A Buddhist monk, an international branding legend and a rebellious Australian social commentator have been announced to speak at the Sustainable Brands Sydney conference, 27 – 29 June 2016. Over three carefully designed days, experts and influencers will teach brands how to embed purpose-driven environmental and social innovations into their businesses, so that sustainability becomes a core driver of business and brand value.

Venerable Phra Anil Sakya, Buddhist monk and Deputy Rector for Foreign Affairs/Lecturer on Religious and Cultural Studies at Mahamakut Buddhist University, will visit Australia to outline how individuals and companies can find their purpose whilst cultivating sustainable brand development, based on the thinking of Sufficiency Economy Philosophy developed by His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

“What we do each day, individually, has a profound effect on the natural environment. Our choices, in our personal lives and our professional lives, matter.

“Studying the puzzle of sustainability in a capitalist society raises a number of difficult questions. For example, can the long term economic objective of sustained agricultural growth be met if the ecological objective of preserving biodiversity is not? What happens to the environment in the long term if a large number of people cannot afford to meet their basic household needs today?

“If we don’t balance our social, economic, and environmental objectives in the short term, how can we expect to sustain our development in the long term?” said Dr Phra Anil.

Further exploring this theme is Simon Mainwaring, the Founder of WeFirst Branding, a brand transformation agency that provides strategy, training and content that accelerates business growth and social impact. He will engage attendees by teaching them how to ‘activate purpose’ to protect their brands’ longevity.

“By activating purpose, can brands maintain attention, loyalty and sales from consumers, or the productivity and engagement they need from employees? Purpose will shore up the relevance of the company and inspire a new generation of customers to support its brands. Purpose, sustainability and social impact are now key growth drivers, and as such, are sandbags against the rising economic storm,” said Mr Mainwaring.

Jane Caro, author, novelist, journalist, broadcaster, columnist, advertising writer and social commentator will join a panel session outlining an Australian CEO reflection on the international presentations. She will share advice with brand custodians on how to identify and reposition brands to ensure what is being passed onto the next generation is more sustainable than what was inherited.

“Whatever you do for a crust or however you live your life, you have a choice. Do you want to add to the sum of human happiness in the long term, or subtract from it? One is sustainable, the other always blows up in your face,” said Ms Caro.

A global community of business and brand innovators will delve into key themes of purpose as a survival strategy in a shrinking economy, and purpose is realised through employee, customer and consumer engagement, marketing and culture that builds loyalty and drives leadership.

Sustainable Brands events are shaping the future of commerce worldwide with focused attention on understanding and leveraging the role of brands in shaping that future. Over a million people have attended Sustainable Brands events around the world since 2006, and the inaugural Australian event will be held in Sydney, 27 – 29 June 2016 at the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth.

SB16 Sydney is organised by MCI Australia and supported by host partners Banksia Foundation and Sustainable Business Australia and Strategic Partner, Destination NSW, the NSW Government’s tourism and major events agency.

Register to attend: http://www.sb16sydney.com/register

Notes to editors

• All speakers are available for interviews prior to, during and after SB16 Sydney
• Media passes are available – please email [email protected]
• More information about the conference including the full program is available via http://www.sb16sydney.com/

Media contacts
Laura Valentine, Account Manager, Zadro
9212 7867 | 0406 285 077 | [email protected]

Elizabeth Williams, Group Account Director, Zadro
9212 7867 | [email protected]

——————–

About SB16 Sydney

2016 marks the first year the SB community will gather in Australia! We’ll be building on the HOW NOW theme to prompt leaders to actively apply the know HOW to shift business towards a more flourishing future NOW. Join us as and fully immerse yourself along with over 200 other distinguished leaders for a two jam-packed days of conversation and collaboration at the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth, 27-29 June 2016.

Who attends?

Over 2,200 global and national companies, as well as government officials and NGOs have participated in SB-produced events since 2004. Companies such as: AT&T, BASF, Ben & Jerry’s, Bumblebee, Burt’s Bees, Clorox, Coca Cola, Dell, Disney, Frito Lay, Ford, General Electric, Harrah’s, HP, HSBC, Interface, Johnson & Johnson, Mattel, Office Depot, Pfizer, Marks and Spencer, Molson Coors, P&G, SAP, Starbucks, Starwood Hotels, Target, Toyota, Unilever, Williams-Sonoma, Yahoo! and many more.

About MCI Australia

MCI Australia (www.mci-group.com/australia)
MCI is the world’s largest provider of strategic engagement and activation solutions and has been a key driver of innovation in the meetings, events, association and congress industries since 1987. Through creative live experiences and digitization, globalization, brand enhancement and content strategies, MCI helps multinational companies and international associations enhance organizational performance, grow globally, energize communities and drive business results.

Sustainable Brands inaugural Sydney conference

The environmental and social impact of brands are being increasingly scrutinised by stakeholders, employees and most importantly consumers, and the demand for new products, services and business models that deliver both purpose and profit, is soaring.

The world has changed and transparency is paramount. Innovative brand leaders with their focus on positive, sustainable outcomes will thrive, whilst those who fail to deliver will dive.

That’s the message underpinning Sustainable Brands, a global learning, collaboration and commerce community of forward thinking business and brand strategists, marketing innovators and sustainability professionals, convening in Sydney, Australia for the first time. The SB16 Sydney conference offers the opportunity for business leaders to join 300+ professionals over three days of plenaries, workshops and networking events, 27 – 29 June 2016 at the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth.

Dr Sally Uren, CEO, Forum for the Future, works with both individual pioneering businesses including Unilever and Kimberly Clark and global collaborations designed to address system-wide challenges. Dr Uren is coming to Australia for the first time in a professional capacity to headline SB16 Sydney. Based in the UK and overseeing offices in the US, Singapore and India, Dr Uren leads a number of global projects including Net Positive (an initiative challenging businesses to put back more into society, environment and the global economy than they take out), Cotton 2040 (a project aiming to mainstream sustainable cotton) and Tea 2030 (a project to deliver a sustainable tea value chain).

“The role of business in delivering solutions to society’s current set of significant and complex sustainability challenges has never before attracted so much attention. And the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris agreement on climate change emissions give us a shared direction that’s never been clearer. Unleashing the power of business to act as agents of transformative change requires, well, transformation, and SB16 Sydney will provide a platform to discuss the challenges, collaborate, and act to ensure a more sustainable future.

“It’s critical to transform the key systems we rely on and to do that everyone in the value chain must be involved, from the producers and manufacturers right through to the end-user, all working together towards a common aim.

“At SB16 Sydney, I will highlight key opportunities such as system innovation, the circular economy, pre-competitive collaboration and closing the circle between government, business and the consumer/community. I encourage professionals from all industries including marketing, design, construction, architecture, finance, medicine, communication, technology and so many more to join us is shaping a more sustainable future,” said Dr Uren.

SB16 Sydney will lead an agenda designed to educate, inspire and motivate cross-sector industries on how to build, integrate and leverage sustainability into their brands. Through an innovative program of collaboration and information, the event will provide the tools and partnerships to drive business success and positive impact.

Keynote presentations by global thought leaders include Tom Szaky, Founder and CEO of TerraCycle discussing how businesses can realign their concept of waste and how it can become a brand ROI concept. Simon Mainwaring, Founder and CEO of We First will share his experience in social media helping companies tell the story of the good they do in ways that build reputation, profits and social impact. Bern van Son, CEO of MUD Jeans will discuss the paradox of tackling the three major issues in fashion of pollution, slavery and recycling whilst still making fashionable jeans.

Sustainable Brands events were founded on the belief that unleashing the best of human ingenuity and innovation can change the shape of business, and with it, the world. The Sustainable Brands conference held in San Diego for the past three years amassed over 2,000 attendees – the largest gathering of business leaders across various industries, organisational types and sizes and corporate functions.

Minister for Trade, Tourism & Major Events, Minister for Sport, The Hon. Stuart Ayres MP commented on the value this inaugural Australian conference will bring to NSW.

“Sydney is a city of innovation and we’re proud this great partnership with the Sustainable Brands conference will bring thought leaders and business leaders here to engage on effective sustainability practices. The NSW Government is supporting the conference through our tourism and major events agency Destination NSW and I encourage all business to attend and consider integrating the learnings into their own strategies as they plan for future growth,” said Mr Ayres.

SB16 Sydney is organised by MCI Australia and supported by host partners Banksia Foundation and Sustainable Business Australia. Strategic partners include the NSW Government and Destination NSW.

Now is the time for business leaders to learn how to successfully innovate their brands to ensure a sustainable future. SB16 Sydney, 27 – 29 June 2016, Sofitel Sydney Wentworth.

Register to attend: http://www.sb16sydney.com/register

Notes to editors

• Dr Sally Uren is available for interviews prior to, during and after SB16 Sydney
• All other speakers are available for interviews on request
• Media passes are available – please email [email protected] for details
• Media partnerships are available – please email [email protected] for details
• More information about the conference including the full program is available via http://www.sb16sydney.com/

Media contacts

Laura Valentine, Account Manager, Zadro

9212 7867 | 0406 285 077 | [email protected]

Elizabeth Williams, Group Account Director, Zadro

9212 7867 | [email protected]

About SB16 Sydney

2016 marks the first year the SB community will gather in Australia! We’ll be building on the HOW NOW theme to prompt leaders to actively apply the know HOW to shift business towards a more flourishing future NOW. Join us as and fully immerse yourself along with over 200 other distinguished leaders for a two jam-packed days of conversation and collaboration at the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth, 27-29 June 2016.

Who attends?

Over 2,200 global and national companies, as well as government officials and NGOs have participated in SB-produced events since 2004. Companies such as: AT&T, BASF, Ben & Jerry’s, Bumblebee, Burt’s Bees, Clorox, Coca Cola, Dell, Disney, Frito Lay, Ford, General Electric, Harrah’s, HP, HSBC, Interface, Johnson & Johnson, Mattel, Office Depot, Pfizer, Marks and Spencer, Molson Coors, P&G, SAP, Starbucks, Starwood Hotels, Target, Toyota, Unilever, Williams-Sonoma, Yahoo! and many more.

About MCI Australia

MCI Australia (www.mci-group.com/australia)

MCI is the world’s largest provider of strategic engagement and activation solutions and has been a key driver of innovation in the meetings, events, association and congress industries since 1987. Through creative live experiences and digitization, globalization, brand enhancement and content strategies, MCI helps multinational companies and international associations enhance organizational performance, grow globally, energize communities and drive business results.

“Refugees are people like anyone else, like you and me. They led ordinary lives before becoming displaced, and their biggest dream is to be able to live normally again. On this World Refugee Day, let us recall our common humanity, celebrate tolerance and diversity and open our hearts to refugees everywhere.”

~ Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations ~

Refugees are taken as the asset and strength of the country and not as the burden. They are survivors and should get proper help and timely support. It is very necessary to draw people’s attention towards refugee’s conditions in order to alleviate their burdens.

For years, many countries and regions have been holding their own events similar to the World Refugee Day. One of the most widespread events is the Africa Refugee Day, which is celebrated on June 20 in many countries. The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution in order to express its solidarity with Africa on December 4, 2000.

World Refugee Day is celebrated every year on 20^th of June in order to support millions of families all over the world who have lost their homes and dear ones due to violence and/or armed conflicts. The day was established by the General Assembly of United Nations for the refugees to honor them for their courage to stay strong despite of their many problems including losing their homes and highlight their many potential contributions to their communities. World Refugee Day celebration provides an opportunity to all to help the refugees worldwide to rebuild their quality lives through lots of related activities.

We, at the World Assembly of Youth (WAY), join other organisation on this day in the mission of recognising and appreciating refugees from all around the globe. We extend our support and respect to their strength to uphold against their suffering and carry on despite of all their difficulties. We advocate to the public sector and other stakeholders to join us in global effort of protecting all refugees around the World.

On this World Refugee Day, let us remember the plight of the millions of people worldwide who have been forced to flee from their homes as a result of conflict and persecution.

Happy Refugee Day!

“Without a long-term solution, desertification and land degradation will not only affect food supply but lead to increased migration and threaten the stability of many nations and regions. This is why world leaders made land degradation neutrality one of the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals.”

~ UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon~

Desertification is a form of land degradation in which a relatively dry land region becomes increasingly arid, typically losing its bodies of water leaving no plants either wildlife on it. It is caused by a variety of factors, such as disasters or climate change which mostly resulting from irresponsible human’s activities. Desertification is a significant global ecological and environmental problem.

There is probably no greater issue than land in the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals that touches everyone. From the food we eat, to the clothes we wear and the houses we live in, there are all rooting from land resources. In order to “leave no one behind” as proclaimed in the new Sustainable Development Goals, achieving land degradation neutrality needs to be in the forefront to meet our requirements and achievement of environmental sustainability.

The World Day to Combat Desertification is a unique occasion that has been observed since 1995 in order to promote public awareness related to international cooperation in combating desertification and the effects of drought. World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought is celebrated on the 17^th of June yearly. Its purpose is to highlight ways to prevent desertification and recover from drought. Each annual celebration has a different theme.

The theme for this year’s World Day to Combat Desertification and drought is ‘Inclusive Cooperation for Achieving Land Degradation Neutrality’ which advocates for the importance of inclusive cooperation to restore and rehabilitate degraded land and contribute towards achieving the overall Sustainable Development Goals. Land has been an overlooked component in Sustainable Development for years. Now, it is viewed as a vital link to provide solutions to cope with many other development challenges such as dealing with climate change, securing water and energy resources as well as promoting inclusive growth.

The World Assembly of Youth (WAY) aims to remind everybody that desertification can be effectively tackled, that solutions are possible, and that key tools to this aim lay in strengthened community participation and co-operation at all levels. Every stakeholder plays important role in halting any further activity which could worsen the desertification that has already persisted in today world.

Join us for this year’s 16^th Melaka International Youth Dialogue to discuss on ‘Youth for Environmental Sustainability: Our Future, Our Care’ which will be held from 26^th – 30^th June 2016 in King Greens Hotel Melaka, Malaysia. Let us unite our efforts to achieve a sustainable future and better tomorrow.

Happy World Day to combat Desertification and Drought!

TOKYO, June 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — At Interop Tokyo 2016, the largest ICT exhibition in Japan held from June 8 to 10 , Huawei outlined its strategy and showcased innovative solutions to enable enterprise digital transformation, under the theme “Leading New ICT, Building a Better Connected World”.

The key solutions highlighted at the event included Huawei’s Internet of Things (IoT), Hybrid Cloud, Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Converged Cloud Communications solutions, all featuring cloud-pipe-device integration to speed business innovation and value. Among the solutions, Huawei KunLun 9032 Mission Critical Server, Huawei IP Hard Pipe Solution and Huawei NE40E-X2-M8A Universal Service Router received the Best of Show “Grand Prix” Awards across three categories of enterprise ICT innovations; and Huawei as a leading ICT solution provider won the Interop ShowNet  “Grand Prix” Award.

At the event, Huawei also demonstrated its commitment to building an open and strong ICT ecosystem in Japan together with its global strategic partners Intel and SAP, and Japanese partners including CyberAgent, Hanshin Electric Railway, JBS, and Softbank.

Best of Show Awards Recognize Huawei’s Enterprise Technology Innovation
The Best of Show Awards at Interop Tokyo 2016 are judged by a panel of industry experts and recognize ground-breaking innovation across three categories of enterprise technology. The Huawei KunLun 9032 Mission Critical Server received the Best of Show “Grand Prix”  Award in the Server and Storage Category for its leading Reliability, Availability, and Serviceability (RAS) design, innovative scale-up capability, and open architecture. The Huawei IP Hard Pipe Solution received the Best of Show “Grand Prix” Award in the Enterprise/SMB Networking Category for its physical pipe isolation, low latency, high reliability, global Service-Level Agreement (SLA) visualization, and simplified operations and maintenance (O&M). The Huawei NE40E-X2-M8A Universal Service Router won the Best of Show “Grand Prix” Award in the Carrier/ISP Networking Category for its 480gdps high forwarding capacity, compact design and universal service supportive functionality.

In addition, Huawei participated in the Interop ShowNet, a comprehensive internet technology demonstration of Interop Tokyo, with six data center switches and routers including the Huawei CE12800, CE8860, CE6800, NE5000E, NE40E and NE20E, as well as the Huawei Agile Controller. The high performance of these solutions in the EVPN/VXLAN interconnectivity tests enabled Huawei to win the Interop Best of ShowNet Award.

Huawei has received the Best of Show Awards at Interop Tokyo for four consecutive years, demonstrating the company’s commitment to developing high-performance solutions that push the boundaries of ICT innovation to meet the specific requirements of the Japanese market.

Leading New ICT, Empowering New Industrial Revolution
Disruptive technologies, such as IoT, cloud, and big data, are accelerating digital transformation and will drive the development of businesses and society in the next 10 years.

At a keynote speech titled “Leading New ICT, Empowering New Industrial Revolution”, Mr. Yan Lida , President of Enterprise Business Group, Huawei, commented, “To compete successfully today, enterprises need real-time business and analysis platforms to drive digital transformation. New ICT technologies including IoT, cloud, and big data will become central to business production systems, enabling this transformation. Based on innovations featuring cloud-pipe-device integration, Huawei is committed to building an open, flexible and secure platform to help customers develop applications tailored to their actual business needs. The platform also helps build a sustainable and win-win ecosystem.”

Mr. Yan also reaffirmed Huawei’s commitment to collaborative innovations and fostering the development of a healthy cloud ecosystem in Japan . He said, “We are focused on enabling our Japan customers, partners and employees to embrace leading new ICT innovation to accelerate digital transformation and foster the development of a strong cloud ecosystem.”

Building a Healthy Cloud Ecosystem with ICT Leaders in Japan
At the event, Huawei held joint activities with industry partners and academics to share insights and best practices on building a healthy and win-win cloud ecosystem. In particular, Professor Ezaki Hiroshi ofUniversity of Tokyo and Professor Nakamura Osamu of Keio University shared their views on accelerating the development and deployment of SDN and cloud.

The evolution of traditional enterprise IT architecture into cloud-based architecture requires collaborative efforts among stakeholders in the ICT industry to build an open ecosystem. During this year’s Interop Tokyo, Huawei cooperated with Interop Tokyo Committee and WIDE Project to host the first Tokyo Cloud Congress which brought together leading industry players to discuss future trends and share best practices on cloud migration.

Huawei’s booth at Interop Tokyo 2016 is located at 5Z32, Makuhari Messe.  For more information about Huawei at Interop Tokyo 2016, please visit http://enterprise.huawei.com/topic/interop2016_jp_en/index.html

SOURCE Huawei

LONDON and NEW YORK, June 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — YSC‘s coaching, development and succession planning capabilities can now reach hundreds of thousands of global leaders through CorpU ‘ s virtual platform

Leadership consulting firm YSC have announced that they will deliver leadership talent solutions on CorpU’s next generation collaboration platform. YSC accelerates leadership talent development through assessments that measure leadership potential, and development programs that strengthen leadership talent pools.

 Brandon Hall Group’s 2015 study on the state of leadership succession plans determined that 84% of organizations report a lack of ready leaders. Despite an increasingly faster pace of business change, only 44% of executives believe their leadership teams are capable of driving and effectively managing change, according to a ” Workforce 2020 ” research study by Oxford Economics.

CorpU’s cloud-based technology offers YSC new capacity to expand far beyond in-person workshops to deliver virtual courses on coaching, leading teams and assessing potential to thousands more leaders.

“The times call for innovative leadership development practices, which has brought YSC together with the virtual learning experts at CorpU,” said Robert Sharrock , CEO of YSC. “CorpU and YSC have a shared understanding that addressing the leadership talent gap requires real-time collaboration and sharing of insights.”

CorpU’s platform is currently used by companies that want to build strong leadership teams, including WalMart, Dow Chemical, Aetna and MasterCard, to drive business transformation.

“We’re excited to work with YSC to strengthen corporate leadership teams around the world,” said Alan Todd , CEO of CorpU. “By combining CorpU’s ability to help leaders execute strategic initiatives faster with YSC’s programs that develop new leadership capabilities, our clients can go faster and know they’re building a deep leadership bench.”

For more information, please visit http://www.corpu.com , or http://corpu.com/news/press/ysc/

About YSC

YSC has been enabling businesses to leverage leadership as their greatest strategic asset since 1990. They have profiled over 50,000 leaders from global companies on the FTSE 100 and Fortune 500. For more about YSC’s leadership insights or solutions, visit http://www.ysc.com/ .

About CorpU

CorpU powers next generation collaboration for the most connected companies in the world. Our corporate partners represent over five million employees who use our platform to solve their most pressing challenges through collaboration with peers and best practices from leading experts.  We believe that great technology can unlock the collective genius of teams to tackle complex business challenges, work smarter, and grow faster.

SOURCE YSC

RZESZOW, Poland, LONDON and HONG KONG, June 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — G2A.COM Limited won the Outstanding New Product / Service award at the Global Business Excellence Awards 2016 in London, United Kingdom for their innovative payment and protection ecosystem, G2A Pay which is supported by the G2A Shield.

G2A.COM is the world’s fastest growing digital gaming marketplace and a multi-award winning international company scooping 6 international awards in 2016. http://www.gbeawards.com http://www.stevieawards.com

Commenting on G2A.COM, G2A Pay and G2A Shield and why they won the Outstanding New Product/Service Award , the chairman of the judges said: “Digital gaming marketplace G2A.COM, with 10 million clients worldwide, has experienced incredible success and growth by focusing on online security, customer service and on valuing its staff and encouraging them to be creative. The G2A Shield is a brilliant new innovation that protects customers’ transactions and ensures money back approval in just five minutes. G2A Shield also offers an online chat service and round-the-clock live support. This level of security gives clients confidence that their money is safe – something that is essential in the gaming marketplace.”

Bob Voermans , EVP Global Payments at G2A.COM was delighted that G2A Pay and G2A Shield have been recognized: “G2A Pay delivers the best possible customer experience on payments made via G2A Pay. G2A developed an open and safe ecosystem and G2A Pay can be used by any digital company connected to the G2A.COM marketplace. If such a company needs to have access to over 100 payment methods world-wide, we are open for discussion .” https://pay.g2a.com

Upon hearing about the Award, Bartosz Skwarczek , Co-founder and CEO of G2A.COM said: ” It ‘ s a big honour to be judged the winners. This victory motivates us to continue to deliver the best possib le customer service worldwide. “

The Global Business Excellence Awards is one of the world’s highest profile awards and winning this accolade speaks volumes about the quality of G2A’s innovative work. Due to their high profile, the awards attract a wide range of entries from across the world, from large international PLCs and public sector organisations to dynamic and innovative SMEs. The winners all have one thing in common – they are truly outstanding at what they do and G2A.COM Limited have proved this by winning the Global Business Excellence Award.

The Global Business Excellence Awards pride themselves on having a large panel of independent expert judges who select winners according to strict criteria for each category and sector; focussing on financial results, innovation, customer, employee, investor and community benefits. http://www.g2a.com .

Author: Jacqueline Purcell – [email protected]

SOURCE G2A.com

The well-being of both humankind and environment depend on the responsible management of the planet’s natural resources. Many of the Earth’s ecosystems are on the verge of critical tipping points of diminution or irremediable change, pushed by high population growth and economic development.

By 2050, if current consumption and production patterns remain the same and with a rising population expected to reach 9.6 billion, we will need three planets to sustain our ways of living and consumption.

The natural environment has a direct effect on young people’s well being; it must be maintained for the present and next generations. The friendly use of natural resources and environmentally sustainable development will help to improve young people’s life. Maintaining the environmental integrity is the responsibility of every individual within the society.

World Environment Day is a big annual celebration started by the United Nations General Assembly to engage millions of people from different countries across the globe as well as draw attention of political and health organisations to implement some effective actions. It started celebrating as an annual event on every 5^th of June since 1973 in order to raise the global awareness about the importance of healthy and green environment in human lives.

The World Environment Day observance is being developed by the National Youth Council to achieve the following objectives: to expand knowledge among the youth on the importance of protecting our environment, promote proper utilisation of our wildlife resources, encourage positive practices geared towards the protection of our environment and raise awareness of the way in which our day to day practices impact our environment.

The World Assembly of Youth (WAY), encourage worldwide awareness and action for the environment and a global platform for public outreach that is widely celebrated by stakeholders. Hence, this year, they have selected ‘Youth for Environmental Sustainability: Our Future, Our Care’ as the theme for the 16^th Melaka International Youth Dialogue. This theme is selected to recognise the critical stage of our planet and emphasise on the role that young people and youth leaders could play, to achieve environmental sustainability. In this Dialogue, youth shall highlight their role and concerns towards environmental affairs, as it is now their time and opportunity to act and declare that yes, they do care!

Happy World Environment Day!

XUZHOU, China, June 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — XCMG announced on May 7 that it will partner with Aliyun, the cloud computing service provider of Alibaba Group Holding Limited, to build the XCMG-Cloud, a highly inclusive industrial cloud platform based on XCMG’s complete data and information systems in the Industry 4.0 revolution. The XCMG-Cloud will be used to share massive data and support further global convergence.

“The internet way of thinking can break down barriers between individuals, companies, industries and countries, and coordinate more resources to establish an ‘ecosystem’ that benefits everyone along the sustainable development path,” said Wang Min , chairman and president of XCMG. “It’s XCMG’s responsibility to take the first step.”

XCMG launched integral projects in 2009 to upgrade the company’s information system, linking research and development, production and supply chain as well as gathering 150 terabytes of industrial big data.

The system has now been applied to multiple areas such as intelligent manufacturing, remote diagnosis and after-sales service, and will become the solid foundation to support building the preliminary basic cloud platform of XCMG-Cloud.

XCMG will then construct a sharing service center together with Aliyun, which will include divisions for user, algorithm, trade, assessment and logistics to achieve modular development and management. All groups on the industrial chain will be able to take advantage of the open applications brought by XCMG-Cloud including cloud, e-commerce, intelligent supply chain, intelligent factory and social service.

“Cloud computing has greater market potential in China ,” commented Jin Jie , general manager of Aliyun Nanjing branch. “It takes time for enterprises to understand and accept new technology, but XCMG share our ideas and goals of forging China’s Predix platform.”

With XCMG-Cloud, XCMG is establishing a new model for future development of the manufacturing industry that merges internet technologies and a platform-based company, revolutionizing the traditional product and market models that rely heavily on core technologies.

“By creating an unprecedented cloud computing platform in Chinese industrialized application and forming the first innovative cloud ‘ecosystem’, XCMG will lead the transition and upgrading of China’smanufacturing enterprises,” remarked Wang.

About XCMG

XCMG is a multinational heavy machinery manufacturing company with a history of 73 years. It currently ranks fifth in the world’s construction machinery industry. The company exports to more than 170 countries and regions around the world.

For more information, please visit:  www.xcmg.com , or follow XCMG Group on  Facebook , Twitter ,YouTube , LinkedIn and Instagram .

SOURCE XCMG

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, June 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — More than a year has passed since Asia Plantation Capital Berhad (APC) announced the opening of its new, purpose-built agarwood (gaharu) distillation and research centre, located in the Masai Industrial Park, Johor, Malaysia . Now fully operational and having met the prescribed standards of efficiency, Asia Plantation Capital is celebrating the facility’s achievement with an official opening ceremony. Officiating at yesterday’s launch was YB Datuk Dr. Abu Bakar bin Mohamad Diah , Deputy Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI).

Incorporating an Oud oil distillery, a wood chip processing centre, a fragrance stick factory and a research centre, the state of the art facility occupies a 44,000 ft² unit in the Masai Industrial Park. Also situated within the complex is a visitor centre, along with a wholesale factory shop stocked with the ever-growing range of agarwood products that APC produces. The facility also houses a laboratory for perfumes and essential oils, APC inoculation systems production, and MSDS analysis systems.

Equipped with the latest heat exchange steam distillation units using purified water — as well as a clean energy solar power system to ensure maximum economic efficiency — the factory utilises sustainable and environmentally-friendly energy systems throughout. This multi-million US dollar investment is integral to the company’s strategic expansion of its Malaysian plantations and production capacity.

With the region’s largest purpose-built agarwood factory, along with acres of newly-acquired plantations inMalaysia , and the recent move of APC’s regional headquarters to Kuala Lumpur , the expansion of the company is seen as an opportunity to further strengthen APC’s presence in Southeast Asia .

“It’s been a year since our agarwood processing factory has been fully operational,” said Steve Watts , APC’s Chief Executive Officer, Asia Pacific , “and we have already welcomed a significant number of visitors and/or clients to the facility — some of whom are among the most influential investment and fund managers in the world.”

He added, “Over the coming years, in line with our expansion programme, we fully expect Asia Plantation Capital to become a major exporter and employer in Malaysia , and a big success story for the country. Over the last seven years we have constantly been researching and improving our systems, and have identified and perfected a proprietary ‘soil to oil’ production process which is now the subject of 22, separate, intellectual property patent applications. These systems are not only being utilised by the group to widen its market share, but are also being offered to smaller growers and farmers across Asia , to assist them in the cultivation and end processing of agarwood to create income. This will, in turn, help boost rural economies and also underpin the group’s future supply requirements. As well as supplying systems and knowledge.” Watts concluded, “We are offering fixed ‘buy backs’ on products made exclusively from our systems. This process is already under way in India , Thailand and Malaysia .”

Asia Plantation Capital’s agarwood distillery and research centre is to be officially launched by the Deputy Minister of MOSTI, YB Datuk Dr. Abu Bakar bin Mohamad Diah . He said, “I applaud and congratulate APC for the opening of this state of the art facility. We are pleased that a forward-looking company such as Asia Plantation Capital has chosen Malaysia as its destination for expansion with its distillation factory and research centre. This undoubtedly affirms Malaysia’s potential as an excellent location for doing business — not only in terms of being able to enjoy lower operational costs, but also in terms of being able to provide companies with a skilled and educated workforce in the fields of science and technology. Factories such as this.” He concluded, “Not only increase investment into the country and provide job opportunities for Malaysians, but also encourage and stimulate progress in science, technology, research and development.”