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CSG Supercharges Customer Engagement Solutions with Acquisition of Kitewheel

CSG

DENVER, July 14, 2021 — CSG ® (NASDAQ: CSGS), the leader in innovative customer engagement, revenue management and payments solutions that make ordinary customer experiences extraordinary, today announced the acquisition of Kitewheel, the leading provider for customer journey orchestration and analytics. The acquisition unites respective industry leaders and propels CSG into new industry verticals, unlocking a $10 billion global market growth opportunity that further extends the company’s position in customer experience management. “Kitewheel is a natural extension to CSG’s customer engagement portfolio and strengthens our presence in faster growing industry verticals like retail, financial services and healthcare, which further diversify our revenue mix and customer base,” said Alfred Binford, president of customer engagement for CSG. “Kitewheel’s expertise and established market leadership will enhance our ability to deliver greater value to new customers around the world and turbo-charge the global expansion of our customer engagement business.” According to Forrester's research on "How to Choose the Right Tech for Your CX Needs" (June 29, 2021), "[c]ustomer-obsessed firms must break down organizational silos to focus on the needs of their customers. But disparate and overlapping technology investments severely hamper their collaboration efforts.” The combination of CSG’s digital customer engagement technologies and Kitewheel’s journey orchestration and analytics SaaS technology creates a powerhouse, cloud-based, engagement platform that orchestrates real-time, contextually relevant customer experiences for leading brands. The result is a real-time interaction management platform that bridges the gap between information silos and taps into the power of unified customer interaction and behavioral data to produce meaningful, end-to-end customer journeys. “In today’s hyper-connected, hyper-personalized world, the ability to offer differentiated customer experiences can make or break a company and brand,” said Mark Smith, president, Kitewheel. “By joining the CSG family, Kitewheel brings added scale to our combined customer engagements portfolio, tying together CSG’s proven products, experiences practice, journey orchestration, analytics and communication engagement channel solutions. These real-time interaction management capabilities are unmatched in the industry and offer an end-to-end solution with the agility and intentionality companies need to wow their customers.” CSG and Kitewheel have already successfully sold and delivered multiple customer wins worldwide, including a full-suite deployment at one of the world’s largest global banks. The financial services giant turned to CSG and Kitewheel to simplify and automate its mortgage notification process and comply with various regulations. The bank increased its digital customer notifications by over 10%, reduced paper and postage costs and improved overall operational efficiency. Based on the success of the mortgage use case, the bank has since expanded the CSG-Kitewheel technology suite to other lines of business in its ongoing effort to provide optimized micro-journeys for exceptional and personalized customer experiences. Building on a successful partnership that began in 2018, this acquisition combines two industry leaders – CSG, a global leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Integrated Revenue and Customer Management and Kitewheel, a leader in The Forrester Wave™: Journey Orchestration Platforms, Q4 2020 and a visionary in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Marketing Hubs. For more information on CSG’s customer engagement solutions, visit https://www.csgi.com/capabilities/customer-engagement/. # # # About Kitewheel Kitewheel empowers the world’s largest businesses to understand and improve the consumer experience with the leading customer journey management platform. Kitewheel’s innovative Customer Journey Hub orchestrates intelligent customer journeys by unifying decisions across disparate systems, touchpoints, and technologies and provides seamless customer experiences that drive real-time revenue as well as long-term loyalty. Kitewheel serves its global partner and client base from offices in Boston and London. For more information, please visit http://www.kitewheel.com and follow Kitewheel on Twitter and LinkedIn. About CSG For more than 35 years, CSG has simplified the complexity of business, delivering innovative customer engagement solutions that help companies acquire, monetize, engage and retain customers. Operating across more than 120 countries worldwide, CSG manages billions of critical customer interactions annually, and its award-winning suite of software and services allow companies across dozens of industries to tackle their biggest business challenges and thrive in an ever-changing marketplace. CSG is the trusted provider for driving digital innovation for hundreds of leading global brands, including Airtel Africa, América Móvil, AT&T, Charter Communications, Comcast, DISH, Formula 1, Hutchison 3 Indonesia, Inmarsat, Mastercard, Maximus, Microsoft, Mobily, MTN, New Leaf Service Contracts, State of California DMV, TalkTalk and Telstra. To learn more, visit our website at csgi.com and connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter. Copyright © 2021 CSG Systems International, Inc. and/or its affiliates (“CSG”). All rights reserved. CSG® is a registered trademark of CSG Systems International, Inc. All third-party trademarks, service marks, and/or product names which are referenced in this document are the property of their respective owners, and all rights therein are reserved. Contacts: Tammy Hovey Global / North America / Asia-Pacific Public Relations CSG +1 (917) 520-2751 tammy.hovey@csgi.com Kristine Østergaard CSG Europe / Middle East / Africa Public Relations +44 (0)75 0051 8412 kristine.ostergaard@csgi.com John Rea Investor Relations CSG +1 (210) 687 4409 john.rea@csgi.com Contact Details CSG Tammy Hovey +1 917-520-2751 tammy.hovey@csgi.com Company Website https://www.csgi.com

July 14, 2021 06:30 AM Mountain Daylight Time

Unique Stays Are Booming on Airbnb, with Big Opportunity for Hosts

YourUpdateTV

From a treehouse to a giant potato hotel, searches for unique homes on Airbnb have increased by 94 percent in 2021 compared to 2019, with Hosts of unique stays collectively earning $300 million globally. Recently, the Host of the Big Idaho Potato Hotel, Kristie Wolfe, teamed with Airbnb and YourUpdateTV on a satellite media tour to talk about why guests are so drawn to unique homes and the economic opportunity of hosting for those with unique spaces to share. A video accompanying this announcement is available at: https://youtu.be/R3kglXdaOA8 The Big Idaho Potato Hotel is one of the several unique stays that travelers are turning to break up the monotony of the past year. According to the Airbnb Report on Travel & Living, this fascination with unique stays is universal, with 55 percent of the 100 most wishlisted homes in the last year falling into unique categories. Unique home searches have increased by 94 percent in 2021 compared to the same time period in 2019. Searches for certain types of unique homes – such as yurts, huts and farm stays – have exploded by 10x compared to just two years ago. In fact, there are over 170,000 unique properties all over the world on Airbnb. Unique Hosts have also benefited from the increased interest in unique stays. Since the start of the pandemic, they have collectively earned $300 million globally. To help meet the pent-up demand, Airbnb launched the new Flexible Destinations tool for guests who aren’t committed to a specific destination and want to be able to filter for unique stays when finding trip accommodations. Spending time outdoors has become more important than ever, and parks are seeing a broader range of people visiting and enjoying in record numbers. As more and more people flock to these treasured places, it’s imperative to be safe and thoughtful about how to enjoy and experience them. Airbnb has teamed up with the National Park Foundation to encourage people to recreate responsibly in parks this summer and share some really helpful tips. This includes: Be mindful of where you plan to visit. Don’t overcrowd areas, as this may endanger the safety of yourself and others. When you’re ready to leave a park, make sure to pack up your garbage. Minimize waste by bringing food in reusable containers and utilize refillable water bottles. Remember to respect wildlife and always observe from a distance. And be an active part of making the outdoors safe and welcoming for park visitors of all identities and abilities. Whether you already have a unique space to share, or are interested in creating one, now is the time to consider joining Kristie in sharing it with people from all over the world, on Airbnb. If you’re interested in learning how to get started as a Host, go to airbnb.com/host About Kristie Wolfe: Kristie is a proud Idahoan who is passionate about living simply. In the winter of 2013, she fulfilled a lifelong dream of building her very own treehouse and sharing it with travellers from around the world. From the success of that unique stay, she has since been able to build a hobbit hole, refurbish a fire lookout and, of course, has made over a 6-ton spud guests can sleep in! About YourUpdateTV: YourUpdateTV is a social media video portal for organizations to share their content. It includes separate channels for Health and Wellness, Lifestyle, Media and Entertainment, Money and Finance, Social Responsibility, Sports and Technology. Contact Details YourUpdateTV +1 212-736-2727 yourupdatetv@gmail.com

July 13, 2021 05:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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Cyvatar Wins Grand Trophy in the Annual Disruptor Awards

Cyvatar

Cyvatar won its second Grand Trophy of the year during the 2021 Disruptor Company Awards. In addition to its Grand Trophy win, the company walked away with a gold award for security services and bronze for security cloud and SaaS. The disruptor awards judges recognize disruptors as highly persistent, mostly beginning from scratch without the constraints of traditionally accepted processes or business models. Instead, they use modern technology and tools to achieve superior end results. The excellence and innovation found in Cyvatar’s cybersecurity-as-a-service (CSaaS) offering has been recognized again and again since its debut last fall. The disruptor awards mark Cyvatar’s 17th win in eight months. “Like other disruptors, we do things differently at Cyvatar,” said Cyvatar Co-Founder and Chief Product and Strategy Officer Craig Goodwin. “We’re not hindered by legacy systems or bound by outdated solutions. We confidently face the challenges of providing security solutions that are effortless for our members to use and affordable for them to purchase.” Cyvatar brings the membership economy to cybersecurity with its innovative CSaaS model and a platform that has already become the de facto operating system for today’s security programs. It transforms cybersecurity for its customers and continually meets their ever-evolving business and security requirements. The company was selected from organizations around the world that vied for top honors. Its disruptive, game-changing platform delivers fast, affordable, fully managed security programs for any size business; processes designed to provide outcomes, continuous remediation, and ongoing solution maintenance; and the ability for all of its members to execute their security strategies at speed and scale. Does your organization need award-winning cybersecurity? Find out how Cyvatar can help. About Cyvatar Cyvatar is committed to effortless cybersecurity for everyone. As the industry’s first subscription-based, cybersecurity-as-a-service (CSaaS) company, it’s our mission to transform the way the security industry builds, sells, and supports cyber solutions. We empower our members to achieve successful outcomes by providing expert advisors, proven technologies, and a strategic process roadmap to guarantee results that map to their business drivers. Our approach is rooted in proprietary ICARM (installation, configuration, assessment, remediation, maintenance) methodology that delivers smarter, measurable security solutions for superior compliance and cyber-attack protection faster and more efficiently, all at a fixed monthly price. And because we’re a subscription, members can cancel anytime. Cyvatar is a global organization with operations around the world. Begin your journey to security confidence at https://cyvatar.ai/ and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter. Contact Details Cyvatar KC Higgins +1 303-434-8163 kc@cyvatar.ai Company Website https://cyvatar.ai/

July 13, 2021 11:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Zesty.ai has been selected by The Berkshire Hathaway Homestate Companies for AI-driven Climate Risk Analytics

Zesty.ai and The Berkshire Hathaway Homestate Companies

Zesty.ai’s models will immediately empower the Berkshire Hathaway group of insurance companies with precise risk scores underpinned by more than 200 billion data points and decades of historical loss data Today The Berkshire Hathaway Homestate Companies (BHHC) has chosen Zesty.ai, a leader in climate risk analytics powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI), to enhance its current understanding of climate risk for commercial properties at the individual property level. BHHC encompasses six insurance carriers that are part of the Berkshire Hathaway group of insurance companies, and through this relationship it gains immediate access to Zesty.ai’s climate risk solutions to enhance their underwriting processes. Other Berkshire Hathaway Inc. insurance affiliates will also experiment with this promising tool to evaluate for future use in their property business as well. Insurance losses from secondary perils including wildfires, severe convective storms, and floods have been increasing in frequency and severity, resulting in $97 billion in insured losses in 2020 alone. Losses from these events are now outpacing losses from primary perils like hurricanes and earthquakes. The insurance industry has adopted more sophisticated models for primary perils while models to understand risk posed by secondary perils are still very nascent. BHHC’s partnership with Zesty.ai offers the company access to assessment of secondary perils that leverage cutting-edge technologies like AI and computer vision. “As a leading commercial property insurer, we are deeply committed to leveraging the latest technologies to ensure we are accurately pricing the risk to our customers from natural disasters,” said Brian Hall, Vice President - Products and Underwriting at Berkshire Hathaway Homestate Companies. “We’ve been evaluating Zesty.ai’s climate risk solutions for over two years and have found them to be valuable in enhancing our current underwriting process.” Zesty.ai uses more than 200 billion data points, including aerial imagery, weather, and real estate data, to generate property-specific risk scores for both personal and commercial lines business. Combining property insights, such as roof pitch, building height, parcel slope, and more with Zesty.ai’s proprietary database of actual loss data has allowed the company to build the next generation of predictive climate risk models, including Z-FIRE - an AI model trained on more than 1,400 wildfire events and more than 20 years of historical loss data. Unlike legacy models, Z-FIRE accounts for the property-level factors that contribute to wildfire risk including building materials, historical weather data, and factors extracted from aerial imagery like vegetation, and then combines these details to derive a property-specific predictive risk score. “The Berkshire Hathaway Homestate Companies have a longstanding reputation for being innovators in the industry, and we’re honored to work with them to enhance their ability to accurately assess climate risk,” said Attila Toth, Founder & CEO of Zesty.ai. “Their understanding of commercial property insurance combined with our AI-powered climate risk analytics will drive substantial value for their customers while giving BHHC a true edge in risk selection.” For more information on Zesty.ai and its climate risk solutions please visit www.zesty.ai. For more information on BHHC please visit www.bhhc.com. About Zesty.ai Increasingly frequent natural disasters have impacted communities and drove $2.2 Trillion in economic losses over the past decade. Zesty.ai uses 200Bn data points, including aerial imagery, and artificial intelligence to assess the impact of climate change one building at a time. Zesty.ai has partnered with leading insurance companies and property owners to help them protect homes, businesses and support thriving communities. Zesty.ai was named Top 100 Most Innovative AI Company in the world by CB Insights in2020, and Gartner Cool Vendor in Insurance by Gartner Research in 2019. For more information visit: https://www.zesty.ai/. About Berkshire Hathaway Homestate Companies The Berkshire Hathaway Homestate Companies (BHHC) are a group of six insurance carriers that are part of the Berkshire Hathaway insurance group. Headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, and with more than 50 years in business, BHHC has evolved from a regional carrier to a national insurance group writing a diverse book of policies from coast to coast. Its Workers’ Compensation Division is based in San Francisco, California. The Berkshire Hathaway Homestate Companies are Berkshire Hathaway Homestate Insurance Company, Brookwood Insurance Company, Continental Divide Insurance Company, Cypress Insurance Company, Oak River Insurance Company, and Redwood Fire and Casualty Insurance Company. Visit www.bhhc.com. Contact Details Abby Schiller +1 216-870-1835 abby@clarity.pr

July 13, 2021 08:00 AM Pacific Daylight Time

ZOE Study Reveals Eating a Plant Rich Diet Reduces Risk of Developing COVID-19 and Going to the Hospital

ZOE

Researchers at health science company ZOE, Harvard Medical School, and King’s College London found that people who eat a high quality, gut-friendly diet* are less likely to develop COVID-19 or become severely ill. Alternatively, they discovered that those eating poorer quality diets are more at risk, especially if they live in a more socioeconomically deprived area. The findings are published in medRxiv online as a preprint. Key points from the study: Researchers analyzed data from nearly 600,000 ZOE COVID Study app contributors who completed a survey about the food they ate during Feb 2020 (pre-pandemic), making it the largest study in this space. People with the highest quality diet were around 10% less likely to develop COVID-19 than those with the lowest quality diet, and 40% less likely to become severely ill. This is the first longitudinal study of diet and COVID-19 and the first to show that a healthy diet cuts the chances of developing the disease in the first place. The scale of the study meant researchers were able to adjust for multiple confounding factors, which can be a challenge for studies of smaller sizes. The effect of diet on COVID-19 is independent of other known risk factors, including age, weight, race, ethnicity and underlying health conditions, but was amplified by social inequality. Measuring diet quality While it is already known that diet-related health conditions like diabetes, heart disease and obesity increase the chances of becoming seriously ill with COVID-19, it is not yet clear how the foods people eat affect their risk of catching the virus independently of these factors. To learn more about the interplay between food and health, the team analyzed data from 592,571 UK and US contributors who completed a survey about their eating habits within the ZOE COVID Study app. Based on analysis of symptoms or PCR test results reported in the app, 31,815 contributors (19%) ultimately caught COVID-19. Rather than looking at specific foods or nutrients, the survey was designed to look at broader dietary patterns which are reflective of how we actually eat. The survey produced a ‘diet quality score’ that reflected the overall merit of each person’s diet. Diets with high quality scores were found to contain plant-based foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains and nuts, as well as oily fish, healthier fats like olive oil, less processed foods and refined carbohydrates. High quality diet scores were also linked with a ‘healthier’ and a more diverse gut microbiome, which was also associated with a wide range of favorable health outcomes, including reduced inflammation and body fat and improved levels of blood lipids and glucose. For these aforementioned reasons, higher quality scoring diets were also referred to as ‘gut-friendly’ diets. A low diet quality score is associated with diets high in ultra processed foods and low amounts of plant-based foods, like fruit and vegetables. Connecting diet and COVID-19 risk The researchers found that people who ate the highest quality diet were around 10% less likely to develop COVID-19 than those with the least nutritious diet and 40% less likely to become severely ill if they developed COVID-19. Recent research on a smaller cross-sectional sample has shown that people who eat a plant-based or pescatarian** diet are less likely to become severely ill with COVID-19. However, this is the first study to show that a healthier diet actually reduces the chances of developing the disease in the first place. Importantly, the relationship between diet quality and COVID-19 risk still remained after accounting for all potential confounding factors. Factors included age, body mass index (BMI), ethnicity, smoking, physical activity and underlying health conditions. Mask-wearing habits and population density were also considered. Strikingly, the impact of diet was amplified by individual life situations, with people living in low-income neighborhoods and having the lowest quality diet being around 25% more at risk from COVID-19 than people in more affluent communities who were eating in the same way. Based on these results, the researchers estimate that nearly a quarter of COVID-19 cases could have been prevented if these differences in diet quality and socioeconomic status had not existed. This further highlights that improved access to nutritious, healthier food could be substantive for bettering public health, especially among the underprivileged members of the community. Professor Tim Spector, lead scientist at ZOE COVID Study and professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London, said: “These findings chime with recent results from our landmark PREDICT study, showing that people who eat higher quality diets (with low levels of ultra-processed foods) also have a healthier collection of microbes in their guts, which is linked to better health. You don’t have to go vegan, but getting more diverse plants on your plate is a great way to boost the health of your gut microbiome, improve your immunity and overall health, and potentially reduce your risk from COVID-19.” Dr Sarah Berry, study co-lead and associate professor in nutritional sciences at King’s College London, said: “For the first time we’ve been able to show that a healthier diet can cut the chances of catching COVID-19, especially for people living in the poorest areas. Access to healthier food is important to everyone in society, but our findings tell us that helping those living in more deprived areas to eat more healthily could have the biggest public health benefits.” Professor Andrew Chan MD, MPH, gastroenterologist and director of epidemiology at Massachusetts General Hospital, and professor at Harvard Medical School, said: “ Diet quality is an established risk factor for many conditions that are known to have an inflammatory basis. Our study demonstrates that this may also hold true for COVID-19, a virus which is known to provoke a severe inflammatory response. We also highlight how diet quality is also an important social determinant of health. COVID-19 has laid bare how such social determinants underlie the severe racial and socioeconomic disparities in COVID-19 risk that we and others have documented.” Jonathan Wolf, CEO of ZOE, added: “At ZOE we’re using the latest data science to unpick the complex connections between diet and health, bringing together our expertise in COVID-19 and nutrition to help improve health for all.” NOTES TO EDITORS For more information about the ZOE COVID Study app or to request an interview with Professor Tim Spector, please contact Eleanor Griffiths: +44 (0)7950 335916 eleanor@joinzoe.com For more information about ZOE or to request an interview with Jonathan Wolf, please contact; Fiana Tulip: fiana@joinzoe.com Preprint available here: Diet quality and risk and severity of COVID-19: a prospective cohort study. The research team includes scientists from: King’s College London; Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, USA; The Broad Institute, Cambridge, USA; UTHealth, Texas, USA; Lund University, Sweden; ZOE Global Ltd. *A gut-friendly diet explained: A high quality diet contains more plant-based foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains and nuts as well as oily fish and healthier fats like olive oil and less processed foods and refined carbohydrates. This diet quality score is associated with a ‘healthier’ more diverse gut microbiome, which in turn is associated with a wide range of favorable health outcomes, including lower inflammation and body fat and improved blood lipids and glucose. **A pescatarian diet is predominantly vegetarian but includes fish and seafood. About ZOE ZOE is a healthcare science company helping people understand their body’s responses to food. By using machine learning combined with large scale human studies, ZOE is decoding the impact of nutrition on health. ZOE leads the PREDICT Studies and the ZOE COVID Study, which are the world’s largest community powered research programs of their kind in nutrition and COVID-19 respectively. Located in London and Boston, ZOE was founded by Professor Tim Spector of King’s College London, data science leader Jonathan Wolf and entrepreneur George Hadjigeorgiou. ZOE was named one of the Deloitte Fast 50 Rising Stars in 2019 for the company’s contribution to science enabled by technology and machine learning.For more information on ZOE’s mission and science, visit joinzoe.com About ZOE COVID Study The ZOE COVID Study is a not-for-profit initiative that was launched at the end of March 2020 to support vital COVID-19 research. The app was launched by health science company ZOE with scientific analysis provided by King’s College London. With 4 million contributors globally, the study is the world’s largest ongoing study of COVID-19 and is led by ZOE Co-Founder and King’s College London Professor, Tim Spector. The team has published over 20 research papers since March, most notably in Nature Medicine. To date the app is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care. The funding was awarded to enable the app to continue collecting data from its 4million+ users to help the UK government's response to COVID-19 and beyond. The app provides unique insight on asymptomatic and symptomatic information across the UK with 1.2 million logging on a weekly basis. For more information on The COVID Symptom Study app visit covid.joinzoe.com. Contact Details ZOE Fiana Tulip +1 817-691-3031 fiana@joinzoe.com Company Website https://www.joinzoe.com

July 13, 2021 09:13 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Hong Kong Baptist University secures funding from RGC Theme-based Research Scheme to build platform technologies for symbiotic creativity

Hong Kong Baptist University

HONG KONG SAR - Media OutReach - 13 July 2021 - A research project led by Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) entitled “Building Platform Technologies for Symbiotic Creativity in Hong Kong” has been awarded HK$52.8 million in research funding from the Theme-based Research Scheme (11th round) under the Research Grants Council (RGC) for a five-year project. This is the first time that major funding has been allocated by the RGC for an art-tech project. The research team will develop platform technologies for symbiotic creativity, providing unlimited art content for humans, including an art data repository, an artificial intelligence (AI) creative algorithm system, a research theatre, a digital art and policy network, and some unique and creative application projects, to usher in a new era of art technology. Led by Professor Guo Yike, Vice-President (Research and Development), and Professor Johnny M Poon, Associate Vice-President (Interdisciplinary Research), at HKBU, the research team will develop an immersive and interactive extended reality (XR) platform to capture human data during the artistic creation and appreciation process, which includes the cognitive and physiological data of artists and the audience, such as brain waves, body temperature and heart rates, gait and movements, etc. The platform will then convert the data into the descriptors of cognition, emotions, and behavioural patterns. The researchers will associate and link the artworks with the descriptors to build a comprehensive and extensive data repository for artificial intelligence model training. It will enable machines to learn human aesthetics, instead of mimicking art created by humans. The platform will also enable the audience to immerse themselves in a virtual world. They will be surrounded by images, sounds, etc, and have new artistic experiences. In addition, the immersive and interactive XR platform will be equipped with a number of sensing devices, which will help the artists to go beyond the traditional forms and boundaries and communicate and interact with the audience in new ways. “This research project has secured funding from the RGC, demonstrating that Hong Kong attaches great importance to the development of artistic and creative technologies based on AI. This project stands at the forefront of the arts and science nexus, harnessing the power of science and technology to advance human and AI interaction in art creation. It will foster a new direction in art created by both humans and machines,” said Professor Guo. “We will spare no effort in building a world-class AI art creation platform, and it will drive a new revolution that transforms the creative and cultural industries. It will enable Hong Kong to assume a leading position in art-tech on the global stage,” he added. Under this project, HKBU will launch three application projects: the Super AI artist – the world’s first “Combined Music and Art Biennale”, which will host multidisciplinary musical works and artworks jointly created by humans and AI; Shared Mind and Empathetic AI – a concert series featuring a three-way collaboration between performers, the audience and machines; and Symbiotic Opera – a new form of opera that integrates with immersive XR technology, and it will be jointly created by humans and machines in an immersive virtual world. Members of the multidisciplinary research team led by HKBU include cognitive scientists, AI and data scientists, media scientists, ethicists and art policy scholars from Yale University, the University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, the University of Kent, Tsinghua University, the University of Hong Kong and City University of Hong Kong. The research team will also collaborate closely with industrial and musical partners, including Huawei, Microsoft, SenseTime and Opera Hong Kong. Contact Details Hong Kong Baptist University Christina Wu from the Communication and Public Relations Office christinawu@hkbu.edu.hk Company Website https://www.hkbu.edu.hk/

July 13, 2021 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Starting With Reducing World Inequity; W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Esri, and PVBLIC Form New Data Alliance Using Big Data Geospatial Technology for SDG Goals

Esri

A long-term universal threat to social and economic development, inequity hampers poverty reduction initiatives, destroys people’s sense of fulfillment and self-worth, and stunts every human’s potential. In September 2015, world leaders agreed to 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that have the power to create a better, more equitable world by 2030. Reducing inequality is the most important step countries can take to improve standards of living. Based on the foundational principle of reducing inequalities of all kinds, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Esri, the PVBLIC Foundation, and the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) Secretariat, announced today they have joined forces to form the SDG Data Alliance. Using the power of purpose-driven collaboration, globally recognized geospatial frameworks, and leading GIS technology, this influential group of partners will accelerate achievement of the SDGs by creating 17 SDG Data Hubs across developing nations in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Based on geospatial frameworks and technology, the data hubs will assist developing countries in measuring, monitoring and reporting on their progress toward reducing inequality and will empower people to ensure inclusiveness and equality. The SDG Data Alliance will empower governments, businesses, and people to respond to and manage shared global challenges like poverty, inequality, and climate change. SDG Data Hubs at Work. A Few Local Examples Ireland and Gender Equality. Women are significantly outnumbered by men in both local and national politics in Ireland. The introduction of gender quota legislation before the 2016 General Elections produced an increase of 6.5 percentage points in female representation in those elections. The gender quota legislation did not apply in the 2019 Local Elections, which saw a smaller increase of 3.8 percentage points in the number of seats won by women. With SDG equity data, gender information, constituent and population information, and economic data help identify marginalized workers, economic and labor market opportunities, and gender balance in government. Iraq and Health Access Inequity. A young pregnant woman living in an informal settlement in Iraq during COVID-19 pandemic may not have adequate water, sanitation, housing or access to healthcare facilities. With SDG equity data around water, healthcare and housing, gaps and patterns can be identified in context to build an infrastructure to keep this woman and her baby healthy during the pandemic. Haiti and Climate Justice. Haiti is extremely vulnerable to natural disasters with more than 90 percent of the population at risk. A young man makes his living and supports his family by selling fruit on the street during rush hour and at tourist destinations. Hurricane Irma nearly swept away his family’s home and his ability to go to school for a better economic potential. With SDG equity data around education, economic growth, climate, and agriculture, insights can be found and shared to provide this young man the opportunity to finish his education and build a more promising future for his family. The SDG Data Alliance’s technology, expertise, and financial support will help countries around the world measure their progress in achieving global equity. Geospatial information and the collaborative efforts to collect and share SDG data are the foundation for connecting people to their location and environment. This alliance enables countries to more precisely allocate resources to address all forms of inequity - reducing inequalities of all kinds, including equity for women, reducing hunger, poverty, improving access to clean water and taking action to reduce the impact of climate change. “Together, we have a vision to build the capacity of communities, governments and NGOs to monitor their progress towards their goals,” said La June Montgomery Tabron, President and CEO of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. “At the heart of this partnership is the belief that people have the capacity to create the conditions for their children to thrive and for communities to become equitable places of opportunity. When communities see the full picture of what’s at play, it will only accelerate that change.” “Inequality threatens long-term social and economic development, and hampers poverty reduction initiatives, especially among vulnerable global communities,” said Jack Dangermond, Esri founder and president. “Open, community-driven partnerships like the SDG Data Alliance offer a framework to create a reporting environment that help communities see patterns and trends around issues like inequality. Our goal in this partnership is to enable the world to work more effectively together on reducing inequalities by leveraging geospatial technology to better understand and solve these challenges.” “We have been advancing this concept for many years and it is remarkable to see this dream become a reality with so many global partners coming together,” said Sergio Fernandez de Cordova, Chairman of PVBLIC Foundation. “Our core mission at PVBLIC is to mobilize media, data, and technology to take action on the sustainable development goals and that’s what the SDG Data Alliance is all about. The partners assembled here are poised to rewrite history, around the role of data, in a post-pandemic world.” “Reducing Inequalities is fundamental to creating a just and prosperous world where no one is left behind and everyone can thrive,” said Michelle Gyles McDonnough, Director, Sustainable Development Unit, Executive Office of the Secretary-General at the United Nations. “It is essential that member states build up their capacity based on actionable data to measure and monitor their progress on the SDG 10 – Reducing Inequalities. The SDG Data Alliance is an example of a multistakeholder initiative that drives progress and offers innovative solutions. Greater universal equality among women and men, income groups and regardless of race and ethnicity will enable us to keep the promise to reach the goals by 2030.” Visit the SDG Data Alliance site at alliance.sdg.org. Members of the SDG Data Alliance have already helped many countries create, organize and implement their SDG Data Hubs including Colombia, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico, State of Palestine, Philippines, Qatar, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, and the United Arab Emirates. About W.K. Kellogg Foundation: The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), founded in 1930 as an independent, private foundation by breakfast cereal innovator and entrepreneur Will Keith Kellogg, is among the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States. Guided by the belief that all children should have an equal opportunity to thrive, WKKF works with communities to create conditions for vulnerable children so they can realize their full potential in school, work and life. The Kellogg Foundation is based in Battle Creek, Michigan, and works throughout the United States and internationally, as well as with sovereign tribes. Special attention is paid to priority places where there are high concentrations of poverty and where children face significant barriers to success. WKKF priority places in the U.S. are in Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New Orleans; and internationally, are in Mexico and Haiti. For more information, visit www.wkkf.org. About Esri: Esri, the global market leader in geographic information system (GIS) software, location intelligence, and mapping, helps customers unlock the full potential of data to improve operational and business results. Founded in 1969 in Redlands, California, USA, Esri software is deployed in more than 350,000 organizations globally and in over 200,000 institutions in the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, including Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, nonprofits, and universities. Esri has regional offices, international distributors, and partners providing local support in over 100 countries on six continents. With its pioneering commitment to geospatial information technology, Esri engineers the most innovative solutions for digital transformation, the Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics. Visit us at esri.com. About PVBLIC Foundation: PVBLIC Foundation is an innovative non-profit organization that mobilizes media, data, and technology for sustainable development and social impact around the world. The Foundation connects public, private, and nonprofit sectors, plugging innovations into social agendas and helping governments, NGOs, and intergovernmental organizations amplify their impact through original programs, creative partnerships, and strategic donor funds. The foundation has managed programs and partnerships that have reached more than a billion people in 125 countries and inspired global action on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Contact Details Esri Jo Ann Pruchniewski +1 301-693-2643 jpruchniewski@esri.com W.K. Kellogg Foundation Kari Carlson +12698832220 kari.carlson@wkkf.org PVBLIC Foundation Luisa Fernanda Ruiz +573105819176 luisaf@pvblic.org CIEN+ Angela Sustaita-Ruiz +19172042787 angela.sustaitaruiz@cien.plus

July 13, 2021 08:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Velocity Global acquires Shield GEO in second growth transaction this year

Velocity Global

Company continues to scale leading global work platform Follows acquisition of iWorkGlobal in April Combined company serves more than 1,000 brands and over 7,000 supported employees this year DENVER, July 13, 2021 — Velocity Global continues to scale its leading global work platform with the acquisition of Shield GEO, an established global Employer of Record (EoR) provider. This is Velocity Global’s second acquisition this year, after it acquired iWorkGlobal in April. The company deployed capital from the $100 million growth investment from FFL Partners announced in April to complete the transaction. Terms of the deal were not announced. Velocity Global adds scale to its global work platform that simplifies the employer and employee experience. The platform combines the company’s cloud-based workforce management technology, personalized expertise, and unmatched global scale. Users access automated technology as well as partner with a dedicated experience team for individualized solutions and expertise. As the largest global EoR in 185 countries and all 50 United States, Velocity Global manages a client’s workforce by providing in-country and in-state compliance, payroll, and benefits for the supported employees. The company also offers Independent Contractor Compliance to assess a workforce and Agent of Record (AoR) to streamline payments to contractors globally. “For the last seven years we built our platform to support how and where work gets done. This now allows us the strategic position to scale up to meet the accelerated demand from the shifting workforce,” said Ben Wright, Velocity Global founder and CEO. “Both sides of the employment equation -- employers and employees -- fundamentally changed in the last 18 months. It’s not just about working from anywhere, it’s about how to recruit, how to retain employees, how to grow revenue, and how to manage a newly empowered work-life balance.” The “future of work” or gig economy is worth $4.5 trillion according to a 2020 report from Staffing Industry Analysts. “Velocity Global’s continued profitable organic growth sets the foundation for further scale through strategic acquisitions,” said Cas Schneller, FFL Managing Partner. “Both of the company’s recent acquisitions were of profitable, strong businesses at a time when scale is needed to match the market. Velocity Global strengthens its leadership position in the future of work.” The combined company serves more than 1,000 brands and over 7,000 supported employees this year. Velocity Global is registered in all 50 United States and continues to grow its footprint to include 50 wholly owned foreign legal entities in the most desired international markets by year’s end. “We share a proud history of organic growth, and now was the time to combine the global reach of Shield GEO with that of Velocity Global, and deliver an even greater experience that the market is demanding,” said Duncan Macintosh, Shield GEO co-founder. “This combination multiplies the growth opportunity for our team.” “We have known Ben and Velocity Global for a long time and we’ve always viewed our industry similarly, especially in terms of how we service our customers and the employees that we support for them,” said Tim Burgess, Shield GEO co-founder. “Delivering a great human-focused customer experience is important to all of us. We are excited by what our combined teams can do together.” Shield GEO is based in Hong Kong with entities in the U.K. and Australia, and a global remote team. The combined company welcomes all 75 Shield GEO employees and is led by Wright under the Velocity Global brand. Burgess and Macintosh will support the integration of Shield GEO into Velocity Global. ABOUT VELOCITY GLOBAL Velocity Global accelerates the future of work beyond borders. Its global work platform simplifies the employer and employee experience through cloud-based workforce management technology, personalized expertise, and unmatched scale. As the largest global Employer of Record (also known as International PEO) in 185 countries and all 50 United States, more than 1,000 brands rely on Velocity Global to build global teams without the cost or complexity of setting up foreign legal entities or state registrations. The company offers additional services including Independent Contractor Compliance to assess a workforce, and Agent of Record (AoR) to streamline payments to contractors. Velocity Global was named a “Leader” in Global Employer of Record services by prominent analyst firm NelsonHall. Founded in 2014, the company has hundreds of employees in 27 countries. For more information visit velocityglobal.com. Contact Details Velocity Global John Hall +1 720-650-4348 news@velocityglobal.com Company Website https://velocityglobal.com/

July 13, 2021 05:30 AM Mountain Daylight Time

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25-Year Independent Printing Business Custom Printing Converts to International Minute Press Franchise in Nampa, Idaho

Minuteman Press International Inc

Mike Cutler started selling print out of his garage in 1996. Over the next 25 years, Mike built a successful printing business that averaged over $1 million in gross sales over the past 5 years. Mike shares his experience in attempting to sell his independent printing company Custom Printing on his own for six to eight months and reveals how Minuteman Press International was able to step in to help him successfully sell the business. History of Custom Printing Mike says, “Custom Printing was a true family business I built from the ground up. I learned the printing trade through my father, who was a line and typesetter dating back to the 1950s. After starting the business in 1996, I quickly out-grew my garage and opened my first retail location in 1998. At the time, my specialties were thermography, offset printing, and stationery (envelopes and forms). By 2006, we out-grew the original location and expanded to a 6,000 sq. ft. facility. Between 2006 and 2014, I completed eight acquisitions to expand my business. The companies I acquired were in the areas of large format printing and signs, lithography, trophies, and reprographics.” Mike continues, “In 2015, we expanded even more, giving us 8,200 sq. ft. of space to work with. When the pandemic hit in 2020, we actually excelled and recorded our biggest sales year operating as an essential business. At the time of the sale, we had nine full-time employees and some part-time staff. Our 5-year average was $1.2 million in yearly sales.” Selling the Business By June 2020, Mike decided that it was time to sell Custom Printing. At first, he was asking different colleagues and people he knew. However, Mike quickly realized that this wasn’t going to be easy. He says, “I tried to sell the business that I worked so hard to build for six to eight months on my own. I was also preparing to let it go at a very undervalued price as I couldn’t find the right people to buy the business and I found many of them were time-wasters and tire-kickers. On top of that, when I consulted with a business broker, they were asking me for 10% off the top of the sale, and they also wanted a percentage of my lease agreement.” After experiencing these challenges on his own, Mike turned to Minuteman Press International to help sell his printing business. “One of the franchisees I knew locally in Idaho referred me to Chris Jutt, Minuteman Press International Regional Vice President. After our first phone call, I felt confident that Chris had the ability, drive and connections to make this dream a reality for me. Our meetings were always super easy going and comfortable. Chris took all the pressure off of me and said to focus on my successful business and he would do the rest. That is just what he did.” Before meeting with Minuteman Press International, Mike even went as far as to get a professional valuation of his printing business. He shares, “When I knew I was going to be selling, I made sure to get the shop ready. I made sure my financials were in proper order, I kept up with equipment maintenance and repairs, and I kept running and growing my business. Just to get a valuation of my business, I spent $3,000 to get it done professionally. Minuteman Press International did this for free and came up with the same number. That really impressed me and reassured me that the sale of Custom Printing was in capable hands.” “We set a price for my independent printing business that was significantly higher than I anticipated, and Chris Jutt recommended some terms. Within one week, I had several very interested parties. Chris found the perfect people to purchase my business – James and Sheryl Wisler – that will continue what I started some 25 years ago. Minuteman Press International knew that the most important things to me were my long-term employees, my clients, and the reputation I had worked so hard to build. Chris found buyers that valued the same things. He and the entire team at Minuteman Press International delivered on all of my expectations and exceeded in most of them. Looking back, if I knew this was going to be this easy, I would have contacted him years ago.” -Mike Cutler, independent print operator, Custom Printing (now International Minute Press, Nampa, Idaho ) Transition to New Owners After the sale of his business, Mike quickly realized how beneficial it was to have the team at Minuteman Press International assist with all aspects of the transition to the new owners. He shares, “At first, I was apprehensive about how the transition would go. I was immediately relieved when I saw how Minuteman Press International took the reins to teach and train James and Sheryl. We are only two and a half weeks into the transition phase, and already I feel like I am not needed as much as I thought I would be. My employees are in great hands, my clients are being taken care of, and James and Sheryl are doing a fantastic job.” He adds, “The entire team both here locally and at their corporate headquarters has been phenomenal. No matter who I’ve talked to or worked with during this entire process, everyone has been professional as well as instrumental in making this happen. It’s a win-win situation all around.” “The smooth transition has reassured me that it was the right move to sell my business with Minuteman Press International. They have the right plan, the right experience, and everyone has been incredible to the very last detail. In my acquisition experience, nothing has ever been as easy as this. I had everything to gain and nothing to lose, and there were absolutely no hiccups along the way. I would easily rate my experience as 10/10.” -Mike Cutler Advice to Other Sellers When asked what advice he would give to other print shop owners looking to sell, Mike answers, “Don’t even waste your time trying to do this yourself. When you try to sell on your own, there are so many bottleneck issues and you will likely undervalue your business. I couldn’t find the right buyers on my own and I had to spend too much time to meet with people repeatedly while still running my own business.” Mike concludes, “Minuteman Press International alleviated the bottlenecks and came forward with qualified buyers who were ready to write the check for the right price. I am 100% satisfied beyond my expectations. This was a total team effort by everyone, and they all came through for me.” Contact Minuteman Press International today for a free valuation at no obligation and learn more about how we can help you sell your printing business at no cost to you. Call us at 1-800-645-3006 or visit https://bit.ly/minutemanpressconversions Contact Details Minuteman Press International Chris Biscuiti +1 631-249-1370 cbiscuiti@mpihq.com Company Website https://minutemanpressfranchise.com

July 12, 2021 12:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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