Eurasia

Moody’s Corporation launched Vietnam Investors Service And Credit Rating Agency Joint Stock Company (VIS Rating), a partnership between Moody’s and leading Vietnamese financial institutions that was initiated by the Vietnam Bond Market Association (VBMA). Vietnam’s Ministry of Finance issued a credit rating agency license to VIS Rating on Sept. 18. VIS Rating will provide independent, best-in-class credit rating services to domestic corporate issuers in Vietnam.The value of Vietnam’s outstanding corporate bonds stood at around 13% of GDP as of August 2023, pointing to robust growth potential in its debt capital market.

Merck, a world-renown science and technology company, has announced two new strategic drug discovery collaborations aimed at harnessing powerful artificial intelligence (AI)-driven design and discovery capabilities, further advancing the company’s research efforts. The partnerships, with BenevolentAI, London, U.K., and Exscientia, Oxford, U.K., are expected to help generate several novel clinical development drug candidates with first-in-class and best-in-class potential in key therapeutic areas of oncology, neurology and immunology.

Ocean Research and Conservation Association (ORCA) of Ireland and Huawei Ireland released the latest findings on marine life protection in Ireland discovered during their joint work on the Smart Whales Sound project. The announcement took place during the OceanTech Summit at Ireland’s Baltimore Castle in Ireland. Shipping lanes in the Celtic Sea south of Ireland are significantly contributing to noise pollution in the marine environment, the joint-study found.

Avaya, a customer experience solutions provider, announced its participation at the 2023 edition of GITEX Global, where the company will illustrate how organizations can choose their own journey to delivering AI-powered customer experiences. Avaya’s major presence at GITEX Global will showcase a range of vertical-specific use cases that highlight the power of artificial intelligence (AI) in delivering outstanding experiences across the customer journey.

With a flight time of about 2 hours 25 minutes from London to Spain, the European nation has long been a popular holiday option for Brits, and that doesn’t seem to have changed. Looking at Google Trends data, searches for ‘Spain holidays 2023’ and ‘holiday to Spain 2023’ have seen a combined increase of 800% in the last 12 months suggesting that it's still a top spot for sun-seeking Brits. If you’re travelling to Spain, you’re likely to have several things on your itinerary, and foodie or not, one of them is likely to be finding a great Paella!

Veeam® Software, the Data Protection and Ransomware Recovery specialist, announced it has appointed Beni Sia as the new General Manager and Senior Vice President of Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ), responsible for Veeam’s business operations and growth across the region. Sia brings more than 20 years of experience in the information technology (IT) industry to the role, primarily in working with customers and partners across the Asia Pacific Japan region to drive business growth and transformation. Most recently, he was Vice President of Southeast Asia and Korea at Veeam and led growth and expansion across 12 markets.

Fujitsu, a global digital transformation company, has announced a strategic partnership with Alation, the global data intelligence specialist. Fujitsu and Alation will empower enterprise customers to gain meaningful data-driven insights more rapidly through this partnership. In today’s world of rapidly expanding sources of data, including Generative AI, the Internet of Things, and social media, as well as increasing complexity of data applications across cloud and on-premise sources, organisations are struggling to find, understand, and trust data, and use this information to help drive excellent decisions and achieve sustainable advantage.

Paysend, the United Kingdom-founded Fin-Tech innovator, and Visa, the global specialist in digital payments, announced a strategic collaboration enabling Paysend’s customers globally to send money in real-time to eligible Visa cards across 170 countries and territories. The strategic five-year partnership aims to revolutionize international money transfers through Visa Direct, Visa’s real-time money movement network and builds on the companies’ initial collaboration announced in Feb. 2022 allowing Paysend’s United States and United Kingdom customers to send money internationally and domestically to eligible Visa cards.

Powering AstraZeneca’s transition to net zero, the firm agreed a 15-year alliance with Future Biogas to establish the UK’s first unsubsidised industrial-scale supply of biomethane gas, and is investing in energy efficiencies in its operations, totalling a commitment of £100 million. Energy from the biomethane facility will supply AstraZeneca’s sites in Macclesfield, Cambridge, Luton and Speke with 100 GWh per year, equivalent to the heat demands of over 8,000 homes. Once operational in early 2025, the alliance will reduce emissions by about 20,000 tonnes CO2 equivalent (CO2e), adding renewable energy capacity to the national gas grid.

Celo, a global specialist in secure messaging for healthcare, is implementing its innovative and highly secure messaging platform across EMC Healthcare hospitals in Indonesia. Celo will transform EMC's clinical communications and enhance patient care and operational efficiency. With Celo's end-to-end encryption and features tailored for healthcare professionals, EMC Healthcare's clinical teams can securely exchange critical patient information and medical updates in real time. This implementation aligns perfectly with EMC Healthcare's commitment to providing the highest standards of patient care through advanced tech and innovation.