Category Archives: Resource Based Economy

COLONIE, N.Y. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul recently announced the completion and grand opening of the $30 million,167,000 square foot Capital Region BOCES Career and Technical Education Center.

The CTE Center contains new state-of-the-art labs and learning spaces and on-site daycare, replacing six deteriorating and antiquated buildings and consolidating training into one centralized location. Capital Region BOCES will offer 25 workforce training programs in eight high-demand career clusters, including health sciences, building trades, and manufacturing, supporting the creation of a skilled regional workforce.

The grand opening of this center marks an important milestone in our mission to prepare New York workers for a rapidly changing economy, Hochul said. A diverse, skilled workforce is one of our states most valuable resources and it goes hand-in-hand with our ability to attract the best businesses with the best jobs.

Thanks to $5 million in state funding, the CTE Center will bring state-of-the-art facilities, world-class job training, and hands-on learning to the Capital Region and continue building up New Yorks workforce for generations to come.

From cutting edge equipment to modern labs, this new facility will meet the workforce development needs of the region for decades to come by preparing thousands of students for careers in skilled trades, health care, digital media and more, Capital Region Boards of Cooperative Educational Services Senior Executive Officer Joseph P. Dragone, Pd.D. said.

The CTE Center has combined lab and classroom spaces to support technical training for careers in: early childhood education, culinary arts, construction trades, HVAC/R, welding and metal fabrication, manufacturing and machining technology, electrical trades, diesel technology, automotive trades technology, auto body collision repair and refinishing, video game design, digital media design, cosmetology, criminal justice, retail services, and global fashion design.

The new center also includes administrative and support spaces for career counseling, work-based learning and job/apprenticeship placements. An entire floor focuses on careers in healthcare, offering five healthcare labs two for Licensed Practical Nursing and three for Certified Nursing Assistants plus a sterile processing lab and a general science lab.

The newly-completed CTE Center will provide state-of-the-art facilities where students can acquire the skills they need to enter the job market directly or pursue further education. The $30 million project was supported by a $5 million Empire State Development capital grant, recommended by the Capital Region Economic Development Council. The remaining project cost will be divided among the BOCEScomponent school districts, who will be reimbursed in part by the State through BOCES Aid in the State Education Department budget.

The newly constructed BOCES Career and Technical Education Center is a vital human resource for young adults throughout the Capital Region. This state-of-the-art workforce development facility will allow students to explore their careers and interests before entering college, technical school, or the workforce. It is so important to encourage young people to explore their passions and gain hands-on experience, so that they may turn those passions and interests into successful careers. An investment in students is an investment in our future, and I am thrilled about the new opportunities this will bring to the students in our community, New York State Sen. Neil Breslin commented.

The lingering impacts of the pandemic have left us with a rapidly evolving job market and workforce, all while the Capital District steadily becomes a national hub of the renewable energy, technology and semiconductor industries. The timing of this CTE Center couldnt be better, as our residents will be able to gain the knowledge and skills needed for careers of the present and the future, which will also support our continued economic development. Capital Region BOCES has been a steadfast partner to Albany County, including through our Probation Departments GED program, and this new facility is the latest example of their commitment to our community. I commend Governor Hochul for this investment that will only pay dividends, Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy added.

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Hochul announces grand opening of Capital Region BOCES Career and Technical Education Center - Troy Record

With the U.S. federal government finally putting in place a major program to stimulate the decarbonization of our energy economy, news analysis has turned to the practical problems of the transition from fossil fuels. Some of us have been focused on those practical problems for a long time. Our economy and our households are addicted to fossil fuels. The transition away from that addiction will take a generation: it is a matter of decades, not days, weeks, months, or even years. The process began before last weeks anti-inflation bill and would have continued with or without the bill. But now, the process is accelerated by an act of the government of the worlds largest economy.

Typical of the skeptical reporting on the federal climate bill was a story filed by Katherine Blunt and Phred Dvorak in the Wall Street Journal, where they observed that:

The landmark climate bill passed by Congress on Friday aims to reduce carbon emissions with subsidies for speeding the build-out of renewable-energy projects. Success in meeting its emissions goals will depend on how quickly that build-out happens. Despite the new financial support for renewable technologies, the industry faces supply-chain snarls, logjams in securing project approvals and challenges in constructing new high-voltage power lines and large-scale batteries to support an unprecedented build-out of wind and solar farms.

The assumptions in this piece are that technology will stand still and massive renewable energy projects will depend on the electric grid and foreign manufacturing. Perhaps, but this $370 billion must be added to the trillion-dollar infrastructure bill and the federal governments pivot to green purchasing and operations. These are powerful incentives that will stimulate technological innovation and local government use of eminent domain powers. In addition, large-scale projects may be displaced by consumer products that enable households to decarbonize and partially or completely disconnect from the electrical grid.

We should assume that the technology of renewable energy will advance in the coming decades, just as communication and computing advanced over the past half-century. What if solar cells become smaller, more efficient, and integrated into normal windows? What if a solar array costs $500 instead of $15,000 and includes the replacement of a few of your homes windows? What if batteries are no longer the size of your big screen TV but the size of your laptop? What if they cost $300 instead of $3,000? Mainframe computers the size of a suburban living room once cost millions of dollars and had less computing power than your smartphone. A generation ago, we watched movies on video cassettes and cable TV. The technology of renewable energy is now being developed by some of the smartest people on the planet. Who knows what they may come up with?

As for supply chains, President Biden recently signed the bipartisan Chip Act, and as reported by the New York Times Shira Ovide:

The United States has authorized $280 billion in taxpayer money to subsidize rich computer chip companies and invest in technology research for the sake of keeping America strong and innovative. President Biden on Tuesday signed the law, officially known as the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, calling it an investment in America itself. If this law does what its many backers in government and private industry hope, the U.S. will have more control over the future of essential computer chips and have a hedge if China grows more hostile toward Taiwan, a U.S. ally. The law also aims to keep America on the cutting edge of technology by putting more government support into research.

Since China subsidizes its high-tech businesses, these federal funds will level the competitive playing field and, as automation advances, will return some manufacturing to the United States. Supply chains are rapidly becoming supply webs as companies learn to navigate disruptions in the global economy. In sum, predicting the precise pace of decarbonization is impossible due to a rapidly changing and highly dynamic organizational and technological environment.

It will take time and will require a partnership between the public and private sectors, but the main locus of decarbonization activity will be in the private sector. This is because energy, while regulated and intertwined with lots of rules and subsidies, is a private business in most parts of the world. While climate activists supported the inflation reduction bill as the best climate bill they could obtain given the current political environment, they consider this new federal effort insufficient. Lisa Friedman and Coral Davenport reported on this in the New York Times on August 12 and wrote that that:

For the septuagenarian lawmakers who wrote the historic climate bill that Congress passed on Friday, and the 79-year-old president who is about to sign it into law, the measure represents a once in a generation victory. But younger Democrats and climate activists crave more. They look at the bill as a down payment, and they worry a complacent electorate will believe Washington has at last solved climate change when in fact scientists warn it has only taken the first necessary steps. This bill is not the bill that my generation deserves and needs to fully avert climate catastrophe, but it is the one that we can pass, given how much power we have at this moment, said Varshini Prakash, 29, who co-founded the Sunrise Movement, a youth-led climate activism group.

While I also would have preferred a larger-scale effort from the federal government, my preference is based on an analysis of the risks posed by climate change when compared to the risk of over-subsidizing the private sector. I think we need to create an atmosphere of certainty for the green economy to build on the tremendous and growing momentum that already exists for renewable energy. These funds, and the policy thrust they represent, reinforce a trend already in place and stimulate confidence in the transition to renewable energy. Three hundred and seventy billion dollars is real money that cant be ignored. But government and public policy were never going to deliver a renewable resource-based economythat action will take place in the private sector. This bill may be sufficient to stimulate the private actions needed. If its not, more can be added later.

Our addiction to energy is not going to be cured by government. And if the choice is between fossil fuel-based energy and no energy, we will all use fossil fuels. The fossil fuel interests know that and do their best to force us to contemplate that trade-off. They are not the only businesses that are good at manipulating consumers. Tobacco interests have long perfected taking advantage of consumer addiction. Despite well over half a century of settled science about the harm of smoking, there are one billion smokers in the world, and last year, seven million people died from this addiction. So, I do not underestimate the fossil fuel industrys potential for future harm. Its a shame because if they would redefine themselves as energy companies and deliver renewable energy, they could avoid bankruptcy. Unlike smoking, which is far from a necessity, our very economy and way of life depend on energy. Most of the GDP is not in the energy business, but nearly all businesses rely on energy. Therefore, the economic power of Google, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft must be mobilized behind the goal of less expensive, more predictably priced, more reliable, and cleaner energy. Let them duke it out with ExxonMobil. The U.S. government is a small part of the total picture here, so lets understand that a problem as massive as climate change requires much more than U.S. government policy and money to address. Our government must provide leadership, but even if our economy were completely free of greenhouse gasses, other nations must also decarbonize.

No one really knows how to maintain our economic well-being while transitioning to a new energy system. It is arrogance and folly to pretend that anyone knows how to do this. Im reminded a little of a meeting I attended in EPA shortly after Superfund was enacted in December of 1980. Someone at the meeting was talking about how great it was that we had all this money and could now clean up Americas toxic waste sites. An engineer spoke up and mentioned that we really didnt know how to clean up a contaminated site, we were uncertain about the costs of site clean-up, and we would need to determine when to stop cleaning and consider the job done. Someone else then said, Yeah: How clean is clean? A question many of us had never thought of until that moment. Greenhouse gas pollution is technically simpler than toxic waste but economically more difficult to attack. Modelling and predicting the impact of public policy on the pace of pollution reduction requires analysts to make a huge number of assumptions about the pace of economic, technological, and behavioral change. We should be skeptical about these predictions and humble about our ability to predict the future of greenhouse gas pollution on this planet.

Humility does not seem to invade the mindset of the experts informing Lisa Friedman and Coral Davenports reporting on reaction to the climate bill. According to their piece:

scientists say the United States needs to do more. It must stop adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere by 2050, which the bill wont achieve [emphasis added] To reach his 2030 goal [of 50% emission cuts], Mr. Biden would still have to impose new regulations on emissions from power plants, vehicle tailpipes and methane leaks from oil and gas wells. State and local governments would have to set new standards to compel the rapid adoption of electric cars, wind and solar powered electricity, and energy efficient buildings to make up the last percentage points.

Maybe, but maybe not. I am always amazed by the confidence and certainty expressed by some climate experts. The scale and uncertainty of the problem and possible solutions need to be understood. As should the role of public policy itself. Public policy is not rational, it does not work like the scientific method. It is incremental: remedial, serial, and partial. It does not solve problems, but makes them less bad. The Clean Air Act of 1970 made Americas air far cleaner today than it was when the bill was passed. Air pollution is less bad, but not gone. The climate problem will never be solved, but I believe humanity will make it less bad and preserve the planet for future generations. I dont know if well achieve that goal by 2050. I base my belief on optimism and history, but it is not a prediction, and I could be very wrong.

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Predicting the Future of Greenhouse Gas Emissions - Columbia University

By Exec Edge Editorial Staff

Chinese E-commerce giant JD.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: JD) has broken through to the top 50 Fortune Global 500 companies, coming in at number 46 in Fortune magazines annual ranking of the biggest public companies in the world.

Rising another 13 places from number 59 last year, this marked the sixth year the company has landed on the list since it became the first Chinese internet company to do so in 2016.

Fortune noted JD.coms enormous customer base of 570 million across the globe and revenue of $147.5 billion in 2021 an increase of 27.6 percent from 2020 in its entry for the revenues-based annual ranking. Since debuting on the list at number 366 JD.com has been growing at an increasingly rapid pace, adapting with finesse to technological, environmental and economic changes that have occured in recent years.

Over the past six years, JD.com has undergone a transformation. Operating as a successful e-commerce business for the better part of the past two decades, through heavy investment in research and development and a shift in strategy it has evolved into a supply chain-based technology and service provider.

The company performed resiliently through the Covid-19 pandemic thanks to its strong supply chain capabilities, and has used this to emphasize its ability to contribute to society and the real economy.

Founded by Richard Liu who held the position of CEO until April 2022, JD.com was unique in utilizing purpose and values to drive its company forward long before it was widely known to strengthen a business. Liu began the business in 1998 as a stall selling electronics within Zhongguancun, a tech hub in northwest Beijing, refusing to haggle but guaranteeing all of the products in his stall were authentic and high-quality.

The sentiment was divergent from the consumer market in China at the time where trust was low and counterfeits were rampant, but proved to be a successful strategy for Liu. In five years he had moved up and out of Zhongguancun, turning his business into a chain of electronics stores in multiple cities across China.

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It was only in 2003 when the SARS epidemic in China caused similar restrictions and lockdowns that Covid-19 has in recent years that Liu first began selling his products online. Within a year, he had made the decision to close all of his brick and mortar stores and move operations online exclusively.

Today, JDs product offerings have expanded to Amazon-like proportions, selling everything from groceries in under an hour to luxury goods via a white glove service.

The company went public on the Nasdaq in 2014 and completed a secondary listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2020. It has also spawned several subsidiaries including a pharmaceuticals and healthcare branch, JD Health, that went public on the HKEX in 2020, and its logistics business JD Logistics debut on the HKEX in 2021.

In 2020, Richard Liu updated JD.coms mission to be powered by technology for a more productive and sustainable world. The company positions itself as a new type of real economy enterprise that possesses both the attributes of the real economy in its DNA including its logistics infrastructures and more, and the technologies and know-hows to serve the digital transformation of tangible businesses.

JD.com currently has over 10 million individual SKUs and an inventory turnover of roughly 30 days. While online retail is still the lifeblood of the company, over the past few years it has been expanding its omnichannel capabilities, returning to its brick-and-mortar roots and opening over 10,000 physical stores across China. It has also opened its products supply chains to millions of physical stores in over 300 cities and partnered with more than 150,000 offline stores for on-demand delivery services in less than an hour.

JD.com has collaborated with over 370 additional supermarkets including Walmart and Yonghui, totaling over 34,000 stores and three million SKUs. In Walmarts case, the US-based company has set up their online shopping portals on JD.com and adopted crowdsourced delivery services powered by Dada Group, a JD-backed on-demand delivery platform.

Chinese Resource Vanguard, one of Chinas largest retail chains, adopted the Dada Group program in over 1,800 of their retail chains and by September of 2021 had seen a fourfold increase of transaction volume when compared with six months prior. During the Singles Day(November 11) Grand Promotion in 2021, JD.com further collaborated with over 600 China Resource Vanguard stores, leveraging their on-demand delivery and retail platform to help it achieve a growth of over 400 percent year over year in transaction volume.

The power of JD.coms retail brand is supported by its network of warehouses, a chain of over 1,400 that span almost the entire Chinese mainland. The warehouses combined floor area totals over 25 million square meters, and JD Logistics also manages roughly 50,000 transportation lines and six specialized logistics networks for cold-chain, cross-border, last-mile deliveries amongst others.

This extensive network means that consumers in China can expect the same or next-day delivery service from JD.com. They are able to do so in 94 percent of counties and 84 percent of towns and villages, and are continuously working to grow these percentages. Founder Liu Qiangdong was raised in one of Chinas many rural villages and has placed a strong emphasis on making rural revitalization efforts a part of the companys business operation.

The company has also been gearing up its international logistics networks. It currently runs close to 80 bonded warehouses and overseas warehouses, and its network spans nearly 230 countries and regions. It has also opened automated warehouses in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and the Netherlands, and has launched cargo flights from China to Thailand, the United States, United Kingdom and more.

JD.coms proliferation in logistics and products are largely made possible by its decision to invest heavily in technology. Estimates put the companys spending over the last five years at nearly $12 billion toward research and development. JD.com has applied its achievements in R&D to real-world industries, providing digitally intelligent solutions in a variety of fields, including retail, logistics, supply chain, city planning and more.

Additionally, JD.coms investment in cloud computing and technology have aided its retail business in handling massive surges in traffic caused by the blockbuster sales events China has become known for such as JD.coms own 618 Grand Promotion, Singles Day, and the nearly 70 billion hits on its app during Chinas Spring Festival Gala Show on national TV early this year. Externally, it is providing services for more than 80 cities, 800 financial institutions, 1,800 large-scale enterprises and over 1.95 million SMEs.

Combined, the three networks of products, warehouses and cloud computing that JD has been weaving over the years enabled its ascent up the Fortune Global 500 list. A strong focus on purpose has seen the company through times of uncertainty and powered it forward toward its goal of contributing to societys higher efficiency and development.

Contact:

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JD.com Ranks 46th on 2022 Fortune Global 500 - Yahoo Finance

OTTAWA, ON, Aug. 15, 2022 /CNW/ - Across Ontario, Canadians are feeling the impacts of climate change in their communities and on their livelihoods. That is why today, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Natural Resources, announced the release of the Ontario Chapter of the Canada in a Changing Climate: Regional Perspectives Reportto help inform and support adaptation to climate change in Ontario.

According to the report, temperatures are increasing in the province, with the greatest warming observed in Northern Ontario and the largest increases occurring in the winter. With further warming, heat waves are projected to become more frequent. Annual precipitation is projected to increase along with extreme precipitation events, resulting in increased risk of flooding. Lake levels in the Great Lakes have been highly variable, experiencing both record lows and extreme highs. These changes are affecting Ontario's communities, environment and economy.

This new chapter also highlights the wide range of climate impacts that Ontario is facing and how the province is adapting. It reveals that Ontario's infrastructure is vulnerable to climate change and that nature-based solutions help address climate change impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Impacts on biodiversity are magnified through the cumulative effects of climate change, habitat loss, urbanization, pollution and other threats. In the Great Lakes Basin, adaptive management is key for addressing climate change impacts, and adaptation measures improve forest health, carbon storage and biodiversity.

Climate change brings both threats and opportunities to Ontario agriculture and food systems, while existing human health inequities will be worsened by climate change. The chapter also concludes that while adaptation is occurring, progress remains limited.

The report is a part of Canada in a Changing Climate: Advancing our Knowledge for Action, Canada's National Knowledge Assessment of how and why Canada's climate is changing, the impacts of these changes and how we are adapting. The assessment reports raise awareness and understanding of the key issues facing our country and provide information to support sound adaptation decisions and actions. The Government of Canada is also working with partners in Ontario and across the country on the development of the country's first National Adaptation Strategy, a whole-of-society blueprint for coordinated action to ensure communities and Canadians are prepared for the impacts of climate change.

By ensuring people in Ontariohave access to credible, evidence-based information, this resource will enable them to make more informed decisions to prepare for, and respond to, climate change impacts.

A webinar on August 17will follow the official release of the Ontario Chapter of the Regional Perspectives Report. Hear directly from the authors about how climate change is affecting Ontario and how communities and sectors are increasingly taking action to adapt.

Quotes

"Today's report confirms that Ontario, like every region of Canada, is facing significant climate challenges, from exacerbated health inequities to increasingly at-risk infrastructure. That is why our government is examining the regional effects of our changing climate: to better enable informed decision-making to prepare for, and respond to, climate impacts. With these reports, we are ensuring that Canadians have access to credible, evidence-based information, information that will go on to inform their choices as well as our own as we develop Canada's first National Adaptation Strategy."

The Honourable Jonathan WilkinsonMinister of Natural Resources

"Across Ontario, communities are facing challenges from a changing climate. Important evidence-based information, such as in this report, can help communities prepare. We are working with partners to develop Canada's first National Adaptation Strategy. The Strategy will help support whole-of-society action to address and better prepare for the impacts of a changing climate including communities, the natural environment and the economy. We can and we must do both mitigation and adaptation play both offence and defence for a complete effort."

The Honourable StevenGuilbeaultMinister of Environment and Climate Change

"Climate change is top of mind for rural communities in Ontario and across Canada. Ontarians are counting on us to make sound decisions based on the credible, evidence-based science of our country's climate experts. The insights from this report will help Ontario's communities be more prepared to take action against the continued effects of climate change and protect Ontario's vulnerable infrastructure, including the Great Lakes."

The Honourable Gudie HutchingsMinister of Rural Economic Development

"Communities across Canada, including in Ontario, are experiencing more frequent and severe weather events due to climate change. The release of this provincial chapter underlines how important it is for climate change adaptation and emergency management efforts to be implemented together and requires close co-operation across all orders of government, industry and individuals. The Government of Canada is championing these efforts through the development of the National Adaptation Strategy and the delivery of the Emergency Management Strategy for Canada. The evidence from this report will continue to help inform our efforts as we work together to anticipate, mitigate and recover from the impacts of climate change."

The Honourable Bill BlairPresident of the Queen's Privy Council and Minister of Emergency Preparedness

"Ontario is a leader in Canada when it comes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and nature-based solutions through programs like the Greenlands Conservation Partnership Program. We've taken meaningful action to prepare for the impacts of climate change by undertaking the first Provincial Climate Change Impact Assessment, using the best available science and data. Results from the multi-sector assessment will help Indigenous communities, municipalities, businesses and local decision-makers make informed choices to adapt to climate change while building a strong economy."

The Honourable David PicciniMinister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks

Associated links

Register for the Webinar on August 17Canada in a Changing Climate: National Issues ReportCanada in a Changing Climate: Advancing our Knowledge for Action2030 Emissions Reduction Plan: Clean Air, Strong EconomyMap of Adaptation ActionsCanada's National Adaptation Strategy

SOURCE Natural Resources Canada

For further information: Contacts: Natural Resources Canada, Media Relations, 343-292-6100, [emailprotected]; Keean Nembhard, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Natural Resources, 613-323-7892, [emailprotected]; Environment and Climate Change Canada, Media Relations, 819-938-3338 or 1-844-836-7799 (toll-free), [emailprotected]; Kaitlin Power, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, 819-230-1557, [emailprotected]

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Minister Wilkinson Releases New Report Showing the Impacts of Climate Change and Necessity of Climate Adaptation in Ontario - Canada NewsWire

Celebrations on the streets of Yerevan after the declaration of independence (Sept. 21, 1991)

Authors Note: Continuing on with the theme of education, the fourth installment focuses on the the need to build an economy based on education, research and innovation to tap into the global value chain as a sustainable path for the countrys future. This will require strong will, detailed planning, sacrifice and transparency and accountability, all in short supply in the current realities of the Armenian nation. We either sit idly by and become a Turkish vilayet, as dreamed by the current collaborator regime, or be a nation worthy of having our own country, one that meaningfully contributes to the world.

Armenia is fortunate to have had a strong educational and scientific basis from the Soviet era. Unfortunately, much of this infrastructure has not been maintained, updated or upgraded. As a result, universities use outdated curricula, majors and concentrations, textbooks and faculty to train the next generation. Sprinkle in the existing corruption due to low salaries and anemic support, crony appointees who lack proper vision and/or world class expertise to plan and implement the future of higher education in the country, and you end up with the currently ranked institutions.

What are we to do? This is no question that Armenia has traveled an arduous path since her independence, having survived an earthquake, a forced war to stand up for her kin, closed borders and the ensuing post-Soviet chaos and consolidation of wealth and resources.

During this period, Armenia has emerged as a regional hub for Information and Communication Technology (ICT), relying on its human capital and the strong educational traditions and academic and commercial institutions of the Soviet era. Notable intellectual and economic nodes of excellence, such as Engineering City, have been designed and implemented in Armenia to connect Armenia to global value chains (GVCs) in the engineering space. Developing the Armenian National Engineering Laboratory (ANEL) for all universities engaged in training engineers in Armenia was the first successful step to inspire both private and public sector policy makers.

Building on the success of the Engineering City program and similar efforts and capitalizing on the Armenian human capital both within the country and throughout the Diaspora, we envision the implementation of an extended knowledge economy, encompassing research and development in mathematical, physical, environmental and life sciences, with special focus on interdisciplinary areas, as the growth areas of the future. The scientific core has existed in Armenia, and there is significant innovation potential. But the intermediate steps and the associated infrastructure to realize those innovations and connect them to the global value chain are missing.

An approach based on developing science and innovation hubs with perpetual funding sources and faculty endowments to facilitate the infusion of world class talent will lead to innovation and productivity and will lay the foundation to train the workforce that Armenia needs to compete and participate in the Global Value Chains (GVC) of tomorrow. The future of high technology is uncertain, because it evolves by disruptive discoveries. One of the key hallmarks of extractive political and economic systems has been their resistance to disruptive innovation, something that shakes the core of their extractive economic model and the stranglehold on key economic opportunities. Yet, this is exactly what Armenia needs to engage in, if it has any chance of a brighter future. In order to prepare a growing economy for participation in the GVC, it is far more advantageous to prepare a workforce, capable of exploiting opportunities, rather than trying to predict the exact nature and patterns of disruption that are likely to arise. Remarkably, a disproportionate fraction of these disruptive ideas relies on a fundamental set of skills rooted in the basic fundamental sciences and their interactions to create a reality that is bigger than the sum of its components. Therefore, Armenia must create critical capacity in these skills, so that the future workforce can both create and cope with disruptions. These skills include quantitative thinking, experimental skills, mathematical, physical and biological modeling, biomedical sciences and engineering, computational and data sciences, high-performance computation and advanced computer sciences, and incorporating state-of-the-art developments from research into applications and innovations as the final stop.

Armenia possesses the fundamental scientific knowledge base but lacks the infrastructure and the intermediate steps between basic research, technological development and implementation of that knowledge base into the economic engine in order to participate in the GVC and transform itself into a competitive country. For a small nation such as Armenia, there will be dividends from the knowledge-based economy only when the country acknowledges the need to and invests in the technological trends of tomorrow and becomes nimble and resourceful enough to adjust to changes in the global economy.

Therefore, scientific and innovation centers must be selected for:

Multi-disciplinary sciences with interactions straddling the borders of different scientific fields have been the source of much of the worldwide innovation pipeline during the past decades. It has become abundantly clear that isolated hubs of excellence are no longer the driving force of the knowledge economy, and Armenia is no exception to this rule. Armenias segregated national academies governed by out-of-touch boards are not the answer to turn Armenia into a regional or world stage contributor in the next century. These academies and institutes work in a silo mentality, where turf protection is more important than collaboration, cooperation and joint pursuit of national interests. The time has come to do away with the models and kick science and innovation into a much higher gear. The goal is to adopt international best practices and a combination of parts from multidisciplinary sciences to create a sum that is much larger than its components. The idea of interconnected national laboratories for driving natural and social scientific advances for strengthening national infrastructure was initially developed in Germany (where it has evolved into todays Max Planck Institutes), followed by the US government-funded national laboratory model. It has since expanded to the rest of the world. We must bring such a model to Armenia.

To support the innovation at the science and innovation centers, Armenia must establish a perpetual endowment fund to fuel the work. This endowment can start at the 100-150 million USD range and be supplemented over time with cash infusion from a variety of sources. The fund can be increased by contributions from the Armenian, Russian, US and French governments and private sectors. The large Diasporan networks in both countries must mobilize in support of this effort. The 2020 Artsakh War has left Armenias flanks open, and there are potentially relatively receptive governments in both countries that can be motivated to support such a cause. It will not be easy, nor will it be simple. But it must be accomplished; no excuses or justifications to avoid the needed heavy lifting. Now that the US Congress has acknowledged the Armenian Genocide, advocacy groups should set their sights on supporting transformative investments in Armenia. Advocacy efforts have run the gamut of combative relationships to lockstep movements with the lobbying governments. This is neither an indictment nor unique to Armenian advocacy entities. However, all must agree to commit fully to Armenias survival and future growth. This must be a red line that cannot be crossed, regardless of tactical and approach differences.

Infrastructure and funding are of little use without the human capital. The Armenian nation must commit to funding 100 endowed STEM chairs over a five-year period to attract the best possible minds to innovate and help train the next generation of leaders and scientists and innovators. This will be a $100 million USD investment to be supported by the Diaspora and other resources. The developed world is producing talent at an unseen pace, attracting talent from the world over, eager to receive state-of-the art training. However, the developed world cannot absorb these graduates into innovative roles at the rate that it produces them. Armenia can offer paid positions with research funding to attract such talent. Armenia needs to attract the best innovative minds that it can, who need not be Armenian, but willing to work and produce in Armenia. The kind and hospitable nature of the Armenian people will be an important asset to make them feel at home and integrate them into society. Structures must be put in place, such as five-year contracts, to be renewed upon accomplishing set milestones, to incentivize performance and not provide tenure shelter. While this effort must do all it can to attract talented Armenian candidates from Armenia and the Diaspora, it is unlikely that there will be enough Armenian candidates for such positions with the right training and background. Therefore, opening our doors to a wider source will serve the best interests of the nation, both in the short and long-term.

While the initiation of this innovation campaign is essential for Armenia, it will not be easy, even with all resources in place. Armenia lacks the systems-level expertise or the capacity to undertake such a task. Proper engagement of resources is essential. The Diaspora has provided and will continue to provide financial support to Armenia, something that it has been primarily relegated to in the past 30 years, but it can be a much greater resource if Armenia ever chooses to engage it fully. Thus far, efforts have been more lip service and maintenance of a safe distance, but if the Armenian political elite are ever to right the ship, they need to meaningfully engage the Diasporas immense potential. There is extensive expertise in academic, innovation, finance and entrepreneurial spaces in the Diaspora, but no realistic plan has been put in place to properly engage this resource. Empty platitudes and notions of bringing all Diasporans to Armenia are not plans; they are meaningless slogans. There needs to be a real structure in place to meaningfully engage Diasporan resources. This means bringing together a professional and non-volunteer team with Diasporan and non-Armenian experts to outline the overall approach, provide a detailed plan of action and put in place the right teams to execute. Most recently, the National Assembly held a four-hour meeting on the future of high tech in Armenia. With the exception of a few minutes of coherent thoughts here and there, the majority of the session was devoid of any real meaning or plans, other than repeating the same tired speeches, backed by no effort. It is quite possible that most speakers forgot what they talked about by the time they got home. The reflexive grandstanding with no discernable meaningful action has been a hallmark of Armenian leadership and authorities.

This is as helpful and unrealistic as expecting most Diasporans to move to Armenia. There will be a need for a meaningful number of Diasporans to move to Armenia to offer their expertise toward developing the nation. But, this will not materialize by the few who have taken it upon themselves to move there and provide their services. Former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld popularized the concept of known knowns, known unknowns and unknown unknowns. The Armenian political elite both now or before, through their actions, have shown little knowledge of this concept.

Diasporans have also been at fault by being content with their cash cow role and not willing their clout and expertise onto the leadership in Armenia to affect positive change. Showing up to galas and taking selfies with the powers that be have satisfied their needs by and large. Fear of taking difficult but needed/right stances, out of potential loss in pecking order or status with respective governments, has been another failing hallmark of the Diaspora. Armenia is undergoing unprecedented instability and upheaval, yet little is heard from the Diasporan elites, as they are playing the waiting game to see how best to hedge their bets, even as we are losing Artsakh and potentially Syunik in the near future. Diasporan organizations have been slow to adapt to the current times, treading in their comfort zone wheels and failing to engage meaningfully with Armenia or new Diasporans from Armenia. There has been a palpable separation between the traditional Diasporans and those arriving from Armenia, thankfully subsiding with the new generation. This was also in place when Middle Eastern Diasporans arrived in the US in the 70s and onward. Their integration took some time, but it was easier than those with Armenians from Armenia. There were more similarities among those groups than with Armenians from Armenia. Again, this is not unique to us, as Israel has experienced and is experiencing very similar rifts between its population and the immigrating Jews from the former Soviet Union. The divergent value systems and life experiences have been significant barriers for meaningful integration. It is fair to say that a significant number of Diasporan professionals stay away from Diasporan structures of all stripes and sides, because of their archaic and unprofessional approach. While these institutions have done significant and valuable work, they have been slow to adapt, evolve, embrace new realities and offer up-to-date solutions to the problems facing Armenia and the Diaspora. While the Armenian government bears the brunt of its inaction to properly outline a vision to engage the Diaspora and leverage its resources, Diasporans have not really stepped out of their comfort zone either.

Wealthy oligarchs must also be part of the mentioned transformation effort. The current leadership could have negotiated a deal with the oligarch class to bring order into the system over time, with specific milestones, such as reforming taxation of their assets and income, establishing voluntary contributions of funds by the oligarchs to a national endowment, setting up sunset dates on their less than desirable economic practices and other options to transfer the economy from its extractive form into a more inclusive form over a reasonable period. But, they used the concept of going after the corrupt elites as bait to social engineer the populace. They simply built relationships with some of the oligarchs and brought their own oligarchs back to the fore, essentially a rinse and repeat cycle. Establishment of a national endowment fund with at least one to two billion dollars would return 150 to 200 million USD per year, a respectable number for Armenia. This fund would allow the oligarch class to contribute a part of their wealth back to the nation, be held accountable in a conciliatory setting and set the stage for a gradual change from an extractive into an inclusive economic model. The fund would grow over time to provide the nation with rainy day funds and help offset key expenditures for a variety of needs, education or otherwise. Armenia is a tiny nation, where everyone knows and/or is related to everyone. An all-out hostile approach would not bode well with the fabric of the society, as we have seen by now. The mob mentality and the prevalent dichotomy in the nation precluded the development of any meaningful steps, instead focusing on zero sum games to appease the base.

While a highly literate nation, the Armenian nation has shown that it is no different than most other nations, where a large segment of the population lacks critical thinking capabilities to separate fact from fiction and is easily manipulated through social engineering and drawn into gossip and conspiracy theories with little evidence.

The 2020 Artsakh War brought about an unprecedented level of financial contribution by Armenians worldwide. While a significant effort that offers a glimpse into the financial muscle of the Armenian nation, it was simply a drop in the bucket, given its one-time nature in response to an extraordinary event. Now imagine how far along Armenia and Artsakh would be, had a meaningful recurring contribution been set up 20 or 25 years ago, with a vision, concrete systems-level plans, quality execution and strict accounting, accountability and transparency. Instead, we settled for a small-scale plan with the Armenia Fund, embroiled with controversies and mismanagement from the get-go. How do we go about instilling confidence in people who part with their hard-earned money in support of a good cause? The result is the paltry 10 to 20 million USD per year collected as part of the telethon. We wax and wane about the clout and financial might of the Diaspora, yet we show little seriousness in tapping this resource properly.

A cursory evaluation of the 31 largest Armenian Diaspora population centers accounts for 5.373 million Armenians, using best available data. A calculation of the number of Armenian households in each country (based on available census data) and using median household income per country puts the annual income of the Armenian Diaspora north of $40 billion USD (Table 2). This is a conservative estimate and yet a significant sum (more than three times the GDP of Armenia). Now, imagine if we can outline a vision for the future of Armenia and Artsakh, establish concrete systems-level plans, put in place a fund with quality execution and strict/best practices in accounting, accountability and transparency and ask the Diaspora to contribute 0.5 percent to 1.5 percent of its annual income to this fund recurringly. Doing so will help amass a war chest of 200 million to 600 million USD per year. Adding to this the contribution of Armenians from Armenia will bump up the annual sum to 220 million to 660 million USD. This fund can play a significant role in supporting the proposed innovation drive for Armenia and Artsakh and unburden state funds for other worthy efforts. Are we there? Absolutely not. Can we get there? Yes, but it will require significant effort, dedication, sacrifice and accountability, all in short supply both in Armenia and the Diaspora.

The financial contribution along with the professional expertise of the Diaspora must be harnessed and used wisely to lift Armenia and Artsakh.

Ara Nazarian is an associate professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Harvard Medical School. He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a degree in mechanical engineering, followed by graduate degrees from Boston University, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and Harvard University. He has been involved in the Armenian community for over a decade, having served in a variety of capacities at the Hamazkayin Armenian Educational and Cultural Society, the Armenian Cultural and Educational Center, Armenian National Committee of America, St. Stephens Armenian Elementary School and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation.

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Do Armenians have a future as an independent nation? Part 4 - Armenian Weekly

(Part 2)

To efficiently use scarce resources and political capital at this given time, we need a set of policy priorities that addresses the principal bottlenecks, or the binding constraints. The binding ones, if not addressed, would disrupt investments and growth. Thus, targeting the binding constraints has the largest effects and benefits. The first part of this paper (BusinessWorld, Aug. 7, 2022) presented the growth diagnostics approach, as elaborated by Ricardo Hausmann et al. (2005). For the concluding part, using the growth diagnostics framework, we do an exercise and examine the post-2022 elections challenges.

The first question to ask is: What constrains private investments in the Philippines?

Using the problem tree introduced by Hausmann et al., we test the first possible constraint: the high cost of finance. While debt sustainability is a key concern for the country, with the National Governments total outstanding debt levels reaching P12.76 trillion at the tail-end of the Duterte administration in April 2022, the absolute amount of debt in itself is not worrisome. What matters more is the countrys capacity to pay.

Philippine interest rates remain low, notwithstanding the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) recent series of increases in policy rate. The current rate is 3.25%, which is still below the current inflation rate of 6.4%.

While global interest rates are rising, the country is not dependent on external financing, with almost 70% of the National Governments debt portfolio being sourced from domestic borrowings. Thanks to fiscal reforms put in place during the Aquino and Duterte administrations, we have an investment-grade credit rating and can thus avail ourselves of lower interest rates.

With regard to the countrys capacity to pay, our debt ratios are not yet at unmanageable levels. Some express concern over our 63.5% debt-to-GDP ratio, as it leans towards the end of the threshold for emerging markets (according to Thomas Grennes et al., 2013). However, this paper was written way before the COVID-19 pandemic. Extraordinary circumstances or catastrophes necessitate much heavier spending and borrowing. Further, as Oliver Blanchard (2022), wrote, one cannot have some universal magic number to determine what is unsafe debt.

To illustrate, our current external debt service ratio (DSR), or the ratio of principal and interest payments to exports of goods and receipts from services and primary income, stood at 4.1% as of end-March 2022. Our DSR ratio in 1988, on the other hand, went as high as 56.9% before rescheduling.

We do acknowledge, however, that we must be careful. The current debt levels, long-term economic issues brought about by the pandemic, and the current issues brought about by the Ukraine-Russia war compel the government to be fiscally responsible and ensure that debt is being spent productively.

The discussion above eliminates the high cost of finance as a binding constraint to economic growth in the Philippines at this moment. We then review the possibility of low returns to economic activities. This rubric has two sub-categories: low appropriability and low returns to investment.

Under low appropriability, one macro risk we identify as a binding constraint is the countrys shrinking fiscal space. Although we have access to financing, given sound debt management and creditworthiness, the pandemic has increased borrowing and spending, causing an abnormally high deficit.

Thus, we have to gradually unwind the deficit spending, as the economy begins to recover. While we still have fiscal space, we cannot ignore the combination of an abnormal deficit and the pressure for high, productive spending for pandemic response, social protection, infrastructure, climate change, etc. And of course, we need to be prepared for lingering and future economic shocks which are becoming frequent. We need revenues to grow out of our debt and must avoid additional borrowing; this calls for a fiscal consolidation and resource mobilization plan, which the Department of Finance (DoF) is currently pursuing.

Other issues we identified as binding constraints under low appropriability include our inflation rate that has significantly exceeded government target (macro risk) and the weakness of our agriculture sector (micro risk). Inflation, which is at its highest since 2018, is caused mostly by supply shocks for fuel and food. The BSP has increased policy rates to address inflation expectations (quite aggressively, with a hike of 75 basis points), but addressing supply bottlenecks requires other solutions.

To address the supply bottlenecks, it is crucial to look at the agricultural sector and address the issue of inadequate food supply, which causes worrisome inflation. Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the agriculture sector only grew by 0.2% in the second quarter of 2022. The low productivity and high prices of agricultural commodities can be attributed to the high trade protection for commodities (such as out-of-quota rates for sugar, corn, coffee, pork, and chicken) and low budgetary support for agriculture and misallocation of resources.

Lastly, under the sub-category of low social returns (e.g., human capital), the COVID-19 pandemic remains to be a binding constraint for our economic growth. We have insufficient investments in health, making our health system extremely sensitive to surges in COVID-19 cases. The pandemic has deeply scarred our economy and aggravated other social concerns such as education, nutrition, care, and social protection. Universal healthcare is still far from becoming a reality for all Filipinos, and without a robust primary healthcare system, we cannot ensure decongestion of hospitals when COVID-19 cases rise. As the virus evolves, our health system is still very vulnerable to infection spikes. Surges and the corresponding tightening of restrictions would impede our economic recovery in our heavily service-based economy.

Given the four binding constraints identified above (shrinking fiscal space, high inflation, weak agriculture sector, and the COVID-19 pandemic), the policy reforms we need to prioritize are the following:

First, to address the shrinking fiscal space, we need smart taxes which result in efficiency (for example, taxing harmful products and thus addressing negative externalities). Complementing new taxes are improving tax administration and rationalizing spending by removing waste and combating corruption.

In line with this, we support the proposals to push for Packages 3 and 4 of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program of the previous administration, namely the Real Property Valuation Act and the Passive Income and Financial Intermediary Taxation Act. We also support the DoFs move to impose VAT on digital service providers. This, however, will only have an average annual revenue impact of P13.2 billion. A better source of revenue, as stated above, is an increase in excise taxes on sin products such as tobacco, e-cigarettes, alcohol, and sugar-sweetened beverages.

To address inflation expectations, we expect the BSP to pursue an independent monetary policy that will stabilize prices without sacrificing growth. We need to provide targeted, time-bound subsidies to protect the vulnerable, such as lower-income families, public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers, and farmers, from shocks. But we must also ensure the supply of food, even if it means increasing imports, while also increasing budgetary support for farmers productivity. We need to increase productivity and efficiency and boost farmers income by consolidating land to achieve economies of scale, introducing technological innovation, and making farmers bankable by allowing agricultural assets as collateral.

Lastly, to address COVID-19, we must make the country pandemic resilient by pushing for the adoption of the health in all policies framework. In this regard, we emphasize that 80% of health problems can be attributed to socio-economic factors and individual behavior, not to health or pharmaceutical care.

The prevention of severe diseases and deaths from COVID-19 requires a whole-of-government, whole-of-society mobilization. Take the case of airborne transmission, which is the dominant mode of COVID-19 infection. Everyone, not just the Department of Health or medical professionals, is now responsible for ensuring adequate ventilation in public spaces, especially in crowded spaces such as malls, schools, and public transportation.

The pandemic also highlights the urgent need to implement universal healthcare and anchor it in primary healthcare. Here, the tasks are: Strengthen the institutions that handle public health emergencies. Have sustainable health financing generated from a combination of general taxes, health taxes, premiums or contributions, and reallocation of general appropriations. Boost social protection through targeted cash transfers, unemployment insurance, and similar subsidies.

The objective of the growth diagnostics is to outline priorities and give attention to the binding constraints (and thus not to be distracted by the non-binding constraints). In this manner, we conserve political capital and use it wisely. Some can argue, understandably, that other issues are notably missing. However, the binding constraints identified are interconnected with other issues. Removing the binding constraints would likewise alleviate the constraints in other areas. For example, the education crisis in the Philippines is partially caused by the disruption brought about by the pandemic and the shift from face to face to online schooling. Mitigating the impact of the pandemic and capacitating ourselves to handle future shocks will subsequently aid the safe return of students to face-to-face classes. This is not enough, and much more needs to be done to strengthen the education system, but at this very moment, addressing COVID-19 will relieve much of the burden faced by our students, teachers, and administrators.

On infrastructure, the government must maintain higher spending as a proportion of GDP. But this can be enabled by having broad fiscal space.

The four binding constraints are deeply intertwined. The pandemic stands out as a critical bottleneck, as our poor pandemic response (which has consistently landed us at the bottom of global pandemic resilience indices) has been constraining economic recovery for the past two years. Even though we have reopened our economy and cases have significantly dropped, pandemic-induced supply shocks are still one of the primary causes behind soaring prices. These supply shocks, particularly addressing food and fuel, will require bold fiscal, trade, and agriculture policies. The pandemic, the supply shocks and the attendant high prices have led to shrinking fiscal space. This requires new revenues. Otherwise, we face the danger of budget cuts on key programs and the reversal of important gains made in fiscal reforms in the past decade.

The authors belong to Action for Economic Reforms.

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Getting the diagnostics right 2 - BusinessWorld Online

LUGANO, Switzerland & WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. & AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Energy Vault Holdings Inc. (NYSE: NRGV) ("Energy Vault" or the Company), a leader in sustainable, grid-scale energy storage solutions, and Jupiter Power (Jupiter), a leading battery energy storage developer and owner/operator of utility-scale battery energy storage projects in the United States, today announced the signing of two contracts whereby Energy Vault will supply equipment, engineering, procurement, construction, balance of plant services and the energy management software for two of Jupiters battery energy storage projects.

The projects include a 100 MW (200 MWh) battery energy storage system near Fort Stockton, Texas, which will provide energy and ancillary services to ERCOT, and a 10 MW (20 MWh) system in Carpinteria, California, to provide grid services through participation in the CAISO Resource Adequacy program as well as energy resiliency in Southern California. The projects will provide critically needed dispatchable capacity to these electricity markets and are expected to be completed in 2023.

The systems will utilize Energy Vault Solutions (EVS) proprietary integration platform and powered by EVS innovative energy management software platform, which started development nine months ago in November 2021, as previously announced. EVS leverages advanced software architecture and optimization algorithms and enables the integration and orchestration of multiple energy assets under a multitude of use cases.

"With todays inaugural EVS-enabled battery energy storage projects announcement supporting a market leader in storage infrastructure and analytics like Jupiter, we are delivering on our comprehensive energy storage solutions strategy introduced just nine months ago, said Marco Terruzzin, Chief Commercial Officer, Energy Vault. We are seeing strong demand for our EVS-enabled energy storage solutions on a global basis due to the unique ability of our platform to integrate and deliver both short and long duration (EVx) energy storage technologies.

Jupiter is pleased to be working with Energy Vault to expand our existing battery energy storage portfolio with these two new projects, said Michael Geier, Chief Technology Officer of Jupiter Power. As the largest developer and operator of battery energy storage projects on the ERCOT grid, we see a strong need to continue to execute innovative storage solutions to help relieve grid strain. We are also excited to be building our first project in California, where grid conditions continue to demonstrate a strong need for additional battery energy storage capacity.

Jupiter currently has 654 MWh of battery energy storage projects in operations or commissioning in Texas and more than 11 GW of additional projects in development in several target markets from California to Maine. Jupiters projects are critical to decarbonizing the U.S. electricity grid by providing non-emitting generation to support and firm the penetration of renewable electricity resources, namely solar and wind, while increasing grid resiliency and reliability.

About Energy Vault

Energy Vault develops and deploys sustainable energy storage solutions designed to transform the worlds approach to utility-scale energy storage in realizing decarbonization while maintaining grid resiliency. The companys proprietary gravity-based energy storage technology, battery storage technology, and energy storage management and integration platform are intended to help utilities, independent power producers and large industrial energy users significantly reduce their levelized cost of energy while maintaining power reliability. Utilizing eco-friendly materials with the ability to integrate waste materials for beneficial re-use, Energy Vault is facilitating the shift to a circular economy while accelerating the clean energy transition for its customers. For additional information, please visit: http://www.energyvault.com.

About Jupiter Power

Jupiter is a leading battery energy storage infrastructure platform with deep trading, analytics, development, finance, operations, and construction capabilities and unparalleled intellectual property in dispatch optimization. Jupiter is backed by EnCap Investments L.P., Yorktown Partners and Mercuria Energy, and has offices in Austin and Houston, Texas, and Chicago, Illinois. Jupiter has a portfolio of utility-scale battery energy storage projects operating or in construction in the U.S., with a pipeline of over 11,000MW in active development. For more information on Jupiter Power, please visit our Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook pages or visit http://www.jupiterpower.io.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions including statements regarding Energy Vaults future expansion, deployments and capabilities. There are a significant number of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made in this press release, including: risks related to the deployment of Energy Vaults energy management software the projects announced in this press release, risks related to Energy Vaults ability to supply equipment, engineering, procurement, construction and balance of plant services for the projects announced in this press release, unforeseen delays in the projects announced in this press release, whether these projects will be constructed on time or whether they will operate as planned, developments and changes in the general market, the continuing impact of COVID-19, political, economic, and business conditions. Additional risks and uncertainties that could affect our financial results are included under the captions "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2022, filed with the SEC on August 8, 2022, which is available on our website at investors.energyvault.com and on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov. Additional information will also be set forth in other filings that we make with the SEC from time to time. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to us as of the date hereof, and we do not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements provided to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made, except as required by applicable law.

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Energy Vault and Jupiter Power Announce Agreement for Battery Energy Storage Projects in Texas and California Totaling 220 MWh - Business Wire

BETHESDA, Md. & ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--GrammaTech, a leading provider of application security testing products and software research services, and T.E.N., founder of the Information Security Executive (ISE) of the Year Awards, today announced the Product Security Executive (PSE) of the Year Awards. This annual competition will recognize individuals whose contributions have delivered advancements in security for embedded or commercial software products. Nominations are now being accepted through October 10, 2022 at https://ten-inc.com/ise/nominations.asp.

The judging panel includes:

Edna Conway, Vice President, Security & Risk Officer, Cloud Infrastructure at Microsoft, former CSO, Cisco Global Value Chain and a member of the Executive Committee of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Task Force on ICT Supply Chain Risk Management.

Malcolm Harkins, Chief Security & Trust Officer with Epiphany Systems, former Chief Security and Privacy Officer (CSPO) and the first CISO at Intel Corporation.

Troy Rydman, Senior Practice Leader - Global Strategic Accounts, Security, Risk, & Compliance for Amazon Web Services (AWS) and former cybersecurity executive with Silicon Valley Bank, with fourteen years of increasing cybersecurity leadership.

In a world of increasingly autonomous products, from cars to appliances to robots, managing the integrity of the software that enables our connected world is critical. The Product Security Executives who drive quality, security and safety of our many devices are pivotal to the digital economy, said Edna Conway, VP, Security & Risk Officer, Microsoft Cloud Infrastructure. It is time to recognize these individuals and the significant contributions they make in securing the software at the heart of our hyper-connected world.

Eligibility

U.S.-based executives, including those with director, vice president, chief product security officer or similar titles, who are responsible for product security management are eligible for consideration. This includes individuals overseeing security at all stages of the product development lifecycle for software, firmware and/or embedded code; as well as secure product design, risk and vulnerability management and standards/regulatory compliance. There is no cost to enter.

Theres an increased emphasis on maintaining the safety and security of embedded software across virtually all industries, which is becoming the responsibility of a Product Security Executive whether or not the title exists, said Andrew Meyer, Chief Marketing Officer for GrammaTech. We collaborated with T.E.N. to create this award competition and recognize the men and women on the front lines of this new discipline, honor their accomplishments and share their best practices with the industry.

The number of IoT devices is in the billions and we will continue to see an ever-growing number of devices become smart and connected, explains Marci McCarthy, CEO and President of T.E.N. Every device is at risk for cyberattacks, and threat actors are taking advantage of every opportunity to exploit product security vulnerabilities. Demand for product security has thus grown across multiple industries, especially consumer electronics, automotive and healthcare. Because product security is a relatively new concept whose time has come, we are thrilled to partner with GrammaTech to recognize individuals for advancements and innovations leading to more secure products going to market.

AwardsWinners in multiple award categories will be announced at the ISE West Summit and Awards event on November 15, 2022 in Dallas, Texas, and at https://www.embedded.com/, the media partner of the Awards. For more information on the awards, to enter or nominate an individual visit https://ten-inc.com/ise/nominations.asp.

About T.E.N.T.E.N. is an award-winning technology and security networking and marketing firm that hosts relationship-building events between top Information Security executives, industry pioneers and innovative solution providers within the cybersecurity industry. Its flagship program, the nationally acclaimed Information Security Executive (ISE) of the Year Program Series and Awards, is North Americas largest leadership recognition and networking program for security professionals, honoring both leading executives and deserving project teams. For more information visit https://www.ten-inc.com/about.asp.

About GrammaTechGrammaTech is a leading global provider of application security testing (AST) solutions used by the worlds most security conscious organizations to detect, measure, analyze and resolve vulnerabilities for software they develop or use. The company is also a trusted cybersecurity and artificial intelligence research partner for the nations civil, defense, and intelligence agencies. GrammaTech has corporate headquarters in Bethesda MD, a Research and Development Center in Ithaca NY, and publishes Shift Left Academy, an educational resource for software developers. Visit us at https://www.grammatech.com/, and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

CodeSonar and CodeSentry are registered trademarks of GrammaTech, Inc.

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GrammaTech and T.E.N. Announce Call for Nominations for Product Security Executive of the Year Awards - Business Wire

Sponsored

The North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has a strong track record in evidence-based economic development strategy and delivery. Richard Baker, Director of Strategy, Policy and Analysis, explains why this is important and how the work we do continues to help the region embrace new opportunities, changes and challenges.

In her article about the outcomes of the LEP Review, our CEO Helen Golightly highlighted how government has recognised the importance of the LEPs role in continuing to gather and use data, evidence and knowledge to inform and work with political and business leaders with strategic economic planning.

Since 2012, the North East LEP has led the development and oversight of the regions Strategic Economic Plan. Its purpose has been to provide strategic direction, increase quality opportunities for people and businesses and to close key economic performance gaps with the rest of the country.

Robust economic evidence and policy analysis has always been used and continues to inform our planning and delivery. It is our core principle, not only be evidence led but also to advocate and be recognised for it.

Ever since the first iteration of the Plan, which was built on the outcomes of the Northern Independent Economic Review led by Lord Andrew Adonis in 2012, we have kept our data and evidence fresh, forward facing and visible and we have translated it into economic strategy and delivery in the region and our work on policy issues. We have built strong and strategic collaboration with our partners, and capacity and capability into our analytical functions, intelligence gathering and strategy development processes.

Looking forward, our vision is to think bigger, to innovate and further develop our thinking to lead the way in in this space, both regionally and nationally.

Building on our annual Our Economy report, weve recently launched the North East Evidence Hub a website that brings together key regional data and research, in a simple and accessible way for our residents, businesses, education establishments and policy makers.

We have big plans for the site and want it to be the go-to place for the region, and where our partners look for and publish economic evidence. Weve already seen the appetite and effectiveness of this vision through the publication of a strategic evidence base for our five lead authorities as they develop their plans for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

Our team is always horizon scanning for new and innovative data sources. We work with novel data sets like Google Mobility data and experimental data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS). Furthermore, we are building a relationship with ONS as it develops its sub-national evidence processes, ensuring we help them to shape the resource available to the region.

The evidence is a key building block for our work. We are equally passionate about working in collaboration with partners, bringing together these insights, and intelligence from across the region, to inform our strategic economic planning.

A good example is the Trade and Export strategy we published last year working with the Department for International Trade and the North East Chamber of Commerce to provide strategic direction in a new and challenging trading environment. It set out an agreed export proposition and a series of actions for the lead partners to take to enhance support for exporting.

This work was underpinned with a number of evidence tools; a significant evidence review produced by the University of Durham, a survey of exporting businesses in the region, and analysis of the operational data from the DIT and North East LEP.

Indeed, we work closely with our universities to ensure we are drawing together and building upon academic expertise and exploring opportunities for collaborative research and strategy projects. Moving forward, we want to build on activity to date and engage more deeply with the academic and research community.

We also bring together a number of strategic groups to test, inform and disseminate evidence. Our Economic Evidence Forum brings together people from across the region who commission and use evidence to work together on regional evidence priorities and peer review evidence projects that inform regional economic policy making. The Economic Prospects Group, convened jointly with the Bank of England, provides an opportunity to share real-time information and intelligence between different partners in our eco-system. We remain committed to ensure the work of these two groups informs our regional evidence activities, policy making and strategy development processes.

In addition to our regional work, there are opportunities for wider collaboration to inform and promote our region. Working with LEPs and Combined Authorities from across the North we have led development of the Northern Evidence Network (NEN), a new network to share and generate data and intelligence and help to shape strategy. A key priority for the NEN currently underway, is a refresh of the Northern Powerhouse Independent Economic Review working with Transport for the North, which will ensure that we have an up to date long term proposition about opportunities for future growth across the whole of the north of England and associated set of interventions on transport and the economy.

We are operating in an environment that is subject to significant change, both regionally and nationally this undoubtedly creates a challenging time to be working in economic development. I believe that if we use the tools, people and infrastructure available to us to continue to build on the foundations we have created over the past decade, we will be able to navigate through these changes in an informed, strategic and collaborative way.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by North East LEP .

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The North East LEP: Thinking bigger and planning together for the future - Bdaily

Brady & Lucas Cautiously Optimistic that Agreement can be Reached on Plan to Strengthen Nations Ability to Compete Abroad

WASHINGTON, DC With the House and Senate trying to reach agreement on legislation that would strengthen Americas ability to innovate and compete against China around the globe, The Ripon Society held a breakfast meeting this past Thursday morning with two Republican leaders who are helping to spearhead the negotiations to get their thoughts on the status of the bill and the prospect that a deal can be reached this year.

The leaders were Kevin Brady, who represents the 8thDistrict of Texas in the House and serves as Ranking Member of the Ways & Means Committee, and Frank Lucas, who represents the 3rdDistrict of Oklahoma and serves as Ranking Member of the Committee on Science, Space & Technology. The pair are part of a group of over 100 lawmakers who are working to reconcile differences between the Senate-passed United States Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) and the House-passed America Creating Opportunities, Pre-Eminence in Technology, and Economic Strength Act (COMPETES).

I cant give you a huge amount of details in what well see when the language comes to the floor, Lucas said in remarks to open the discussion. But I will tell you this the need to make fundamental investments in the capacity to produce the chips, the microprocessors, and the resources we need in this country is important. Many of my Republican colleagues get super-juiced about the national defense angle. Thats entirely right. Ive been in briefings where theyve described the number of processors that go into some of the most basic, fundamental weapons systems that we use. Its incredible what is required to make those things work. And apparently, by popular media reports, the Russians are discovering in a growing fashion that theyre very effective. But you have to have the components to make those work.

These components, Lucas added, are not just critical to national security and the military. They are also critical to the nations economy and the people he represents.

Im an Aggie, the Oklahoma lawmaker noted. Im from an ag district oil and gas. I can tell you that its not just the inability to buy automobiles, farm trucks, or cars and trucks based on these same critical resource shortages. But you also cant buy a tractor. Theyre full of processors, too. You cant buy anything. So the need is there. How do we get to that point? Our friends in the Senate I would use a term we used in state legislature shucked the bill, and are building a bill to, in theory, bring back to us in the United States House. It is, in essence, the items from the conference committee and committee work, but its in a separate piece of legislation.

If they are successful in doing that and the vote by an overwhelming number of senators this week to begin the process is an indication that they have forward momentum my understanding is the guardrails that we have discussed on protecting the taxpayers investments I believe will be there. I believe, as of this moment, the language dealing with funding at the National Science Foundation and NIST and DOE will be there. I believe there are many, many great things, and if my understanding is correct enough great things to build both the majority in the House and the Senate.

But I must tell you as a Ranking Member Im waiting for that magic piece of paper that gets filed on the floor in the United States Senate. Im waiting for the electronic transmission of details so we can verify.

Brady was also cautiously optimistic, and outlined several areas where he believes common ground can and should be found.

You start every conference committee with really what are your measurements of success, he said of the negotiations. And for us, the Ways and Means Committee, our measurement is does this counter Chinas economic aggression around the world? Does it confront their predatory trade practices? If it does that, its a bill were supporting. If it doesnt, we need to rethink, redo, and refocus it.

The areas I think of as common ground in trade specifically, it seems to me, include the Miscellaneous Tariff bill. It is long overdue, needs to be done, and is really important for competitiveness among our manufacturers here in America. It has always been a bipartisan effort in the past. We shouldnt have let it expire. We need to get that done.

You know, GSP [the Generalized System of Preferences] is really about helping poor countries sell into the U.S. Its mostly one way, but its a good one-way sale into the United States. Again, its important to help lift these countries out of poverty, and eventually we hope it will lead to two-way trade. We think thats very important and needs to be done yesterday.

Another area that I think should be common ground is a smart, timely, modern 301 Exclusion process. In America, no company large or small should lose workers or customers or market share simply because they cant find that input, that piece of equipment, that material, that ingredient, in order to be able to compete and win here at home and around the world. I know that has become a bone of contention. Ambassador Lighthizer feels strongly on the 301 Exclusion process, but I do as well. And I think its very important for us to have it.

It doesnt have to be exactly the Senate provision, but we do need a timely process. Its transparent that it works. Our economy has changed so dramatically the last two years. President Trump, to his credit, created the 301-exclusion process with a lot of encouragement from Congress, including our committee. They continued to update it and fine tune it. Thats exactly what we need to have a 301 Exclusion process that is updated, is timely, and that is weighed for those exclusions.

According to Brady, finding common ground on these and other areas will not only help Americans here at home, but also help Americans who are looking to compete and do business abroad.

America needs to be leading on trade, the veteran legislator declared. Its not enough to buy American. You also need to sell American all around the world. We need to knock down those barriers and those Americans need not apply signs around the globe and get that level playing field for ag and for everything.

To view the remarks of Brady and Lucas before The Ripon Societys breakfast meeting last Thursday morning, please click on the link below:

The Ripon Society is a public policy organization that was founded in 1962 and takes its name from the town where the Republican Party was born in 1854 Ripon, Wisconsin. One of the main goals of The Ripon Society is to promote the ideas and principles that have made America great and contributed to the GOPs success. These ideas include keeping our nation secure, keeping taxes low and having a federal government that is smaller, smarter and more accountable to the people.

The rest is here:

It's not enough to buy American. You also need to sell American all around the world. - The Ripon Society