SBWire

Investors have once again identified the potential in SmartKarrot Inc., resulting in the successful completion of another angel round of fundraising. The software company received an additional $1M+ for their subscription-driven go-to resource for digital-led enterprises and B2B businesses. Focused on customer retention and expansion, SmartKarrot provides organizations with the ability to combine customer intelligence, smart workflows, and automated actions. Customer success teams need to tread the fine line between onboarding, adoption, engagement, and reducing churn. SmartKarrot enables achieving these outcomes using augmented intelligence (AI), hyper-personalization, and extensive automation.

Dallas-based Unique Software Development leveraged its 3D printing expertise to make and donate tens of thousands of respirators to frontline healthcare workers this past spring. Now the company hopes to inspire local students by donating 100 3D printers to DFW and North Texas schools.

Oil sands, shale gas, oil shale, and coalbed methane (CBM) are the primary unconventional oil and gas resources in the world today. These resources are called unconventional as they are extracted, processed, and refined in a manner that is different from the conventional. Typically, unconventional resources are difficult-to-extract, expensive to refine, and have more impact on the environment. Sustained high oil and gas prices until mid-2008 led to the development of these resources as governments across the world were concerned about dwindling energy supplies amid rising demand. Technological advancements further aided their development.

Nuclear power contributed about 15% to the total world electricity generation in 2009 with an installed capacity of 373GW. There are currently 436 nuclear reactors in operation in 30 countries worldwide. The US is the largest producer of nuclear power generating 31% of the total global nuclear generation followed by France, Japan and Russia. Nuclear power is an important source of power for countries such as Lithuania which generated 76.2% of its electricity through nuclear followed by France whose nuclear share in electricity generation stood at 75.2% in 2009. In addition, 16 countries generate more than 25% of their electricity through nuclear power and four countries more than 50% including Slovakia and Belgium.

Molecular diagnostics, essentially the analysis of DNA and RNA at the molecular level, is a fast-growing business, made possible by the growing understanding of the human genome, which has spurred growth in the diagnostic business. Given the established importance of DNA in molecular biology and its central role in determining the fundamental operation of cellular processes, molecular diagnostics is making it possible to detect infectious disease and cancer more accurately at an earlier stage than before. The technology also is optimizing testing for sexually transmitted diseases and genetic testing. Molecular diagnostics is also addressing the need for tests that monitor the therapeutic efficacy of pharmaceuticals. In this way, it has evolved into an important business opportunity for in-vitro diagnostics makers.

Beer is an alcoholic beverage made from brewing and fermentation of starched derived from malted barley and can be classified into three categories.

In mature markets the importance of packaging design in contributing to brand communication and appeal (on-shelf, in-store) is increasing, due to a number of factors,

Imaging biomarkers, those quantified using imaging modalities including Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Positron Emission Tomography, are attractive for a variety of reasons: the methods of measurement used are non-invasive, and can provide information that cannot be obtained in other ways including a drug’s pharmacology and side effect profile, interaction of a drug and its target, delivery of a drug to its target, and the drug’s pharmacokinetic profile. In the clinical setting, imaging biomarkers can be used as a screening, diagnostic or prognostic tool as well as for monitoring treatment response.

The funding landscape for small and mid-cap biomedical companies has changed enormously over the past two years, driven by recessive public markets and withdrawal of private equity financing. The cost of raising capital has increased, and investors have become very selective about the type of transactions they participate in. Most small biopharma ventures are struggling to raise funds and maintain enough working capital for their clinical endeavours. As with any negative development, there are greater opportunities for both buyers and sellers.

Food safety is and remains a top ten concern for food manufacturers and other food businesses. But a series of major food poisoning outbreaks and contamination incidents over the last three years have served to focus the attention of the media, consumer groups and enforcement authorities worldwide on the activities of the food industry as never before. This critical environment is set to become a key driver for food businesses to strengthen the measures they take to ensure the safety and traceability of their products. The pressure to introduce more robust systems and technologies is growing as the requirements of legislation and the demands of key customers continue to expand.

The specialty chemicals operations of major US players remained relatively resilient during the downturn compared to their other business lines. The 2005-09 period also witnessed a considerable rise in consolidation activities among US companies. Some players are focused on backward integration of operations whilst others are aiming to offload non-core franchises. Consolidation is in part prompted by fluctuations in raw material prices and rising competitiveness in the global marketplace.

Latin America is experiencing wide scale demographic changes and unprecedented levels of urbanization. The region largely suffers from low per capita expenditure with many countries suffering wide scale poverty.

In 2007, due to the impending patent cliff and the consequent need to cut costs, big pharma began for the first time to outsource chemical API manufacturing to China and India. Prior to this only generic drug companies had manufactured in the two countries. Since then, big pharma has been undergoing waves of layoffs that have been accelerated by the economic downturn, with manufacturing and sales being particularly affected, and outsourcing levels in R&D and manufacturing are expected to increase further in the future.

The convergence of broadcast, broadband and mobile technologies is creating a dynamic ontent everywhere?consumer market context, forcing major transformation and potential restructuring in the consumer electronics, technology, telecoms and media industries, and especially for content creators, owners and publishers. It is the consumer that is driving these changes, forcing the seamless convergence of video content, and this is the essential background to this report. This report lays out the business case for the strategic adoption of video-centric direct consumer engagement, across multiple devices and multi-platforms, with a special focus on Internet connected TVs and other connected CE devices. These devices will create the opportunity for content publishers and brands to develop future over-the-top TV engagement and monetization strategies using a converged content planning discipline. The search for a winning consumer proposition is reflected in the convergence of a number of businesses onto the same ground, creating strong competition as well as potential for consumer confusion in the short term.

Renewable energy generates close to 2% of electricity in UK. In 2008, UK’s electricity generation totaled 389,650GWh, a decrease of 1.9% over 2007. During 2004–08, UK’s electricity generation decreased at CAGR of 0.3% mainly on account of financial crisis. At a national level, the ‘UK Renewable Energy Strategy’ (2009) suggests that the UK’s electricity generation from renewables would be more than 30% by 2020. UK’s renewable energy industry is driven by government incentives and mandates. The UK’s electricity market for renewables is driven by Feed-in Tariff system and the Renewable Obligation.

Fuelled by an aging population and rising rates of illness, the clinical nutrition markets in the US, Canada and the EU continue to expand. Each of the five major product manufacturers are attempting to differentiate their offerings through the development of new products tailored specifically for certain patient groups. These products offer significantly greater nutritive benefits than more general products, offering manufacturers a means to establish leadership in these segments and capture sha

Advanced in vitro cell technologies, s.l. (Advancell)-Detailed Product Pipeline report contains detailed information on pipelines by phase and therapeutic indication as well as management information,deals and alliances and recent news on the company including key milestones.

The generic drug market is growing strongly as health plan payers around the world continue to implement incentives for participants, pharmacists, doctors and others to use generic, rather than branded, medications. Facing rising patent expirations, pharmaceutical companies are diversifying into their own generics businesses, creating a vibrant market for generic drug company acquisitions as they seek to capture market share. At the same time, startups and other generic drug companies are attempting to expand, seeking capital through private investments, public offerings and other means; and government-run companies in China, Latin America and other regions are privatizing.

The global chemical industry which is over $3 trillion in size had a major setback in 2009. The US economic recession, exacerbated by the credit crisis had spread to all regions around the world. This was largely reflected among the major chemical manufacturers most of which had a significant decline in sales over 2008. Moreover, many chemical customers also reduced their purchases in the face of slower end market demand and reduced inventories in response to the adverse impact of the recent economic downturn.

Glass is a material that has been used in the food and drinks industry as a form of packaging and is often used for premium purposes. The material also has a number of ethical benefits such as being recyclable and reusable and is one of the only materials that can be easily recycled as part of a simple process. Furthermore, the structure of the material will not deteriorate when reprocessed.

The premiumization trend has been identified as starting in the 1970s in alcoholic drinks. It moved first into food and drinks that were associated with treating / indulgence and gifts, such as boxed chocolates. Throughout the latter part of the 1980s, the 1990s and into the 21st century, premiumization has continued apace, developing both horizontally, in terms of the number of categories in which it can be observed, and vertically, in terms of the tiers of premiumization that have been created.

Natural gas is the cleanest fossil fuel, therefore being highly preferred for electricity generation across the globe. The carbon emissions by natural gas are almost half when compared to coal. The use of natural gas for world electricity generation has grown at CAGR of 6.2% from 2002-07, highest among all fossil fuels. Current natural gas-based power generation technologies are capable to deliver better efficiencies as compared to coal based power generation technologies. Natural gas-based power generation technologies are available to cater range of power generation requirements including different loads (intermediate and peak) and different usages (stationary, backup, and distributed).

European gas demand was volatile through 2009, with some countries seeing slight declines in demand. However, the longer term forecast is continued growth for the Western European gas market as new gas-fired power plants come on-stream. ‘The Western European Gas Market Outlook 2010’ is a newly updated management report that examines the role of gas within each of the major Western European utilities markets and analyses the differences that exist in terms of gas self sufficiency, and future growth of demand. This report provides new and updated analysis of 19 Western European gas markets, with detailed data on supply and demand balances.

Especially in the major market countries, more consumers are looking to buy food and drinks products comprised of ingredients that they perceive to be healthy. For many consumers, food and drinks products made with natural ingredients fall into this category, with artificial ingredients being perceived as inherently unnatural and unhealthy.

The Future of Front-of-Pack Nutritional Labeling in Food and Drinks’ report aims to dispel some of the myths, compound some of the confusion and clarify many of the complications surrounding the issue of point of purchase labeling in the food and drink market. Taking a global perspective, the report was written in the first half of 2010 during a time of economic turbulence, political changes and regulatory transformations around the world. It is therefore as forward focused as possible, while providing insight into current, emerging and evolving influential trends and market drivers. As one nutrition labeling expert told the author during the report research, there is “never a good time to write a report like this, as so much changes so fast”. However, there is significant demand for an independent report from within the food and drink industry that provides an overview into the nutrition labeling options being considered by the regulators and major players. This report contains analysis of the influence of mandatory and voluntary labeling regulations on new product development (NPD), marketing and branding strategies, alongside an outline of consumer, manufacturer, retailer and regulator perspectives.

The cardiovascular (CV) device industry is highly competitive and has reached maturity resulting in single digit growth rates of prominent devices such as pacemakers, defibrillators, and drug eluting stents (DES). Innovations in niche sectors such as atrial fibrillation (AF) and ventricular assist devices (VADs) are poised for double digit growth in the near to mid-term future. From 2007–09, the top three companies in the CV segment acquired other smaller firms to expand their product portfolios and to gain market share in new geographies. Some major companies also established manufacturing facilities outside the US to enhance cost containment and product distribution. The CV device market remained relatively resilient during the economic downturn compared with other healthcare segments. The 2007–09 period also witnessed a considerable rise in consolidation activities among major companies.

The global consumer packaging market is worth around US$400bn. The market has been relatively resilient in the face of economic ups and downs, but the current recession has taken its toll – 2009 saw a downturn in market value. This report pinpoints the reasons why, highlights consumer and industry trends and casts an informed and speculative eye on the future. There is no doubt that consumer goods and consumer packaging are now facts of modern life, but the market is evolving and it is only prudent to understand the drivers of change and to take this understanding into planning for the future.