to 2025 - ResearchAndMarkets.com - Business Wire

Two years ago, I sat in an OpenShift Container Platform boot camp to better understand container technologies. During our break, the instructor asked if we had read the yellow book, and I wondered what the shuffling around the room meant. Someone had gotten up to the front of the room to pull the book out of their bag. Yeah, Im reading it now.

Good, you should all read this book, the instructor announced. He called it the bible of DevOps. There were nods of approval. Im pretty sure I almost jumped out of my seat. Bible? Before I knew it, training ended, and I had The DevOps Handbook (by Gene Kim, Jez Humble, Patrick Debois, and John Willis) in my hands.

SEE ALSO: Setting up a secure DevOps pipeline in 7 easy steps

In a short amount of time, I came to learn about DevOps and the practices surrounding the core concept that by working together, Developers and Operations teams could drive the delivery of business value through software. I came to understand DevOps as a combination of People, Process, and Technology.

Admittedly it took me quite some time to learn how these three areas played into each other. One challenge was diagnosing the dynamics of a winning team verse a failing team. It often came down to the leadership of the group, and it shaped the teams practices and culture around people, processes, and technology.

Through the opportunities I had to facilitate and work with different teams, I was able to note critical observations and recommendations for improving DevOps practices. In that spirit, here are three lessons learned from the field for leaders on their DevOps journey.

Ive come to realize that things can go very wrong in any endeavor where the outcomes are not clearly defined and prioritized. Artifacts are significant; we produce them in design thinking sessions, feature building, and discovery sessions. Theyve often required outputs for leaders to track KPIs. They live in the form of documents, diagrams and or code. However, these artifacts quickly depreciate in value when teams misunderstand their goals.

The critical point here is not to confuse outcomes with outputs. You shouldnt run a design sprint to produce a backlog for your developers to develop off of; this is an example of focusing on the output. An example of an outcome is having your critical stakeholders, including your developers, understand the problem space to begin developing the solution. If youre running a session or event and have artifacts and checkboxes to produce, thats great. This ensures a role and responsibility to be handled. These responsibilities should be a separate agenda handled by that role.

Teams that align with the same outcome get better value and results. Accelerate is an excellent book that talks about this within organizations adopting DevOps. Targeting outcomes ensures processes involving tech and people align with your business needs.

Safe environments are essential to maintaining the health of your organization. Employees do their best work when they feel empowered. The key takeaway here is maintaining a safe environment for everyone to contribute.

If you are maintaining a healthy team, excellent, you are probably meeting your target outcomes, driving value across the organization or group regularly, and have lessons learned. Great feedback often causes a desire to further improve or experiment with current processes.

If you are struggling with delivering value and meeting your target outcomes, there are few practices to help enable learning from your team, like retrospectives. Dare to Lead is a personal favorite of mine for rumbling with conflicts and complexity within an organization.

Regardless, we can not predict chaos so, within execution cycles, its often necessary to pivot. Changing current outcomes and processes across your organization can be difficult especially concerning team morale and team dynamics. If these changes cause unmet deliverables this also lead to dissatisfaction and blame.

Some indicators of lowered team morale include feelings of frustration that things arent working, push back, and an increase of questions. Here are some tips for pivoting if you are experiencing mid-sprint or mid-execution pivots that are hurting your team:

Maintaining a safe environment will help grow a culture where individuals gain autonomy, allowing value to scale.

SEE ALSO: DevOps report card: Security must be part of the software delivery cycle

Organizations see the need to adapt and innovate to stay competitive and current in their markets. With the increased adoption and emergence of technology (there are 1,200 Cloud Native Computing Foundation projects now, wow!), team members across the organization must understand the technology landscape of your company.

Ensure documentation is current and available regarding the architecture of your application.

If you do not have any architecture diagrams, take the time to work with your team to produce, at a minimum, a big picture diagram that spans across your environments. Present this to your organization and ensure everyone understands how each tool and framework within your environment interacts.

With reference diagrams, your developers can understand the software application and point out any missing details concerning current work in progress. Getting the big picture also allows you to determine better which areas that will most benefit from the adoption of technologies.

Understanding how your tools and technologies benefit your software development life cycle accelerates your software delivery.

And there you have it. Three DevOps lessons learned about People, Process and Technology. Understanding these concepts has made me a better communicator and leader in my teams and projects, I hope it will for you too. If you are looking for more guidance on leading DevOps journeys check out this piece on the 8 habits of successful DevOps team leaders.

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DevOps lessons learned from the field: People, process and technology - JAXenter

What if coronavirus is the beginning of a new age for tech companies? With self-isolation and travel restrictions, the shutters have gone down on many types of business but for some companies in the tech sector, COVID-19 has provided a chance to really prove the benefits of their technologies. Marius Ribokas from Invest Lithuania: Information Technology team takes a closer look at the prospects for the tech sector after the crisis. Read his text below.

There is huge amount of information covering different aspects of current pandemic. As it is part of my daily job crunching through all those articles and reports I would like to share some of my insights on the effects to the technology companies based on the newest available information.

Davos 2020 the World Economic Forum (WEF) took place at the end of January. This was right after the World Health Organization had released its Novel Coronavirus situation report that listed the few countries that had confirmed cases at that time. The US also confirmed its first case the same day. The WEF brings together several thousand business and political leaders each year to predict and tackle wider global issues. Among the topics covered this year were climate change, long-term debt, technology war, empowering people with skills over the next decade, resolving global conflicts(1) but there was nothing on the official schedule concerning the possible outcomes of a pandemic. This clearly shows how unprepared the world was and how unexpected the covid-19 outbreak was especially in terms of the effects it is having on the global economy.

Currently, the biggest issue facing the market is the uncertainty around how long the pandemic is going to last. The duration of the pandemic will no doubt impact how long it will take the economy to recover. Stock markets are fluctuating wildly trying to determine the new value of listed companies. Central banks around the world may deviate when it comes to their forecasts, but there is one point they all agree on the worlds economy will shrink due to covid-19. The recently released McKinsey report suggests a few different scenarios that might emerge due to the pandemic, and states that Covid-19 U.S. impact could exceed anything since the end of WWII:

Even though companies in the technology sector, are in the main, the best suited of all businesses to operating in quarantine conditions, it is during the aftermath of the quarantine that most of the problems will appear. That is why the majority of companies have switched from growth to survival modes. It cannot be compared directly, but the evolvement of the financial crisis of 200708 provides some knowledge of what to expect in the near future. It is clear that having enough cash to survive the next 6-12 months is essential now.

The bright side:

Getting funding:

There is one important point that cannot be overlooked when examining the dynamics inside companies. What is clear is that the tech world is never going to be the same. Although employees in the majority of tech companies previously had the ability to perform some of their work remotely, by the end of the quarantine, companies will have proved to themselves that they are able to execute all of their operations remotely without the need of an office. It is too drastic to say that there will be no more need for offices I am sure the companies will keep at least some of it, but once companies have had the chance to perfect their onboarding procedures, you will see dramatic changes in the employee market with the result that instead of hiring locally for talent, more and more technology companies will be able to hire globally, tapping into the best talent out there. And this will truly make a world of difference.

Want to talk business? Our team is ready. Challenge us: https://bit.ly/2RZdtKb

Sources:

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Covid-19 pandemic: the big unknown. The technology sector - Invest Lithuania

UPS,partnered with Virginias Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) and drone technology companiesDroneUpand Workhorse Group,arein tests to determine how unmanned aerial systems can assist medical professionals inthefight to stop the spread of the Coronavirus.

The healthcare industryiscalling for technology solutions that can speed the pace of testing and treatment for patients. They also express concern for healthcare providers on the front lines who interact with potentially infected patientsdaily. Technology leaders see autonomous drones as a potentially valuable solution.

The tests in Virginia evaluated the commercial drone industrys ability to provide and scale small unmanned aerial systems to support the U.S. healthcare system.

Scott Price, UPS chief strategy and transformation officer, says,Drones offer a low-touch option for delivery of lab specimens and medical products that could make a significant impact in an urgent response application.

Data collected during thesimulation will be used to determine how private-sector drone operators can effectively supplement emergency response and certain patient care. The findings and recommendations will be included in a report to the White House, where leaders are considering what role theindustry could play in the Coronavirus response.

Tom Walker,DroneUpCEOsays,Rather than speculate, it is incumbent upon our industry to conductoperationally-based exercises that produce factual data and lessons learned to ensure we can respond safely, effectively and efficiently when called upon. Data collected now will impact our capabilities beyond the COVID-19 outbreak we are currently facing.

The test participants conducted exercises over three days on the vacant campus of St. Pauls College, in Lawrenceville, Virginia. The Brunswick County facility, which closed to the public in 2013, provided a safe, complex community environment to test package deliveries by drones under a variety of conditions.

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Drone delivery to hospitals being tested - Parcel and Postal Technology International

The Bitcoin SV ecosystem took a leap forward during one week in February, when 30 developers gathered in Lisbon, Portugal for entrepreneur Jack Lius second CambrianSV Bootcamp.

The first Bootcamp was in Bali towards the end of last year. In Lisbon, Jack suggested the theme of efficiency, challenging the developers of independent apps and projects to find ways to integrate with each others work, taking advantage of the ability of the Bitcoin SV blockchain to share data.

It was a theme echoed by speakers at the opening night dinner. Now were opening up the next phase of this book, said Jimmy Odom of Bittboard, so what can we each do inside of our own projects that we open ourselves up to a broader world?

For Ryan X. Charles of Money Button, it was a question of taking advantage of a really unique opportunity right now to create real businesses. And for Paul Martin of RelayX, a startup founded by Jack Liu, their work should be measured in terms of how you change peoples daily lives. Paul stressed the collaborative nature of the Bitcoin ecosystem, encouraging all the developers to see ourselves as working for Bitcoin Bitcoin the organism, Bitcoin the network.

There was a sense of the group as pioneers, setting out to change the world through Bitcoin projects. That was dramatised by a visit to the mouth of the Tagus river, to the monument to Portugals great explorers (above) who set sail from there in search of adventure and new prosperity.

Beneath the monument, Joshua Henslee of the Bitcoin Assocation said he had felt obligated to abandon the security of a regular job to work on this Bitcoin thing: I need to put my talents towards this I felt like I need to be out on the front lines, helping out.

Andrew Kondelin of Loggeru made a direct connection between the ancient explorers and todays BSV developers: imagine being the guy to go around the tip of South Africa and circumnavigate the world, or the guy that took Florida for Spain. These opportunities exist in Bitcoin SV right now. The massive land grabs that we can make right now, you cant make in any other place in technology.

After five days together, there was plenty to show from a productive week, developing and connecting products. For instance, there was a demonstration of a new integration between the image recognition software Bittboard and the advertising platform TonicPow.

But when it was time to go their separate ways, it was the intangible benefits of spending a week together in Lisbon that were celebrated. As Ardian Tola of Ataraxy put it: life is not about technology, life is about higher things. And the beauty of this technology that were working on is that its illuminating those higher things for us.

New to Bitcoin? Check out CoinGeeksBitcoin for Beginnerssection, the ultimate resource guide to learn more about Bitcoinas originally envisioned by Satoshi Nakamotoand blockchain.

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CambrianSV Lisbon: Working with technology that 'illuminates the higher things in life' - CoinGeek

He said policymakers were keen to support the tech sector but will have to come up with a long-term blueprint to support further investment in R&D.

"The only option we really have [post-pandemic] is to expand tech exports," he said.

Square Peg Capital partner Paul Bassat agreed the sector was facing painful short-term period, which would include redundancies.

"I think policy that both encourages more R&D spend, encourages more hiring and encourages people to develop skills that might be in high demand, those are the kind of policies we need."

"It's really important we bounce back hard from this," he said.

Square Peg Capital partner Paul Bassat said it was important post-Covid startup policy focused on hiring and investment. Credit:Wayne Taylor

Meanwhile, chief executive of lobby group StartupAus Alex McCauley said the true cost of job losses in the tech sector was not yet fully known.

The group's annual Crossroads startup report suggests the sector creates 4,500 new Australian jobs each year, though these numbers are now under threat amid a hiring freeze.

"I think there has already been a huge hiring slowdown and there will continue to be, until there is a rebound," Mr McCauley said.

He said while companies are looking to employee hours before laying them off, there were some technology sub-sectors highly vulnerable to job losses.

"If your product is tied to the success of your customers, you will feel the pain," he said.

"There are a whole bunch of companies reliant on business customers and they are laying people off."

The situation in Australia is part of a global trend, with a report from global research group Startup Genome last week showing three quarters of the more than 1,000 global companies surveyed had made staff redundant since the onset of the crisis. Across Asia and the Pacific, 60 per cent of businesses had fired staff.

Blackbird Ventures partner Niki Scevak said the true scale of job losses in the sector could not be predicted because businesses were still feeling "second and third order shocks" from the virus.

He said startups across the board were paring back planned hiring, though the focus on cost reductions could mean Australian businesses miss out on opportunities that will spring from the crisis.

"I think the world has gotten too sad or has at least forgotten to look at the upside scenarios [after] this," he said.

While some companies will have to make significant layoffs, other globally-focused software businesses will likely see significant growth on the other side, he said.

"We have to start thinking about how startups can capture these waves."

Emma is the small business reporter for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald based in Melbourne.

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Technology jobs on the chopping block as startups tighten belts - The Age

Niranjan Jayakumar Image Credit: Supplied

How is Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) coping with the challenges of implementing online learning, especially with regard to software, devices and connectivity?

Technology is at the core of educational excellence at MAHE Dubai. As a leader in education, we are well equipped with e-learning platforms such as Adobe Connect, Cisco Webex, MS Teams, Google Classroom, and a dedicated LMS. Just over a month into this new reality and we have already begun exploring multiple simulations and demonstration softwares to conduct even the lab-intensive modules online.

Our technology and academics team are working in tandem to ensure the best delivery of education to the students. We must also thank the parents who supported their kids with the right infrastructure at home, the internet providers for ensuring apt connectivity, and the students for having shown great adaptability and interest in this new form of learning.

What are MAHE Dubais plans for admissions this year?

We have seamlessly migrated the entire admissions process to an online-only environment. Be it admissions counselling, document submissions or verification; students can complete all processes remotely. Our admissions team is already conducting regular webinar sessions to help the students make the right choice for their education ahead. Students can connect with our admissions team through multiple communication channels. We also offer 3D virtual campus tours for students to experience the campus online.

What new courses are you planning to launch for the 2020-21 academic session?

I take this opportunity to announce the launch of eight new industry-oriented programmes for the upcoming academic session at MAHE Dubai.

The offerings include new world courses in Information Security, Sustainable Development, Nutrition and Dietetics as well as highly sought-after courses in Business Analytics and Film and TV Production.

Do you have any plan to launch short-term courses for students to help them update their skills during this time?

For students who are completing their grade 12 this year, we are happy to announce a free-of-cost short-term online programme, where students can access globally recognised online courses from universities across the world.

Not only will it help them upskill during this period of restriction but will also inculcate a culture of tech-enabled learning, something we must collectively move towards.

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Technology is at the core of MAHE Dubai - Gulf News

Antibodydrug conjugates (ADCs) are a relatively new class of biological drugs created by attaching a therapeutic agent to an antibody via a linker. ADCs are being designed as highly targeted therapies, delivering drugs with very high specificity to disease cells.

The UK registered and self-funding charity LifeArc has several ADC programs in the oncology and non-oncology space. Technology Networks recently had the pleasure of speaking with Dr Laura Murch, Scientist, Biology at LifeArc, to learn more about ADCs. She highlights some of the antibody characterization assays they have developed to identify candidate ADCs, and touches on the regulatory success of ADCs.Laura Lansdowne (LL): What are the key benefits of ADCs?Laura Murch (LM): Antibodydrug conjugates (ADCs) are made up of 3 components: a monoclonal antibody, a payload (drug) and a linker. This combination of antibody and small molecule drug bestows several beneficial characteristics upon ADCs which the monotherapies alone do not possess. Firstly, the payloads used in many ADCs to date are highly toxic and therefore could not be used alone as single agents at an efficacious dose without severe off-target side effects. Secondly, the monoclonal antibody endows exquisite specificity to a given antigen, thereby providing targeted delivery of the payload to the tumor cell. Furthermore, ADCs are only activated once reaching the target, where the payload is released. Until this point, the cytotoxic payload is not free to damage healthy tissue and cells, which minimizes systemic exposure and therefore limits negative side effects. Due to this targeted delivery, a lower equivalent dose of small molecule for efficacy should be possible, improving the therapeutic window. Finally, ADCs can have a long half-life which in some cases can allow weekly dosing, which has a positive impact on patient quality of life. Essentially, an ADC combines the high specificity and long circulating half-life of an antibody with the potency of a highly cytotoxic small molecule, which gives ADCs an improved therapeutic index compared to either monotherapy. Of course, it should also be noted that there have been some difficulties with this modality to date. Off-target toxicity was an issue in some early formats of ADCs, where the payload was released before reaching its target, but recent developments in linker and conjugation technology are attempting to address this in novel ways. Additionally, developability of these complex molecules has proved challenging in the past as large-scale manufacturing of ADCs requires a combination of relatively high-cost facilities including high level containment (due to the toxic payload) and GMP level antibody manufacturing. This is improving due to a rise in CRO expertise dedicated to offering these services. As such, this is an exciting and rapidly evolving field with a growing knowledge base, built around designing highly specific and functional ADCs with the requisite facilities to produce these on a large scale.LL: What is DAR and how does it impact the properties of the ADC and its efficacy?LM: The average DrugAntibody Ratio (DAR) is an important value for an ADC. The DAR describes the number of drug molecules attached per antibody and varies depending on the conjugation method used. The DAR value has a significant impact on the properties of the ADC in vitro and in vivo. Often project teams will need to balance the potency of the payload with the DAR value of the ADC. High average DAR values usually (but not always) lead to efficacy of an ADC during in vitro studies, but this efficacy does not necessarily translate to the in vivo setting where the biophysical characteristics of the ADC dominate. For example, an ADC with high average DAR of a potent toxin will tend to induce clearance mechanisms from the host. So, whilst the high average DAR ADC may demonstrate better tumor killing potential as there is a large amount of potent payload present, the higher clearance rate can lead to liver toxicity. As such, DAR is a key attribute that requires careful assessment and consideration when developing an ADC.It should be noted that the DAR is an average value and for many of the currently approved ADCs the conjugation methods used generate a highly heterogeneous ADC product. This has implications when considering the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics (PK/PD) of an ADC therapy, as the different DAR species will have different attributes in vivo. Due to technology advances, ADCs generated using site-specific conjugations are becoming more common and enable production of a significantly more homogeneous ADC product. These more homogeneous ADCs have distinct advantages, with a more uniform PK/PD profile which can be more easily modelled and subsequently adjusted compared to the highly heterogeneous DAR ADCs. At LifeArc, we routinely determine the average DAR of ADCs using high-resolution mass spectrometry. Using our in-house Q-Exactive BioPharma platform, we can analyze ADCs at the intact level under denaturing or native conditions, and at the sub-unit level. We can also apply peptide mapping workflows to identify drug conjugation sites on the antibody, providing complete characterization of our ADCs.

LL: Could you touch on the regulatory success of ADCs?LM: The market for ADC therapies continues to expand, with three new approvals of ADCs in 2019. In total, there are currently seven ADCs approved by the FDA on the market (all for oncology indications) and over eighty ADCs currently under clinical development. The large number of next generation ADCs currently under clinical development highlights the growing appetite for ADCs in oncology and other therapeutic areas. Initial successes and challenges with the first-generation ADCs produced important learnings about the biopharmacology of ADCs. This has led to the development of new technologies to improve specificity and reduce toxicity. Next generation ADCs typically utilize humanized or fully human antibodies rather than murine or chimeric antibodies, significantly lowering the risk of immunogenicity. As mentioned earlier, site specific conjugation of payloads is now possible, allowing the production of single-DAR species ADCs rather than heterogeneous mixtures of DAR values. These single-DAR species have the benefit of delivering a consistent amount of payload to the target and a simpler PK/PD profile. The stability of linkers has also been improved, meaning less payload release prior to reaching the target antigen and therefore a lower off-target toxicity profile. The combination of these advances holds great promise for these next generation ADCs. Indeed, if the potential improvements in efficacy and safety are realized during current clinical development and evaluation, the field is likely to continue to expand over the next 510 years with many more regulatory approvals including for non-oncology indications.LL: What makes a good ADC target?LM: Ideally good targets for ADCs are those which are overexpressed on the tumor/target cell surface, with low or absent expression in normal tissue, but it is important to understand each target in the context of the disease. For cytotoxic ADCs, targets should demonstrate good internalization properties, as intracellular tracking to the lysosome and endosomal compartments is key for many linker-release technologies to work well. It should be noted that if the complex is recycled to the cell surface and payload is released into the tumor microenvironment, there can be bystander effects upon surrounding tumor cells. Whilst this may be beneficial in the solid tumor setting, particularly if the tumor cells vary in target expression level, it needs careful monitoring on a target-by-target basis. It is also important to gather evidence that the toxin-linker combination selected can be effective at releasing payload and inducing cell toxicity in a range of relevant cell lines expressing the target, as this builds confidence in specificity and efficacy. Finally, ADCs bearing non-cytotoxic payloads are helping to redefine what makes a good ADC target, by considering biological problems which could be solved by selective re-targeting of a non-specific payload.LL: Could you touch on some of the ADC programs LifeArc has within the oncology and non-oncology space?LM: LifeArc is involved in a multitude of projects across our three main therapeutic areas (oncology, neuroscience and anti-infectives) which include ADC projects as well as many other modalities. ADC programs are a natural fit for LifeArc as we have Chemistry, Biology and Biotherapeutics teams all based in the same building meaning these project teams can be interdisciplinary and immediately gain from this varied expertise. We have worked on two cytotoxic ADC programs and are looking to expand into programs involving non-cytotoxic payloads, where the resulting ADCs will have a different mode of action. For example, an early stage investigative project was carried out recently in-house based around a non-internalizing small molecule loaded ADC targeting MMP-9.1 This is certainly something that we are continuing to develop and expand upon.LL: Can you highlight some of the key antibody characterization assays you have developed to identify candidate ADCs?LM: Due to the importance of selecting appropriate antibodies with good properties for the development of ADCs, an antibody characterization assay workflow was developed here at LifeArc.Binding: Antibody clones are initially tested for binding to the target of interest, as well as for non-specific binding to a background cell line, in order to highlight positive clones. For this assay we use a flow cytometry-based assay on the Intellicyt iQue Screener as this is a relatively quick way to analyze many clones simultaneously for specificity.Internalization: Antibodies which show specific binding to target are subsequently tested for their ability to internalize. We have two assay formats set up for this analysis, one which is a higher-throughput assay to test larger numbers of clones as a triage, and one which is low through-put, giving a more in-depth analysis and tracking antibody internalization to the lysosome. Both assays are image-based assays, set up using the IncuCyte S3 and IN Cell Analyzer 6500HS respectively.For the higher throughput assay using the IncuCyte S3, antibody clones are labeled with a pH-sensitive dye which only fluoresces under acidic conditions (i.e. in the low-pH of the lysosome). Cells expressing the target of interest are treated with the pH-dye labeled antibody clones, and fluorescence is monitored over time on the IncyCyte S3 over the course of 24 hours. Antibodies which internalize will show an increase in fluorescence over time.

The best performing antibody clones are then tested in the second assay, where they are directly conjugated to a fluorescent dye. Target cells are labeled with a nuclear marker as well as a fluorescent lysosome marker, and subsequently treated with the labeled test antibodies. Internalization is monitored at several time points using the IN Cell Analyzer 6500HS (Figure 1). The amount of internalization can be quantified by monitoring the fluorescently labeled antibody, and we can also look at the amount of colocalization of the antibody with the lysosome marker to gain an insight into whether the antibody tracks to the lysosome upon internalization. Those that do are promising candidates for use in ADC formats which often require internalization to the lysosome for payload release.

Figure 1: Antibody internalization. HEK293 cells overexpressing the target of interest were incubated with Alexa488 labeled test or isotype control antibody and internalization monitored at 0 and 48 hours on the IN Cell Analyzer 6500HS. Cells were stained for nuclei (Hoechst, shown in blue) and lysosomes (Lysotracker Deep Red, shown in red). Test antibody staining is mostly membrane restricted at 0hr, whereas by 48 hour punctate green and yellow staining can be observed showing antibody internalization. Yellow staining represents colocalization of the red lysosome dye with the Alexa488 labeled test antibody, indicating tracking to the lysosome.Cell Toxicity: Antibodies are also tested for their ability to induce cell kill by making use of a secondary antibody Fab fragment which is conjugated to a toxic payload, to mimic an ADC. Antibody clones are incubated with the secondary conjugated Fab-Tox and then tested in a dose-response experiment against cells which express our target of interest. Cell viability is monitored over the course of 4872 hours on the IncuCyte S3 and an endpoint viability reading is taken at 72 hours using Promega CellTitre-Glo. In this way, we can gain an insight into how different antibody clones may compare in their ability to induce target cell death.Due to our antibody expertise in-house, we routinely run promising antibody candidates through a suite of industry-standard biophysical assays. The data from all the characterization assays are collated and analyzed to determine which antibody clones should progress further for ADC development.Laura Murch, Ph.D., was speaking with Laura Elizabeth Lansdowne, Senior Science Writer, Technology Networks.

References1. Love, et al. (2019) Developing an Antibody-Drug Conjugate approach to Selective Inhibition of an Extracellular Protein. Chembiochem. DOI:10.1002/cbic.201800623

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Exploring the Potential of AntibodyDrug Conjugates - Technology Networks

The "Food Probiotic Market Insights 2020, Analysis and Forecast Global and Chinese Market to 2025, by Manufacturers, Regions, Technology, Application" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This study reports on the current state of the global food probiotic market with a focus on the Chinese market. The report provides key statistics on the market and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the food probiotic industry.

Key report highlights:

The report is segmented by:

Application Segments:

Companies Covered:

Base Year: 2020

Historical Data: from 2015 to 2019

Forecast Data: from 2021 to 2025

Key Topics Covered:

1. Introduction of Food Probiotic Industry

2. Manufacturing Technology of Food Probiotic

2.1 Development of Food Probiotic Manufacturing Technology

2.2 Analysis of Food Probiotic Manufacturing Technology

2.3 Trends of Food Probiotic Manufacturing Technology

3. Analysis of Global Key Manufacturers

4. 2015-2020 Global and Chinese Market of Food Probiotic

4.1 Market Size

4.1.1 2015-2020 Global Capacity, Production and Production Value of Food Probiotic Industry

4.1.2 2015-2020 Chinese Capacity, Production and Production Value of Food Probiotic Industry

4.2 2015-2020 Food Probiotic Industry Cost and Profit Estimation

4.3 Market Comparison of Global and Chinese Food Probiotic Industry

4.4 2015-2020 Global and Chinese Supply and Consumption of Food Probiotic

4.5 2015-2020 Import and Export of Food Probiotic

5. Market Status of Food Probiotic Industry

5.1 Market Competition of Food Probiotic Industry by Company

5.2 Market Competition of Food Probiotic Industry by Region

5.3 Market Analysis of Food Probiotic Industry by Application

5.4 Market Analysis of Food Probiotic Industry by Type

6. Market Forecast of 2020-2025 Global and Chinese Food Probiotic Industry

6.1 2020-2025 Global and Chinese Capacity, Production, and Production Value of Food Probiotic

6.2 2020-2025 Food Probiotic Industry Cost and Profit Estimation

6.3 2020-2025 Global and Chinese Market Share of Food Probiotic

6.4 2020-2025 Global and Chinese Supply and Consumption of Food Probiotic

6.5 2020-2025 Import and Export of Food Probiotic

7. Analysis of Food Probiotic Industry Chain

7.1 Industry Chain Structure

7.2 Upstream Raw Materials

7.3 Downstream Industry

8. Global and Chinese Economic Impact on Food Probiotic Industry

8.1 Global and Chinese Macroeconomic Environment Analysis

8.2 Global and Chinese Macroeconomic Environment Development Trend

8.3 Effects to Food Probiotic Industry

9. Market Dynamics and Policy of Food Probiotic Industry

9.1 Food Probiotic Industry News

9.2 Food Probiotic Industry Development Challenges

9.3 Food Probiotic Industry Development Opportunities

10. Proposals for New Project

10.1 Market Entry Strategies

10.2 Countermeasures of Economic Impact

10.3 Marketing Channels

10.4 Feasibility Studies of New Project Investment

11. Research Conclusions of Global and Chinese Food Probiotic Industry

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/vkaxah

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

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Global Analysis of Food Probiotic Market 2020, Segmented by Manufacturers, Regions, Technology and Application - ResearchAndMarkets.com - Yahoo...

Forgetting for a moment that this is coming from the same guy who famously explained in 2011 why software is eating the world, Andreessen, an icon of Silicon Valley, does have a point. As George Packer has written in the Atlantic, the coronavirus pandemic has revealed much of what isbroken and decayed in politics and societyin America. Our inability to make the medicines and stuff that we desperately need, like personal protective gear and critical care supplies, is a deadly example.

Silicon Valley and big tech in general have been lame in responding to the crisis. Sure, they have given us Zoom to keep the fortunate among us working and Netflix to keep us sane; Amazon is a savior these days for those avoiding stores; iPads are in hot demand and Instacart is helping to keep many self-isolating people fed. But the pandemic has also revealed the limitations and impotence of the worlds richest companies (and, we have been told, the most innovative place on earth) in the face of the public health crisis.

Big tech doesnt build anything. Its not likely to give us vaccines or diagnostic tests. We dont even seem to know how to make a cotton swab. Those hoping the US could turn its dominant tech industry into a dynamo of innovation against the pandemic will be disappointed.

Its not a new complaint. A decade ago, in the aftermath of what we once called the great recession, Andrew Grove, a Silicon Valley giant from earlier era, wrote a piece in Bloomberg BusinessWeekdecrying the loss of Americas manufacturing prowess. He described how Silicon Valley was built by engineers intent on scaling up their inventions; the mythical moment of creation in the garage, as technology goes from prototype to mass production. Grove said those who argued that we should let tired old companies that do commodity manufacturing die were wrong: scaling up and mass-producing products means building factories and hiring thousands of workers.

But Grove wasnt just worried about the lost jobs as production of iPhones and microchips went overseas. He wrote: Losing the ability to scale will ultimately damage our capacity to innovate.

The pandemic has made clear this festering problem: the US is no longer very good at coming up with new ideas and technologies relevant to our most basic needs. Were great at devising shiny, mainly software-driven bling that makes our lives more convenient in many ways. But were far less accomplished at reinventing health care, rethinking education, making food production and distribution more efficient, and, in general, turning our technical know-how loose on the largest sectors of the economy.

Economists like to measure technological innovation as productivity growththe impact of new stuff and new ideas on expanding the economy and making us richer. Over the last two decades, those numbers for the US have been dismal. Even as Silicon Valley and the high-tech industries boomed, productivity growth slowed.

The last decade has been particularly disappointing, says John Van Reenen, an MIT economist whohas recently written about the problem(pdf). He argues that innovation is the only way for an advanced country like the US to grow over the long run. Theres plenty of debate over the reasons behind sluggish productivity growthbut, Van Reenen says, theres also ample evidence that a lack of business- and government-funded R&D is a big factor.

His analysis is particularly relevant because as the US begins to recover from the covid-19 pandemic and restart businesses, we will be desperate for ways to create high-wage jobs and fuel economic growth. Even before the pandemic, Van Reenen proposed a massive pool of R&D resources that are invested in areas where market failures are the most substantial, such as climate change. Already,manyare renewing calls for a green stimulus andgreater investments in badly needed infrastructure.

So yes, lets build! But as we do, lets keep in mind one of the most important failures revealed by covid-19: our diminished ability to innovate in areas that truly count, like health care and climate change. The pandemic could be the wake-up call the country needs to begin to address those problems.

Link:

Covid-19 has blown apart the myth of Silicon Valley innovation - MIT Technology Review

The World Health Organization, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) with support from UNICEF are set to work with telecommunication companies to text people directly on their mobile phones with vital health messaging to help protect them from COVID-19. These text messages will reach billions of people that arent able to connect to the internet for information.

Now more than ever, technology must ensure that everyone can access the information they need. The collaboration will start in the Asia Pacific region and then roll out globally. The goal is to reach everyone with vital health messages, whatever their connectivity level. An estimated 3.6 billion people remain offline, with most people who are unconnected living in low-income countries, where an average of just two out of every ten people are online.

ITU and WHO call on all telecommunication companies worldwide to join this initiative to help unleash the power of communication technology to save lives from COVID-19. This initiative builds on current efforts to disseminate health messages through the joint WHO-ITU BeHealthy BeMobile initiative.

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is the first pandemic in human history where technology and social media are being used on a massive scale to keep people safe, productive and connected while being physically apart.

Health workers are utilizing telemedicine to diagnose patients and hospitals rely on being connected to coordinate and triage them. Resilient and trustworthy telecommunication networks and services are essential, as more countries, companies and individuals turn to digital technologies to respond to and cope with the impact of COVID-19.

Building on their longstanding collaboration, ITU and WHO are committed to identifying and scaling best evidence-based digital health solutions and to leveraging frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data to diagnose, contain and predict outbreaks better and faster.

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The World Health Organization provides global leadership in public health within the United Nations system. Founded in 1948, WHO works with 194 Member States, across six regions and from more than 150 offices, to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable. Our goal for 2019-2023 is to ensure that a billion more people have universal health coverage, to protect a billion more people from health emergencies, and provide a further billion people with better health and wellbeing.

For updates on COVID-19 and public health advice to protect yourself from coronavirus, visitwww.who.intand follow WHO onTwitter,Facebook,Instagram,LinkedIn,TikTok,Pinterest,Snapchat,YouTube

A specialized United Nations agency for information and communication technologies (ICTs), driving innovation in ICTs together with 193 Member States and a membership of over 900 companies, universities, and international and regional organizations. Established over 150 years ago in 1865, ITU is responsible for coordinating the shared global use of the radio spectrum, promoting international cooperation in assigning satellite orbits, improving communication infrastructure in the developing world, and establishing the worldwide standards that foster seamless interconnection of a vast range of communications systems. For more information, visit:www.itu.int.

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ITU-WHO Joint Statement: Unleashing information technology to defeat COVID-19 - World Health Organization

Analysts at Peel Hunt said the company's virtual queueing technology could become more popular as the days of jam-packed queues may be over

accesso Technology Group PLC () is one company that is poised to benefit from a new normal as theme parks adapt to social distancing measures once coronavirus lockdown measures are relaxed.

Thats according to analysts at Peel Hunt, who said in a note on Monday that the electronic queuing and ticketing specialists Prism product may become more popular at more of its clients parks as they predicted that the days of jam-packed queues may be over.

The broker also said that theme parks will need to generate more revenue per guest to recoup what has been lost during 2020 and to make up for the lower volumes.

This is where accesso can help, By taking on more of accessos products, including its identity intelligence tool TE2, theme parks may be able to increase in-park spend (by personalised, in-park offers) from those attending, Peel Hunt said.

Analysts also pointed out that the companys technology could attract business from outside the leisure and theme park sector.

accesso focuses on improving the guest journey anywhere. So far its focus has been in the leisure space (with a slight foray into healthcare), but if supermarkets need to continue to implement some form of queuing, couldnt that be done virtually rather than us loitering around in the car park, they said.

Peel Hunts assessment follows news that some of the USs most popular theme parks outlined planes to reopen safely while preserving social distancing measures to protect visitors.

Universal Studios, one of accessos clients, said last week that it is considering several options to reopen its operations to protect customers, including using social distancing measures on rides and queues and expanding virtual line technology across more of its attractions.

Aleaked surveyalso showed the operator was considering measures such as capacity limitations, guest and staff testing prior to entry and switching to contactless payment technology as possible measures to allow the park to reopen safely.

Shares in accesso were 9% lower at 177.5p in mid-afternoon trading on Monday.

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accesso positioned to benefit as theme parks adapt to new normal of social distancing - Proactive Investors UK