SBWire

Creating a torrent of praise in the Google Play Store, the Beelinguapp launches on iTunes and takes iOS by storm. Growing by 1,500 new users a day, the award-winning app helps language learners increase their reading skills and navigate grammar usage with a karaoke-type method. Proven to help those who learn best by reading and listening rather than memorizing out of context vocabulary, the Beelinguapp ups the ante on convenience. With fun on tap, it allows for side by side reading while listening to their audible language of choice. Think, No Fear SparkNotes for language learning. Now think, becoming fluent in thirteen languages by enjoying fairy tales, novels, and news.

A certified and dedicated company, JPT Peptides Technologies, is a market leader when it comes to providing high quality peptide microarrays and other related peptide products and services. The firm is an ISO certified partner for seromarker as well as antigen profiling, immune monitoring, biomarker discovery and epitope mapping. With the Epitope-Resolved Seromarker Profiling, they were able to present a balancing program that is reasonable for humoral immune response profiling. With the help of an array of samples, the humoral immune response profiling is carried out efficiently. The Epitope-Resolved Seromarker Profiling launch offer was valid only till November 30th, 2013, but with the great response received and the strong demand for the same, JPT has decided to extend this offer.

Research that has been carried out via a collaboration between Canadian and German researchers has found that new drug combinations may be more effective at treating obesity and diabetes than single drugs. They may also be able to replace many of the more invasive options that are often suggested for these conditions, including bariatric surgery. The research has looked at drugs that control incretins, which are metabolic hormones used in the human body to produce and control insulin. As a result of the research, it has become clear that combining the drug not only means that it is likely to be more effective but also that there are fewer side effects for patients to contend with. Some of the patients taking part in the trial achieved up to a 15% weight loss - this is impressive given that in most trials weight loss of just 5% is considered to be meaningful. Further research is recommended to identify why some individuals respond better to the drug than others.

2022 has already been a positive year for pharma recruitment in Germany. The latest figures show a 9.5% rise in IT hiring activity in pharma between February and March this year and indicate that the industry as a whole continues to thrive. The numbers also show that IT hiring continues to take up a large percentage of overall hiring activity, accounting for 4.87% of total hiring activity in March of this year. Roles, such as software and web developers, database and network administrators and analysts, are all in high demand. There are some companies that continue to dominate when it comes to pharma recruitment activity - Bayer, for example, posted 36 IT jobs in March of this year and other companies, such as Merck and CompuGroup Medical SE & Co are also active. In fact, when it comes to IT hiring for the pharmaceutical industry, the top 5 account for more than 66% of activity and growth.

Hiring in Germany's technology industry continues to thrive, with a rise of 1.8% recorded in March of this year. IT hiring has shown strong progress, as many more organisations seek to get support for the accelerated IT transformations that have been undertaken in many different industries since the start of the pandemic. When it comes to IT jobs there are five roles, in particular, that are especially in demand right now. Software and web developers, for example, take up the largest share of IT recruitment activity, followed by database and network administrators and architects. Miscellaneous computer occupations accounted for just over 8% of overall IT recruitment activity in March and computer and information analysts almost 6%. What's clear from these figures is the German technology recruitment activity remains strong - and is likely to continue to do so. This is being bolstered by a number of top companies that continue to hire, including Deutsche Telekom, SAP and Celonis.

The crypto market has been growing exponentially over the past year and is increasingly becoming an option for more mainstream financial institutions. Now, Germany's fourth largest bank has confirmed that it is venturing into the territory of digital assets custody and exchange services. Commerzbank is one of many traditional banks in Europe that have recently signaled that it's time for them to make this move. This level of adoption adds to the credibility of crypto currency and demonstrates the steps that conservative banks are now willing to take to ensure their own expansion. Commerzbank has also been working on blockchain projects since 2018. Crypto custody was introduced into the German Banking Act as a new financial service in January 2020 and there is a lot more focus on cracking down on unregulated activity as the infrastructure is created to bring crypto more into the mainstream all over Europe.

Opportunities in Europe's industrial powerhouse are attracting more firms to countries like Germany. Brookfield Investment Management, for example, announced in April of this year that it is focused on increasing its European exposure with a new Frankfurt office. The office could open as early as 2022, as the firm is keen to tap into the growth potential in the region and triple the $120 billion of assets it already holds in Europe. With such a strong industrial base, Germany is an obvious target for Brookfield, which is looking at large industrial assets, as well as German manufacturers in areas such as chemicals and precision-machinery. The office in Frankfurt will be the third that the firm has opened in Europe, as it already has two, one in London and one in Madrid. One of Brookfield's London executives will be moving to Frankfurt in order to head up the new office.

Chip and component shortages for the auto industry have been big news for some time now. However, it's not just in the production of new cars where these issues are having an impact. Many production lines have been hit by these challenges - including the likes of Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen - and the result has been far fewer cars coming off the assembly line. A consequence of this emerged earlier this year when prices in Germany's used car market jumped 27% from the year before. The auto market in Germany is the largest in Europe and generally reflective of wider trends. The average cost of a new car is now EUR 31,801, which is the highest on record. Although many manufacturers are not suffering extensively due to these supply chain problems (Mercedes saw an 8% bump in first quarter revenues this year), it is going to put a lot of pressure on consumers who are already struggling with inflation.

Higher rates of turnover and spikes in consumer demand have seen manufacturing organisations hiring at record rates in recent months. The necessity of building a resilient talent pipeline in order to keep filling roles in thriving businesses has become increasingly obvious. This has seen many manufacturing enterprises reportedly using many more diverse methods when it comes to recruitment, such as utilising text recruiting because around 70% of manufacturing job seekers said they prefer to receive a text during the hiring process. Also vital is making commitments to increased diversity, not just due to the benefits this can have in accessing a wider talent pool but also because 40% of manufacturing candidates have enquired about an employer's diversity efforts during a job interview. With around a third of the manufacturing workforce aged 55 or older there are clear incentives for manufacturing organisations in diversifying recruitment approaches in order to find the necessary talent to fill vacant roles.

A recent report has identified that quality assurance engineer is now one of the top 5 in-demand jobs, alongside others such as product designer and software engineer. This comes as the market for quality assurance jobs - like many others - opens up in the wake of the pandemic to integrate much more remote work and hiring. Geographic limits have been lifted and organisations seeking to fill positions, such as quality assurance engineer, are now taking a much broader view of where staff need to be in terms of location. There are many advantages to opting for such a global perspective on hiring, including that it tends to distribute innovation faster and ensures that there are opportunities for those who don't come from markets such as the US or Europe. Thanks to the internet, labour markets are being created today without the restrictions of geography, which is positive news for both candidates and companies where quality assurance jobs are concerned.

Recovery is starting to evolve for major organisations across Europe, moving from survival mode into a thriving state. The latest enterprise to make this shift is the TUI Group, which is looking to recruit 1,500 new staff across Europe this year. The company has invested heavily in digitisation of its operations in recent years and this is going to be the focus of many of the new roles, which fall in areas such as technology and e-commerce. TUI said that it expects bookings to return to normal in the summer of 2022 and the recruitment drive is part of the business' plan to ensure that it can optimise on this. Some of the roles that TUI is particularly looking to fill include data engineer, software engineer and technical analysts. Flexible and hybrid working have now become commonplace, not just at TUI but on a global level, and this means that the opportunities are open to a much broader market than was previously possible.

Stuttgart is going to be the new home of a technology and software development centre where Torc Robotics is currently developing Level 4 self-driving vehicle software for heavy-duty vehicles. Torc Robotics is a subsidiary of Daimler Truck and aims to be the first organisation able to launch a scalable and profitable self-driving product. Torc has access to a wealth of trucking technical and product expertise and it's this that will provide the foundation on which the new software development and engineering centre will build when it comes to creating the new product. Stuttgart is already renowned as an area of automotive expertise and there is a growing autonomous vehicle market here. Torc Robotics' investment in the new facility will help to increase the prominence of the area in this market, as well as creating a wealth of new development engineering jobs and opportunities.

The banking and financial services world is going through plenty of change, not least when it comes to expanding existing operations. Earlier this year, German investment house, Feri, announced that it was continuing to focus on operations in Zurich after making an acquisition there in 2021. Feri bought Zurich-based asset manager Limmat Wealth at the beginning of last year and is now looking at expanding, and reorganising, its team in Zurich in order to be able to optimise all the potential that this acquisition has created. The current workforce in Zurich consists of around 25 employees but Feri is clearly planning to increase the number of people in its local operations in the months to come. In particular, Feri is keen to expand its capabilities for portfolio management in the city. The team in Zurich already serves 200+ private and institutional clients and this, too, is a figure likely to increase through 2022-2023.

The container crisis has had a huge impact on supply chains, especially for large organisations like Lidl. Now, the retailer has taken steps to help ensure the security of its future deliveries by launching its own shipping line. According to a recent report, Lidl intends to buy its own container ships so that the retailer will no longer be subject to the delays and issues that have resulted from the container crisis worldwide. Lidl is the fifth largest retailer in the world and operates hypermarkets in Europe. The German discount retailer is now in talks with shipping companies where it will be able to use its own sea freight capabilities, when it has them. Once the new operation is established for Lidl, it will be used for transportation and delivery of goods, including cargo transportation and export cargo handling services. Lidl is the latest major player to take this step to secure its supply chain but is unlikely to be the last.

Germany's Pharmaceutical industry sees a 9.5% rise in IT recruitment

Opportunities in German financial markets look set to expand considerably in the coming month and years. In particular, the embedded finance industry has some very positive forecasts, with 33.5% growth predicted in 2022. Over the period 2022 - 2029, CAGR of 20.3% is forecast with revenues to reach US$14,886.2 million by 2029. Momentum has been growing in Germany's financial sector in the past year with embedded insurance doing exceptionally well. The German market is attracting a wide range of international insurtech firms thanks to the opportunities that exist here. One major contributor to market growth in the coming years is the number of strategic partnerships that are being established between parties in the market in Germany, the goal being to launch innovative products in the coming months. Given that Germany is the largest consumer lending market in the European region the opportunities for businesses operating in this market are significant.

The German manufacturing sector has had a positive start to the year, according to the latest figures. There is clearly still pressure on supply chains but many manufacturers have reported that this has eased somewhat, with new orders and an uptick in output. A softening of cost inflation to a nine-month low has also made a big difference to the way that manufacturers in Germany now feel about the coming months. Confidence among goods producers has improved in terms of the year ahead and many are now much more positive. In January of this year manufacturing PMI ticked up for the first time in six months, registering a five-month high. While supply-side progress still remains slow - and cost pressures are still a problem - there is a lot for the German manufacturing sector to be positive about when it comes to growth momentum so far this year.

One of the world's largest real estate investment managers, Allianz Real Estate, achieved huge growth last year with a portfolio increase to EUR 11.6 billion in assets. The global logistics portfolio is a prominent measure of growth at the firm, according to insiders, Allianz took advantage of the opportunity to establish the portfolio early and has now achieved a leading market position in the sector, which is partly responsible for the increase in growth. The focus for the team has been aligned with the wider strategy of ESG and sustainability at Allianz. The team selects assets and partners that demonstrate robust ESG profiles and is building a logistics portfolio that has notably high standards. Logistics exposure at Allianz is made up of EUR 8.6 billion in equity investment and EUR 3 billion in financing. The focus on sustainability is unsurprising for a firm that has committed to reducing the carbon footprint of its portfolio by 25% by 2025.

Embedded finance schemes cover a wide range of categories, from loyalty schemes to 'buy now, pay later' options and cash back on purchases. There is obvious enthusiasm for these products among consumers which has led to a range of retailers to start investing in them. New figures reveal that 75%+ of top European business leaders are now looking to launch more of these embedded finance schemes to help attract new customers and cement relationships with existing ones. One of the advantages of embedded finance schemes is that they essentially integrate financial services offerings into non-financial companies. This has benefits when it comes to improving the check out and payment experiences that consumers have and this can increase conversions and long-term engagement between customers and firms. Currently, around 75% of firms in Germany are already offering embedded finance schemes and, given the spike in interest currently under way, that is only likely to increase.

Renowned clinical research organisation, Veristat, has acquired the Basel-headquartered Solutions for Life Sciences (SFL) in a move that will expand the company's quality assurance jobs in Europe. The acquisition is going to give Veristat, which is based in the US, a bridge into Europe, as SFL not only has its own Basel base but also affiliates in a range of other European locations, including Austria, Germany and the UK. Veristat will now be able to expand the reach of its core services into public affairs, market access and healthcare compliance, among other areas. SFL is a company that is already deeply embedded in Europe, which must have been a major attraction for Veristat. There are shared competencies between the two businesses, including in regulatory affairs and medical writing. Furthermore, SFL could act as a tool of entry into European markets, for example by being an Applicant for a Market Authorisation Application (MAA).

Intel has been pretty clear about its intentions to expand on its chip research and manufacturing capabilities in Europe - and now the company has put a figure on it. EUR33 billion is the total that Intel plans to invest right now but this could easily increase to EUR80 billion, according to sources. The growth plan is getting underway with EUR17 billion that the business is investing in two chip fab factories in Magdeburg, Germany that are going to be focused on advanced chip making. Construction on the factories is due to begin in 2023 as long as the European Commission gives its approval. The move is going to create around 7,000 construction jobs in Germany, as well as 3,000 permanent, high-tech jobs at Intel itself. The sites in Germany are just a part of the expansion that Intel has planned - it is also looking at a new back-end manufacturing facility in Italy and intends to double its investment in manufacturing space in Ireland.

Software development services is a fast-growing market in Europe. There are many different reasons for this, including the current shortage of software developers, which is driving a trend towards outsourcing. More than half of European companies have said they have struggled to recruit in this field and the European Commission predicted a shortage of IT professionals of around 500,000. In addition to this skills shortage, the potential of the European market is being defined by the extensive need for digital transformation that is happening all across the continent. In-house software development simply isn't something that most businesses can budget for, even though many need to have access to it. As a result, the demand for outsourced software engineering development continues to grow. The potential that this market has can be seen in the spending predictions being made by organisations in Europe. For example, 38% plan to outsource at a higher rate over the next two years than they have done in the past.

Bayer looks set to pump more resources into its German operations with the announcement of an investment of $1.53 billion. The cash is going to be used to grow manufacturing operations in Bergkamen, Berlin, Leverkusen, Weimar and Wuppertal and to create greater scope for innovation. One key target for Bayer is modernisation of facilities and being able to integrate more digital technologies, as well as investing in more innovative research methods. The company is also looking to establish strong links with up-and-coming innovators by collaborating with universities and start-ups that are disrupting in the life sciences field. The investment is designed to provide a boost to the company's presence in Germany but also invigorate its global competitiveness as an innovator. Sites in Dormagen, Frankfurt and Knapsack are also due to receive investment in 2026 as Bayer continues to drive its manufacturing capabilities to the most competitive level possible.

There is no doubt that the market for electric vehicles is getting increasingly competitive. High-profile manufacturer, Tesla. has come out swinging in terms of ensuring that it retains, and builds on, its market share. Just a few days after getting a permit from the authorities for its Gigafactory in Berlin, Tesla launched a recruitment campaign to find the staff for the huge production site. The Gigafactory has now opened, presumably focusing mostly on the Model Y electric SUV, which Tesla is aiming predominantly at the European market. The Gigafactory is Tesla's first location in Europe and the company describes it as "our most advanced, sustainable and efficient facility yet." The plans for the factory were first announced in 2019 so it has been a long time coming in Tesla terms. It can't come soon enough for the innovative car marker, as many other auto brands are investing in producing new models to try and gain electric vehicle market share, including Volkswagen and Honda.

Last year, supply chain start-ups attracted investment of more than $65 billion as retailers were forced to deal with a whole range of issues, from labour shortages to a lack of raw materials. This figure represents a huge rise on the $38.4 billion invested during 2020. This has resulted in a wave of innovation to industries such as fashion, as new ways to solve old problems, and break new ground in the process, now have to be found. Innovation in the fashion supply chain has covered many different areas of operations but in particular when it comes to shipping and warehouse automation. Technology has a huge role to play in this, from data and analytics through to the use of advanced tech like Artificial Intelligence. It's thanks to the investment made in the supply chain start-ups that are producing this innovation that industries such as fashion can move forward in a more efficient and sustainable way.

Bitcoin continues to gain ground in the mainstream and now it has been announced that Fidelity International will be listing a bitcoin exchange-traded product. The product is going to be made available on the SIX Swiss Exchange and Germany's Xetra digital stock exchange, with the German stage already complete. The physically backed bitcoin ETP has Fidelity Digital Assets as its custodian and a total expense ratio of 0.75%. Fidelity International is a very well-established financial services company with a history that goes back to 1969. It is the latest big name to venture into cryptocurrencies but it certainly won't be the last. Currently, Fidelity has more than $800 billion in assets under management. The bitcoin ETP launched by Fidelity comes after the asset manager Invesco announced in November last year that it had listed a BTC ETP on the Xetra digital stock exchange. It also follows on from the rejection of Fidelity's Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust spot ETP earlier in 2022.

Quality assurance in the healthcare sector has always been vital. However, during the pandemic it became a particularly hot topic, especially in the context of patient safety. In Germany there are two systems that are key to implementing quality assurance: The Guideline of the German Medical Association (Rili-BÄK) and accreditation according to DIN EN ISO 15189. Creating uniform standards for quality assurance across the country has been at the heart of the role that these systems have to play. Over the past two years, with so much cross-border collaboration taking place, it also became crucial to ensure these standards were being maintained across borders, which is why quality assurance jobs have become indispensable in the German pharmaceutical manufacturing sector, and beyond. Ensuring patient safety through competent diagnostics is vital and it has been key to use these standards to establish trust in the medical facilities and the laboratories that support them.