Category: Asean

Open source collaboration platform delivers alternatives to tools like Slack, Trello, and Notion to help R&D teams improve productivity and accelerate digital operations

Palo Alto, Calif., Oct. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Mattermost, Inc. today announced several new additions to its open source project at KubeCon® + CloudNativeCon North America 2021, launching and integrating modern project and workflow management solutions into its popular developer collaboration platform. Built for technical teams, Mattermost now provides flexible alternatives to tools like Slack®, Trello®, and Notion® through a unified platform for increased collaboration and productivity across a wide range of software development processes — from sprint planning and release management to incident resolution and retrospectives.

With heightened awareness around the urgency for remote collaboration and modernization of enterprise processes, developers have been increasingly asked to circumvent fragile processes, talent shortages, and security risks to deliver performance, innovation, and digital operations at scale. The newest update to the core Mattermost® platform emphasizes the complexities of these staggering objectives and the need for dynamic solutions that empower R&D teams with autonomy, flexibility, and security.

The launch of Mattermost’s modern project and workflow management solutions also reflects the company’s evolution beyond secure messaging to enable team alignment and operational agility across sophisticated R&D use cases. Unlike general collaboration products, the Mattermost platform now allows developers to contribute directly to its solutions and customize their workspaces to adapt to their preferred team processes. Mattermost also provides teams with the option to deploy on-premise or in a secure cloud instance. This gives companies more control over their data and assists them in meeting stringent security and privacy compliance standards such as those found in HIPAA, FINRA, GDPR, country-specific data sovereignty, and other regulatory requirements.

“As organizations navigate the shift to always-on digital operations, teams that effectively align their people, tools, and processes across each stage of the development lifecycle are increasing their velocity, improving delivery and gaining a strategic advantage,” said Ian Tien, co-founder and CEO of Mattermost. “With developers reporting that nearly 40% of their workweek is wasted due to tool fragmentation, manual tasks, fragile workflows, and service-impacting incidents and outages, we see a huge opportunity to help every R&D team in the world improve their operations and productivity with collaboration solutions built specifically for the way they work.”

Founded in 2016, Mattermost has powered over 800,000 developer workspaces worldwide and has a community of over 4,000 open source contributors who have updated the platform over 30,000 times since its initial release. Mattermost’s commercial offerings are used by over 800 organizations, including European Parliament, NASA, Nasdaq, Samsung, SAP, the United States Air Force, and Wealthfront.

“Mattermost has been unimaginably effective for our company and continues to exceed expectations with every new release,” said Daniel Gover, IT system administrator for Crossover Health. “The platform helps us ensure that we’re staying HIPAA-compliant while letting our clinicians collaborate efficiently and seamlessly.”

“Developer velocity is increasingly essential to driving digital operations and modernization across the enterprise,” said Paul Nashawaty, senior analyst for Enterprise Strategy Group. “Mattermost is helping to meet this requirement with a collaboration platform that reduces context switching and delivers visibility and control across the developer workflow and toolchain.”

This update to the Mattermost platform is now available to all users and features enhanced navigation and multiple tightly integrated collaboration tools, including:

Channels: The foundation of the Mattermost platform, Channels bring all of your team’s communication into one place, so you have complete visibility and control. Channels come with team messaging, conferencing, and file sharing features beyond general-purpose collaboration, including slash commands, code syntax highlighting, rich Markdown formatting, code snippets, and bot integrations.

Playbooks: Playbooks are prescribed workflows that streamline complex, recurring processes. Playbooks run side-by-side with Channels and make any structured process repeatable and predictable using checklists, triggers, automation, and tool integrations. Continuous improvement is built into each playbook with learnings and retrospectives.

Boards: Boards are Kanban-style task and project management solutions with clearly defined tasks, owners, checklists, and deadlines. Boards help teams increase transparency and keep all resources readily available, including documents, images, and links, and are used to help teams achieve project milestones and manage projects and tasks of any size.

Connections: Connections are integrations and extensions with leading developer tools, including GitHub®, Jenkins®, Circle CI®, GitLab®, Jira®, PagerDuty®, and ServiceNow®. Connections allow developers to turn any Channel into a CLI through built-in or custom commands to execute actions directly, such as posting to Channels, listening for new messages with incoming and outgoing webhooks. Developers can build Connections through custom apps, open APIs, plugins, and webhooks. The Mattermost App Framework allows developers to define custom interactive add-ons that support web, mobile, and desktop clients without changes. Apps can be written in any language, deployed on any HTTP server, or hosted as an AWS Lambda function.

Controls: Controls provide extensive data protection, information governance, eDiscovery, enterprise information archiving support, and identity/access management. Controls give administrators the ability to set granular permissions to control access to sensitive data and can be customized to meet your specific compliance requirements with fine-grained data retention, audit logs, the ability to programmatically archive and export records, and integration with Global Relay and Smarsh/Actiance for compliance, archiving, and analytics. Deployment options are available in on-prem or secure cloud environments to meet the strict requirements of GDPR, AICPA, CCPA, FINRA, HIPAA, and more.

To learn more about Mattermost’s developer collaboration platform, attendees can find the team at booth #S12 at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America 2021, or please visit the Mattermost Blog.

About Mattermost:

Mattermost is an open source platform for secure collaboration across the entire software development lifecycle. Hundreds of thousands of developers around the globe trust Mattermost to increase their productivity by bringing together team communication, task and project management, and workflow orchestration into a unified platform for agile software development.

Founded in 2016, Mattermost’s open source platform powers over 800,000 workspaces worldwide with the support of over 4,000 contributors from across the developer community. The company serves over 800 customers, including European Parliament, NASA, Nasdaq, Samsung, SAP, United States Air Force and Wealthfront, and is backed by world-class investors including Battery Ventures, Redpoint, S28 Capital, YC Continuity. To learn more, visit www.mattermost.com.

Mattermost and the Mattermost logo are registered trademarks of Mattermost, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Jeff Benanto
Mattermost
5083619001
jeff.benanto@mattermost.com

Certified Investment Management Analyst® -CIMA® certification recognized as global standard for fund allocators

Denver, Co, Oct. 12, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Two associations for investment practitioners who are committed to competent and ethical practice of investment management analysis and fund allocation have formed a multi-year strategic alliance to raise the bar of professionalism, and promote standards of quality for investment professionals around the world.

The strategic alliance aims to support and advance each organization’s respective objectives.

• The Association of Professional Fund Investors (APFI) will work collaboratively with the Institute to promote global awareness and adoption of the CIMA certification as the most relevant global standard for manager research and fund investing, thereby enhancing the competency and professionalism of services delivered to investors.
• Investments & Wealth Institute® has entered into a service agreement with APFI to support their aims to empower professional fund investors to learn, share ideas, network with their peers, and have a collective voice to national and global standards bodies and regulatory authorities.

The APFI has previously released a International Accreditations for Fund Selectors evaluating international accreditations available to industry professionals. While the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation is by far the most widely-held and most well-known accreditation in the financial services industry, the APFI believes that the Certified Investment Management Analyst® (CIMA) accreditation is a better fit for professional fund selectors and recommended the CIMA certification as the most relevant and practical for fund allocators.

Adam Choppin, Executive Chairman of the Board for the APFI said, “All of the credentials we reviewed have excellent curricula and provide professionals with the necessary educational core to act as professional fund and manager selectors. But what sets them apart when you look at them side by side is how relevant, practical and useful each one is to a real working professional and what you have to do to maintain it. When we looked at those things objectively, the CIMA certification rose to the top.”

“We really started from a point that said, what set of tools and skills should a fund allocator have, based on our individual experience from across the globe,” said APFI Director, Gandy Gandidzanwa .

The CIMA accreditation is one of only six global accreditations approved by the APFI and of those only two require ongoing education to maintain the designation. “I was actually shocked when we did this review and found how few of these accreditations required ongoing education,” Choppin said. “That you would say you never have to do anything ever again to be equally qualified doesn’t make sense to me. I would never hire a fund manager who never made an effort to improve themselves.”  Formed in 1988 as a credential for investment management consultants, CIMA certification is one of only a handful of professional certifications in financial services that meets the rigorous accreditation requirements of ISO 17024, a global standard for personnel certifications. Earlier this year, CIMA certification was accredited by the ANSI National Accreditation Board under this standard. Today, the certification requires three years of professional experience, several background checks detailing a clean disciplinary and legal history, completion of a comprehensive executive education program at one of four registered programs – The Wharton School, Chicago Booth School, Yale School of Management, or the Investment Management Research program in Australia. Following 300 hours of self-study, candidates must then pass a 140 question, five-hour examination, with a first time pass rate of 56%. All certified professionals must recertify every two years by maintaining ongoing ethics and continuing education requirements (40 hours every two years).

Operated and managed entirely by member volunteers, and independent of commercial interests, the APFI is a hub for professional allocators and manager research professionals from across the globe. Originally founded in Switzerland and now headquartered in the UK, with a leadership team spread from Cape Town to Kerala and Seattle to Sweden, the APFI’s membership reflects the global diversity of the fund investing profession. The APFI has turned to the Investments & Wealth Institute as a technical partner to enable its global membership access to the modern tools of networking and collaboration for an increasingly digital age. Working with the Institute to globalize the reach of the APFI’s most highly recommended accreditation (the CIMA), also furthers the APFI’s goals of promoting the industry’s highest levels of professional standards and integrity in fund investing.

“This partnership will unlock opportunities for members of the Association of Professional Fund Investors and bring substantial benefits to both organizations,” said Sean Walters, Chief Executive Officer of the Investments & Wealth Institute. “Members and practitioners around the world can benefit from rich content sharing, moderated discussions, and a networked community of the world’s best and brightest global investment professionals, hosted on our new community platform, and facilitated by APFI members, who work on nearly every continent around the globe.”

About the Investments & Wealth Institute

Founded in 1985, the Investments & Wealth Institute is the premier professional association, education provider, and standards body for financial advisors. Through its award-winning events, publications, courses, and acclaimed certifications—Certified Investment Management Analyst® (CIMA®), Certified Private Wealth Advisor® (CPWA®), and Retirement Management Advisor® (RMA®)—the Institute delivers Ivy league-quality, highly-practical education to more than 30,000 practitioners annually in over 40 countries.  Members of the Institute include the industry’s most successful investment consultants, advanced financial planners, and private wealth managers who embrace excellence and ethics in applying a broad set of knowledge and skills in their daily work with clients. www.investmentsandwealth.org

About the Association of Professional Fund Investors

Formed in 2011, the Association of Professional Fund Investors advances the interests of investors by promoting professional standards and integrity in fund investing. APFI members are all professional fund investors – professionals whose principal occupation is the identification and evaluation of investment managers, funds, vehicles, etc. that are external to their own organization. APFI promotes best practices in fund investing by setting global standards of professionalism and accreditation, while empowering professional fund investors to learn, share ideas, network with their peers, and have a collective voice to national and global standards bodies and regulatory authorities. www.profundinvestors.org

Cindy Chaifetz
Investments & Wealth Institute
303.850.3079
cchaifetz@i-w.org

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oct. 12, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — FreedomPay, a global leader in Next Level Commerce™ has selected Hill+Knowlton Strategies (H+K) as its communications partner, following a competitive agency review. H+K will work with FreedomPay’s in-house marketing team to execute the global fintech leader’s national communications strategy as it continues its global expansion across 130+ countries, more than one hundred currencies and thousands of commerce partners.

FreedomPay is the only, fully independent, ‘open’ and agnostic Commerce Platform supporting the most innovative partners across banking, acquiring, processing and software vendors around the world. A pioneer in Commerce Technologies, FreedomPay’s cutting edge technology is unrivaled in speed, security, and capacity. With its award-winning, world-class Platform now serving 3 Billion+ transactions across the globe and accelerating into advanced cloud infrastructure, the company is growing rapidly to meet the needs of merchants with over 600+ integrations and the ‘new norm’ consumer demanding more experiences across in-store, online and on mobile commerce.

“FreedomPay’s singular focus on the evolving needs of both merchants and consumers distinguishes our solution set and is driving exponential growth,” said Chris Kronenthal, President & CTO at FreedomPay. “As technology continues to unite markets across all continents, our international partners are turning to our globally available and scalable Platform to support increasingly complex requirements to satisfy merchant and consumer requirements. With a focus on continued innovation for the fintech industry, as well as an extensive US and global presence that delivers an understanding of the markets and stakeholders that we are expanding to reach – we look forward to collaborating with Hill+Knowlton as our communications partner and sharing our entrepreneurial drive and culture of innovation.”

FreedomPay’s global footprint delivers full Omni-channel capabilities to merchants in 130+ countries and territories. FreedomPay’s Next Level Commerce™ platform is now fully compliant with PSD2 strong customer authentication, on-line PIN and foreign language support now meeting the needs of hundreds of thousands of merchants around the world.

About FreedomPay

FreedomPay’s Next Level Commerce™ platform transforms existing payment systems and processes from legacy to leading edge. As the premier choice for many of the largest companies across the globe in retail, hospitality, lodging, gaming, sports and entertainment, food service, education, healthcare and financial services, FreedomPay’s technology has been purposely built to deliver rock solid performance in the highly complex environment of global commerce. The company maintains a world-class security environment and was first to earn the coveted validation by the PCI Security Standards Council against the Point-to-Point Encryption (P2PE/EMV) standard in North America. FreedomPay’s robust solutions across payments, security, identity, and data analytics are available in-store, online and on-mobile and are supported by rapid API adoption. The award winning FreedomPay Commerce Platform operates on a single, unified technology stack across multiple continents allowing enterprises to deliver an innovative Next Level experience on a global scale. www.freedompay.com

 

About Hill+Knowlton Strategies   

Hill+Knowlton Strategies, Inc. is an international communications consultancy, providing services to local, multinational, and global clients. H+K operates 77 offices in 43 countries worldwide, as well as an extensive associate network, delivering award-winning campaigns to clients across all sectors and disciplines and with a focus on continued innovation for the industry. Headquartered in New York, the firm is part of WPP, one of the world’s largest communications services groups.

Media Contact

Amy Dalkoff

Hill+Knowlton for FreedomPay

Amy.dalkoff@hkstrategies.com

312-255-3078 

Taylor Durovsik
FreedomPay
taylor.durovsik@freedompay.com

Singapore, Oct. 08, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — AscendEX is thrilled to announce the listing of the Jet Protocol token (JET) under the trading pair JET/USDT on Oct. 14 at 1 p.m. UTC. To celebrate the listing of JET, AscendEX will host two separate auctions that will take place simultaneously on October 13 between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. UTC.

Jet Protocol will be launched as an open-source, non-custodial, borrowing and lending protocol on the Solana Blockchain. It engineers new possibilities for capital efficiency, performance, and scalability. Jet allows users to participate in lending pools where they deposit supported tokens to receive interest, or “yield” over time, as a participation incentive. Those deposits remain in a pool used for issuing loans to other users for as long as the assets remain delegated.

Jet believes that borrowing and lending protocols are integral to the DeFi ecosystem. The decision to build on Solana was based on its unmatched transaction speed and low fees. The Solana integration will allow Jet to contribute and grow on-chain DeFi lending. The project anticipates a gradual integration of broader interest and more efficient trading. In addition to lending, Jet will introduce interest rate products and secondary markets on Serum, facilitating ongoing, community-driven, lending product research and development. Through these methods, Jet makes it easy for users to earn interest with their JET tokens.

Jet is planning to launch with a dedicated governance system that leverages their founding team’s unique and extensive experience in protocol governance. This governance-oriented approach aims to work with the community to set a clear precedent toward how the Protocol will operate. Jet will innovate on tested governance models from existing protocols while focusing on community ownership and engagement. The most important aspect of this approach is to build an inclusive community to research, design, and implement useful lending products. So, the token holders will have a say in the future of the platform. This focus on community is core to Jet’s mission of bringing DeFi protocols into the mainstream.

Prior to a successful mainnet launch this week, Jet recently completed a follow-on funding round that included AscendEX among other partners bringing in a total of $6.8mm to the project. This latest fundraise has highlighted the strong support for Jet from a variety of stakeholders including AscendEX.

About AscendEX
AscendEX is a global cryptocurrency financial platform with a comprehensive product suite including spot, margin, and futures trading, wallet services, and staking support for over 200 blockchain projects such as bitcoin, ether, and ripple. Launched in 2018, AscendEX services over 1 million retail and institutional clients globally with a highly liquid trading platform and secure custody solutions.

AscendEX has emerged as a leading platform by ROI on its “initial exchange offerings” by supporting some of the industry’s most innovative projects from the DeFi ecosystem such as Thorchain, xDai Stake, and Serum. AscendEX users receive exclusive access to token airdrops and the ability to purchase tokens at the earliest possible stage. To learn more about how AscendEX is leveraging best practices from both Wall Street and the cryptocurrency ecosystem to bring the best altcoins to its users, please visit www.AscendEX.com.

For more information and updates, please visit:
Website: https://ascendex.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AscendEX_Global
Telegram: https://t.me/AscendEXEnglish
Medium: https://medium.com/ascendex

About Jet Protocol
Jet Protocol will launch as an open-source, non-custodial borrowing and lending Protocol on the Solana Blockchain. Jet re-engineers what’s possible in terms of capital efficiency, performance, and scalability on Solana. The Protocol allows users to participate in lending protocols where they deposit supported tokens to the platform and then receive interest on their deposits to incentivize participation.

For more information and updates, please visit:
Website: https://Jetprotocol.io
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JetProtocol
Telegram: https://t.me/jetprotocol
Discord: https://discord.gg/BsF3cEbdV9

Attachment

• Jet Protocol Lists on AscendEX

Marketing Department
AscendEX
marketing@ascendex.com

Copyright © 2021 GlobeNewswire, Inc.

THUWAL, Saudi Arabia, Oct. 07, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Seaweed, as its unfortunate name suggests, can be a nuisance. It makes a mess of beautiful beaches. It bobs up and down in the waves in an unsightly blob. And it sticks to unsuspecting swimmers as they try to enjoy a dip. But despite its reputation with some ocean goers, seaweed just might be one of the most powerful tools we have to save the planet from manmade climate change while providing a path to realizing many of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Researchers from KAUST and Aarhus University believe seaweed is a model solution to climate change, biodiversity loss, joblessness, hunger and environmental damage. In a paper published in Nature Sustainability the co-authors outline how the cultivation and use of seaweed as a carbon capture technology, a job and tax revenue generator, and a food source, can help protect and restore our planet.

“Our research consolidates seaweed farming as an underpinning of a sustainable future,” Professor Carlos Duarte, study lead author said. “It is scalable, with a 2,000-fold increase potential, it generates valuable products while also contributing to carbon sequestration below the farm, it produces sustainable fuels, and it displaces carbon-intensive products, thereby providing a range of contributions to climate action. While growing at sea, seaweed forms an ecosystem that delivers multiple benefits to the marine environment.”

The cultivation and use of seaweed, the authors believe, will directly support six of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and indirectly support several others. Achieving zero hunger, supporting good health, making clean energy affordable, as well as supporting industrial innovation, climate action, and ocean conservation, are all outcomes of cultivating seaweed. Not only is the plant climate positive, profitable, and edible, but it promises to feed and employ millions while preserving the planet and fostering poverty reduction and gender equality.

“Seaweed provides wonderful materials for a range of applications, grounded in their amazing diversity, as seaweed are as far apart from a genomic perspective as mushrooms and elephants. This genomic diversity provides a phenomenal source of new materials across a range of industries, from food, to fuels and plastics,” Duarte said.

The pitch, as much as there is one, is that seaweed cultivation must be ramped up significantly. This, of course, might encounter roadblocks in legislatures around the world as western regulations, where seaweed farming is just starting, are quite unwelcoming to seaweed aquaculture. The paper outlines in broad terms the objections that could be raised and addresses them in turn.

“Because seaweed farming is a new industry in western nations, existing regulatory frameworks do not facilitate its development. In some nations it is easier to get a concession for marine oil and gas extraction than for a seaweed farm. Creating a friendlier regulatory environment that encourages, rather than deter, seaweed farming will be critical to delivering on its potential.”

“Currently, seaweed farming occupies about 2,000 Km2 of land, compared to about 60 million Km2 land food producing systems occupy. We consider that about 4 million Km2 of ocean can support seaweed aquaculture while delivering positive impacts on the marine environment. In the rump-up to COP26, we consider that scaling seaweed farming can be a wedge of a regenerative approach to our oceans, delivering climate action while alleviating hunger and poverty,” Duarte said.

Professor Dorte Krause-Jensen from Aarhus University adds that sustainability standards and consideration of the carrying capacity for seaweed farming need be in place to avoid potential unattended negative consequences the farming.

“The utilisation of seaweed in a cascading biorefinery extracting biomolecules sequentially, offers a path to maximise the value of the biomass and render seaweed farming profitable, even in Western countries where costs are higher” said senior researcher Annette Bruhn of Aarhus University. “Promoting sustainable seaweed cultivation as an emission capture and utilisation technology supporting the circular bioeconomy, calls for a cross-sectorial approach to solving societal challenges. We need a disruption of the traditional way of thinking climate, environment and resource provision in each their sector and we need partnerships between science, industry and authorities”.

About KAUST

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) advances science and technology through distinctive and collaborative research integrated with graduate education. Located on the Red Sea coast in Saudi Arabia, KAUST conducts curiosity-driven and goal-oriented research to address global challenges related to food, water, energy, and the environment.

Established in 2009, KAUST is a catalyst for innovation, economic development and social prosperity in Saudi Arabia and the world. The University currently educates and trains master’s and doctoral students, supported by an academic community of faculty members, postdoctoral fellows and research scientists. With over 100 nationalities working and living at KAUST, the University brings together people and ideas from all over the world.

To learn more visit kaust.edu.sa.

About Aarhus

Aarhus University has been achieving excellence in research and education since 1928. Being a top 100 university with more than 50 Masters and Bachelors educations in English, Aarhus University is a leading globally oriented university with a strong engagement in the solving the societal challenges on local and global scale.

Department of Bioscience provide teaching, research and consultancy in all aspects of life; from bacteria to whales, from genes to ecosystems and from fundamental research to applied biology in nature management and biotechnology.

To learn more visit https://international.au.dk/

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/5141687d-2aea-43e1-bddc-623aab93621f

For more information, please contact global.pr@kaust.edu.sa

GCA’s Automated IoT Defence Ecosystem provides early warnings on IoT cyberattacks

SINGAPORE and NEW YORK, Oct. 06, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today, the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) has announced that it will partner with the Global Cyber Alliance (GCA) to leverage the capabilities of GCA’s Automated IoT Defence Ecosystem (AIDE) platform to monitor and address IoT threats and safeguard the cybersecurity of the IoT space. The project will be the first large-scale application of the AIDE platform.

The global number of IoT devices is expected to rise to more than 50 billion by 2030. This presents a huge attack surface for malicious actors, which may lead to consequences like the theft of personal data and the disruption of services using IoT devices as botnet nodes to conduct distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. There is a need to proactively watch for global IoT threats and attack data, so that nations can be better prepared before the next wave of botnet attacks hit their shores.

The IoT threat analytics platform can provide CSA visibility on the types of IoT-related cyber threats that may affect the country’s cyberspace. The insights from the platform allow partners to put in place policies and technical measures to safeguard against threat vectors through the conduit of IoT devices. The result is a better prepared and safer IoT cyberspace.

“The use of IoT devices is growing exponentially. CSA has introduced several initiatives to improve IoT security, including the world’s first multi-level labelling scheme for consumer IoT devices— the Cybersecurity Labelling Scheme. This latest initiative —our partnership with GCA on AIDE— will help us be better prepared against potential IoT attacks. Cybersecurity is a team sport where everyone has a part to play. CSA will continue to work with stakeholders to look for ways in building a more resilient and secure IoT space,” said Mr. David Koh, Commissioner of Cybersecurity and Chief Executive of CSA.

GCA’s AIDE ecosystem is a central component of the project. This large repository of IoT threat intelligence relies on a globally distributed honeyfarm and on data feeds from partners.

According to Mr. Philip Reitinger, President and CEO of GCA, “This is a unique opportunity to increase GCA’s international collaboration and expand our network of partners, from cybersecurity agencies and large internet players to academia and research institutions. This project —and CSA’s support as a whole— is a crucial milestone in our roadmap for the AIDE ecosystem and in our long-term vision on IoT cybersecurity. The fact that this effort is happening in Singapore, a global flagship for technology, will pave the way to expand the initial scope of the project to other international smart cities.”

To learn more about AIDE visit: https://www.globalcyberalliance.org/aide/.

About the Global Cyber Alliance
The Global Cyber Alliance (GCA) is an international, cross-sector effort dedicated to reducing cyber risk and improving our connected world. We achieve our mission by uniting global communities, implementing concrete solutions, and measuring the effect. GCA, a 501(c)(3) in the US and a non-profit in the UK and Belgium, was founded in September 2015 by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, the City of London Police, and the Center for Internet Security. Learn more at www.globalcyberalliance.org.

Contact at GCA:
Alejandro Fernández-Cernuda Díaz
Director of Engagement, Internet Integrity Program
afcernuda@globalcyberalliance.org

FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND CROSS-INDUSTRY STANDARD EMPOWERS BUSINESSES TO ELIMINATE PLASTICS, ADOPT SUSTAINABLE OPERATING PRACTICES, AND PROTECT OUR BLUE PLANET

New York, NY, Oct. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — NEW YORK, NY – On Thursday, October 5th, the international non-profit Oceanic Global launched the Blue Standard (Blue) a first-of-its-kind cross-industry standard that empowers industries and businesses of all sizes to achieve measurable impact that protects our blue planet. Emissions, toxins, and plastics are all consequences of human-made industry that are devastating the Earth. And with 70% of the planet covered by the ocean (which regulates our climate, absorbs our carbon, and produces more than half of the oxygen we breathe) marine ecosystems are bearing the brunt of our actions. While there are several existing standards built on the notion of  “going green,” Oceanic Global’s is the first-of-its-kind that looks at the impacts of industry on the ocean and humanity’s interconnectivity to it, and empowers businesses of all sizes with actions that protect & restore the blue.

The Blue Standard was developed together with Oceanic Global’s Scientific Advisory Board and trained experts in both WELL and LEED building rating systems, as a timely response to the impending threat of Climate Change and the increasing demand for transparent industry action. According to a 2021 study by Deloitte surveying over 10,000 individuals in over 6 different countries, more than 58% of respondents wanted organizations to adopt more environmental practices, and 42% reported have changed consumption habits themselves because of their stance on the environment. In turn, Blue features two core offerings: a 3-star sustainability verification system for Business Operations and Product and Packing Seals that verify plastic-free consumer goods. An evolution of Oceanic Global’s long standing industry solutions program (formerly known as The Oceanic Standard), Blue has verified the sustainability achievements of 400+ across 26 counties to-date ranging from Bulleit distillery in Tennessee, House of Yes and Salesforce in New York, to the Mandarin Oriental in Bangkok, Citi Tower in Hong Kong, Habitas in Tulum, Mexico and all 19 Sandals Resorts International properties in the Caribbean. Leading sustainable brands including: Plaine Products, Raw Elements, Ball Aluminum Cups, are also amongst the inaugural brands set to be awarded with Blue’s new Product and Packaging Seals.

Recognizing the opportunity and potential for businesses to meet both business demand and environmental need, the Blue Standard has also created custom programs for industries including: hospitality, music, events, office spaces, professional sports, consumer packaged goods, and more. These specified offerings work together to further the environmental efforts within their respective fields while also establishing universal accountability and cohesive benchmarks for sustainable business leadership across industry. Oceanic Global believes that impact should be accessible and open-source, and so the Blue Standard additionally offers a suite of services including: free educational guides, step-by-step auditing and consultation, and buying deals with a network of 300+ vetted vendors, that make it both easy and cost-effective for businesses to transition away from single-use plastics and otherwise environmentally detrimental products and processes. In turn, due it’s comprehensive & solution-driven structure, the framework of the Blue Standard has been leveraged by international governments including those of: New York City, New York State, the United States, Barbados, Spain, and more, to help shape over 7 policies to-date.

“With businesses of all sizes increasingly adopting sustainable practices, we recognized both the need and the potential to create universal accountability for these efforts and for how they’re communicated to consumers. Our hope is that through empowering comprehensive commitments to sustainability and lasting systems change, The Blue Standard will work to create a new balance between industries and the natural world that sustains them.”  – Lea d’Auriol, Founder of Oceanic Global

“The health of our ocean is at a tipping point as is that of our collective well-being. Blue works to empower tangible action at all levels. We developed Blue to inspire the people and communities that make up businesses and industries to take continued action for our blue planet, and to maximize the positive impact we can all create in our immediate spheres and beyond.” – Cassia Patel, Program Director, Oceanic Global

Oceanic Global will celebrate the official launch of the Blue Standard via a free & open-to-the-public virtual event taking place on Thursday, October 7th live-streamed at both Noon EDT and Midnight EDT to accommodate varying time zones. The event will delve deeper into Blue’s offering and feature environmental and industry thought leaders alike including: John Warner (Senior Vice President, Chemistry & Distinguished Research Fellow at Zymergen Corporation), Sandra Noonan (Chief Sustainability Officer, Just Salad), and Eduardo Castillo (Co-Founder & Creative Director, HABITAS; DJ) and more. To learn more and register to attend visit bluestandard.com.

 

ABOUT OCEANIC GLOBAL

Founded in 2017 by Lea d’Auriol, Oceanic Global (OG) inspires us to care deeply for the ocean and provides solutions to protect it. The international non-profit sheds light on humanity’s essential relationship to the ocean and empowers individuals, communities, and industries to create positive change. Oceanic Global creates educational experiences, consults on sustainable operations, and engages local communities to generate measurable impact for our collective wellbeing. Oceanic Global has international hubs & volunteer bases in New York, London, Los Angeles, Barcelona, Tulum, and Hong Kong, and has additionally been the official non-profit and production partner to United Nations World Oceans Day since 2019. #CareDeeply | www.oceanic.global

ABOUT THE BLUE STANDARD

Launched in 2021 as an evolution of Oceanic Global’s long standing industry solution program (formerly known as the Oceanic Standard) The Blue Standard (Blue) combats greenwashing, establishes universal accountability for sustainable business leadership, and empowers industries and businesses of all sizes to achieve measurable impact that protects our blue planet. Developed together with Oceanic Global’s Scientific Advisory Board and trained experts in both WELL and LEED building rating systems, Blue features two core offerings: a 3-star sustainability verification system for Business Operations and Product and Packing Seals that verify plastic-free consumer goods. The Blue Standard offers specialized programs and consultation for industries including: hospitality, music, events, office spaces, professional sports, consumer packaged goods, and more, as well as free educational resources, step-by-step auditing and consultation support, and buying deals with a network of over 300+ vetted vendors to help businesses eliminate single-use plastics and operate sustainably. Blue has verified the sustainability achievements of over 400+ businesses across 26 countries to date, as well as helped over 7 environmental policies worldwide. www.bluestandard.com

Attachments

• Blue Standard Seal Overview
• Blue is a first-of-it’s kind cross-industry standard that protects our blue planet

Natasha Berg
Oceanic Global
631-241-0398
natasha@oceanic.global