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Oblon Selects Anaqua’s AQX Law Firm Platform to Deliver Enhanced IP Management Services to Clients

Anaqua to provide full-service IP law firm with intellectual asset management solutions

BOSTON, Feb. 17, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Anaqua, the leading provider of innovation and intellectual property management technology, today announced that leading IP law firm Oblon, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt, LLP (Oblon) has selected Anaqua’s AQX Law Firm as their exclusive IP management system for both patents and trademarks.

Oblon is one of the largest law firms in the United States focusing exclusively on intellectual property law and the leader, for decades, among all law firms in filing and obtaining the most patents. The firm selected Anaqua for its integrated technology-based solution, AQX Law Firm, coupled with Anaqua’s team of IP experts and consultative approach.

Daniel Pereira, chair of the Chemical Practice Group at Oblon said: “We work with clients in every field of intellectual property law to obtain, manage and enforce their intellectual property rights. It’s essential we have accurate up-to-date information on our clients’ patent and trademark portfolios and the IP landscape of their respective industries. Anaqua’s AQX platform, consultative approach and team of professionals ensure we have this information at our fingertips to serve and advise our clients, efficiently and effectively.”

Recently, Anaqua expanded the AQX Law Firm platform capabilities through the acquisitions of API-based connectivity software provider SeeUnity, leading cost estimation tool Global IP Estimator®, and tech-enabled foreign filing solution Actio IP. Oblon will have the ability to leverage this fully integrated platform to continue strengthening IP operations and delivering exceptional client service in today’s evolving market.

Bob Romeo, CEO of Anaqua, commented: “We are honored to be selected as the IP management solutions provider for one of the premier firms specializing in intellectual property law. It’s rewarding to see that our commitment to continually enhancing an intelligent platform with integrated services – one that drives increased efficiency and improved data through automation – was a key differentiator to Oblon. Our expanding presence in the law firm space is a testament to this success in delivering integrated capabilities firms rely on to optimize their internal IP operations while helping clients unlock the full value of their IP. We look forward to working alongside Oblon to empower the firm to efficiently deliver all of their clients’ IP management needs.”

About Anaqua
Anaqua, Inc. is a premium provider of integrated intellectual property (IP) management technology solutions and services. Anaqua’s AQX platform combines best practice workflows with big data analytics and tech-enabled services to create an intelligent environment designed to inform IP strategy, enable IP decision-making, and streamline IP operations. Today, nearly half of the top 100 U.S. patent filers and global brands, as well as a growing number of law firms worldwide use Anaqua’s solutions. Over one million IP executives, attorneys, paralegals, administrators, and innovators use the platform for their IP management needs. The company’s global operations are headquartered in Boston, with offices across the U.S., Europe, and Asia. For additional information, please visit anaqua.com, or on LinkedIn.

About Oblon
Assisting clients for over 50 years, Oblon is one of the largest intellectual property law firms in the United States. Oblon’s professionals provide a full range of intellectual property services to some of the world’s leading innovators. Oblon is headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia within steps of the United States Patent and Trademark Office with an affiliate office in Tokyo, Japan. Visit oblon.com for more information on the firm.

Company Contact:
Amanda Hollis
Associate Director, Communications
Anaqua
617-375-2626
ahollis@Anaqua.com

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Verisk Maplecroft Launches Sovereign ESG Ratings

Reveals human rights and energy transition risks now highly material for bond pricing

Verisk Maplecroft’s Sovereign ESG Ratings – Framework and issues

Verisk Maplecroft’s Sovereign ESG Ratings – Framework and issues

LONDON, Feb. 17, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Verisk Maplecroft, a global risk analytics business of Verisk (Nasdaq:VRSK), has launched new Sovereign ESG Ratings to provide investors with the most comprehensive picture available of ESG risks and opportunities across the entire current and potential sovereign issuer universe.

The Ratings, which extend Verisk Maplecroft’s growing presence as a geospatial ESG data provider, have been developed to offer a powerful set of signals for tracking the sustainability factors that matter most for sovereign debt markets – from both ethical and material perspectives. Crucially, research into the data’s relationship with bond spreads shows that human rights are, in reality, highly material, and that risks relating to the energy transition have now become a key factor affecting countries’ borrowing costs.

Setting a new global standard for sovereign ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) analysis, the Ratings will enable more widespread incorporation of ESG in government debt markets, helping investors to price in sustainability factors more effectively and create portfolios that tightly align with their values.

The Sovereign ESG Ratings, which feature six years of quarterly historical data, draw on approximately 350 of Verisk Maplecroft’s 1200+ indicators across 37 separate issues and nine ESG dimensions. Their novel methodology, based on cluster analysis, captures the non-linear complexity of the sovereign ESG world more effectively than traditional weighted averages.

Verisk Maplecroft’s research into the data shows ESG issues are highly material on multiple levels:

  • Contrary to common belief, better human rights and labour rights performance – measured using Verisk Maplecroft’s unique subnational data – is strongly associated with lower borrowing costs for sovereigns, even when controlling for other relevant factors
  • E issues, and particularly transition risk, have become key factors for debt pricing in recent years as investors respond to the climate emergency
  • Statistical analysis shows that when countries cross ESG tipping points (the thresholds encoded in the analytics underpinning the Ratings), it matters for market pricing
  • Sovereign bond markets are still highly inefficient at pricing in ESG issues, sometimes taking up to a year to reflect significant shifts in a country’s risk environment.
  • In this context, changes in E and G factors within Verisk Maplecroft’s Ratings have become leading indicators of movements in market sentiment on sovereign bond issuers.

“With access to Verisk Maplecroft’s Sovereign ESG Ratings, investors of all types will be better positioned to anticipate how changes in a sovereign’s ESG risk profile can impact debt pricing,” says James Lockhart Smith, Head of Markets at Verisk Maplecroft. “Users can track how a country’s sustainability performance is evolving and watch for approaching ESG tipping points to help minimise downside risks and identify emerging investment opportunities​.”

The Sovereign ESG Ratings build upon Verisk’s growing suite of sustainability and resilience exposure analytics, which include extreme event models and global geospatial datasets covering the full spectrum of ESG, political and energy transition risks. For Verisk Maplecroft, their development is a natural progression that expands its reputation as a leading provider of proprietary, factor-level risk data to sovereign and emerging market fund managers. The data within the Ratings is drawn from the company’s vast array of unstructured, geospatial, expert-derived and structured sources that go far beyond the lagging datasets that have historically been used to track ESG issues. This means both the underlying data and the Ratings themselves are current, relevant and fully independent of government influence.

“Governments are, or should be, the guarantors of last resort when it comes to human rights, prosperity and the protection of natural capital and the climate,” adds Verisk Maplecroft Principal Markets Analyst David Wille, who led the development of the Ratings. “The surge in interest in sovereign ESG investing points to how a trusted standard that robustly assesses government bond issuers is needed more than ever – this is where we aim to make the difference.”

For more information on Verisk Maplecroft’s Sovereign ESG Ratings, download the whitepaper.

Media contact:

Jason McGeown
Director – PR
Verisk Maplecroft
E: jason.mcgeown@maplecroft.com
T: +44 (0) 7768 789567

About Verisk Maplecroft

Verisk Maplecroft, a Verisk business (NASDAQ:VRSK), is a leading geospatial risk analytics company specialising in global ESG and political risk intelligence for institutional investors and multinational corporations. The company combines the world’s most comprehensive portfolio of global risk data with expert analysis to deliver an integrated approach to risk, which enables clients to enhance the sustainability and resilience of their investments and operations. Among investment fund managers and asset owners, the company is a trusted, independent source of data, intelligence and advice for incorporating ESG, climate change, natural capital, human rights and political risk factors across multiple asset classes, notably sovereign debt. For more information visit: www.maplecroft.com

About Verisk

Verisk (Nasdaq:VRSK) provides predictive analytics and decision-support solutions to customers in the insurance, energy and specialized markets, and financial services industries. More than 70 percent of the FORTUNE 100 relies on the company’s advanced technologies to manage risks, make better decisions and improve operating efficiency. The company’s analytic solutions address insurance underwriting and claims, fraud, regulatory compliance, natural resources, catastrophes, economic forecasting, geopolitical risks, as well as environmental, social, and governance (ESG) matters. Celebrating its 50th anniversary, the company continues to make the world better, safer and stronger, and fosters an inclusive and diverse culture where all team members feel they belong. With more than 100 offices in nearly 35 countries, Verisk consistently earns certification by Great Place to Work. For more: Verisk.com, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

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Media contact:

Jason McGeown
Director – PR
Verisk Maplecroft
E: jason.mcgeown@maplecroft.com
T: +44 (0) 7768 789567
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Amii invites the world to AI Week with $100,000 in travel bursaries

Researchers and applied AI experts are invited to explore Edmonton in May 2022

EDMONTON, Alberta, Feb. 17, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — In anticipation of AI Week, May 24 – 27, 2022, the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii) announced the first $100,000 in travel bursaries for emerging researchers and applied artificial intelligence (AI) professionals globally. The Global Talent Bursary program will facilitate upwards of 500 guests to attend AI Week in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. For more information and to apply, head over to www.ai-week.ca/talent-bursaries.

“As we prepare to celebrate 20 years of AI research excellence, I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to invite the world to AI Week. The Global Talent Bursary program makes it financially viable for more of our peers, alumni and collaborators to come to the conference. It also provides amazing access to our rich community to plan future endeavours. I hope you’ll apply and come to AI Week to find your next role, learn more about a dynamic research domain, and find collaborators for startup ventures,” says Cam Linke, CEO of Amii.

Global Talent Bursary recipients receive exclusive access to events at AI Week including an Academic Symposium featuring content from Amii’s deep well of world-leading researchers, a VIP Career Mixer and more. In addition, Amii is pleased to offer Global Talent Bursaries for individuals from groups who are typically underrepresented in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields, recent immigrants to Canada and individuals from rural communities. Applications are completed on the basis of self-identification.

Recipients will also enjoy access to a special AI Week lecture from Richard S. Sutton, Chief Scientific Advisor, Fellow and Canada CIFAR AI Chair at Amii. One of the world-leaders in the field of reinforcement learning, Dr. Sutton is a Distinguished Research Scientist at DeepMind and one of the world’s foremost thinkers about AI, the mind and what it means to be intelligent.

“I invite you to join us for four days of workshops, social events, educational events – experts and students, meeting each other and seeing the Edmonton ecosystem. We have travel bursaries available for early-career researchers of all types, and we’re excited to meet people and learn a little bit about AI together,” says Sutton.

The inaugural AI Week presented by Amii is a four-day celebration of Alberta’s 20-year history of excellence in AI and machine learning. The event will run from May 24-27, 2022 in Edmonton with a mix of in-person, hybrid and digital first offerings. With programming for all audiences, the event marks Amii’s 5th anniversary and the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Amii research centre at the University of Alberta. For updates and announcements, join the AI Week Insiders List at www.ai-week.ca.

The celebration will feature a variety of events and programming focused around AI and machine learning. Audiences of all ages will have an opportunity to connect with AI leaders in research and industry, explore the promise and possibilities of the technology and immerse themselves in the science of AI and machine learning. With something for experts and beginners alike, events and activations include:

  • Keynotes, presentations and informal talks for a range of knowledge levels
  • Academic symposium highlighting Alberta’s AI research excellence
  • AI talent mixer connecting job seekers with potential employers
  • K-12 sessions exploring future careers in AI
  • Community events series organized by partner organizations
  • Socials, mixers, networking events, and more

AI Week presented by Amii will take place from May 24 to 27, 2022 at a range of venues across Edmonton. This year will mark the inaugural year of what will become an annual celebration of Alberta’s AI community. Stay up-to-date on announcements and programming by joining the AI Week Insiders List at www.ai-week.ca.

About Amii

One of Canada’s three centres of AI excellence as part of the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy, Amii (the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute) is an Alberta-based non-profit institute that supports world-leading research in artificial intelligence and machine learning and translates scientific advancement into industry adoption. Amii grows AI capabilities through advancing leading-edge research, delivering exceptional educational offerings and providing business advice – all with the goal of building in-house AI capabilities. For more information, visit amii.ca.

Spencer Murray
Communications & Public Relations
t: 587.415.6100 ext. 109 | c: 780.991.7136
spencer.murray@amii.ca

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Broadening forestry education to tackle the climate crisis

Twenty-year-old, Rahma (Dhina) Maulidhina has been fascinated by forests, particularly in her home country of Indonesia, ever since she was young.

Dhina works as a commissioner for the Centre for People and Forests, an international organization focused on training and research on community forestry in Southeast Asia. She is also studying Forest Resource Conservation and Ecotourism at Bogor Agricultural University.

Like many students worldwide, she found that the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on her studies. As one key example, field activities, an important part of the forestry curriculum, were cancelled. With no official field trips, no animal observation and limited opportunities to visit protected areas, she found herself in a difficult position.

However, in 2021, after Dhina became president of the local committee of the International Forestry Student Association, she became involved in an international network of students where she learned about the opportunity to join a three-week online course on “Forests and Transparency under the Paris Agreement” organized by FAO.

The initiative is part of FAO’s work to strengthen the capacity of developing countries to collect, analyse and disseminate forest-related data to meet the transparency requirements of the Paris Agreement, which requires that all Parties report on their carbon emissions and removals. As part of the ambitious goal of keeping the global rise in temperature under 2° Celsius above pre-industrial levels, countries need to report on their progress towards their climate mitigation and adaptation targets. Strengthening national forest monitoring systems helps produce the necessary data, information and transparency on forest-related emissions, hence supporting countries’ efforts under the Paris Agreement.

Dhina was attracted by the interesting topics of the online course and by the fact that it was open to everyone for free. Moreover, her university classes do not tackle many of the subjects covered in the course. “The course really helped me broaden my knowledge regarding worldwide issues.”

Through the online session, she learned more about the efforts made by Indonesia to monitor national forests in the context of climate change. She was very proud to see the name of her country mentioned several times in the educational materials.

Sustainable forest management in Indonesia

Immense and rich in biodiversity, the Indonesian rainforest is considered one of the more important of Earth’s forests.

With over 92 million hectares of forest in 2020, Indonesia comes in eighth in terms of countries with the largest area of forests globally. On the other hand, it ranked third in terms of a country’s average annual net loss of forest area from 2010 to 2020, according to FAO’s Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020, a comprehensive evaluation of the world’s forests based on official national statistics.

Indonesia has improved its capacity in forest monitoring and is strengthening its national forest monitoring system to ensure high-integrity forest data.

Dhina recognizes that significant changes are occurring in the forestry sector in her country. Yet, better regulation and policies to conserve and sustainably manage forests are needed. While hunger and lack of alternatives to earn a living can limit forest communities’ options, Dhina emphasizes that while “unsustainable forest practices can be profitable in the short-term, they eventually result in scarce resources and hence worsen the situation”.

She believes that solutions also lie in communities’ existing local knowledge, as they have been living side by side with the forest for a long time. Their practices have been built over a long period and made suitable to their environment. “What we can do is to assist them to adapt and preserve this local wisdom because the world is changing in different ways.”

Being a young woman in this field, Dhina also highlights the importance of improving gender equality among forestry professionals. With mentalities changing and technological advances in data collection, Dhina feels that women’s participation will improve in this sector traditionally dominated by men.

Global learning on forests and transparency

In collaboration with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the online course was organized under FAO’s project Building Global Capacity to Increase Transparency in the Forest sector, funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). Originally intended for professionals and officers working within the forest, land use and climate change sectors, the course and all the course materials are now publicly available on the FAO eLearning Academy website.

Dhina believes that everything connects to forestry. This course was another step in her goal of conserving the valuable forest resources and the services they provide in her home country.

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

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Vital to ensure all countries recover together: minister

Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has emphasized that it is important to ensure all countries recover together from the COVID-19 pandemic to avoid uneven global development.

“As we have seen, the global economy has begun to revive. However, the progress is unequal among each country,” she said at the opening of the first G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) Meeting here on Thursday.

Unequal economic recovery may have a significant impact in terms of the different pace of policy normalization, which could potentially cause tighter global liquidity, she pointed out.

Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic had induced a severe global economic disruption in both supply and demand sectors, she noted.

Economic disruptions, such as high unemployment, weak investment, and low productivity, can have long-term impacts if the problems are not handled properly and quickly, the minister highlighted.

For instance, these problems can hinder private sector recovery, extensively affect public finances, as well as disturb both the real sector and the financial sector, ultimately hampering progress and creation of strong and resilient economic growth, Indrawati said.

“Hence, it is important to address the risks of inadequate normalization policies as well as economic disruptions well,” she added.

Therefore, future economic policies must be developed as a well-calculated, well-planned, and well-communicated exit strategy to achieve smooth recovery as well as strong, sustainable, balanced, and inclusive growth, she said.

In addition, the policies must ensure that global economic growth remains inclusive and no country is left behind, the minister stressed.

Indonesia has been holding the G20 Presidency since December 1, 2021. Currently, the government is hosting two Finance Track meetings in Jakarta, which are estimated to be attended in person by at least 175 participants.

The meetings are the Second G20 Finance and Central Bank Deputies (FCBD) Meeting on February 15–16, 2022, and the First G20 FMCBG Meeting on February 17–18, 2022.

Source: Antara News

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Professor highlights long-term danger of stunting in children

Stunting, characterized by growth failure in children under the age of two due to long periods of malnutrition, poses a long-term danger for the future of children.

“Stunting could hinder brain development, cause mental degradation, and reduce studying capability,” Professor Rini Sekartini from the University of Indonesia’s Faculty of Medicine noted during a webinar on Thursday.

The other impacts of stunting on children include vulnerability to diseases, decline in cognitive capability, and suboptimal body posture when they become adults.

In addition, unbalanced body functions and increased risk of chronic diseases as they get older such as diabetes, hypertension, and obesity are some of the other impacts.

In addition to chronic malnutrition for a protracted period of time, lack of protein intake, and chronic infection, stunting can occur due stunted growth in the womb during pregnancy and also inadequate psychosocial stimulation.

Preventing stunting can begin since pregnancy by paying attention to health and nutritional intake, Sekartini noted.

Next, the provision of exclusive breast milk to children, provision of complementary food for breast milk on time, and watching out for protein sources for food intake, including milk.

“After a year, food prepared by the family becomes the primary source, while milk acts as a complementary,” she noted while adding that children could drink up to 500 ml of milk in a day.

This healthy eating pattern is also crucial when a child is infected with COVID-19.

Sekartini explained that COVID-19 is an acute virus like the flu, but it differs in variant. When the children recover, efforts should be made to revive their appetite in order to maintain nutritional intake.

Moreover, parents should pay attention to the cleanliness of children and the environment as well as monitor their growth periodically.

If a child is shorter than his or her peers, then parents could check the weight and height against the age in the Mother and Child Health Book to ensure that their children grow normally.

This is because children with stunting will definitely be short, but short children do not necessarily have stunting.

“From the start of conception until they are 18 years of age, they should really be monitored to prevent stunting,” Sekartini emphasized.

Source: Antara News

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Infrastructure, human resources pose challenges to agriculture sector

Supporting infrastructure for agriculture until the post-harvest period and requisite human resources are deemed to be challenges in developing Indonesia’s agriculture sector, National Development Planning Agency’s (Bappenas’) policy analyst Jarot Indarto stated.

At the G20 agriculture sector online discussion on food resiliency and sustainable farming on Thursday, he noted that aging farmers and fishermen in Indonesia posed a challenge to conduct regeneration during the medium- to long-term period.

Aging agricultural human resources had limited access to information, market potential, and funding, he pointed out.

Currently, banking credit financing data for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) does not reach 20 percent, he highlighted.

From this figure, agriculture MSMEs access finance less than MSMEs in the trade sector, he noted.

Meanwhile, agriculture infrastructure should continue to be bolstered for the development of Indonesian agriculture to be transformed into modern agriculture, Indarto emphasized.

“The current infrastructure problem causes issues in improving productivity,” he elaborated.

Meanwhile, the policy analyst pointed to existing issues in terms of village road, energy, and communication infrastructure.

“Hence, technological adoption could become one of our collective efforts to handle these challenges,” he remarked.

In addition, the small business scale in the farming sector and high production costs are still challenges that must be addressed immediately.

Indarto also underlined the importance of developing a better business partnership between farmers, fishermen, and related parties.

During the event, Center of Indonesian Policy Studies’ (CIPS’) Head Researcher Felippa Amanta called for bolstering the Indonesian agriculture sector’s supply chain.

This will provide additional value to agriculture products and prevent food loss.

“What we tend to forget when it comes to food and farming is that the process does not end with harvest. There is an activity afterwards that is an inseparable component of the food system,” she noted.

Source: Antara News

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Need for corporate financing in January still high: BI survey

A Bank Indonesia Survey on Banking Financing Demand and Supply has indicated that the need for corporate financing remained high in January this year, an official informed in Jakarta on Thursday.

“The demand for corporate financing was indicated to be still high in January 2022, although it was slower than in the previous month,” executive director of the communications department of Bank Indonesia, Erwin Haryono, said in a press statement.

The high indication of corporate financing was reflected in the weighted net balance (SBT) of 13.1 percent, which was lower than the weighted net balance of 17.4 percent recorded in December 2021, he added.

There was a slowdown in demand, especially for financing originating from their own funds and financing from loans or new loans from domestic banks, he noted. Meanwhile, demand originating from loans/debts from the parent company was indicated to have increased, he said.

The need for new financing for households was monitored to be limited in January 2022, Haryono disclosed. The majority of households chose commercial banks as the main source of additional financing, with multipurpose loans accounting for the majority of financing applications, he said.

As many as 45.1 percent of new financing applications from household respondents pertained to multipurpose loans, followed by motor vehicle loans (KKB) (17.5 percent), although both showed a decline compared to the previous month, he added.

From the supply side of bank financing, in January 2022, new lending was indicated to be lower than in the previous month, he informed.

Based on the type of use, new credit distribution in January indicated a decline in investment loans (KI) and mortgage loans (KPR) and a slowdown in working capital loans (KMK) and consumption loans other than mortgage loans, he said.

Meanwhile, for the entire first quarter of 2022, new loan disbursement is expected to slow down compared to the previous quarter, he projected.

Source: Antara News

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