September 8, 2021

Moroccan wind + sustainable computing project continues development under a new name

Soluna Technologies Ltd. is now called Harmattan Energy, Ltd.

NEW YORK, Sept. 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Soluna Technologies, Ltd., known for the 900 megawatt (MW) wind farm and blockchain computing center under development in Dakhla, Morocco, is now called Harmattan Energy, Ltd. The Chief Executive Officer, John Belizaire renamed the company after Mechanical Technology, Inc. (MTI) acquired Soluna Computing — a spin-out focused on eliminating wasted renewable energy using sustainable computing — to become Soluna Holdings on August 12, 2021. The Harmattan Wind project in Morocco was not included in MTI’s acquisition of Soluna.

Harmattan Energy, Ltd. will hold the Harmattan Wind project and manage all development activities.

“Harmattan inspired our entire business model for Soluna, and it will be an important proving ground as the first-of-its-kind, vertically integrated wind, and blockchain computing project,” said Belizaire. “This project has the potential to be the largest in Africa, taking advantage of an enormous wind resource. Our business model of renewable energy development paired with sustainable computing can unlock economic opportunity across the continent.”

Named after the easterly trade winds of West Africa, Harmattan will continue developing the wind farm on over 10,000 hectares including on-site data centers that use renewable energy to power blockchain computing. Harmattan Energy will generate clean energy for high-intensity, batchable computing processes. This business model is solving two growing problems. First, it creates a beneficial use for “curtailed,” or wasted renewable energy. Second, it provides a pathway to make energy-intensive computing more sustainable.

Harmattan Energy, Ltd. will continue with previously conceived plans through its subsidiary A.M Wind, SARL to develop a Center of Excellence, create jobs, and partner with local stakeholders that include government, local organizations, and utility partners in Morocco.

The company retains its original shareholders, Brookstone Partners. It will be overseen by Matt Lipman, Managing Director at Brookstone. Mr. Belizaire will serve as interim CEO, until a replacement is named. The first phase of development of 100 MW is planned to start construction in 2022.

About Harmattan Energy, Ltd.

Formerly known as Soluna Technologies Ltd., Harmattan Energy, Ltd., was founded in 2018, and then renamed in 2021. Harmattan develops vertically integrated, utility-scale projects that combine its own renewable energy power plants with dispatchable computing facilities focused on cryptocurrency mining and cutting-edge blockchain applications. Soluna’s flagship project, Harmattan Wind, is a 900 MW wind site located in Morocco. The record-breaking productivity of the site brings a clean, low-cost, sustainable infrastructure layer to the blockchain.

Led by a world-class team of technologists and renewable energy experts, Harmattan’s mission is to better the world by making renewable energy the primary power source using computing as a catalyst.

Harmattan is headquartered in New York City, with offices in Morocco.

September 8, 2021

Medwish.com lance un plan mondial d’expédition gratuite pour livrer du matériel médical aux hôpitaux

SHANGHAI, 8 septembre 2021/PRNewswire/ — Medwish.com, la place de marché en ligne d’équipements médicaux B2B, a annoncé aujourd’hui que la livraison serait offerte sur plus de 10 000 produits médicaux dans l’ensemble de ses 14 sous-catégories, allant des lits d’hôpitaux, des moniteurs, des nébuliseurs à compresseur, des concentrateurs d’oxygène et du système de diagnostic par ultrasons jusqu’aux incubateurs à secousses, brancards hydrauliques, ventilateurs médicaux, caméras NIR 4K, défibrillateurs, etc.

Pendant la pandémie de COVID-19, les frais de fret international ont augmenté de 500 % dans la plupart des pays par rapport à l’année dernière. Cela a rendu extrêmement difficile l’exportation de dispositifs médicaux. De nombreux plans d’acquisition d’ingénierie hospitalière sont bloqués en raison du montant élevé des frais. L’augmentation du fret international aura un sérieux impact sur les exportations d’équipement au cours des prochains mois de 2021.

Medwish.com, une place de marché B2B professionnelle dans le domaine médical, est déterminé à amener plus de 400 fabricants d’équipements médicaux de Jiangsu à rejoindre sa plateforme afin de mettre en place une promotion d’expédition gratuite de septembre à décembre en réponse à la forte augmentation des frais d’expédition internationaux.

Face aux épidémies qui sévissent à l’étranger et à l’augmentation des frais de fret internationaux, Medwish.com s’associe à ses partenaires et est prêt à mettre de côté ses intérêts à court terme pour livrer des dispositifs médicaux au monde entier le plus rapidement possible afin de lutter contre l’épidémie. Dans le même temps, les clients du monde entier sauront qu’à Zhangjiagang, qui fait partie de la ville de Suzhou, dans la province de Jiangsu, il existe une plateforme médicale prête à établir une connexion entre les pays dont les frais de fret sont élevés.

« La promotion devrait commencer le 1^er septembre et durer 120 jours jusqu’au 31 décembre 2021. Le volume des transactions sur medwish.com devrait dépasser au moins 200 millions de dollars américains (1,3 milliard de yuans). Il est prévu que 1 200 conteneurs de 40 pieds de haut soient expédiés, pour une valeur d’environ 18 millions de dollars américains (environ 120 millions de yuans). S’il y a davantage de fournisseurs et de clients, il y aura davantage d’avancées », déclare Fola Wu, PDG de Medwish.com.

À propos de Medwish.com

La plateforme « MEDWISH » (www.medwish.com) est une place de marché mondiale B2B axée sur la fourniture et l’achat d’équipements et de dispositifs médicaux. L’équipe de Medwish coopère avec les principaux prestataires de services mondiaux dans des domaines tels que la logistique, l’assurance, le financement, le dédouanement, le paiement international, etc. Cette place de marché médicale élimine les difficultés des acheteurs mondiaux en intégrant des chaînes d’approvisionnement de haute qualité. Les acheteurs de Medwish.com travaillent essentiellement dans des hôpitaux récemment construits ou sont des agents étrangers.

Site web : www.medwish.com

Photo : https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1609312/1.jpg

September 8, 2021

Dickey’s Executes Monumental International Franchise Deal to Expand in Africa

Texas-style barbecue restaurant announces master agreement to open eight new locations across Botswana by 2032

Dallas, Texas, Sept. 07, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Dickey’s Barbecue Pit international expansion efforts are showing no signs of slowdown as the world’s largest barbecue concept is bringing its slow-smoked meats and savory sides to more of Africa!

Dickey’s announced today that the company signed a Master agreement with exclusive rights to grow its Africa presence by opening eight locations in Botswana over the span of a decade. The new locations will join Dickey’s first Africa restaurant in Cairo, Egypt. Dickey’s continues to expand its global footprint with additional locations open in Japan, Singapore, Philippines and United Arab Emirates and Master development agreements in place in Abu Dhabi, Australia, Brazil, Dubai, Pakistan, Myanmar, Taiwan and Georgia.

Located in the business district of Botswana’s capital, Gaborone, Dickey’s 1,575-square-foot flagship location will offer dine-in seating for up to 60 guests, carryout, and delivery. In addition to serving its traditional American menu, Botswana’s first Dickey’s will also feature local favorites such as lamb shank.

“The owner operators offer a firm understanding of the cultural and financial factors related to Botswana and Dickey’s,” said Jim Perkins, vice president of international development and support at Dickey’s. “One of the Owner/Operators gained personal experience with the brand a few years ago while visiting her now husband who was studying at a University in Texas, which aided in driving this relationship forward during the pandemic. I could not be happier with their experience and energy – it is outstanding!”

The new Owner/Operators will travel to Dallas to attend Dickey’s training program – Barbecue University. While in the U.S., they will take advantage of visiting the various footprints that Dickey’s offers, including traditional brick-and-mortar, food trucks, non-traditional locations and more.

To learn more, follow Dickey’s Barbecue Pit on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Download the Dickey’s Barbecue Pit app from the Apple App Store or Google Play.

About Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants, Inc. 

Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants, Inc., the world’s largest barbecue concept, was founded in 1941 by Travis Dickey. For the past 80 years, Dickey’s Barbecue Pit has served millions of guests Legit. Texas. Barbecue.™ At Dickey’s, all our barbecued meats are smoked onsite in a hickory wood burning pit. Dickey’s proudly believes there’s no shortcut to true barbecue and it’s why they never say bbq. The Dallas-based, family-run barbecue franchise offers several slow-smoked meats and wholesome sides with ‘No B.S. (Bad Stuff)’ included. The fast-casual concept has expanded worldwide with international locations in the UAE and Japan. Dickey Family Restaurant brands have over 550 locations nationwide. In 2016, Dickey’s won first place on Fast Casual’s “Top 100 Movers and Shakers” list, was named a Top 500 Franchise by Entrepreneur in 2018 and was named to Hospitality Technology Industry Heroes in 2021. Led by CEO Laura Rea Dickey, who was named among the country’s 50 most influential women in foodservice in 2020 by Nation’s Restaurant News and was recognized as one of the top 25 industry leaders on Fast Casual’s 2020 Top 100 Movers and Shakers list, Dickey’s Barbecue Pit has also been recognized by Fox News, Forbes Magazine, Franchise Times, The Wall Street Journal and QSR Magazine. For more information, visit www.dickeys.com.

Attachments

Chrissy Bachman
Dickey's Barbecue Pit
469-580-0459
cbachman@dickeys.com

September 8, 2021

HolyGrail 2.0, l’initiative relative aux filigranes numériques visant à révolutionner le recyclage des emballages plastiques, franchit une étape importante

Les essais semi-industriels commenceront lors de la prochaine phase de l’initiative européenne relative aux filigranes numériques, pilotée par l’AIM, l’Association des Industries de Marque, et alimentée par l’Alliance to End Plastic Waste.

BEAVERTON, Oregon, 7 septembre 2021/PRNewswire/ — Digimarc Corporation (NASDAQ: DMRC) annonce aujourd’hui son entrée en phase d’essais semi-industriels, marquant la prochaine étape de développement de la solution de tri intelligent des déchets sur laquelle porte HolyGrail 2.0, l’initiative relative aux filigranes numériques dirigée par l’AIM, l’Association des Industries de Marque, et propulsée par l’Alliance to End Plastic Waste.

Les essais semi-industriels ayant débuté, HolyGrail 2.0 est sur la bonne voie pour lancer la phase très attendue de démonstration sur le marché et d’essais à l’échelle industrielle. Les produits filigranés numériques pourraient être déployés en magasin au Danemark, en France et en Allemagne au premier semestre de 2022.

En tant que fournisseur désigné de technologie de filigranes numériques, Digimarc travaille avec les deux fournisseurs de machines Pellenc ST et Tomra afin de développer des modules pour leurs unités de tri par détection. Des tests sont prévus en octobre 2021 dans deux sites d’essai. De plus, des démonstrations du prototype de l’unité de tri par détection auront lieu à l’Amager Resource Centre (ARC), à Copenhague, les 19 octobre et 18 novembre 2021. Les parties intéressées peuvent s’inscrire ici .

Cette étape importante marque la deuxième année du projet HolyGrail 2.0, qui compte maintenant plus de 130 entreprises et organisations provenant de part et d’autre de la chaîne de valeur de l’emballage.

Lire le communiqué de presse

À propos de Digimarc
Digimarc Corporation (NASDAQ: DMRC) est un pionnier et un leader dans le domaine des solutions de filigrane numérique et de l’identification automatique des médias, notamment le conditionnement, les imprimés commerciaux, les images numériques, l’audio et la vidéo. Digimarc aide les clients à améliorer l’efficacité, la précision et la sécurité des chaînes d’approvisionnement physiques et numériques. Visitez www.digimarc.com et suivez-nous sur LinkedIn et Twitter pour en savoir plus.

À propos de l’initiative relative aux filigranes numériques HolyGrail 2.0
L’ initiative relative filigranes numériques HolyGrail 2.0 , pilotée par l’AIM (l’Association des Industries de Marque) et propulsée par l’Alliance to End Plastic Waste, est un projet pilote ayant pour objectif de démontrer, d’une part, que les filigranes numériques sont techniquement viables pour le tri précis des déchets d’emballage et, d’autre part, que l’analyse de rentabilité est économiquement viable à grande échelle. Les filigranes numériques sont des codes imperceptibles de la taille d’un timbre-poste qui couvrent la surface des emballages de biens de consommation et qui contiennent un large éventail d’attributs. Leur principe est le suivant : lorsqu’un emballage entre dans une installation de tri des déchets, le filigrane numérique est détecté et décodé sur la ligne de tri par une caméra haute résolution, qui peut ensuite, selon les attributs transférés (p. ex., produit alimentaire ou non alimentaire), placer l’emballage dans les flux appropriés. En rendant les flux de tri plus efficaces et plus précis, leur utilisation se traduit donc par des matières recyclées de meilleure qualité qui profitent à l’ensemble de la chaîne de valeur de l’emballage.

Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/461519/digimarc_logo.jpg

Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMjg_GuLDZI

Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1609147/Holy_Grail_2_Point_0_Logo.jpg

September 8, 2021

Malawi Fears Its COVID Vaccines Will Expire Due to Hesitancy

BLANTYRE, MALAWI – Malawi health authorities fear vaccine hesitancy could lead to tens of thousands of COVID-19 jabs expiring early next month. With just 2% of Malawi’s population vaccinated, authorities hope to increase uptake by deploying mobile vaccination clinics to bring the vaccine closer to people.

Malawi has so far received just over 1.2 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines under the COVAX facility.

But vaccine hesitancy in Malawi is widespread largely because of misperceptions of the jabs’ efficacy and safety.

Dr. Gift Kawalazira, who heads Health and Social Services at the Blantyre Health Office, says there’s yet another reason for the low vaccination rate.

“We have noticed that with the coming of summer, the number of cases has drastically reduced, and also the number of people coming for vaccination have reduced from having over 2,000 people per day to having just about 400 people per day now,” he said.

Kawalazira said deploying mobile vaccination centers will help increase vaccine uptake, noting that when the initiative was launched Saturday over 600 people were vaccinated – and six companies booked the mobile clinic to come and vaccinate their workers.

He predicted the initiative will help Malawi meet its vaccination target of 60% by 2022 and allay fears that more vaccines will expire.

“Johnson & Johnson is actually expiring after December and AstraZeneca has got two different batches, one of which is expiring next month, and the other one is going up until December,” he said.

In May, Malawi incinerated about 20,000 AstraZeneca doses that had expired after many people refused the jab due to concerns about its safety and efficacy.

Malawi health ministry statistics show that currently only about 700,000 people have had one jab, while about 400,000 are fully vaccinated, representing 2.1% of the country’s 18 million population.

Simeon Phiri got his jab Wednesday at a mobile COVID-19 vaccination clinic at Limbe market in Blantyre. He said the convenience with which he could get the jab played an important role for him.

“This has helped me a lot because it has provided me easy access to the vaccine instead of walking a long distance. For example, I came here to Limbe to do some errands, but I also have found an opportunity to get vaccinated,” Phiri said.

To increase uptake in rural areas, the government is currently working with traditional leaders to mobilize and tell their communities about the need to be vaccinated when the mobile clinics visit their villages.

Source: Voice of America

September 8, 2021

WHO Urges Wealthy Countries to Hold Off on Boosters Until 2022

The leader of the World Health Organization implored wealthy countries Wednesday to forgo COVID-19 vaccine booster shots for the rest of the year to ensure that poorer countries have more access to the vaccine.

So far, such calls have not been heeded.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was “appalled” that vaccine manufacturers have said they have enough supply to provide both demands.

“I will not stay silent when companies and countries that control the global supply of vaccines think the world’s poor should be satisfied with leftovers,” he said.

“Third doses may be necessary for the most at-risk populations, where there is evidence of waning immunity,” Tedros said. “But for now, we do not want to see widespread use of boosters for healthy people.”

Tedros had previously asked rich countries not to provide boosters until September.

Source: Voice of America