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A well-known cryptocurrency analyst says he doubts the massive bitcoin (BTC) predictions for next year will materialize.
In a new interview on InvestAnswers, widely followed crypto trader Benjamin Cowen offers his take on a prediction that bitcoin could rise more than 1,000% from current prices by 2023.
At the end of last month, venture capitalist Tim Draper predicted bitcoin would hit $250,000 next year.
Mr. Cowen says he no longer believes bitcoin can even hit the six-figure price range in the next 18 months.
“There was a time I would have liked to believe that 2023 would have been the year we would have reached these, maybe $250,000 would have always been too high, I was thinking more like $100,000 or something for 2023.
Today, I’m certainly a little more skeptical of that idea, especially given how the Fed has pivoted and gone in the completely opposite direction over the past six months.
I also watch other things like social stats, and follow new subscribers to crypto YouTube channels. I look at viewership on these types of things, and it’s all in a downward trend right now. If people are having trouble buying gas, that’s going to make it even harder to buy bitcoins. »
According to Cowen, even if retail investors become ultra-bullish on BTC, it might not be enough to push bitcoin to $250,000 by next year.
“It still takes general retail sentiment to be really high for risky assets like bitcoin to finally reach $250,000. I find it hard to see how we will be able to reach a quarter of a million dollars next year, especially during a period of high inflation. You can refer to the 40s and 70s, the second peaks of high inflation, the stock market did well. But during the first peak, the stock market fell until inflation peaked.
It would be a huge turnaround for bitcoin to jump to a quarter million [de dollars] in the next 18 months, so I would say it’s probably unlikely to happen in the next 18 months. »
Instead of a monumental rally, Cowen sees a choppy and unexciting bitcoin market for the next two years.
“I see us sort of finalizing this bear market at some point this year and then going into an accumulation phase much like we did in 2019 and 2015 and then sort of slowly preparing for the next bitcoin halving and at that time you’ll likely see the Fed finally lower interest rates and hopefully inflation will return if it hasn’t already. »


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You can now print in 3D at the Olin Library.
Anyone in the Rollins community can now transform digital designs into physical objects, thanks to a new 3D printer.
Last Thursday, for example, during an event showcasing the new Ultimaker 3D printer in action, a miniature Cylon Raider spaceship from the sci-fi show Battlestar Galactica was created.
Chief Information Officer Pat Schoknecht says many other colleges have 3D printers, but they tend to be kept in places where few people have access to them. “What makes us different is that we are going to put it out there in a public location and encourage people to use it,” she says.
Technical Support Specialist and 3D printer guru Joe Tsotsos says the Ultimaker is one of the larger, faster, and more detailed printers on the market. And because it’s compatible with Macs, PCs, and Linux operating systems, there are thousands of free, downloadable designs hosted on sites like thingiverse.com available to anyone who has an interest in using the device. Users can also create their own digital designs with free tools like Google Sketchup.
“Having a 3D printer for anyone to use is an experiment to see how faculty and students use the technology,” Tsotsos says.
Have an interest in bringing your designs into the physical realm? Check out the 3D printer in Olin Library’s Center for Creativity.

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HONG KONG (BLOOMBERG) - Singapore millionaires stung by the misery of recent bond defaults now have company as the fallout threatens losses for mom-and-pop investors.
All four new issues of Singapore dollar-denominated notes targeted at individuals this year have dropped below the par sales value, as failures in the broader market stoke speculation nonpayments will spread. UBS Group's wealth management unit said in an Aug 16 report that retail investors are being sold "weak" names, and Lombard Odier said they face default risks on securities with poorer credit profiles.
"Now with bonds of small-medium-enterprises with weaker credit profiles being sold to retail investors, this exposes mom-and-pop investors to the risks of a default and bond restructuring," said Dhiraj Bajaj, senior vice president in Singapore at Lombard Odier.
The last time Singapore's individual investors suffered default was in 2008, when Lehman Brothers Holdings' collapse resulted in failure to pay structured notes called mini-bonds, according to Bloomberg-compiled data. Signs of stress are rising as the economy cools. Swiber Holdings Ltd failed to pay a coupon earlier this month, Pacific Andes Resources Development Ltd reneged on securities in January and PT Trikomsel Oke missed payments late last year. While none of those incidents involved mom-and-pop investors, they have raised alarms.
Singapore's regulator is tightening safeguards in the bond market as it encourages broader participation. The focus of the Monetary Authority of Singapore's "regulatory regime for investor protection, particularly for offers made to retail investors, is two-fold," it said in an e-mailed response to questions.
"First, we require issuers to make timely and relevant disclosures so that investors can make informed decisions. Second, we require financial intermediaries that distribute investment products to deal with their customers fairly." Information disclosure requirements in Singapore are rigorous, and "issuers who offer bonds to retail investors are required to disclose key financial information about the features of the bonds and risks relating to the issuer as well as the bonds," MAS said.
"In the case of bonds, investors need to look beyond the headline yield offered and carefully consider the financial performance and strength of the issuer or the credit risk it poses, the risk of interest rate changes that affect the price of a bond and the liquidity of the bond."
In 2014, the central bank said in response to feedback on a consultation paper that it would proceed with steps to make it easier for companies to offer bonds to individual investors while maintaining sufficient safeguards.
The four retail securities sold this year are listed on the Singapore Exchange. They were marketed through offering statements containing prescribed information, and the issuers must announce results and explain significant factors that affect them, according to the bourse.
"Under Singapore's disclosure-based regime, they are also obliged to make continuous disclosures of any other material information," the exchange said in an e-mailed reply to questions. It published a column in June outlining things retail investors should be aware of when buying bonds.
The local-currency retail note market is expanding just as analysts forecast Singapore's economy will grow at the slowest pace in seven years in 2016 at 1.8 per cent growth.
"I think there is a growing risk of defaults happening with a slowing economy," said Vishal Goenka, Singapore-based head of credit sales for Asia at Deutsche Bank.
Rather than using impartial analysis, investors have bought a lot of notes based on familiarity with the issuer's name or just because they are from Singapore, according to Bajaj at Lombard Odier, which has been avoiding Singapore dollar bonds.
The 5.3 per cent securities of Aspial Corp, a jewelry retailer and developer of high-rise condos, have dropped to 97 cents from about 100 cents at the end of July, according to exchange prices.
A spokeswoman for Aspial declined to comment.
The 6 per cent perpetual bonds sold to mom-and-pop investors by water company Hyflux Ltd. have declined to 95.4 cents from about 100 cents as recently as Aug 12, exchange prices show.
Hyflux's group chief financial officer Lim Suat Wah said the company has a cash balance of S$494 million as at end June 2016 and also recently completed project finance for two major projects. "There is sufficient cash as well as available lines such that the company does not need to raise additional funds to redeem any maturing facilities," she said.
Rising risks in Singapore's bond market were highlighted in the missed payment by Swiber, which operates construction vessels to support the offshore oil and gas industry.
Its default places attention on high-yield securities amid mounting regulatory scrutiny, according to Magdalene Teo, fixed income analyst at Julius Baer.
"While the current low interest rate environment offers some reprieve to companies in terms of lower funding costs, those companies with higher leverage may find it challenging to refinance their upcoming maturities as local banks assess their exposure," said Ms Teo.


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That sharp spike you see in Tesla's already-high stock price is what happened Wednesday when the electric automaker reported a $105 million fourth-quarter profit and offered a rosy take on what's ahead.
Why it matters: Tesla and CEO Elon Musk kick up lots of dust, but the bottom line is that the trajectory of the world's largest electric vehicle seller matters a lot for the tech's wider adoption — even as competitors ramp, up too.
Where it stands: Axios' Joann Muller has lots of good info about the earnings rollout in her full story, but here are some toplines...
Tesla expects to remain profitable going forward, with "possible temporary exceptions" around product launches and ramp-ups, it said in the earnings report.
Record 2019 deliveries helped drive revenues up 19% over the prior quarter, but profit margins fell because Tesla sold more of the lower-priced Model 3.
Its upcoming Model Y compact SUV is ahead of schedule — the production ramp has begun and it plans to start deliveries by the end of this quarter, the company said.
Overall, Tesla said full year 2020 deliveries across its product lines will "comfortably exceed 500,000 units."
But, but, but: Battery cell production capacity is the biggest potential bottleneck to growth — as seen in Tesla's decision to not accelerate its semi-truck production beyond limited numbers, Musk said.
Increasing that capacity is the top priority, he said.
What they're saying: Tesla tends to lurch from good stretches to near-crises, so there are predictably divided views about how to assess the moment. A sampling:
Via MarketWatch, a Wedbush Securities analyst called the results "potentially 'game changing,'" in a note that says it could signal a "new era" for Tesla.


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WASHINGTON, D.C. (BRAIN)—Exports of Made in USA bikes dropped by 1,288 units through the third quarter, a 3 percent drop. A steep drop in shipments to Mexico and Latin America negated the increase in business with Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Pacific Rim nations.
HEERENVEEN, the Netherlands (BRAIN)—Accell Group reported to have an expected higher turnover and an increase in net profit of around 10 percent compared to 2008.
WASHINGTON, DC (BRAIN)—Imports of bicycles through September total 11.624 million units, down 2.093 million units over last year, according to the U. S. Department of Commerce import data released this week. Imports of 700c road and hybrid bikes bucked the trend, increasing 10 percent.
WATSONVILLE, CA (BRAIN)—Revenue was down 14.8 percent at Fox Racing Shox for the third quarter of the year as both OEM and aftermarket sales dropped in the weak economy.
MONTREAL (BRAIN)—Third quarter revenue dropped 11 percent in Dorel Industries’ recreational and leisure segment, which includes its bike business, but for the year, the division remains up 1.4 percent.
VAN NUYS, CA (BRAIN)—Easton Bell sales declined 11.3 percent for the third quarter of 2009, but the company began to see some signs of stabilization during the period including higher margins in the Action Sports segment, according to an earnings report issued on Wednesday.
TAIPEI, Taiwan (BRAIN)—Sales revenue at Taiwan’s big three manufacturers rebounded slightly in September coming off double-digit drops in August, according to numbers released on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
MILAN, Italy (BRAIN)—Oakley’s parent company reported its best sales period of the year in the third quarter as European markets showed signs of recovery and the troubled North American market began to stabilize.
CHICAGO, IL (BRAIN)—SRAM’S Stan Day said that the global recession has taken a bite out of the company’s business, reflecting a similar fall off in sales as its competitor Shimano.
OSAKA, Japan (BRAIN)—A slow bike market took its toll on Shimano as the company saw its sales tumble to $1.47 billion (134.44 billion Yen) through September, from $1.87 billion (170.6 billion Yen) last year. The company’s income fell to $149.98 million (13.68 billion Yen) from $307.38 million (28.03 billion Yen).
HELSINKI, Finland (BRAIN)—Mavic's net sales declined by 14 percent for the first nine months of the year, according to earnings report released Thursday by Mavic’s parent company, Amer Sports.
OSAKA, Japan (BRAIN)—Shimano Inc. is slashing its full year profit forecast as U.S. and European consumers cut back purchases on mid- to high-end bicycles and fishing gear, according to Bloomberg News.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (BRAIN)—The number of bicycles imported into the United States dropped by 1.822 million units through August, putting importers on track for one of their smallest years in a decade.
TAIPEI, Taiwan (BRAIN)—Sales revenue for the month of August at Taiwan’s three largest bicycle manufacturers dropped by double digits, yet year-to-date revenue remains relatively stable.
DUARTE, CA (BRAIN)— Dahon has had steady growth in sales for the first half of 2009, with a 6 percent increase in unit volume and a 27 percent increase in revenues, compared with the year earlier period.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (BRAIN)—The Made in USA sticker is giving exporters of kids' bikes a good year so far as shipments reached 14,606 juvenile bikes through June, an increase of 19 percent.
VAN NUYS, CA (BRAIN)—Sales in Easton Bell Sports’ Action Segment, which includes its cycling division, fell 2.3 percent in the second quarter of 2009 as OEM cycling component purchases declined due to soft demand for high-end bikes, according to Paul Harrington, president and chief executive officer of Easton Bell.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (BRAIN)—Whatever the reason, weather or the economy, suppliers did not find parents buying kids' bikes this year. Imports of sidewalk bikes with wheel sizes under 20-inches fell 9 percent through June, while imports of 20- and 24-inch bikes were down 32 percent.
MONTREAL, Quebec (BRAIN)—The chief executive officer of Dorel Industries said on Wednesday that the company would sell Iron Horse branded bicycles in the sporting goods channel starting next year.
PHILADELPHIA, PA (BRAIN)—Strong sales gains during the first quarter were erased as sales fell by 2 percent through June, and shipments lagged 8 percent, according to the Bicycle Product Suppliers Association (BPSA) June sales report.


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Nexus 4 smartphone already making the overpriced debut on eBay
The LG Nexus 4 smartphone officially launched today. We have seen the handset come available in some markets and we are still awaiting availability in others. The Nexus 4 has launched for those in Australia along with Europe and the UK. They key here, we are seeing plenty of reports about the handset selling out. We have yet to see the device launch for those in the US, that is expected to happen at 9AM PST (12PM EST).
But on that note, based on what we have seen in other markets, we suggest those in the US be ready and waiting when the that clock strikes 9 (or 12 depending on where you live). The reasoning here, the handset has already begun showing up on eBay and lets just say that those listings are not offering the handset for $299 or $349.
In fact, the listings that we have seen are ranging $450 plus. For example, one listing has the LG Nexus 4 priced at a Buy it Now for $475. And as if paying that premium was not bad enough, the auction is then charging $10 for shipping and notes the delivery as being sometime between November 15 and November 29. In other words, pay a premium and wait even longer.
Bottom line here, if you are in the US and want a Nexus 4 — make sure you are online and ready when sales begin. If you are located outside the US and have already missed out, why not skip eBay and see what happens with Google. After all, we would hate to see you spend that much on a phone when the Google Play store may end up getting some inventory in a week or so. Because in reality, having a brand new phone is nice, but so is keeping a $100 (or more) dollars in your bank account.


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Image source: screenshot
By Sunday evening, the hashtag #BoycottOliveGarden trended on social media.
Olive Garden attempted to quell frustrations by responding to hundreds of tweets rebuking the restaurant chain for allegedly supporting Trump.
@mateh2008 Hi there, we don’t know where this information came from, but it is incorrect. Our company does not dona… https://t.co/0inv1bBsBy— Olive Garden (@Olive Garden) 1566790131.0
In other messages, Olive Garden stated unequivocally that Darden — the parent company that owns Olive Garden and other restaurants like Longhorn Steakhouse and Cheddar's — does not donate to federal candidates.
It's not exactly clear why the boycott went viral over the weekend. But, just a few weeks ago, a college student's tweet claiming that Olive Garden is among a dozen popular restaurant chains supporting Trump's reelection went viral.
So here’s a list of companies supporting Trump’s re-election: - Bang - inn n out - chick fil a - Taco Bell - McDo… https://t.co/0Sfc8V6C25— Costa (@Costa) 1565274159.0
However, as the Washington Post's Philip Bump reported, the tweet's claims are not true.
"For consumer activists looking to put their money where their politics are, though, some bad news: The college student is broadly wrong about those companies," Bump wrote.
It turns out the student conflated "assessments of the politics of the company broadly" with direct political spending, citing data from the Center for Responsive Politics, despite a disclaimer stating the data do not reflect direct organizational donations.
"The organizations themselves did not donate, rather the money came from the organizations' PACs, their individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals' immediate families," CRP says.


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As takeout options continue to increase, eco-friendly packaging options come into question in terms of balancing sustainability goals with costs, availability and new normal realities.
Even before the advent of the novel coronavirus, many foodservice operations were moving toward a different business model. The rise in popularity of delivery services — whether third-party or in-house — has made operators retool their business strategy toward one where off-premises dining plays a much bigger role. As part of this new model, many operators have taken a fresh look at their takeout packaging, and some are choosing eco-friendly options. Reflecting the increased interest in these items, the National Restaurant Association’s “What’s Hot 2020 Culinary Forecast” listed eco-friendly packaging as the No. 1 overall restaurant trend for the year.
The college and university segment has been one of the major adopters of eco-friendly packaging, a decision often driven by the university administration. “We have sustainability built into our strategic vision,” says Garett DiStefano, director of Dining Services, University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
The move toward sustainable packaging was just one part of an all-campus initiative started almost a decade ago for the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. The initiative set sustainability goals for waste, energy, water, culture and food, according to Keith Soster, director of Sustainability, Student Engagement, and Training and Development for Michigan Dining, the university’s foodservice arm. “Being that we’re in dining, we can make an impact to all five of those broad categories,” Soster says.
With the majority of their students off-campus for the near future, both UMass-Amherst and the University of Michigan have moved to a grab-and-go setup for all foodservice on campus but are still using eco-friendly items for takeout.
The cost of eco-friendly packaging “can be anywhere from 20% to 50% higher than regular packaging,” says Joel Feigenheimer of RealEats Consulting in Hollywood, Fla.
However, eco-friendly packaging can be a way to reinforce a brand’s message, says Claire Koelsch Sand, consultant and owner of Packaging Technology and Research in Stillwater, Minn. “Certain companies have built their brands on sustainability and sustainable packaging,” she says. “They’ve said, ‘We’re not going to look at our cost structure; we’re going to look at what we want to do first.”
HipCityVeg is one of those companies. The seven-unit fast-casual chain based in Philadelphia specializes in plant-based menu items such as tempeh burgers and tofu wraps. “The packaging that goes out to guests is all compostable items,” says Michelle LaVigne, vice president of operations. “We spend a considerable amount more than [for] your everyday plastic or Styrofoam.”
Chipotle Mexican Grill has always put sustainability at the center of its business. But for a chain of its size — 2,600-plus units — the cost of eco-friendly packaging is a major factor. Caitlin Liebert, head of sustainability for the chain, says that there’s value in using off-the-shelf eco-friendly packaging, but “in addition to sustainability, ease of operation and customer experience are a priority,” she says. For that reason, Chipotle uses a combination of both customized and noncustomized eco-friendly packaging.
In the past, finding eco-friendly materials that perform as well as traditional materials was a challenge. Nowadays, Feigenheimer notes, “technology is such that most eco-friendly products perform easily as well as traditional products.”
Product quality has improved, Soster agrees. “When we first started looking at compostable products, I would put food in a container and let it sit there for an hour, and it would seep. They’re a whole lot better now.”
While the ability to hold food longer is critical for restaurants offering delivery, it has now also become important for the college segment as it moves from sit-down to takeout operations for the foreseeable future. “A lot of kids come in to grab their lunch, and they grab their dinner, too,” says DiStefano in reference to how students use dining services at UMass-Amherst. “We want to make sure that the containers we use are able to hold their food so when they are back in the dorm and want to reheat it for dinner, it’s still going to hold.”
While the selection of eco-friendly products on the market has increased over the past few years, it can be expensive. “Newer products have come on the market and been really great,” LaVigne notes, but some gaps still remain. “Like our clamshell, for example. We’ve been in the market for a compostable clamshell that’s not going to cost us an arm and a leg.”
There can also be a learning curve with some eco-friendly products. For example, Feigenheimer points to a Miami hotel that chose corn-resin cups to use for its poolside beverage service and then stored the cups outside. “Corn-resin cups are supposed to biodegrade,” he says, “and the sun melted them. The staff and management simply weren’t aware that these need to be kept inside.”
Reusable? Perhaps, Perhaps Not
In the overall category of eco-friendly packaging, reusable products represent a fairly small percentage of products. Before the coronavirus pandemic, reusables were gaining some traction in foodservice, especially at bring-your-own-mug coffee stations. But now, their usage has been placed on hold in most municipalities. Whether they’ll return to foodservice remains a question. “I hate to make nasty predictions, but I think they’re going to be out for a while,” says Sand.
As recently as six months ago, Distefano says UMass-Amherst had been looking into a program with reusable food containers, but “fast-forward to now — I don’t see that being a possibility for quite some time,” he says.
Reusable containers also presented a unique problem for some colleges and universities with unlimited meal plans, Soster points out. “You can go in and out [of the dining halls] all day long,” he says. “We don’t want students filling up clamshells and taking them out and feeding all their friends.”
In addition to the ecological benefit of greener packaging, it can also bring a boost in terms of customer perception — if the operator communicates the effort to customers.
At Chipotle, Leibert says, “some of our packaging includes material and diversion information such as ‘compostable’ or ‘made from recycled material.’ We also have detailed signage posted regarding compost and recycling for customers at our waste stations, where applicable.”
Promoting eco-friendly efforts at HipCityVeg is an important way to help grow the brand, LaVigne says. “We have it everywhere from the menu to the website. We have it on our compostable stickers; we have it on part of our packaging.”
Using earth-friendly packaging can have benefits both from a social responsibility standpoint and a staff morale standpoint, Feigenheimer says. It can also have a halo effect on employees, particularly with Millennials. “They like to see that, and it’s something that we should be doing,” he says.
No Tampering Allowed
Until recently, tamper-proof packaging was seen primarily on pharmaceuticals and household food items. But as third-party delivery providers continue to prevail, order tampering has become a consideration for restaurant operators. In fact, 28% of delivery drivers admitted to taking food from an order at least once, according to a 2019 study by broadline distributor US Foods.
While many tamper-evident packaging items are plastic-based, operators can choose from some eco-friendly (or at least eco-friendlier) options, too. For example, some paper bags now feature a tamper-evident strip across the top, while some recycled paperboard boxes include closing tabs that “lock.” Chipotle introduced tamper-evident packaging seals, says Leibert, who emphasizes it is “on every bag for delivery or pickup orders.”
HipCityVeg uses compostable stickers to seal its bags. The chain is researching other tamper-proof options, says LaVigne, who adds that tamper-proof packaging gives “a sense of security from the guest side and from our side as well.”


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Food colorings, such as Red 40 and Yellow 5, often use synthetic, petroleum, or animal-derived components. However, in recent years, the $2.6 billion food colors business has shifted toward the use of natural ingredients, as more customers seek items with cleaner labeling.
There have been new approaches to healthier food coloring, ingredients, and flavors developed by startups. Several companies, such as Vanilla Vida, Spero Renewables, and Pigmentum, are developing vanilla. Brightseed and Equinom are generating chemicals and proteins to provide healthier food ingredients, while Motif FoodWorks is developing a beef flavor alternative.
Similarly, Michroma is developing a revolutionary technology for food colorings and flavorings that employs precise fermentation to scale fungal food colors.
Ricky Cassini and Mauricio Braia, both from Argentina, co-founded the ingredient biotechnology startup Michroma in 2019 after meeting at an accelerator program and relocating to San Francisco to develop the company’s technology.
Braia’s experience is in developing technology for the food business, with a focus on manufacturing enzymes utilizing filamentous fungi. However, rather than continue with enzymes, he desired to try something else.
The chief scientific officer of the company, Braia, began cultivating fungal strains in soil media and observed a red hue. Using this knowledge, he developed a novel approach for building fungal “biofactories” that create tiny compounds, such as pigments, more effectively.
He continued, “I thought that this could be a great opportunity to produce natural colorants with a technology that allowed for high efficiency and low costs,” he added. “We turned that idea into a project that evolved into Michroma.”
The company began with an alternative to Red 40 as a colorant. CEO Cassini said that other ways for obtaining similar hue, such as beet root or insects, perform poorly when tested for temperature and pH stability in meals.
Cassini stated that the company’s initial product, Red+, is stable throughout a wide pH range and resistant to high temperatures. This means that the colors are able to remain viable during the pasteurization, cooking, and extrusion procedures, which he stated were the most intense operations for natural dyes. In addition to traditional food usage, he stated that Red+ can also be used to color farmed meat.
The idea is to manufacture additional hues, beginning with warm hues such as orange and yellow before moving on to cooler hues such as blue and white.
The company has prototyped Red+ with some significant food companies and is currently in distribution negotiations with suppliers. It will also submit a petition to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Food Safety Authority in order to scale the product. In addition, Cassini stated that Michroma will produce plant-based flavorings that will be sold alongside the colorings.
Supply Change Capital, the venture capital arm of General Mills, led a $6.4 million seed financing round for the startup. This totals $7,400,000 in venture money for the company.
Existing investors SOSV’s IndieBio and GRIDX, as well as a group of new investors, including Be8 Ventures, CJ CheilJedang, Fen Ventures, Boro Capital, The Mills Fabrica, Portfolia’s Food & AgTech Fund, New Luna Ventures, Siddhi Capital, Groundswell Ventures, and Hack Capital, have joined Supply Change in this round. Angel investors include Allen Miner, Jun Ueki, and Steve Zurcher from the Keiretsu Japan Forum, as well as Guillermo Rosenthal, Franco Goyti, Pablo Pla, and Mat Travizano.
The extra cash will be used to increase the size of the Michroma team from 15 to 35 members during the next two years.
Cassini anticipates that the regulatory procedure will take a minimum of two years and is examining ways to earn revenue in the interim. Singapore, for instance, has previously permitted the consumption of meat grown in a lab.
“Red+ is our MVP for the whole platform, but we want to provide complete solutions for companies that don’t want only red,” Cassini added.


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SEOUL -- South Korea's current account returned to a surplus in December on the back of growing dividend income after recording a deficit in November, according to data released by the Bank of Korea (BOK) on February 8.
The country posted a $2.68 billion surplus in the current account in December, marking a reversal from a deficit of $220 million a month earlier. The sum, however, plunged 57.9 percent from $6.37 billion a year earlier. The current account is a broad measure of a nation’s global trade in goods and services as well as net earnings on cross-border investment.
The BOK said the current account went back into the black as dividend income surged 60 percent to $4.49 billion year-on-year. It added that Korean companies received more dividend income from their overseas subsidiaries.
For all of 2022, the current account surplus tumbled 65 percent to $29.83 billion from the previous year's $85.23 billion because the country suffered a trade deficit amid the global economic downturn.
South Korea recorded a deficit of $480 million in the trade of goods in December, sustaining the shortfall for the third consecutive month. The amount was in stark contrast to a $4.43 billion surplus a year earlier.
Exports fell 10.4 percent year-on-year to $55.67 billion in December, continuing its downward march for four months in a row. The decline was led by shipments of semiconductors which nosedived 27.8 percent. Exports of steel products also shrank 20.5 percent, followed by chemical products (17.2 percent).
South Korea's exports to China deceased sharply by 27.1 percent. Its shipments to ASEAN countries also dropped by 23.7 percent with exports to Japan declining by 10.3 percent.
Korea's imports also fell 2.7 percent year-on-year to $56.15 billion in December. It was the first time in two years that the country saw a drop in its imports.
However, imports of natural resources and raw materials edged up 0.1 percent. Imports of gas, oil and coal soared by 52.2 percent, 16.9 percent and 12.5 percent, respectively, due to high global energy prices.
South Korea incurred a $1.39 billion deficit in the trade of services in December, compared with a $760 million shortfall a year before. The country's tourism deficit widened to $1.14 billion from $740 million a year ago as more Koreans traveled to other countries amid eased COVID-19 restrictions.


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TCL is continuing its charge to the top spot in global TV sales. Currently ranked third, according to its statistics, TCL is expanding this year by bringing its Mini-LED TVs to the UK for the first time. It has also promised to produce its own OLED panels by 2023.
At today's press conference TCL outlined updates to its lower and mid-range P and C Series TVs, all of which will come with Google TV. Those in UK, France and Germany will also get a TikTok TV app from March onwards. Details of its premium 8K TCL X Series TV will be unveiled in June but the company has confirmed that the 2000nit TCL X12 Mini LED TV will be among them.
As for the TVs from today's event, the top model announced was the Mini-LED backed TCL C82 Series which comes in 55in and 65in sizes. It's a 100Hz, 4K HDR screen fitted with an Onkyo tuned 3.1.2 Dolby Atmos soundbar.
A step down is the TCL C72+ which looks also to be a full array Mini LED range. Like the C82, it's ready for gamers with the same HDMI 2.1 features included but this time without the Onkyo soundbar. It has three size variants: 55, 65 and 75in.
Below that is the straight TCL C72 Series which replaces the C71 Series currently available in UK stores. These are QLED TVs which, as with the models above, can handle HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision, including Dolby Vision IQ. There are no plans for HDR10+ yet. The biggest of the ranges announced, the C72 will be available in 43, 50, 55, 65 and 75in panels.
Bringing up the rear are the TCL P72 LCD TVs which come in the same sizes as the C72 but without the 75in model.
While prices and dates are currently unavailable, the company has stated that the TCL C82 TVs will arrive in the UK in Q2, 2021.


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The employers were immediately fired after admitting to obtaining the illegal software. Obtaining illegal copies of Apple software is a clear violation of Apple’s terms of service, or TOS, for retail store employees. Furthermore, the Apple employees had also signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) about upcoming software, which resulted in a second infraction.
Tough luck for them. Getting fired over a glorified patch!


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Continental Airlines flight crews today begin
accepting credit and debit cards exclusively for on-board
purchases (except Duty-free).
Continental says it is making the change in
response to feedback from customers and flight crews who expressed
interest in using card readers for on-board purchases to eliminate
the hassle of fumbling for money and making correct change. The
hand-held devices read cards for purchases of alcoholic beverages
and headsets during flight in addition to providing valuable sales
information to help better manage product inventory. Cash is still
being accepted for Duty-free purchases. Testing of the hand-held
devices began in the summer of 2009.
The new cashless system will be available on all
Continental Airlines mainline flights, except for service to and
from China, as the company continues to develop its process for
accepting that country’s predominant credit card, The China Union
Pay card. Cash is still being accepted on Continental Express,
Continental Connection and Continental Micronesia flights.
Continental is aiming to switch to a cashless cabin on those
flights in the first quarter of 2010.
See other recent news regarding:


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DB Breweries has taken a humorous approach to the divide between lager and craft beer drinkers to launch its new product DB Export Hop Lager.
PHD New Zealand and Heineken have rolled out the country’s first digital ad campaign that’s exclusive to connective devices in order to match the audience’s changing video habits.
Following public assessment of last month’s ads, Colmar Brunton says brands have set a high standard for the rest of the year. But only one could come out on top for January, and it was Air New Zealand that proved to have the most impact with its ‘Love’ video.
Heineken has launched a new TVC for the UEFA Champions League dubbed ‘Prep Talk’, shot by award-winning director Guy Ritchie.
Last week, at an event hosted at the Auckland viaduct, Heineken gathered the media and a collection of millennials to unveil its latest brand ad, which again has a very strong moderate drinking message. But as a brand that lives and dies by the number of bottles it sells, why is it trying to encourage consumers to think twice about handing over their cash?
We’re sure many New Zealanders are in disbelief as to how nearly four years have passed since the last Rugby World Cup. Four years since we yelled out to strangers in the street whooping with collective joy after the All Blacks secured the Cup after a nail-biting game with the French and four years since the victory sparked a baby boom across the nation. But this year’s World Cup, which kicks off in September has no doubt been creeping its way into the public consciousness for sometime now, probably due to a few big brands which hope to profit from all the attention, here’s what a few of them are up to.
Heineken has been trying to inspire men to explore the world through its Legends series, which has resulted in some brilliant ads and increased sales around the world. But it’s gone down the domestic road in its latest spot and is tapping into the power of FOMO by showing them what they could be missing out on in their own cities.
Over the past few years, Heineken and Wieden + Kennedy’s Legends brand platform has resulted in some brilliant ads and increased sales around the world. For its latest trick, it’s managed to convince more than 40 legends from the world of sport, art and entertainment to create a unique poster that will be auctioned off to support Reporters Without Borders, a global non-profit organisation that protects journalists and ensures freedom of information worldwide. And there’s a Kiwi connection to this one, with ex-All Black Brad Thorn and double world record holding freediver William Trubridge enlisted for the campaign.
In 2013, many Kiwi music fans were left with a Big Day Out-shaped hole in their hearts on account of the event being pulled due to the disappointing 2012 lineup resulting in poor ticket sales. But this year, with Pearl Jam, Arcade Fire, Deftones and Snoop of the canine or feline persuasion making an appearance, the hype has attracted not only fans but also a few Kiwi businesses. Here’s what attendees can look forward to at this year’s event.
Heineken is giving two lucky people the chance of enjoying the 2014 Heineken Open tennis action from a specially designed pop-up apartment overlooking centre court at ASB Tennis Arena. The competition has been launched on the Heineken Live website as part of an eight-week promotional campaign that will lead into the tournament’s 6 January commencement date. PLUS: read which brands have come onboard to sponsor the Heineken Open and the ASB Classic this year.
A couple of months back, Heineken challenged unsuspecting travellers at New York’s John F Kennedy Airport to ditch their travel plans for a destination of the roulette board’s choosing. Now the stunt’s had a cleverly crafted sequel by the brand’s agency Wieden and Kennedy. Heineken tracked down people who tweeted saying they’d drop everything for a spontaneous trip and rolled in the roulette board to test their mettle.
In an effort to increase the numbers attending the ASB Classic and Heineken Open, Auckland Tennis has created a new umbrella brand called the New Zealand Festival of Tennis, changed its ticketing options and upped its game in terms of food and beverage.
For the past three months, Heineken has been plucking real men out of their daily lives, dropping them into the great unknown and making them do ridiculous things as part of its Dropped campaign. And the fifth and final episode, which features two chaps on a desert island in the Philippines who are handcuffed to each other and have only one survival kit between them, has just been launched.
As part of our push to remind you marcomms folk to get your entries in for the 2013 TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards, we’re asking some past winners to tell us about their glorious victory, what it meant to the business and why these awards are different. Here’s what Dave Shoemack, ex-DB Export marketing manager and now global marketing manager for Heineken’s Sol brand, had to say.
There was plenty of discussion about James Bond adding Heineken to his list of favoured tipples in Skyfall. But product placement/branded content/integration/cap in handing is an accepted part of the film and TV business these days (as Daniel Craig told Moviefone: “The simple fact is that, without them, we couldn’t do it. It’s unfortunate but that’s how it is. This movie costs a lot of money to make, it costs as nearly as much again if not more to promote, so we go where we can”). And the tie-in appears to be working for the brand because Heineken’s ‘The Express’ ad, which features the raspy tones of own Gin Wigmore, has won Colmar Brunton’s Ad Impact Award for October.
The APMA Star Awards, which celebrate the past year’s finest promotional efforts, took place last week in Oz, with New Zealand marketing agency Belowtheline the only Kiwi agency to take home a gold, winning the top award in the ‘best sponsorship leverage’ category for its ‘Game Plan’ promotion for Sanitarium’s sponsorship of the All Blacks before and during the Rugby World Cup.


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Monsanto Licenses CRISPR Tech With Restrictions
Monsanto has licensed the CRISPR-Cas9 technology from the Broad Institute, according to an announcement on Thursday. Under the agreement, the Broad Institute grants Monsanto a worldwide, non-exclusive license for agriculture applications of the CRISPR-Cas technology, but there are restrictions. “Monsanto cannot use it for gene drive, the controversial technique that can spread a trait through an entire population, with unknown consequences,” reads an article in STAT. Monsanto has expanded its gene-editing capabilities in recent months partnering with TargetGene and Nomad Biosciences earlier this year.
Cargill Taps Ginkgo Bioworks to Help Enhance Bioindustrial Fermentation Processes
Ginkgo Bioworks, a company that develops and customizes organisms that can produce ingredients such as scents and flavors, is now collaborating with Cargill to explore strain improvements to optimize Cargill’s bioindustrial fermentations. Ginkgo’s organism designers work closely with customers across a range of industries, developing microorganisms for the production of cultured ingredients and specialty enzymes for markets such as flavor and fragrance, food and nutrition, and cosmetics and personal care. These organisms are designed and prototyped using Ginkgo’s automated foundries, then grown in facilities akin to microbreweries to produce new ingredients during fermentation. This new alliance follows Ginkgo’s latest $100M Series C funding round.
Cool Planet Promotes Jim Loar to President & CEO
Soil health and carbon sequestration company Cool Planet has elevated Jim Loar to the position of president and CEO of the company’s agricultural subsidiary. Loar joined Cool Planet as chief commercial officer in 2015. He previously served as vice president of operations for the $2.1 billion agricultural division of the Wilbur-Ellis Company. Before his 14 years with Wilbur-Ellis, Loar spent 14 years with Griffin, a leader in crop protection products.
FoodBytes! Unveils List of 20 Startups to Pitch at Boulder Event
Rabobank, the global food and agribusiness bank, has selected 20 food and ag startups from around the world to pitch at FoodBytes! Boulder, its pitch competition and networking event.
The startups will pitch for five-minutes in-front of an audience of other entrepreneurs, investors, industry thought leaders, media, and a judging panel. The list includes a wide variety of startups innovating across multiple sectors. FreshSurety measures and reports real-time the shelf life of fresh food, while Mad Agriculture taps the nutrient recycling abilities of insects to turn food waste into a protein-rich feed supplement. The Food Corridor provides an online marketplace for food businesses to connect with commercial food assets, and R&D startup ProveIt is developing pasteurization systems using magnetic induction to replace steam-generated heat in food product processing. For a complete list of the companies that will pitch in Boulder, click here.
Chobani Announces the First 6 Startups for its New Incubator Program
The Chobani food incubator has unveiled the first six startups for its inaugural class: chickpea pasta maker Banza, specialty jerky maker CHOPS Snacks, fair trade chocolate product Cisse Cocoa, bone brother maker Kettle & Fire, and discarded produce seconds juice maker Misfit Juicery. Having received 400 applications since it opened for business in July 2016, the selected enrollees were chosen for their ideas, shared values, and commitment to providing consumers with better food options, says Chobani.
California Governor Signs Bill to Regulate Cow Farts and Other Methane Emissions
After making headlines last week with its unprecedented farmworker overtime pay legislation, California Governor Jerry Brown is back at it. The major agricultural state leader signed a bill that requires dairy farmers in the state to cut methane emissions to 40 percent below 2013 levels by 2020. Farmers can take advantage of a cap-and-trade plan that will provide aid from a $50 million pool of polluter fees. The farmers can use these funds to purchase machinery that runs on methane energy, which they can then sell to electric companies. The bill also provides the California Air Resources Board with the authority to regulate bovine flatulence—a polite way of saying cow farts—provided it identifies practical ways to tamp down the bovines’ burping and gas passing.
NRDC and Other Groups Ask FDA to Remove Several Antibiotics from Livestock Production
The National Resources Defense Council and six other advisory groups have sent a petition to the FDA asking it to withdrawal approval for a number of antibiotics used in livestock and poultry production. According to the petitioners, these drugs are medically important to human use and under serious threat of becoming ineffective due to the growing number of antibiotic-resistant superbugs. The federal public health agency has struggled with crafting a way to address this growing threat while also appeasing producers and other agribusiness stakeholders. Traditionally, the FDA has opted to work with industry members to tackle the sometimes difficult task of phasing out medically important antibiotics instead of withdrawing approval unexpectedly.
Thought For Food Global Student Challenge Launches its 4th Competition
The Thought For Food (TFF) Global Challenge recently kicked off its 2016-17 edition, calling on young student innovators to develop game-changing ideas to tackle the challenge of feeding 9+ billion people by 2050. Launched in 2013, TFF Challenge has helped thousands of students from some 100 countries to take their best food security solutions and develop them into viable startups through a program of intense mentorship and business development from some of the world’s top innovators and investors. Winning teams will be awarded startup capital (cash prize amounts of $25,000 USD) and have their ideas nurtured into workable businesses.
Three Poultry Giants Under Fire for Price Fixing
A new class action complaint alleges that Tyson Foods, Perdue Farms, and Koch Foods engaged in a conspiracy to fix chicken prices in violation of federal antitrust laws. The plaintiffs in the action are Fargo Shopping Center and Sargents Restaurant & Lounge, shortly after another group of distributors filed a similar lawsuit. A third lawsuit was filed at the end of this week also alleging that the poultry companies, which comprise 98 percent of the poultry meat industry in the US, failed to play by the rules for a period of eight years. Some of the allegations state that the defendants killed hens, flocks, and destroyed eggs in order to limit production and to raise the price of chicken in the US by roughly 50 percent.
United Nations Members Sign Declaration Recognizing Threat of Antibiotic Resistance
The United Nations spent an entire day-long meeting discussing antibiotic resistance as a growing threat to public safety. The multi-nation organization placed the issue at the same threat level as Ebola and AIDS. In attendance were delegates from 193 countries. It culminated with the singing of a declaration stating that modern medicine’s major accomplishments, like discovering penicillin’s antibiotic applications, are seriously at risk. Elanco, a major drug maker, announced its goal to create 21 new alternatives to animal antibiotics. With six already on the market for cattle and poultry, the company is also in the process of removing growth-promotion claims from its labels and is hosting a summit in DC to gather 50 business leaders from major dairy and meat companies to discuss the antibiotic resistance issue.
Rodale Institute Launches Organic Farming Group
Rodale Institute, a global organic agriculture research organization, has launched a new membership organization for organic farmers. The new Organic Farmers Association will exist to provide a voice for organic farmers on policy issues, help organic farmers network and share information, and serve as a resource center for organic farmers to succeed. In addition to better representation for organic farmers on legislative issues, the Organic Farmers Association will provide resources for farmers such as webinars, online tools, discounts, and a subscription to Rodale Institute’s New Farm magazine, providing the latest research and news for organic farmers.
A source familiar with the National Organic program says this new organization may be an alternative to the Organic Trade Association, which has been trying to pass a checkoff program that would require organic producers to pay dues. Many opponents of the checkoff program warn that it would pad the pockets of the large organic agribusinesses at the expense of small producers.
Other News That’s Fit to Chew:
- The USDA has unveiled a new branded foods database intended to provide consumers with more intel about their favorite food products, on FoodDIVE.
- 708,000 people have signed various petitions asking Congress to block the pending mergers between the world’s major seed companies, says Center for Food Safety.
- Why more consumers, restaurants, and other venues are opting for grass-fed beef over its conventionally raised counterparts, on Wall Street Journal.
- The Yield Lab is launching an Irish agtech accelerator and has its sights set on other global locations, on St. Louis Public Radio.
- Hampton Creek’s Just Mayo buyback scandal may be worse than we thought as the DOJ launches an investigation into the company, on Bloomberg Businessweek.
Have news or tips, or want to tell us how great our weekly Ag Industry Brief is?! Email [email protected].


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Remember those days, when one would be surprised seeing a car driving on its own and later people use to term it as a ‘supernatural’ activity? Well, perhaps those were times when even the just the idea of car window rolling down by them self, would send chills through the body. During these times, the auto industry in India has grown at almost the speed of light. While many won’t agree to it, there are certain reports which prove it. For say, the transformation of Indian cars in fast few years has also opened the market for many world auto leaders here. As we all know there were not as many Lamborghinis roaming in India as there is today. But this piece isn’t about how Indian auto sector embraced the beauties, it’s more about how Indian automakers adopted foreign technologies to keep up with the pace.
Currently, the Indian auto industry is gushing over the Tesla’s self-driving cars. A fun fact, most of the cars currently at the sale in Indian auto market come from foreign makers — Honda, Suzuki, BMW, Hyundai, Fiat, Chevrolet and the list goes on. As the times are charging, apart from making a mark in other fields, India is showing some significant growth. Joining the chorus of making driverless or autonomous cars, a small start-up in Kolkata has taken the first step in making self-driving cars a reality. Even though the concept, of a car without a driver is already being tested by Google and many more, the theory of ‘better late than never’ works for India.
One of the biggest reason why this idea of driverless and autonomous cars is catching up is that this will make the cars ‘ride for all’, one would have to spend hours and days at the RTO to get the driver’s license to get behind the wheel. Let’s talk a little more about this, while some would argue over the idea stating that development of self-driving cars for chaotic Indian roads is as feasible as setting up a hydroelectric power plant in the Sahara desert, however, this fascinating project has now put India in the race of developing the autonomous cars.
Bringing out the idea is Fisheyebox, from Kolkata. It is a tech start-up of just six people. The start-up has opted for Maruti Suzuki’s Celerio to incorporate their idea. According to a report by Autocar, which was present in Kolkata to test drive this ‘Project Aerodrive’, reads that this project has been put together on a shoestring budget of Rs 20 lakh, which is almost negligible to what other giants have invested. According to a report, Pinaki Laskar, who heads Fisheyebox, said, “We are at a ‘proof of concept’ stage, after which we are looking for investment to go to the next level”. The Aerodrive Celerio, which is one of its kinds, doesn’t come with a steering instead it works with a joystick. The joystick, replacing the steering in the car is essentially the controller to engage the autonomous driving mode. The Celerio also comes with a manual override that allows the driver to have the full control of the car.
So what all did Maruti Suzuki Celerio give up to become Aerodrive Celerio?
As per reports, the steering box, throttle body, and brake servo have been stripped out and replaced with potentiometers and servo motors linked to a black box which takes charge of the main functions – the steering, engine, and brakes. The Celerio works on the combination of visual data from a normal 720×1080 forward-facing camera and an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), which is a GPS, gyroscope and accelerometer rolled into one, and has a location accuracy up to 1cm. Apart from any sleepless nights and uncountable hours of work, the basic key to getting these autonomous car run on roads is the right hardware. Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning are incredibly powerful types of software that crunch visual data in a way that makes a car think and take decisions. But first, a giant library of images and conditions that typical road users face has to be built up before the software can make a car respond in a particular situation.
Even though this project highlights the giant leap which Indian auto sector has taken, the idea still seems far away from being executed as India still has millions of cars running without even basic safety features. Also, the way commuters drive is another problem which is pulling the transformation back.


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Navarre Q4 Gains Can’t Offset Fiscal-Year Loss1 Jun, 2009 By: Chris Tribbey
Navarre Corp. reported higher fiscal fourth-quarter earnings June 1, compared to fiscal fourth-quarter 2008, with a net profit of $3.2 million, up from $1 million.
However, declining DVD sales contributed to a fiscal-year 2009 (ended March 31) net loss of more than $88 million, compared to profit of $7.1 million in fiscal-year 2008. Sales of Funimation, BCI and Encore DVDs were down 25 % during the quarter, to $22 million, with BCI DVDs contributing only $400,000. Navarre announced in February that it was shutting down BCI Eclipse operations. DVD sales for the fiscal year were $102.8 million, down 12.4%.
“Sales continued to be soft during the fourth quarter as the retail environment remained difficult, due in part to the bankruptcy of Circuit City,” said CFO Reid Porter. “However, our sales shortfall compared to the prior year began to improve late in the quarter, and this trend has continued into the April period.”
CEO Cary Deacon called the quarter’s results “positive” and said he was “optimistic and excited about … opportunities for this upcoming fiscal year." For fiscal-year 2010, he said the company expects net sales between $550 million and $600 million, down from the net sales of $631 million for 2009.
“While the economy is still very unstable, we feel it would be in the best interest of our stakeholders to provide guidance around management’s view of FY 2010,” he said.
Navarre will hold a conference call to discuss its earning at 8 a.m. PST June 2.


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Supermarkets have been urged to clamp down on suppliers after a report showed brands had increased their use of plastic despite public outrage over plastic pollution.
The report, by Greenpeace and the Environmental Investigation Agency, based on figures from the top 10 supermarkets, revealed food retailers put more than 900,000 tonnes of plastic on the market in 2018, an increase of nearly 2% on the previous year.
Seven out of the top 10 UK supermarkets increased their plastic footprint with only Waitrose, Tesco and Sainsbury’s achieving marginal reductions.
Single-use plastic packaging used by the retailers increased from 886,000 tonnes in 2017 to 903,000 tonnes in 2018, of which 536,000 tonnes was from own-brand goods, a slight decrease from last year’s figure.
However, packaging from brands weighed in at 367,000 tonnes, a 5% rise, making up more than 40% of supermarket plastic.
Iceland and Morrisons successfully cut own-brand plastic only to see a rise in branded plastic outweigh their own-brand reductions, the report said.
Morrisons slashed own-brand plastic by 2,634 tonnes, but plastic from branded suppliers increased by nearly double that amount.
Iceland successfully reduced its own-brand plastic packaging footprint from 13,000 tonnes in 2017 to 10,900 in 2018, despite a sales increase in own-brand goods, but branded products meant the company’s overall plastic packaging footprint rose from by 800 tonnes.
Meanwhile, more than 87% of Asda’s overall plastic increase was attributable to branded suppliers. The retailer said the hot weather and a surge in pre-packed salad items was behind the rise.
Supermarkets reporting the biggest absolute growth in plastic included Aldi (up by more than 8,000 tonnes, with sales up 12.1%), and Asda (up 5,300 tonnes, sales up 3.5%) and Lidl (3,000 tonnes, sales up 8.1%).
The report criticised plastic reduction programmes for being “limited to own-brand ranges”, with Asda, Lidl, Iceland, Morrisons and M&S reporting they are on track to hit plastic reduction targets whilst seeing their overall plastic packaging rise.
The report also raised major fears about the unintended consequences of the introduction of carrier bag charges, reporting a “huge rise in the sale of plastic ‘bags for life’”.
“It is clear from this data that many people are simply swapping ‘single-use’ plastic bags for these plastic ‘bags for life’,” it said. Iceland reported a tenfold increase in sales from 3.5 million to 34 million, while Tesco reported an increase from 430 million to 713 million.
The report said retailer trials of reusable and refillable ranges needed to be “scaled up”.
“Supermarkets must be prepared to act if brands are unable or unwilling to work towards reduction and reuse objectives,” said the report.
“We applaud Tesco for showing leadership by committing to consider the size and suitability of all packaging and assess whether it is excessive or inappropriate, reserving the right not to stock a product.”
“Big brands are currently standing in the way of the steep reductions needed in single-use packaging and a shift into reusable ranges,” said EIA ocean campaigner Juliet Phillips.
“All companies along the supply chain need to take responsibility for their role in the plastic pollution crisis, and we urge supermarkets to work together and use their buying power to demand faster action from branded suppliers,” added Greenpeace UK ocean plastics campaigner Fiona Nicholls.
“Tesco recently gave an ultimatum to its branded suppliers to take action on plastics or face being delisted. That is the kind of bold action we need to see and we urge other retailers to follow suit.”
FDF chief scientific officer Helen Munday said: “Unfortunately, this report does not capture the progress being made under the UK Plastics Pact, which was launched in 2018. There is a role for the entire packaging value chain to play in keeping packaging in the circular economy and out of the natural environment. There are many examples of branded food and drink manufacturers making changes to address this issue. Finally, overall packaging tonnage may not be the most useful metric to consider, since it may be a result of sales going up rather than relative quantity of packaging being increased.”


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But at a technical briefing in London yesterday Simon Lee, Samsung's R&D chief, admitted "we may have exaggerated the dangers of watching our 3D TVs.
"The warnings were produced by a different department within Samsung and I think they may be a little too scary," says Lee. "We are looking at modifying the warning labels as they do sound rather serious. But as a manufacturer we must always act responsibly when introducing new technology."
Lee also admitted he'd prefer to see a single, industry-wide standard for 3D glasses. At the moment, each manufacturer produces its own 3D glasses, which are not necessarily compatible with other makes of TV. (Bizarrely, although Samsung and Panasonic's glasses are incompatible, if you wear them upside down with the rival brand's TV, they work.)
"Sooner or later we hope that there'll be a single standard for 3D glasses, and if it does happen the prices of 3D glasses will drop."
At the technical seminar, Samsung also revealed two new designs for its own 3D glasses: one for children (following in Sony's wake) and a USB rechargeable pair. The rechargeable glasses take two hours for a full charge, and should then last for 24 hours of continuing viewing.
The standard battery-powered ones are good for 50 hours use.
Also on demonstration was Samsung's '2D-to-3D' conversion system, shown using a standard 2D Blu-ray disc of Avatar played on a Samsung 3D plasma TV and 3D Blu-ray home cinema system.
"Our 2D-to-3D conversion system isn't perfect yet, or as good as real 3D, but with so little 3D software available at the moment we wanted a way to do it," says Lee.
Samsung also confirmed it may introduce smaller 32in and 37in 3D TV screens later this year. The smallest 3D set it currently produces is 40in.


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Filmore Clark: American Tile
The Portland Cement Company makes these tiles out of a proprietary concrete, which is cast in a wedge-shaped seven-inch-hexagon mold and left to dry overnight, then for a few weeks on a baking sheet.
- The 300,000-square-foot show floor at this year's Coverings (held April 17–20th at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida) was filled with many stunning designs, but an…
- Artisanal tile company Fireclay was at Coverings for the first time this year and exhibited their brand of glass and ceramic tile that's a treat to look at and boasts some mighty strong environmental…
- Our first stop on day one of our week of tile-mania at Cersaie was at the booth of tile manufacturer Trend, an Italian company that makes enamel, quartz, granite and glass tile.


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PrimaLoft, Inc. announced that its proprietary PrimaLoft Performance Down Blends, a technology that blends the warmth and loft of down with the wet weather performance of the company’s synthetic insulation for the outdoor, fashion and hunting markets, is now available at retail.
The material science company developed the proprietary process to create PrimaLoft Performance Down, which entails fusing water-repellent, fluorocarbon-free treated down with PrimaLoft insulation, as a means to offer consumers the best attributes of both materials, including comfort, warmth and water repellency.
Mike Joyce, PrimaLoft president and CEO, said the company is “proud to offer consumers a new insulation product that features an entirely new level of warmth and excels in virtually any condition Mother Nature offers.” He added, “Whether consumers want a great looking coat for walking down Fifth Avenue, skiing in the backwoods, or going on that traditional hunting weekend, the choices are significantly better. Our technology gives consumers the freedom to go further and into more diverse climates where no other insulation has been able to go, while delivering the thermal and wet-weather performance properties expected from PrimaLoft.”
Brands debuting the high-performance insulation include Adidas Outdoor, Black Diamond, Helly Hansen, Lands’ End, Sherpa, Sitka, Under Armour and Westcomb. Brand partners will incorporate PrimaLoft branding and hang tags on the Fall 2014 garments to help educate shoppers about its performance benefits. Shoppers can also visit the company’s new consumer-facing website.
PrimaLoft Performance Down Blends are available in Gold and Silver categories, with the Gold level product retaining more than 95 percent of warmth when wet and drying four times faster than untreated down.
Alan Yiu, Westcomb chief designer and president, said the new hybrid down was a “perfect choice” for the brand’s new Subzero parka line. He added, “Consumers are well educated about what they want in their apparel and, as a result, are demanding more from manufacturers. They want stylish outerwear that not only will last a long time but is also warm, versatile and comfortable. PrimaLoft Performance Down Blends enable wearers to focus on the experience, not the weather.”


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Last week we saw one of the world’s largest technology events, that was Dreamforce, take place with over 170,000 registered attendants. It was a fantastic 4 four day event filled with breakout sessions, keynotes, entertainment and charity events.
Trailhead blazing the way for learning?
You’ve heard of gamification. But, the Trailhead Zone takes this to whole new level, as Salesforce enthusiasts, seasoned pros and everything in between queued up to take their place in completing challenges to earn prizes. And it doesn’t matter how often you take part in a Trailhead challenge there is nothing more satisfying than earning your badges!!
Start-up gets a leg up from Benioff
Aside from all the usual activity at Dreamforce, we saw a new event on the agenda. Dreampitch! Salesforce gave three start-ups the opportunity of winning $150,000 prize money by pitching their Salesforce app. The winner was Claire, a chatbot for testing consumer products, but it was a sterling effort by all the pitchers, so well done!
Dreamforce wouldn’t be Dreamforce with a worthy cause, or two. This year two main charities featured within the event, with over $900,000 raised for (RED), a charity whose goal is to create awareness and raise funds to deliver the first AIDS-free generation.
Plus, the Dreamforce concert, which was headlined by U2, raised over $10,000,000 on ticket sales and sponsorship alone. The money raised from the concert was donated to UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital.


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The upscale grocer features prepared foods, beer and wine, a café and bakery, and a selection of locally-made products.
Owners posted a photo of the space over the weekend, and it’s looking sharp.
This week: Five local chefs share their favorite Thanksgiving recipes–from the traditional to the unique, two restaurants make a quick flip to new owners and concepts, the Elby Awards have been announced, and the inaugural Virginia Moonshine Festival comes to town this weekend.
Half of the holidays is taking large groups of people to places where food and drink will be consumed.
This week on Ask Lauren: brunch for a large group, a special date, and after you’ve had a wild and crazy night.
This week on Ask Lauren: where to go on Monday (when everything’s closed); true-blue Southern cuisine; and feeding a big, loud family.
Last night the who’s who of Richmond’s food scene gathered at the VMFA for the second annual Elbys. Hosted by Richmond Magazine, the Elbys are to Richmond restaurants what the Grammys are to music and the Oscars are to film.
A couple of restaurants in town pick up new chefs, while others picks up some local awards. And, of course, restaurants continue to open. Food News!
Stella’s ups its alcohol offerings by adding liquor and a new cocktail menu, the Virginia Wine Expo approaches, we have a recap of the big winners at the inaugural Elby’s, plus more.


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- Kroger Precision Marketing (KPM), the retail chain's media advertising business, released a new sales attribution feature that aims to give brands better transparency into their ad spend across the retailer's properties, according to a press release.
- Kroger's self-service advertising platform now helps advertisers connect the dots between in-store and online campaigns with verified transactions that take place both online and in-store.
- The new feature determines the data from ads such as sponsored product listing ads and banner display ads on Kroger's websites and mobile apps using KPM data and Microsoft PromoteIQ technology. The new feature aims to help advertisers better understand campaign performance and optimize media against ad spend.
As interest grows in media placements directly offered by retailers across their own properties, this latest development from Kroger is an attempt to ensure it retains a competitive edge in an increasingly competitive space by addressing an age-old problem advertisers face — which ad, if any, led to a sale.
Attribution has continuously been a challenge in the digital marketing space. Often, advertisers can't tell if a billboard or an email was the trigger that ultimately led to a sale, causing friction in marketing departments as different channels compete for limited ad dollars. In the retail space, it's difficult to know whether an in-store shopper made a purchase after seeing an ad online or on their phone.
By attempting to give transparency into where and how ads run and tracking this against actual sales data, Kroger is aiming high in appealing to brands. This follows another advertiser-friendly move the company made last year when KPM partnered with Pinterest to enable advertisers to leverage the supermarket chain's first-party data for targeting ads on the social platform in order to track consumers from digital inspiration to purchase. Kroger captures 96% of all transactions through its loyalty card. Brands can use this data to identify the most effective audience and create connections to measure sales impact.
Traditional retailers have embraced their first-party data to push into the advertising space, understanding full well that transactional data is appealing to advertisers. Amazon's ad sales business is rapidly growing, and retail giant Walmart recently debuted its own self-service ad platform aimed to enable marketers to easily purchase search and sponsored product ads in an auction-based marketplace.


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These are some of the IoT trends to look out for in the year ahead.
Stories by Hannah Williams
5G connectivity is set to be in high demand by enterprises and consumers in the coming months, as the major carriers race to fulfil demand.
Google Cloud has started working with Stella McCartney, as it aims to use machine learning and data analytics to improve its sustainability efforts.
The University of Cambridge has begun adopting wireless connectivity across departments as it hopes to create seamless digital experiences.
Keerti Melkote, Aruba president and co-founder discusses the power of the edge when creating modern digital experiences.
SAP is bringing to market what it calls an intelligent form of robotic process automation, following its recent acquisition of French firm Contextor SAS.
Computerworld UK heard from confectionary giant Mars about how it is looking to leverage Mulesoft to gain better 'reusability' of its assets.
Slack has announced the rollout of Enterprise Key Management to tighten up security and compliance for its enterprise customers.
VMware's CEO Pat Gelsinger shared multiple announcements in support of multi-cloud deployments as he opened VMworld Europe in Barcelona
Join Channel Asia for an exclusive webinar, in association with Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Technology Services Industry Association (TSIA) and learn about the latest industry insights and how technology services continue to evolve to deliver differentiated value, and how partners can be successful in 2021 and beyond.
Much like customers, partners also require guidance on the key technologies and markets to pursue. Read the Channel Roadmap to build a blueprint for future success.


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Real estate investment firm Jones Lange LaSalle just came out with its Fall 2013 “Big Box Velocity Index.” It measures both building activity and demand for industrial warehouse space across the U.S. The report suggests the economy is rebounding, with demand for warehouses strong across the country, especially for buildings over 500,000 square feet. According to the report, the overall industrial vacancy rate is the lowest since the 2nd quarter of 2008.Southern California’s Inland Empire region leads the nation in occupancy gains in 2013, with 10.2 million square feet of space leased for Inland Empire commercial warehouse property. Demand has since tapered off since this heavy period of leasing activity. The region also leads the nation in industrial construction activity in 2013, as shown on the chart below.
Real estate developers have done their research and are clearly confident that the Inland Empire will continue to be a distribution hub of choice for the foreseeable future. This active investment is being made despite talk that nearshoring and the Panama Canal expansion will draw goods away from Southern California ports, and therefore away from nearby distribution warehouses.
Here’s why we feel that is unlikely:
- Inventory carrying costs would rise. Southern California ports are the closest distance from Asia to the U.S. It would take up to 2 weeks longer to ship goods to an East Coast port. This added cycle time could increase inventory carrying costs by as much as 30%. Read more about this in our Insight paper: Panama Canal Expansion: Impact on the Volume of Imports to Southern California.
- Ship line costs would rise. The China to SoCal ship lane is more efficient for shipping companies. Any changes the shipping lines make to lane volume away from SoCal will be reflected in much higher shipping costs. Shippers won’t like that.
- Relying on Eastern ports would increase risk. Eastern ports simply don’t yet have the deep water capability and supporting logistics infrastructure that Southern California has been building for the last 50 years. Shifting cargo to ports with a “developing” capability involves risk, and shippers don’t like risk.
Another interesting finding from the Big Box Velocity Index is the fact that Phoenix tops the list of 2nd tier markets where demand for warehouse space exceeds current supply. Weber operates a Phoenix warehouse and freight terminal for our temperature controlled LTL delivery network.
Numbers from the Big Box Velocity Index indicate a growing economy, and that Inland Empire commercial warehouse development is continuing at an aggressive pace.


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AADA says there is no place in car sales industry for shonky operators…
The CEO of the Australian Automotive Dealer Association (AADA) David Blackhall has welcomed the penalties handed to a car sales yard employee who falsified documents in customer loan applications.
Adam Edward Greene has been permanently banned from engaging in credit activities by ASIC after it was found he had written and submitted loans for customers buying vehicles from a Victorian car dealership.
ASIC found four loans that were subsequently approved by the finance provider included false information, including fraudulent documents not given to him by the applicants.
While in a separate case, a Queensland dealership was caught charging used car buyers an upfront fee to facilitate loans with interest rates of 48% through the dealerships own cash broking company.
Mr Blackhall says these types of people aren’t welcome in the industry.
“We want to see people like this banned from the industry and we will have no hesitation to report any form of illegal practices to ASIC.”
Neither of the car dealerships were members of the AADA.


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First wave of Ouya consoles launching later this month
Advance development consoles hip out on December 28
Six months ago the Ouya was little more than a pipe dream. It's funny how quickly things can change. Thanks to the power of crowd funding, it will soon become a reality. The team behind the project have announced that the first wave of Android-powered consoles will be making their way out into the world at large.
An early version of the device will be shipping on December 28th. Specifically for developers that backed the project, these pre-retail units will allow for early software testing before the final product hits market sometime next year.
As excited as I am to see what happens with the Ouya, I'm still somewhat skeptical about what the future holds for it. As with any new console, the Ouya is likely to live and die by its software. Hopefully developers support it as fervently as did the folks that made the project possible to begin with.
Dev Consoles are shipping on time! [Ouya via Joystiq] Setup email comments
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Floridian David Lohmann got hooked on fishing in kindergarten and has stayed hooked for nearly three decades.
“I’ve been fishing in the Florida Keys with my grandfather and father since I was 5 — backcountry and offshore,” says Lohmann, who is 32. “I enjoy kite fishing, trolling, reef, all of it. My favorite international spots are Bimini and Costa Rica.”
It was Lohmann’s passion for the sport that led him and his father, Richard, to start a company that aims to make it easier for recreational anglers to fish in waters they might not otherwise get to.
Lohmann says Share A Fishing Charter (Share aFishingCharter.com) is the first online booking service that sells individual spots on charter boats worldwide, creating a more affordable way for sport anglers to experience private charters. Anglers can save money by spreading the cost of the charter among other customers. Boat owners get international exposure online and help filling their charter runs. The Florida-based business also has a satellite office in Costa Rica.
SAFC was created in October 2013, followed by six months of recruiting charter captains and boats. The company officially launched in May 2014. The Lohmanns are clearly on to something; more than 500 charter companies have signed on (a mix of fleet and single-boat operators) and more than 1,000 anglers have paid for shared fishing charters. Group charters also can be booked.
“More recently, we have expanded our offering of backcountry trips and have introduced a non-share option for anglers who want the boat to themselves,” Lohmann says.
He says the concept came from his own fishing experiences. “After being constantly limited by the high price point of charter fishing, we began deliberating on a technology that would enable us to fish more and spend less,” he says. “Charter fishing has always had the highest price point in that book of activities you see when you go on vacation. After we ran the idea by some of our favorite captains — ones who we trusted and knew would represent us with top levels of professionalism and performance — they agreed that this service was needed by the sportfishing community. Our new idea was born.”
The start-up team researched and fished with top-rated captains in their respective markets and invited them to join the service. Captains also found SAFC organically and through referrals from other skippers and clients.
The reservation system automatically divides a charter into individual tickets, which are available online for purchase. “The best part is once two anglers book, the charter is confirmed to fish, and every additional angler that joins shares the cost and lowers the price for everyone on board,” Lohmann says. “Our policy protects each and every angler. If cancellations occur, the price the other anglers pay will never increase.”
If an angler must cancel a trip more than 30 days before the departure date, the deposit will be refunded as a credit toward a future charter, and there is no charge for the remainder of the ticket price. For cancellations within 30 days of the departure date, the deposit is non-refundable, but there is no charge for the remainder of the ticket price. (The full value of the ticket price is charged for cancellations within 48 hours of the trip.)
Later this year, SAFC plans to expand its full-service concierge to include corporate, luxury, multiday, vacation trips and other services. “Sharing the cost of any premium good or service increases the market for that service, and every angler should experience professional fishing, learning best practices and, most importantly, how to enjoy our amazing sport,” Lohmann says.
This article originally appeared in the August 2015 issue.


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With news from Modine Manufacturing, Medovations, ACCO Brands, Rockwell Automation, Allen-Edmonds and Charter Manufacturing
Modine opens new plant in India
Modine Manufacturing Co., a Racine-based provider of thermal management technology and solutions, has opened a manufacturing facility in Chennai, India to serve India’s rapidly growing engine, commercial vehicle, and off highway markets.
The 80,000 square-foot state-of-the-art manufacturing site, located in the southeastern section of India, will provide Modine-developed thermal management solutions as demand grows.
With 75 initial employees, the Chennai facility will serve as a base from which the company can expand its extensive engine and powertrain cooling product lines to new markets.
"We are pleased to be in our facility and continue the preparations for production launch activities scheduled for December 2009," said Jerry Kapoor, managing director of Modine India. "The smooth startup reflects Modine’s commitment to the region, the excellent cooperation of our local and global employees and our determination to be a major player in this important market. With our manufacturing operations starting shortly, we have begun work on several product launches for key customers. These programs should position us well to serve major Indian engine and commercial vehicle makers and play a significant role in India’s growing industrial economy."
Modine launched its three-year, $14 million investment to build the greenfield Indian facility in December 2006 as part of its strategic plan to meet global product demand and increase its presence in the expanding Asian market.
Medovations to expand plant on Milwaukee brownfield
A tax-delinquent brownfield at 3316 N. Palmer St. in Milwaukee will soon be the home of a 52,900-square-foot addition to Medovations, a multi-national manufacturer of medical products.
The company’s primary manufacturing plant and offices are located in a 90,000-square-foot building just to the west at 102 E. Keefe.
The City of Milwaukee worked with Medovations to grow the central city-based business, through acquisition and remediation of a blighted brownfield near the company’s manufacturing facility.
In anticipation of the expansion, Medovations added 12 new employees to its 42-member team. The company hires nearly all of its employees from the inner city and provides on-the-job training.
"We are actively working with Milwaukee businesses to identify opportunities to grow," said Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. "Through a partnership with the U.S. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and State of Wisconsin, we were able to invest $242,000 to not only clean up a brownfield, but to leverage a $3 million business expansion and add jobs to our economy."
Established in 1982, Medovations manufactures cardiothoracic catheters, gastrointestinal dilatations systems, neurological irrigation products and aspiration/irrigation catheters. The Medovations expansion adds to a growing list of companies expanding along Milwaukee’s 30th Street Industrial Corridor. Masterlock Company LLC, DRS Technologies Inc., Capitol Stampings Inc. and Astronautics Corp. of America each have invested in facility upgrades in the neighborhood.
Office supply company to close Pleasant Prairie plant
ACCO Brands Corp. will shutter its 100,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Pleasant Prairie at 10303 80th Ave. early next year.
The facility employed up to 150 workers as recently as last year. However, the company made cuts in early 2007 and this August, when it laid off 75 employees from its General Binding Corp. division.
The remaining 30 workers were told about the closure last week, said ACCO spokesman Rich Nelson.
"We are consolidating what we do there in some of our other facilities in East Texas, Pennsylvania and Wheeling, Ill.," he said.
At least five of ACCO’s employees have already been reassigned to positions in Wheeling, Nelson said, and the company is looking for other available positions for employees from Pleasant Prairie. Some of the company’s employees from the August and 2007 layoffs were relocated to Wheeling, he said.
Lincolnshire, Ill.-based ACCO Brands is one of the world’s largest suppliers of branded office products.
Rockwell to acquire Chinese company
Milwaukee-based Rockwell Automation Inc. has reached an agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets and business of Xi’An Hengsheng Science & Technology Company Limited, a privately held engineering firm in China.
Xi’An Hengsheng Science & Technology delivers automation solutions to the electrical power and other heavy process industries in China. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Located in Xi’An, China, Xi’An Hengsheng Science & Technology Company Limited serves customers in the power, petrochemical, coal mining, chemical and oil markets. The company conducts much of its business in the fast-growing regions of middle and western China with an installed base of approximately 300 customers.
"This acquisition is a vital step in continuing to provide world-class design and delivery service to our customers throughout China," said Tom O’Reilly, managing director, Rockwell Automation, Greater China. "It is also another example of how Rockwell Automation is helping China save energy, reduce emissions, protect the environment and achieve a sustainable economy."
Xi’An Hengsheng Science & Technology Company co-founder Han Liqing, said, "The relationship with Rockwell Automation will strongly enhance our ability to deliver automation solutions and technology to heavy process industries throughout China. We have excellent long-term relationships with our customers and the western China business community. By combining our local knowledge with the global technical expertise, broad product portfolio, and financial strength of Rockwell Automation, we will increase our ability to serve customers."
The acquisition is expected to be completed during the first calendar quarter of 2009.
Allen-Edmonds eliminates 40 jobs
Port Washington-based Allen-Edmonds Shoe Corp. has eliminated 40 jobs in reaction to reduced sales of high-end shoes caused by the economic downturn.
Paul Grangaard, president and chief executive officer of Allen Edmonds, said the layoffs were mostly caused by the drop in consumer spending.
"That’s the one that has hit us hard over the last two and a half months," he said. "There is also the fashion trend that has gone away from classic leather bottomed shoes. We’ve been slow to address that."
The company plans to introduce a new line of non-leather soled shoes in early 2009, Grangaard said.
After the layoffs, Allen Edmonds has about 300 employees in Port Washington. Most of the cuts were in the company’s manufacturing operations.
"We hope to be able to hire some of these folks back when the economy improves," Grangaard said.
Automotive slowdown prompts Charter Manufacturing to cut jobs
Mequon-based Charter Manufacturing Inc. announced it will eliminate 155 jobs and close its processing plants in Fond du Lac and in Detroit, Mich.
In addition, Charter Automotive’s Heather Avenue Dipstick and Tube business in Milwaukee will be put up for sale.
The company said the changes were driven by a severely weakened U.S. and global economy and a near 30-year low in the U.S. manufacturing sector, particularly the automotive industry.
Charter will cut 63 positions in Wisconsin, 70 positions in Ohio and 22 positions in Michigan.
"Any right-sizing is difficult, but the current economic mess has combined with a massive decline in automotive sales and a softening in steel demand that requires this action. This is a tough business decision that will help Charter preserve existing jobs, sustain our market position and continue to provide quality products for our strong customer base," said John Mellowes, chairman and chief executive officer of Charter Manufacturing. "We realize we are not the only company dealing with the current economic situation. However, it is important to us to be able to retain a majority of our employees, and this decision will allow that to happen. We have a 72-year reputation for doing the right thing in business and we will make sure the affected workers are helped and supported during the right-sizing of Charter."
Charter Manufacturing Company includes the following divisions:
- Charter Steel, which manufactures carbon and alloy steel bar, rod and wire.
- Charter Automotive, which manufactures engineered components for the automotive industry.
- Charter Specialty Steel, which manufactures stainless steel rod.
- Charter Wire, which manufactures cold rolled shaped steel products.
Company spokesman Evan Zeppos said Charter Wire, which produces steel wire used in the auto, construction, defense, energy and lawn and garden industries in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward at 114 N. Jackson St., still plans to move to a new plant in the city’s Menomonee River Valley next year.


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Although this project is now complete its success has allowed us to work with old and new partners alike to extend our work in Aberdeenshire through the development of a new project – North East Adventure Tourism (NEAT).
This exciting new project aims to increase the value of adventure tourism in the region with Will fulfilling the project coordinator role and becoming increasingly involved in the wider adventure tourism sector.
Mountain biking continues to be a priority in Aberdeenshire, driving forward growth in the area and we are excited by the prospect that this new project will have for the sustainable growth of the sport alongside other key outdoor activities.
We are delighted to present this video from Dominic Simmons Films identifying some of the key highlights of our Aberdeenshire MTB Development Project. Many thanks to all of our partners for their contributions to the video, the project and the continued growth of MTB in Aberdeenshire.
Read the full press release from Opportunity North East (ONE) here -
North east Scotland is targeting sustainable growth in adventure tourism as part of the long-term economic recovery plan for the tourism sector.
Opportunity North East (ONE), Scottish Enterprise and Aberdeenshire Council are co-funding the next phase of development of a project to increase the value of adventure tourism in the region over the next five to 10 years, with support from VisitAberdeenshire. The goal is to secure a bigger share of the high-value UK adventure tourism market. The project will encourage more visitors to stay in the region longer because of the range and quality of adventure activities on offer.
The project now has added significance as the tourism sector plans for recovery once COVID-19 lockdown restrictions are eased and visitors are welcomed back to Scotland.
It will focus on the delivery of projects for new land based and coastal activities, creating new events and marketing the area as a leading UK adventure sports destination. This will also increase the amenities available to local residents and communities, contributing to the attractiveness of the region and its future well being economy.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, adventure tourism was the fastest growing sector of the visitor economy in the UK and contributed around £75 million of annual visitor spend in north east Scotland. The region has strengths in landscape, scenery and a mix of terrain including mountains, forests and coastline and pockets of activity covering walking, climbing, cycling, mountain biking, marine and river activities, wildlife and snow sports. There is a real opportunity to raise the region’s adventure tourism profile and grow the market. The successful development of the sector to 2030 could create a further 500 full-time equivalent jobs and secure an additional £120 million to £160 million in visitor spend.
Work with businesses and stakeholders in recent years, led by ONE, has identified opportunities to build on the region's natural assets and adventure tourism sector. The steering group is working on a detailed business case to secure funding to invest in the project and realise the region’s full adventure tourism potential.
The partners have committed project funding of almost £150,000 for 12 months to focus on four areas of activity.
- Supporting adventure tourism businesses and leaders to develop new products, leadership skills and market knowledge.
- Marketing and promoting north east Scotland as a leading UK adventure tourism destination.
- Supporting and coordinating activities within six priority areas: mountain biking, ski centre diversification, marine, a signature long distance trail, hiking, and road cycling
- Increasing the number of regional and national adventure tourism events held in the region.
A project coordinator with extensive industry experience, Will Clarke, has been appointed to work with the adventure tourism businesses and the project partners, comprising the funding partners and Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland.
Will has spent the last two years as Aberdeenshire Mountain Bike Development Co-ordinator providing support to business, events, raising awareness of the region and developing the adventure tourism offer. An enthusiastic cyclist, hiker and climber with a background in secondary education and sports development, Will brings relevant sector insight to the new project coordinator role.
Jennifer Craw, chief executive of Opportunity North East, said
"Planning for the reopening of the visitor economy and securing funding to drive growth are essential restart and rebuild actions. Industry has an opportunity to develop the valuable adventure tourism market by capitalising on our natural assets, from mountains to sea, and investing in our adventure sports facilities and products. Achieving this will enable businesses to grow long term, create jobs and anchor economic activity in our rural and coastal communities.
“The project partners, including industry, are providing resources to support the sector to plan beyond the current crisis and work together for sustainable growth in adventure tourism activity. Securing public funding to invest in this opportunity will be essential to its success.”
Councillor Peter Argyle, chair of Aberdeenshire Council’s Infrastructure Services Committee, commented
“I am delighted that Will continues to make such a valuable contribution following on from his Mountain Bike Development Co-ordinator role, which we also part-funded.
“The value of that experience in this new role is already apparent in seeing landowners, tourists and adventure providers working together to ensure everyone benefits from adventure tourism.
“Given the current Covid restrictions, this role is even more important both in terms of far greater outdoor sports participation and the opportunity that it provides to maximise the economic value within the fantastic Aberdeenshire countryside and coastline.”
Chris Foy, chief executive of VisitAberdeenshire, added
“VisitAberdeenshire has a track record of delivering highly effective marketing and communication campaigns to promote tourism in the North-east, and we will draw on this experience to inspire more people to visit the region for an active escape. Adventure tourism is an exciting prospect for the North-east, with innovative local businesses offering memorable experiences from paddle boarding off coastal villages to scaling the heights of Ben Macdui, or an e-bike ride in the countryside”
The initial Aberdeenshire MTB project received financial support from the European Union, through the European agricultural fund for rural development (EAFRD), as part of the 2014 - 2020 LEADER programme. The purpose of the fund is to strength the social, environmental and economic sustainability of rural areas. Supporting the vibrancy and economic viability of rural areas through funding and actions that support rural development.
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