Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
World's first indoor, vertical solar farm unveiled
 It’s always sunny in Philadelphia, according to the title of a popular television show. If so, it’s the perfect place for the world’s first solar powered indoor vertical farm.

Metropolis Farms has constructed a 500 kilowatt solar array made up of 2003 solar panels on the roof of a building in The City of Brotherly Love. On the fourth floor, it is constructing a vertical farm that will be powered entirely by electricity coming from the roof. It plans to grow the equivalent of 660 outdoor acres worth of crops in less than 100,000 sq feet. “The panels are already installed and turned on, now we’re building out the farm. The first crops will be planted in November,” the company says.

Before Metropolis Farms took over the space, the only things growing on the fourth floor were pigeons. But soon, crops of fresh tomatoes, strawberries, lettuce, herbs, and broccoli will flourish there for the benefit of the citizens of Philadelphia and environs. “We feel this inherently demonstrates the wonder of this new industry we’re helping create, the industry of indoor farming.”

The company goes on to say,

“To this point, the city of Philadelphia has only ~8 acres of urban farming, mainly because there’s no available land for growing crops traditionally. By bringing the growing process indoors, in line with our mission of social responsibility, we are revitalizing abandoned spaces and are using them for local food production. We are empowering a new generation of farmers to grow food for cities, in cities.

“This technology democratizes the ability to grow local food in any community, regardless of location or climate. We’re doing this because local food is just better. Local food is more nutritious than food that’s packed in a truck and travels for weeks, it tastes better, and growing food in the communities where it’s eaten helps stimulate the local economy.”

Detractors of indoor farming point out the high cost of powering all the lights and circulation pumps needed, but Metropolis Farms thinks its rooftop solar array will answer the critics.

“The truth is, like any technology, indoor farming is constantly improving upon itself. We have gained efficiencies through innovative lighting (not LEDs), BTU management systems, and other means to dramatically reduce the amount of energy our farms are using.

“And we are on the cusp of a breakthrough in a technology that will reduce our energy usage even further. We hope to demonstrate this new technological advancement at this year’s Indoor Ag-Con, hosted for the first time in Philadelphia. We are pushing the envelope by attempting to build a zero-carbon farm. Through water recapture techniques, renewable energy production, advanced energy systems, and most importantly by farming locally, we are on the right track.”

Another benefit of vertical gardening is a dramatic decrease in the amount of pesticides needed to grow fresh food. Not only will the crops not be covered in chemicals, neither will the environment surrounding the vertical garden. That’s a huge benefit that should not be discounted. “We hope others will follow our lead and start building farms of the future, so communities everywhere can benefit from having a quality local food source that grows crops responsibly,” say the leaders of Metropolis Farms.

Source and photo credit: Metropolis Farms

Sign up for Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Former Tesla Battery Expert Leading Lyten Into New Lithium-Sulfur Battery Era — Podcast: I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong — and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps — gasp — grow. So ... Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong — and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps —— grow. So ...

Output: An agricultural company in Philadelphia is building an indoor farm in the city centre, powered by a solar array on the roof. Metropolis Farms has taken over 100,000 square feet on the fourth floor of an office block to cultivate crops including tomatoes, strawberries and lettuce. The vertical farm is designed to have the capacity to grow produce equivalent to that produced by 660 acres outdoors, with the lights and circulation pumps powered by 2,000 solar panels on the roof. The intention is to create a zero-carbon farm, with low energy consumption and fewer pesticides.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Study discovers technique to boost building-strength sensors
 Technology from the Public University of Navarre monitors the structural health of infrastructure (bridges, viaducts, oil pipelines, gas pipelines, etc.) and can be used in intensity-based optical sensors that modify the amount of light in the system in the presence of physical as well as chemical changes, as explained in Sergio Rota's Ph.D. thesis read at the Public University of Navarre (NUP/UPNA).

"Ever since fibre optics burst onto the scene in telecommunications, many developments based on its properties have emerged," said Sergio Rota. "So over the last few decades, the rapid evolution of fibre-optics-based systems and the appearance on the market of other devices has caused research in this field to advance considerably. Apart from the use of fibre optics in telecommunications, new applications have emerged, thus leading to new families of devices. Two of them of particular interest are fibre-optic lasers and fibre-optic sensors."

Both devices are based on fibre optics, a means of transmitting information via light. A laser is a device that emits light through optical amplification and by stimulating the emitting of electromagnetic radiation. Fibre-optic sensors are devices in which the parameter that is going to be measured (physical, chemical, biological or of another type) inserts modifications or modulations into one of the characteristics of the light in the optical system contained in it and allows it to be monitored.

Sergio Rota's research was based on the development of advanced fibre-optic structures for lasers and sensors. "The aim was to improve the properties of both, and their monitoring systems, besides tackling the problems that they pose," said the author of this Ph.D. thesis, which received a "cum laude" distinction with international mention.

He developed a Rayleigh scattering distributed cavity laser (known as random lasers), the narrowest to date. Lasers of this type are characterised by the absence of reflective elements used in conventional lasers, thus improving the properties of the electromagnetic spectrum for monitoring sensors.

Furthermore he has improved some of the sensor monitoring elements in such a way that he has improved parameters such as their range (up to measurements of 250 km), sensitivity and stability.

Output: Sensors and lasers that monitor the structural health of buildings can be made 50 times more sensitive by using fibre-optic technology, according to research by a Spanish academic. Sergio Rota developed a refined version of a "random" laser and improved the elements in a sensor in a way that significantly improved their sensitivity and stability at the Public University of Navarre. His findings won him a distinction for his PhD and they could be applied to devices that monitor bridges, viaducts and other infrastructure.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
World-first Internet of Drones platform released by Flytbase
 FlytBase Inc. a startup building developer platforms for connected intelligent drones, today announced the release of its AI Platform for Drones. FlytBase has built the world’s first IoT platform for commercial drones, the “Internet of Drones” (IoD) platform. Continuing on its mission to bring intelligence and connectivity to commercial drones, FlytBase is now extending its cloud and edge compute platforms to incorporate AI and machine learning.

As drones continue to find use in wide range of commercial applications, the focus is shifting towards higher levels of automation and tighter integration of drones with business processes, for significantly improved efficiencies. Recent advances in AI have enabled computers to makes sense of the visual data around them, almost reaching human-level performance in some cases. Some of the tasks enabled by these algorithms, include:

● Object detection – identify and locate objects of interest in an image

● Object counting – identify and count objects of interest in an image

● Image segmentation – classify pixels in an image into multiple finite segments to

simplify representation

● Change detection – detect changes between two temporally spaced images

● Image classification – classify an image into one of the known categories of images

The technological potential of drones is being further enhanced by combining autonomous drone tech with AI. Computer vision systems, mounted on drones, enable them to gather rich visual data either in the form of photos or videos. Processing this data using AI unfolds unique perspectives and information, which otherwise would be either impossible or very expensive to derive using traditional techniques involving human effort.

With the vision to leverage AI for drone applications, FlytBase platform is being further extended to incorporate AI capabilities to process aerial image data.

Workflow

FlytBase AI platform is based in the cloud, wherein the entire workflow of preparing datasets, training models and deploying trained-models for inferencing has been automated. This enables quicker turnaround time and faster iterations when a use case is being worked upon. Being in the cloud also helps in scaling the system up at runtime when demand (either for training, or for real-time inferencing) increases.

Examples of use cases that can be automated with FlytBase AI platform, are:

a. Object counting – e.g. counting the number of Arabian Oryx from an orthomap image. These are an endangered specie and keeping a tab on their count goes towards their conservation.

b. Object detection – e.g. locating cracks and rust areas from an image of industrial structures.

c. Change detection – e.g. detecting changes between two photos of a parking lot taking from almost the same vantage point at different times.

To harness FlytBase AI platform capabilities, customers bring in their use-case to FlytBase, along with sufficient training images dataset.

The customer provided data is carefully cropped, labelled and packaged for training purposes, and added to an Image Dataset Library.

The FlytBase AI model-training workflow consists of:

● Model Library: Hosts object detection models to choose from during training

● Pre-trained weights library: Hosts weights from previously trained models to borrow

representation from

● Image dataset library: Hosts packaged datasets provided by customers. The raw data is pre-processed for image augmentation and labelling before putting into this library

Via the above workflow, user can select various pieces of the training pipeline and initiate training on one of our GPU enabled cloud compute nodes. This results in a trained model ready for inferencing.

Once our model is trained, it is deployed on the platform for direct use by our users. Users can do live inferencing either via our web console or by using REST API’s exposed by the platform. REST APIs have the added advantage of integrating this platform with customer’s system for further automation.

FlytBase AI platform is designed to support multi-tenancy, which enables utilisation usage of resources, and hence cost savings for our customers.

Deep Learning Algorithm

At the heart of the image-processing pipeline are state-of-the-art CNN models employing recent advancements in computer-vision and deep-learning.

Over the last few years, several object detection models have been published, which have significantly improved upon the previous generation, in terms of accuracy and speed of inferencing. Notable are, SSD, DetectNet, Fast R-CNN, Faster R-CNN, Yolo and Yolo V2.

Similarly, for image classification, ResNet50, VGG16/19 and Inception models are some of the most preferred models. Some models have better accuracy, while others might be faster at inferencing than others. Selection of a model takes into account these criteria, tailored to customer’s use case.

The pipeline allows several model implementations (same model with different hyperparameters or different models altogether) to be trained on the same dataset, simultaneously, so that the best can be chosen. Since different model implementations might need datasets to be arranged in different formats (e.g. from PASCAL VOC to TFRecord format), we have built adapters to transform the data on the fly to suit the model.

We have used transfer learning to tune the off-the-shelf pre-trained models for getting higher accuracy for detecting our object(s) of interest. This involves removing layers of the off-the-shelf pre-trained models to keep the correct level of representation from the previous dataset, before training them on new dataset.

The FlytBase AI platform is agnostic to the particular framework in which the models are implemented (Tensorflow, Caffe, Theano etc. ), by virtue of an abstraction layer. This allows the platform to assimilate the best implementation of cutting-edge models coming out of research labs, with ease.

Challenges and Solutions

Using high resolution aerial images to train computer vision models poses unique challenges:

a. Lack of sufficient training data: There are plenty of open training datasets out there, but almost all of them have images taken from human eye level. What makes aerial images unique is their top-down view of the objects. Moreover, for custom object detection, customers don’t often have enough images to train the model on, wherein we have to make do with limited set of images.

b. Very high resolution of the images: Computer vision models can process images of limited resolution at a time. For high-resolution images, we need to crop the images into sizable chunks and run inference on them one at a time. This can lead to double counting or misses.

c. Shallow features of objects: When looked down from the top, objects can have very generic shapes which a) can be hard to detect and b) can appear to be similar to other objects.

FlytBase AI platform uses various approaches to address these challenges, including data augmentation, cropping with different offsets for hi-res images, and training models on similar looking objects for better differentiation. Improving algorithms to address these challenges is a continuous process, further enriching the platform.

A Case Study: Arabian Oryx Detection and Counting

The Arabian oryx or white oryx is a medium-sized antelope native to desert and steppe areas of the Arabian Peninsula. It was extinct in the wild by the early 1970s, but was saved in zoos and private preserves, and was reintroduced into the wild starting in 1980. Keeping an upto date record of their population, with geotags, is an essential part of their conservation. The practice has been to count them manually by looking at a high resolution

orthoimage of the sanctuary. This is error prone and time consuming. Moreover, our customer had a backlog of such images taken over time, where the counting had to be done on all of them.

At FlytBase, we developed an image processing pipeline to automate the task of detecting oryxes in an ingested image and count them.

We started with 400 images which constituted an orthoimage, and extracted 1000×600 sized images, which had either oryx in them, or oryx like objects. These were then labeled and packaged into training and testing datasets in the Pascal VOC format.

A Faster R-CNN based object detection pipeline was set up in the cloud using the tensorflow object detection library. In the pipeline, the images were augmented by horizontally flipping and random resizing. Once everything was in place, the model was trained for 10k iterations.

The model so prepared could scan a 1000×600 sized image for Oryx. But it had to run on a high-resolution orthoimage (29200×24160 pixels). To meet that requirement, the orthoimage was split into sections sized 1000×600. Detection was executed on them, individually, and the results were stitched back. To avoid double counting or misses, the

split-detect-stitch procedure was repeated with different offsets for the splits, and the median count of all the runs was obtained.

The results from this model were quite accurate and impressive. The FlytBase AI platform is able to process aerial image-data, gathered over several months, in order of minutes. This was the world’s first application of machine learning on drone image-data for Oryx detection in the desert.

The Road Ahead

There is a vast potential to be unlocked for our customers, from the images they collect via drones. With its scalable architecture, automated pipeline, and with our vast experience in dealing with drones, their data and automation, FlytBase AI platform will result in significant improvement in efficiencies for our customers.

FlytBase AI platform is optimised for interpretation of drone data, and it seamlessly integrates with the rest of FlytBase platform to offer connectivity with your business applications. If you are looking to leverage machine-learning technology for automation of

If you are looking to leverage machine-learning technology for automation of your drone data-processing, please reach out to our experts at [email protected] or

signup at flytbase.com/ai

Output: California start-up FlytBase has launched the Internet of Drones, the world's first connected platform for a new generation of increasingly sophisticated unmanned aerial vehicles. The cloud-based system has incorporated machine learning and artificial intelligence, enabling the fast and efficient automation of training sets for drone features, including object detection and counting, and change detection.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Australian banks create platform to support new payments tech
 That annoying wait for a payment to transfer to or from your account will soon be a thing of the past, thanks to most banks moving to real-time payments from 26 January.

A group of 13 banks and financial institutions are collaborating on a new $1bn platform, run by a company called the New Payments Platform Australia (NPP Australia), which will enable much simpler, real-time transfers between accounts.

The full introduction of the new system is scheduled to start when people return from their summer holidays but in the meantime it will be road-tested by bank staff, who will be able to make real-time payments between each other and their bank.

The main advantage for consumers will be that they will not need to wait for their money as they do now – sometimes for 24 hours. But it will also allow transfers using much simpler identifiers than a BSB and account number, such as a mobile phone number or email address.

Customers will be able to set their own more memorable identifier that is attached to their bank account, thus avoiding the problem of payments going astray due to a mistyped account number. There will also be more scope to include longer messages with transfers, which are currently limited to 18 characters.

It is anticipated most Australian bank accounts will have access to the new system as soon as the platform launches. The project was triggered by the Reserve Bank’s 2012 review of Australia’s payment infrastructure, which noted that similar innovations were being introduced overseas.

“The industry recognised the need for a plan that would support the future of payments. Already the Australian public has embraced electronic payment methods – chip cards (particularly contactless or “wave and pay” technology), BPAY, and new technologies such as smartphones,” NPPA chief executive, Adrian Lovney said.

“But for this evolution to continue, our basic payments infrastructure needed an upgrade to enable a shift from batch or overnight account-based payments to immediate payments, and this could only be done with a whole of industry approach.”

However, the introduction of real-time payments overseas has also led to an increase in fraud, prompting experts to warn that financial institutions would need to exercise increased vigilance.

Lovney said the banks would need to put in place systems to track unusual transactions.

“With any new system that is introduced, you will see a spike in activity as people think about how they can take advantage of the change but banks will continue to put in place systems behind the scenes to try to protect customers from being tricked,” he said.

“While consumers and businesses can be reassured by the platform’s high levels of security, they will need to remain alert to the possibility of cons and scams that will continue to happen outside the platform’s control – like the recent spate of scams involving people impersonating the ATO, for instance ,” he said.

Tom Godfrey, head of media at Choice said the consumer organisation supported real-time payments.

“Anecdotally, we’ve fielded plenty of complaints from consumers about direct deposits taking too long to process, as if the bank was waiting for a cheque to clear, Godfrey, said.

He said Choice had been reassured these transactions would be safe and secure and that banks would implement safeguards.

“Transactions will be settled through the “Fast Settlement Service” provided by the Reserve Bank, and we’re told the system has built-in security features that we have no reason to doubt at this early stage,” he added.

“ While financial institutions that connect to the NPP will be able to offer real time payments, we’ve been informed that there will also be ways to slow or stop these payments if fraud is detected.”

Banks will soon begin promoting the new system to customers.

Output: Thirteen Australian banks and financial institutions are working together to create the AUD1bn ($770m) New Payments Platform Australia (NPP Australia) to support new payment technologies. In addition to real-time transfers, the platform aims to use simpler identifiers, like mobile numbers, and offer more space for messages in transfers. Despite high levels of security on the platform, banks must remain vigilant and employ systems to identify unusual transactions, warned NPP Australia CEO, Adrian Lovney. The platform is being tested by staff before being rolled out to the public.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
App-controlled drying, ironing laundry robot eyes spring delivery
 T he drudgery of the weekly ironing session could be ended by a wifi-connected laundry robot built in a garage in north London.

“Effie”, designed by engineers Rohan Kamdar and Trevor Kerth, can dry and press everything from workshirts to underwear in just a few minutes.

The £699 device was constructed at Mr Kamdar’s family home in Pinner and the finishing touches are being made to a prototype, with the product due to go on sale in the spring.

Clothes are hung on adjustable hangers inside the app-controlled machine. They are then dried, steamed and smoothed to remove creases.

The 27-year-old inventors, who have masters degrees in mechanical engineering, say Effie can slash chore times as each garment — even if wet from the wash — is popped out ready to wear in under three minutes. Effie — named after “Fe”, the chemical symbol for iron — has been designed to uncrease cotton, polyester, silk, viscose and denim.

Underwear can be hung in a bag inside to be dried and a scented ball can be added to the steam tank. Mr Kamdar, 27, said Effie differs from other automated laundry devices as it “contacts” the clothes and puts tension through them to press out the wrinkles, rather than just steaming them.

It can handle clothes from children’s up to XXL adult sizes, and has been designed to take up the same amount of space as an ironing board and a person — it is 128cm high, 80cm wide and 40cm deep, weighing 35kg.

Mr Kamdar said the device, designed to be serviced every two years, would use no more electricity during a cycle than a domestic hairdryer.

He added: “Laundry is ubiquitous, time-consuming and people universally hate it. This all started out of my garage, it’s a classic hardware start-up.” Referring to the Sixties American sci-fi cartoon show, he said: “I really like the idea of robots doing all the chores in my home, and so Effie has a real Jetsons vibe.

“You don’t need to split the load, you hang everything up at once, click, go and do something else.”

Their next invention will be an all-in-one machine that washes, dries and irons.

Output: Two engineers have invented an app-controlled robot that they say dries and irons clothes in a matter of minutes. Dubbed Effie, the £699 ($920) device takes up the same amount of space as a person with an ironing board and, according to designers Rohan Kamdar and Trevor Kerth, uses the same amount of electricity per cycle as a hair dryer. Effie can be used on a range of fabrics and garment sizes, from children's clothes to XXL. Kamdar and Kerth aim to bring Effie to market next spring.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Ocean Conservancy launches $150m scheme to combat marine plastic
 Ocean Conservancy, the Trash Free Seas Alliance® and Closed Loop Partners to raise $150 million for a new funding mechanism to address waste management in Southeast Asia

MALTA, October 5, 2017 (Ocean Conservancy) – At the Our Ocean 2017 conference, a global gathering of world leaders to address some of the world’s most pressing ocean challenges, Ocean Conservancy and its partners, including the Trash Free Seas Alliance®, Closed Loop Partners, PepsiCo, 3M, Procter & Gamble, the American Chemistry Council, and the World Plastics Council announced an initiative to raise over $150 million for a new funding mechanism to prevent plastic waste from leaking in to our ocean.

The initiative is designed to fund waste management and recycling solutions in Southeast Asia, with a focus on investments to improve collection, sorting and recycling markets. Nearly half of the plastic that flows into the ocean every year – an estimated 8 million metric tons – escapes from waste streams in just five rapidly developing economies in Asia (Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand and China).

“This is a major breakthrough in the fight for trash free seas,” said Susan Ruffo, managing director of international initiatives at Ocean Conservancy. “Our research has found that by improving waste management in Southeast Asian countries, we can cut the flow of plastic going in the ocean by half by 2025. A funding mechanism will take this goal from dream to reality, and support efforts by governments and local groups on the ground to improve their livelihoods and well-being while also improving ocean health.”

Scientists estimate that over 150 million metric tons of plastics are currently in the ocean today, entangling wildlife, polluting beaches, and costing coastal communities hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars. That number could grow to 250 million metric tons in less than a decade if immediate action isn’t taken.

The new funding mechanism will be operated by Closed Loop Partners, an investment firm that invests in companies, technology and recycling facilities to turn waste into value and advance the circular economy. This new mechanism will catalyze new investments from the private sector, governments, and development finance institutions; demonstrate eco-system solutions; and build a pipeline of bankable waste management projects to demonstrate investment viability and maximize recycling profitability.

“Through this initiative, we will invest in and support the municipalities, entrepreneurs, investors and NGOs working to reduce ocean plastics and improve waste management in Southeast Asia,” said Rob Kaplan of Closed Loop Partners. “Our investments across North America — from recycling collection in Tennessee to developing new end markets for waste plastics in Louisiana — have resulted in tangible improvements to waste collection and recycling. Our model is to take the best practices in waste management investment, leverage the world’s largest consumer goods supply chains, and marry them with on-the-ground partner expertise and work.”

Effective waste management reduces plastics waste leakage, leads to healthier citizens, creates jobs, and reduces emissions of toxins and carbon. It is also a critical component to making a circular economy function, ensuring that materials can be recovered for reuse and recycling. This initiative aims to solve the root causes of plastics in the ocean by investing in the systems and emerging technologies needed to capture and transform waste into valuable commodities before it reaches marine environments, while also providing tangible benefits to communities.

Consumer goods companies and plastics manufacturers support the project. Early commitments from PepsiCo, 3M, Procter & Gamble, the American Chemistry Council and the World Plastics Council have fully funded the design phase of the fund.

“P&G is proud to be a part of this initiative,” said Jack McAneny, Director of Sustainability, Procter & Gamble. “Plastics play an important role in commerce, but they clearly don’t belong in our waterways and oceans. Thanks to the vision of Ocean Conservancy, we now have a multi-stakeholder collaborative effort that can drive the kind of innovation and scale that we need to stop the flow of plastics to the environment and ideally give these materials a second life.”

The initiative aims to share the results of its initial phase of work within the next year to help build the field of investors looking to deploy capital into this market.

The Trash Free Seas Alliance is comprised of:

Ocean Conservancy, Algalita Marine Research and Education, The Coca-Cola Company, Covanta Energy, The Dow Chemical Company, ITW, Keep America Beautiful, The Marine Mammal Center, The Ocean Recovery Alliance, Project AWARE Foundation, Amcor, American Chemistry Council, Bank of America, Cox Enterprises, DANONE, Dart Container Corporation, Georgia Aquarium, Nature Works, Nestlé Waters NA, Procter & Gamble, REDISA, Rozalia Project for a Clean Ocean, The Consumer Goods Forum, Vancouver Aquarium, Walmart, World Animal Protection, The World Plastics Council, World Wildlife Fund www.trashfreeseas.org

###

Ocean Conservancy is working to protect the ocean from today’s greatest global challenges. Together with our partners, we create science-based solutions for a healthy ocean and the wildlife and communities that depend on it.

www.oceanconservancy.org

Closed Loop Partners

Closed Loop Partners invests in sustainable consumer goods, advanced recycling technologies and the development of the circular economy.

www.closedlooppartners.com

Output: Ocean Conservancy, a US environmental non-profit agency, is to launch an initiative that will raise over $150m for a funding mechanism that aims to combat plastic pollution in the ocean. Partners include social impact fund, Closed Loop Partners, which will operate the funding mechanism, as well as 3M, the American Chemistry Council, PepsiCo, Proctor & Gamble, the Trash Free Seas Alliance® and the World Plastics Council. The initiative will finance waste management and recycling projects in Southeast Asia. This region is responsible for nearly half of the eight million metric tonnes of plastic that enters the ocean each year.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Ocean Conservancy launches $150m scheme to combat marine plastic
 Dive Brief:

At the Our Ocean conference in Malta, the Ocean Conservancy, joined by the Trash Free Seas Alliance, Closed Loop Partners, PepsiCo, 3M, Procter & Gamble, the American Chemistry Council, and the World Plastics Council announced a $150 million funding plan to help prevent the flow of plastic waste into the ocean.

The funding initiative will focus on waste management and recycling solutions in Southeast Asia. According to Susan Ruffo, managing director of international initiatives for the Ocean Conservancy, improving waste management practices in the region could "cut the flow of plastic going in the ocean by half by 2025."

Closed Loop Partners, which has so far invested in domestic projects, will operate the new funding mechanism. During a recent interview with Waste Dive, the organization's chief investment and financial officer said marine debris is a main focus and the goal is to be "i nstrumental in stemming that tide."

Dive Insight:

There is enough plastic on the globe for every person alive to have more than 1 metric ton to themselves — and most of that material comes from virgin sources. Due to a myriad of reasons, including high contamination rates, poor waste management practices and the sheer demand for plastic goods, plastic can get lost from the waste stream and become pollution that often finds its way into the ocean. Since nearly half of all marine plastic is believed to enter the ocean from a small number of Southeast Asian countries, it makes strategic and practical sense that this partnership is targeting the region.

Marine debris is a hot topic in the waste industry, especially outside of the U.S. One of the International Solid Waste Association's (ISWA) focuses at the World Congress/WASTECON 2017 in Baltimore was reducing marine litter and closing the loop on waste. ISWA just put out a report on marine litter, saying that the global community is now "at a critical moment in history" when it comes to dealing with marine litter and other environmental issues. This has spurred a wave of policies on plastic packaging and even led some countries to establish harsh punishments for violations.

The issue is also seen as a top priority by environmental advocates and some industry groups in the U.S. due to many domestic signs of marine pollution. For example, tens of millions of pounds of plastic debris enter the Great Lakes each year. A growing number of cleanup efforts, corporate sponsorships and local ordinances have all been created in an effort mitigate the problem. However, none may be as useful as finding ways to make it more profitable to recycle and extract value from plastic rather than toss it in favor of virgin material.

Output: Ocean Conservancy, a US environmental non-profit agency, is to launch an initiative that will raise over $150m for a funding mechanism that aims to combat plastic pollution in the ocean. Partners include social impact fund, Closed Loop Partners, which will operate the funding mechanism, as well as 3M, the American Chemistry Council, PepsiCo, Proctor & Gamble, the Trash Free Seas Alliance® and the World Plastics Council. The initiative will finance waste management and recycling projects in Southeast Asia. This region is responsible for nearly half of the eight million metric tonnes of plastic that enters the ocean each year.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
BBC pay gap of 9.3% revealed in salary review
 Men are being paid 9.3% more than women at the BBC on average and nearly 500 employees may be getting paid less than colleagues in a similar role simply because of their gender, according to a review of salaries at the broadcaster.

The BBC ordered the review into pay after a furore over the salaries of its best-paid stars this summer. The corporation’s pay list revealed that just a third of its highest paid on-air stars were women and the top seven were all men, leading more than 40 of its highest-profile female presenters, including Clare Balding, Fiona Bruce and Emily Maitlis, to publicly call for change.

The pay review claims there is “no systemic discrimination against women” at the BBC but it did not include the vast majority of on-air presenters, editors and senior managers, and trade unions said the broadcaster needed to do better on equal pay.

Jane Garvey, the presenter of Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, who organised a public letter from female stars, tweeted an apparently bemused response to the review:

“Nothing (much) to see here” . Ummm https://t.co/ZDVGsTZb4B — Jane Garvey (@janegarvey1) October 4, 2017

The average gender pay gap in the UK is 18.1%, which the BBC is well below. The government has said that all companies with more than 250 employees must publish their gender pay gap by next April, but the BBC has revealed its figure early.

Tony Hall, the director- general of the BBC, drafted in the law firm Eversheds Sutherland and the accountants PwC to audit the corporation’s pay and commissioned the former court of appeal judge Sir Patrick Elias to review it.

Eversheds and PwC analysed in detail a sample of situations at the BBC where men and women could have expected to be paid the same but the difference in salary was more than 5%. This found that on 8.6% of occasions there was not enough evidence to establish a reason for the disparity other than gender. Across all the BBC staff in the review, this means that 229 men and 248 women could be getting paid less than they should just because of their gender.

Nonetheless, Elias said the pay report found “no evidence from which discrimination could reasonably be inferred” and that where men and women were paid differently for doing the same job it was “far more likely to be an issue of fairness than one of sex discrimination”. Elias called for the BBC to keep better records, do more staff appraisals and set clearer guidance to managers deciding pay.

He said the overall gender pay gap, which measures the median salary of all women against all men, was driven by an “under-representation of women in the more senior jobs”.

Hall welcomed the findings, saying: “Fairness in pay is vital. We have pledged to close the gender pay gap by 2020 and have targets for equality and diversity on our airwaves. We have done a lot already, but we have more to do.

“While today’s reports show that we are in a better place than many organisations, I want a BBC that is an exemplar not just in the media but in the country – when it comes to pay, fairness, gender and representation and what can be achieved. This is an essential part of modernising the BBC. And, if the BBC is to truly reflect the public it serves, then the makeup of our staff must reflect them.”

Q&A What were the top 10 BBC salaries for 2017? Show 1. Chris Evans £2.2m - £2.25m

2. Gary Lineker £1.75m - £1.8m 3. Graham Norton £850,0000 - £899,999 4. Jeremy Vine £700,000 - £749,999 5. John Humphrys £600,000 - £649,999 6. Huw Edwards £550,000 - £599,999 7. Steve Wright £500,000 - £549,999 = 8. Claudia Winkleman £450,000 - £499,999 = 8. Matt Baker £450,000 - £499,999 = 9. Nicky Campbell £400,000 - £449,999 = 9. Andrew Marr £400,000 - £449,999 = 9. Stephen Nolan £400,000 - £449,999 = 9. Alan Shearer £400,000 - £449,999 =9. Alex Jones £400,000 - £449,000 10. Fiona Bruce £350,000 - £399,999 Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback.

Hall has a signed off a collection of measures designed to improve diversity at the BBC. They include a ban on all-male or all-female interview panels and the introduction of “fair pay reviews” every six months that will involve managers at the BBC analysing the pay of their team with the human resources department. A report on the pay of on-air presenters will be published later this year.

Bectu, the media and entertainment trade union, said the BBC should lead the way on eradicating bias against women. Gerry Morrissey, the head of the union, said: “The BBC must not rest on its laurels in respect of the overall gender pay gap. The report finds that the gap is much less than the national average but that should not obscure the fact that inequality is a factor for some staff day in and day out.

“We want the BBC to lead the way to eliminate the bias against women in certain areas of employment and in senior management.”

Output: The BBC is paying men on average 9.3% more than women, with almost 500 employees potentially earning less than colleagues in similar roles due to their gender, according to a salary review. The survey was launched in the wake of revelations in July that just a third of the broadcaster’s highest paid on-air stars were women. The review found “no systemic discrimination against women,” but called for the BBC to maintain better records and provide clearer pay guidance to managers. Lack of women in senior roles was blamed for the pay disparity. The UK’s average gender pay gap is 18.1%.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Robo-adviser Nutmeg mulls fundraising as losses increase
 Online investment management service Nutmeg saw losses widen last year as it continued to invest heavily, and said it may need to raise more cash to continue its expansion.

Its accounts with Companies House revealed that pre-tax losses went up from £8.9million to £9.3million in 2016 as operating expenses increased by nearly £1.2million to £11.9million.

However, revenues rose from £1.7million to £2.5million and chief executive Martin Stead, who took the helm in May last year and appointed a new executive team, said the firm has grown ‘significantly’.

Expanding: Nutmeg managed £600m of assets for 25,000 customers at the end of last year

Nutmeg, one of the best known of the many so-called 'robo-adviser' services now available, increased its customer base to 25,000 by the end of last year, according to the accounts, with approximately £600million of assets under its watch.

The website, which offers investors an automated way to invest online at a selected level of risk versus reward, said that it may need more cash on top of the funding it received last year to continue its development.

‘The directors have […] determined that the company may require further cash injections to continue to develop and market its product offering and to build its customer base and its assets under management,’ Nutmeg said in a statement.

‘Under such a scenario, the directors have a reasonable expectation of securing additional funding from the existing shareholders and new investors.’

Online investment management companies like Nutmeg have grown in popularity recently.

Customers can start with as little as £500, plus a £100 per month contribution for portfolios less than £5,000, and pay Nutmeg an annual management fee of between 0.35 per cent and 0.75 per cent, depending on the size of their investment. Additional investment costs which average 0.19 per cent also apply.

Last year the company received large funding from investors, including £12million from Taiwan-based Taipei Fubon Bank and £24million from Hong Kong financial advice firm Convoy.

Stead said that it was using the last round of funding it received in December last year to expand its product offering and ‘rapidly scale’ the business in the UK.

‘Specific focus will be on innovation including new investing options, new tax wrappers and further developing the advice offering,’ he added.

Output: Robo-adviser Nutmeg said it may need to raise more capital after the firm saw its pre-tax losses increase over the past year. While the firm reported significant growth and a rise in revenues last year, losses widened from £8.9m ($11.8m) to £9.3m. Higher operating costs are believed to be behind the increase. The robo-adviser had around 25,000 customers and £600m in assets under management on its platform at the end of 2016.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Shareholders push back on Starbucks' family leave policies
 Dan R. Krauss/Getty Images

Shareholders are calling for Starbucks to change its family leave policy.

On Monday, a group of shareholders led by Zevin Asset Management filed a resolution to express concern with the company's "unequal paid parental leave policy."

While Starbucks' corporate offices have extensive maternity and paternity leave policies, these policies do not include in-store workers. Corporate employees can receive up to 18 weeks of paid maternal leave, and fathers or adoptive parents receive up to 12 weeks of paid leave.

However, in-store workers receive just six weeks of paid maternal leave. Adoptive parents can request up to six weeks of paid leave.

"This runs counter to Starbucks's widely recognized commitment to social responsibility, nondiscrimination, and inclusion," the resolution reads. "Our Company's unequal stance may disproportionately harm low income workers and workers of color. LGBTQ workers face particular challenges, as they are four times more likely to parent adopted children and six times more likely to raise foster children."

The resolution requests that Starbucks' board prepare a report on the coffee giant's family leave policy that evaluates the risk of employment discrimination at the company.

Starbucks spokesperson Reggie Borges told Business Insider that the company is one of the few to provide hourly employees full benefit eligibility at only 20 hours a week.

"We offer a more robust benefits package than any other retail company," Borges said in an email.

He continued: "With respect to our new parental leave benefit, this will be exceptional within the retail industry not only because of paid time off component, but also because its offered to anyone who works just 20+ hours or more a week, and there is no tenure requirement attached to it."

Zevin Asset Management, which classifies itself as a socially responsible impact investing firm, says it began conversations regarding weak family leave policies with more than 10 companies in client portfolios this summer.

"Paid family leave is a matter of gender justice in America. And it's quickly becoming a business risk," Pat Miguel Tomaino, associate director of socially responsible investing at Zevin, said in a statement.

Tomaino continued: "The huge gap between HQ and in-store workers at Starbucks can hurt morale at a firm that prides itself on equal treatment and social responsibility. Reserving paternal and adoptive parent leave for a chosen few in the company also opens Starbucks to potential discrimination claims. That's why investors are getting involved."

Output: Zevin Asset Management, a shareholder in coffee-giant Starbucks, is leading a group of shareholders requesting the company refine its family leave policy. A resolution filed by the group called out the firm for not offering the same family leave policies for both its corporate and in-store staff. Starbucks was also criticised for not offering the same family leave periods for adopting parents. It was suggested that the firm's policies disproportionately affected lower income workers, while its stance towards adopting parents disproportionately harmed LGBT employees.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
The John A. Hartford Foundation and West Health Partner to Support the National PACE Association’s Goal of Adapting PACE to Serve Many High-Need Populations
 PACE 2.0 seeks to build on success of Programs of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly to expand the benefits of the model to more people

(Oct. 2, 2017) ALEXANDRIA, VA – The National PACE Association (NPA) expresses gratitude to The John A. Hartford Foundation (JAHF) and the West Health Policy Center for their support in expanding access to Programs of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE®) for many complex high-need, high-cost populations across the country. The organizations recently approved $795,585 in funding over two years, with the goal of innovating the PACE model to serve more seniors and other individuals with high-care needs.

“NPA is deeply grateful to The John A. Hartford Foundation for its longstanding support of PACE and is thrilled to be working with West Health as a new partner in our ongoing efforts to expand access to PACE’s provider-based, fully integrated health care delivery model,” said Shawn Bloom, president and CEO of NPA.

The PACE 2.0 initiative will build upon the PACE Innovation Act, legislation passed by Congress allowing for PACE pilots to develop innovations supporting the ability of PACE to serve a larger number and wider range of adults with high health care needs. The project will identify underserved subpopulations currently eligible to enroll in PACE, as well as new unserved populations, such as younger adults with physical or mental challenges, that could benefit from the PACE model. To meet the needs of these individuals, the project will support the development of strategies to scale PACE operations and spread the model to more communities. The goal is to achieve a five-fold increase in those served by PACE and promote implementation of the strategies developed.

“This project charts a course for bringing the transformative care model of PACE to many more communities and people who will benefit from its integrated, person-centered approach,” said Peter Fitzgerald, executive vice president for Policy and Strategy at NPA and the principal investigator for the project. “Through scale and spread strategies developed by the project, we look forward to achieving exponential growth in access to PACE for older Americans and those with complex health care needs.”

NPA is the national association for PACE organizations. PACE uses an interdisciplinary team approach to provide care to older individuals who qualify for nursing home care. PACE is a Medicare benefit nationally and a Medicaid benefit in 31 states. PACE is the most successful model for keeping individuals out of nursing homes and in the community, where they enjoy a higher quality of life, remain connected to the community, and receive care in the most cost-effective way. PACE has proven its ability to reduce costs associated with emergency room visits, unnecessary hospital admissions and long-term nursing home placements. PACE data show that more than 95 percent of PACE enrollees live in the community.

#

The National PACE Association works to advance the efforts of PACE programs, which coordinate and provide preventive, primary, acute and long-term care services so older individuals can continue living in the community. The PACE model of care is centered on the belief that it is better for the well-being of seniors with chronic care needs and their families to be served in the community whenever possible. For more information, visit www.NPAonline.org and follow @TweetNPA.

The John A. Hartford Foundation, based in New York City, is a private, nonpartisan philanthropy dedicated to improving the care of older adults. Established in 1929, the foundation has three priority areas: creating age-friendly health systems, supporting family caregiving, and improving serious illness and end-of-life care. For more information, visit www.johnahartford.org and follow @johnahartford.

Solely funded by philanthropists Gary and Mary West, West Health includes the nonprofit and nonpartisan Gary and Mary West Health Institute and Gary and Mary West Foundation in San Diego and the Gary and Mary West Health Policy Center in Washington, DC. These organizations are working together toward a shared mission dedicated to enabling seniors to successfully age in place with access to high-quality, affordable health and support services that preserve and protect their dignity, quality of life, and independence. For more information, visit westhealth.org and follow @westhealth.

Output: The National PACE Association (NPA) has garnered the support of the John A. Hartford Foundation (JAHF) and the West Health Policy Center for extending the access to its Programs of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE®) for Americans. The consortium has approved funding of $795,585 over a two-year period, designed to develop the PACE model further to aid further seniors and those with high-care needs. PACE 2.0 will use the PACE Innovation Act, legislation designed to develop innovative treatments, to increase access to underserved populations such as physical or mental challenges. The project will create strategies for scaling PACE operations and extend the model to more communities, with the aim of increased five-fold the number of those served. PACE utilizes an interdisciplinary approach to provide care for those who qualify for nursing home assistance, and is provided through Medicare and Medicaid across 31 states. PACE is designed to keep older adults out of nursing homes and providing a higher quality of life in local communities.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Program reduces high ED use, increases primary care visits for most vulnerable patients
 Researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus have found that a community-based program aimed at high users of hospital emergency departments (EDs), reduced ED visits and hospital admissions, while increasing use of primary care providers.

"Many programs have tried to tackle the problem of high utilizers of hospital emergency departments. These are usually people who are on Medicaid," said the study's first author Roberta Capp, MD, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. "But this is the first program to show that care coordination actually works."

The study was published October 2, 2017 in the journal Health Affairs.

Capp and her fellow researchers implemented and evaluated Bridges to Care (B2C), an ED-initiated, community-based program. It was one of four sites funded by a Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovations grant.

The program was led by Rutgers University Center for State Health Policy and developed in collaboration with four Colorado stakeholders including an urban academic hospital, a network of 13 local federally qualified health centers, a mental health clinic and a community advocacy organization.

Researchers compared participants in the B2C program, which focused on Medicaid eligible high ED users, with patients who had received standard care with respect to ED utilization, hospital admission and primary care use.

High ED users were identified as adults who had two or more ED visits or hospital admissions within the last 180 days.

During the six months after B2C enrollment, the participants had 29.7 percent fewer ED visits and 30 percent less hospitalizations. At the same time, they had 123 percent more primary care visits than the control subjects.

"There is a perspective from multiple stakeholders that high users of the ED are difficult patients," Capp said. "But this study shows that patients use the ED because of there are serious barriers to care.

ED care makes up 5 - 6 percent of all healthcare expenses.Previous studies have shown that providing care-coordination services and better access to primary care can reduce waste in healthcare spending. A number of programs addressing low-income, high users of EDs have been implemented with mixed results. Most were hospital-based with little community involvement.

But Capp said the B2C intervention is the first aimed at high users of EDs to combine active outreach in the ED with multidisciplinary, community-based services.It offers intensive medical, behavioral health and social care coordination services. That includes providing a care coordinator, a health coach, a behavioral health specialist, a community health worker and frequent home visits.

Each patient was given a personally tailored, 60-day care plan that included, but was not limited to assistance with getting housing resources, refugee services, access to transportation, help with applying for insurance and disability benefits, setting up primary and specialty care and filling prescriptions.

"We believe that our success stems from bringing together different healthcare systems, breaking down silos between disciplines and focusing on continuity of care in the outpatient setting," Capp said.

The study shows just how intense the services offered to this population must be to reduce their reliance on EDs. One reason is that they often have chronic diseases, including mental illness.

"We learned that active outreach in the ED is key to ensuring successful high utilizer and enrollment and engagement," the study said.

For example, early in the study, the team used call back lists and enrolled only 80 patients in seven to eight months, but when a community health worker was embedded in the ED, enrollment over the same period of time tripled.

"For a program like B2C to be effective, behavioral health services must be provided to high utilizers to ensure comprehensive, multidisciplinary care," Capp said.

She hopes federal lawmakers examining the Affordable Care Act will evaluate the program as a more cost efficient way of providing high quality care to the most vulnerable.

More information: Coordination Program Reduced Acute Care Use And Increased Primary Care Visits Among Frequent Emergency Care Users, DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2017.0612 ,

Health Aff October 2017 vol. 36 no. 10 1705-1711. content.healthaffairs.org/cont … /36/10/1705.abstract Journal information: Health Affairs

Output: A team of researchers from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus have discovered that the impact on hospital emergency departments and admission numbers was reduced by a community-based program named Bridges to Care (B2C). The program was one of four funded by a Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovations grant, and was led by the Rutgers University Center for State Health Policy. It involved the input of an urban teaching hospital, 13 federally qualified health facilities, a community advocacy organization and a mental health clinic. The study compared the program’s participants, Medicaid-eligible patients that were high-frequency ED users (two or more ED visits within 180 days), and patients who received standard care. Those enrolled in B2C had 29.7 percent fewer ED visits and 30 percent fewer hospitalizations in the first six months after joining. They also had 123 percent more primary care visits than the comparative group. ED care represents 5 percent to 6 percent of all healthcare expenses, with previous studies into emergency departments finding that care-coordination services and increased access to primary care decreases healthcare spending waste. The B2C intervention offers community-based services across several disciplines, addressing medical, behavioral and social issues through coordinated care. Care plans include medical treatment, housing resources, transport assistance, help for insurance and disability benefits, filling prescriptions and more. The study found that services need to be very intensive to reduce reliance on EDs, due to patients’ chronic issues, but with behavioral health services included, care can be coordinated effectively.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Mifid II set to reduce payments for research by 55%
 MiFID II’s unbundling rules could see overall payments for investment research in the UK plummet by two-thirds over the next few years, according to research.

A report authored by Capital Access Group (CAG) revealed the buy-side has paid brokers around £200 million for research products in the last 12 months.

However once MiFID II’s unbundling rules come into effect on 3 January next year, this figure is expected to plummet as firms scrutinise their research spend more intensely.

“Discussions with investment managers suggest that they will pay for research from internal resources. Their profitability is already under pressure from regulatory concerns over fees. Therefore, it is likely that research budgets will be lower than the figure implied from traded commission,” the report said.

CAG has predicted payments for research could fall to just £90 million in 2018, a 55% decrease from the year before and the implementation of MiFID II.

The number of analysts providing research to fund managers in the UK could also halve in the next 12 months and fall by two-thirds over the next three years.

The prediction is based on the view less than 650 of the total 1,200 analysts in the UK are currently ‘paid’ by allocations from trading commissions, although this doesn’t necessarily mean there will be a swathe of job cuts in the City.

“Analysts can be re-tasked within brokers; providing analysis for primary issues and M&A deals for example. There may also be a significant market for research which are paid for on-demand by fund managers,” the report explained.

Scott Fulton, director at CAG, suggested companies use independent research providers as the ‘most compliant route’ and to avoid falling between regulatory cracks.

Output: With asset managers' profitability already being squeezed, the implementation of Mifid II regulations next year could lead to a significant reduction in the amount laid out for research. External research payments could drop by 55%, according to Capital Access Group, which also predicted that the number of analysts providing external research to asset managers could drop by approximately two-thirds over the next three years.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Quartz creates bot to give wider context to Hewlett-Packard ads
 Publishers increasingly offer agency services, and Quartz has gone beyond making ads to constructing a chatbot for Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

Named Hugo, the chatbot was incorporated into ads that were served around Quartz’s editorial series “Machines with Brains,” which focused on how humans, technology and artificial intelligence intersect. Those who clicked through to the bot on their phones could learn more about the stories’ topics covered in the series and how HPE creates technology related to the series.

As seen in the video below, users can select topics like “artificial intelligence,” “cloud computing” and “Internet of Things.” Over a period of six weeks, 117,155 messages were served (after users selected topics) and users spent an average of two minutes with the bot, according to the publisher. Now the bot’s distribution has been widened to include Facebook Messenger, where it will roll out in the next few weeks. Quartz will also run retargeting to encourage return users.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zB-eZ8gQfWI&feature=em-upload_owner

The bot has also evolved to mine relevant articles across the web, not just Quartz and HPE content. The topics have widened to include energy, health care and communications. Users can now also type specific questions, a function that wasn’t on the first version. The bot’s new features are already accessible via Quartz’s U.S. app and will be available in Europe at the start of November. Quartz worked with HPE agency DigitasLBi on the effort.

“There is a lot of wasted time and effort in the current [marketing funnel] structure,” said Sean Mahoney, vp group director at DigitasLBi. “The challenge we gave to Quartz was how do you target the right people, not in a shotgun-blast way but in a way that’s conversational and useful.”

Quartz Creative had 12 people working on the bot, including developers, designers, user-experience specialists and analytics staff. “The process of creating value used to be to create the shiniest objects possible. The new model is to create something that might generate real value,” said Brian Dell, director of Quartz Creative.

For Quartz, bots are another way to differentiate from run-of-the-mill ads, said Jay Lauf, publisher and president of Quartz.

“Advertisers benefit because people spend more time with their messaging,” he said, “and from that, advertisers can learn more about their audiences because they’re explicitly expressing what they’re interested in, so that helps marketers deliver smarter, more relevant experiences.”

Output: Digital media company Quartz has built a chatbot linked to Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE) ads that offers more context and content on the products. The Hugo bot was integrated with ads surrounding the online publisher's Machines with Brains series of articles, which focused on the interaction between humans, technology and artificial intelligence (AI). Mobile readers who clicked through to the bot could learn more about HPE technology and topics such as AI and the internet of things. Over a six week period, 117,155 messages were served and users spent an average of two minutes with the chatbot, according to Quartz.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Panasonic agrees lithium deal with Galaxy Resources
 Hot on the heels of Pilbara Minerals' deal with Chinese automaker Great Wall, Galaxy Resources has inked an agreement with Tesla battery supplier Panasonic, as first reported by Street Talk.

Battery makers like Japan's Panasonic have been looking to lock in supplies of high quality lithium to ensure they have enough material to meet demand for their lithium-ion batteries, used to power electric vehicles.

Sources told this column managing director Anthony Tse, chairman Martin Rowley and other directors were in Japan for a signing ceremony two weeks ago. Shipping data also shows product from Mt Cattlin being shipped to Japan.

A Panasonic lithium-ion flexible battery. Koji Ueda

Galaxy, capitalised at $1.1 billion, is one of the few producers that hasn't locked all of its slated production into agreements with long-term customers.

Galaxy currently supplies spodumene concentrate produced from its Mt Cattlin mine in Western Australia to lithium converters in China, which then make the lithium chemical used by battery manufacturers.

Output: Galaxy Resources CEO Anthony Tse, Chairman Martin Rowley and other directors were in Japan for the signing of a lithium supply agreement with Panasonic two weeks ago, according to unidentified people. Galaxy shares rose as much as 6.2% to highest since 13 February.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Flow-battery start-up looks to compete with fossil fuels
 That’s approaching the price point where the idea of “seasonal storage” becomes economically feasible—meaning arrays of these batteries could store enough solar power during times of excess generation through the summer to continue meeting regional demand through the long, cloudy winter, Chiang says.

Baseload is housed at the Engine, MIT's new accelerator, which recently provided the company nearly $2 million in funding (see “Developing a Tough, Time-Consuming Technology? This Investor Is Interested”).

Baseload isn't providing many technical details at this stage, but the key to its low cost is relying on sulfur. That's because the material is very abundant and energy-dense, Chiang says. Indeed, it's a waste product of oil and gas production that costs as little as 10 cents per kilogram.

"Based on the charge stored per dollar, sulfur was more than a factor of 10 better than the next best thing," says Chiang, a materials science professor who previously cofounded lithium-ion battery startups A123 Systems, 24M, and three other startups.

Baseload's other cofounders include Ted Wiley, previously a vice president at Aquion Energy, as well as Marco Ferrara and Billy Woodford, both of whom previously worked with Chiang at 24M (see “Why Bad Things Happen to Clean-Energy Startups”).

Better, cheaper, longer-lasting storage technologies are crucial for enabling renewable sources to meet a greater portion of energy demand, and significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions.

For all the hopeful commentary and coverage of wind and solar prices nearing parity with fossil fuels, the truth is it's an apples-to-oranges comparison. Because the sun doesn't always shine and wind doesn't always blow, those sources can't be used as reliably and flexibly as coal or natural gas unless they're backed up by fossil fuel plants, balanced out through demand-response programs or long-distance transmission lines, or paired with some form of abundant storage. The options for the latter are generally limited to cheap pumped hydroelectric storage—which is tightly geographically restricted since it requires a pair of water reservoirs—or batteries and similar technologies that are still too expensive, short-lived, or both.

The lithium-ion batteries that run our smartphones and electric vehicles are increasingly being used in limited ways to balance renewable generation. But many battery experts believe that their high cost and limited life cycles place hard limits on how big a role they can play on the grid.

Output: Flow battery start-up Baseload Renewables aims to compete with fossil fuels by producing fuel cells cheaper than lithium-ion batteries. The company aims to make batteries capable of producing reliable power from renewable sources 24/7, and at a cost some five times less than where lithium-ion cells are expected to plateau. This means that seasonal storage of power throughout the summer, to meet demand through the winter, could be economically viable, according to its founder, Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Yet-Ming Chiang.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
German insurtech Simplesurance plans to enter US market
 Based on the edge of Berlin’s trendy Mitte district in bright, open offices, Simplesurance is yet another InsurTech startup seeking to transform insurance. It is also eyeing the U.S. for future expansion, possibly in 2018.

Simplesurance began in 2012, employs more than 150 people, and its cross-selling software operates across Europe. E-commerce partners can sell insurance products by adding the option to purchase insurance for a device with just one click on the platform’s shopping basket. As well, Simplesurance now offers an insurance broker app in Germany.

The firm has drawn the attention of venture investors and insurers alike. Allianz SE is a major backer.

Simplesurance will cover mostly mobile electronic devices, including mobile phones, tablets, laptops and digital cameras, as well as stationary electronic devices like televisions, stereos and computers. In some countries, the company also offers bicycle, tool and pet insurance, and even warranty extensions for household appliances. When buying from a Simplesurance e-commerce partner, customers can buy insurance right at the time they purchase the device. When working through Simplesurance’s own websites, customers can buy insurance at a later time.

Beyond technology innovation, founder and CEO Robin von Hein, a tall, elegant 34-year-old dressed in office casual, with designer stubble and short beard, is also trying to innovate how he handles his employees.

One program,”Robin4You,” is an initiative the company launched to bring the CEO closer to the daily work of each company department. This involves him meeting with two employees per month, each for a two-hour sit-down to help them with their work and gain better understanding of the challenges they are facing. The company touts the program as something that gives the CEO insights for strategic decisions and, in turn, shows employees how valuable they are for the success of the company.

Earlier in the summer, Carrier Management Editor Mark Hollmer submitted a series of questions to von Hein about Simplesurance. These are his edited responses.

Q. What is Simplesurance, and what part of property insurance do you focus on?

Simplesurance is your platform for simple access to insurance. We developed a cross-selling software solution that enables our partners in e-commerce to offer their customers [coverage plans and suites] directly at the digital point of sale with just one click. In this way, we create additional distribution channels for insurance companies.

We cooperate with traditional insurers such as Allianz, Munich Re, Assurant and others who are the risk takers of the policies, while we work along the entire supply chain, from selling insurance via our e-commerce partners to generating insurance-relevant data and handling claim processes and repair management for the customer. All these services are fully automated and digital. We have used our data to extend the customer’s lifetime value and offer our customers a digital insurance manager in an app.

Q. How is your business now, and in what countries do you operate?

Simplesurance has been growing steadily since its founding in 2012. The cross-selling software of Simplesurance is integrated into more than 2,000 e-commerce platforms in 30 European countries. Partners are renowned national e-commerce shops as well as global players, like two of the biggest smartphone manufacturers, Huawei and OnePlus, as well as Microsoft.

Moreover, Simplesurance operates its own flagship online stores in nine European countries. Just recently, in April 2017, despite the Brexit movement, Simplesurance entered the British market.

In November 2016, we also extended our core business and service to customers by launching our broker business in Germany. We cooperate with more than 250 insurance companies to provide our customers with a digital insurance manager, which allows them to upload and digitize all existing insurance policies in the app as well as compare and purchase new policies. Via in-app messaging, call or email, customers can reach their personal insurance broker.

We’re based in Berlin, the melting pot of young business and technological expertise. More than 150 employees from 30 nations work together to change the way customers see and buy insurance products in the digital age.

A recent funding in March 2017 showed the emerging relevance of Simplesurance. With more than 30 million euro ($25.5 million), Simplesurance belongs to the 15 best-funded InsurTech companies in the world. Allianz SE, Route 66, Rheingau Founders and Rakuten Fintech Fund have invested in Simplesurance. The international investors also reflect our globally strong position.

Q. Who are your competitors?

Offline cross-selling has been a standard business strategy for many years, but developing a technology that works with every electronic/digital shop system has been challenging for us and completely new to the market. Since the launch of our broker business, our competitors are other digital insurance applications.

But we have a significant benefit compared to other brokers. We offer our application to our existing customer base from our cross-selling. By targeting the customer in the e-commerce, we have no customer acquisition cost as we don’t need to use advertising channels, such as Google Adwords, for example. Thus, we can reach our customers at no additional costs.

Q. Do you have plans to expand to the United States? If so, when?

We are continuously working on our internationalization. Expanding to the U.S. is one of our goals for the next year. Since 2015, we [have been] operating in the United States through a SaaS (Software as a Service) contract with Assurant, [which] uses our technology to sell product insurance.

Q. Where do you hope to be in five years in terms of size, growth and mission?

Simplesurance is steadily growing and looking into new markets. The United States with Assurant as well as Asia with Rakuten are interesting markets for us to enter and to launch our products. We also develop new products with our insurance partners and are always looking for new niches. In five years, we will hopefully be able to cover the majority of the e-commerce with our cross-selling solution. Our mission is to become the world’s leading provider for product insurances.

Output: German insurtech start-up Simplesurance has said it plans to expand into the US next year. The firm already operates in 30 European countries, including the UK. The Simplesurance platform provides easy access to insurance for gadgets such as mobile phones, tablets and digital cameras. The firm's services allow online retailers to offer policies at the point of purchase, greatly simplifying the process for consumers and broadening distribution options for insurers.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
US wind turbine prices plummet below $1m per MW
 This article first appeared on the BNEF mobile app and the Bloomberg Terminal.

Price falls well below $1 million per megawatt

Looming end of tax credit beckons turbine-maker competition

United States and global wind turbine prices by delivery date

Note: Price of contract is calculated on day of signing and quoted by date of delivery. Source: Bloomberg New Energy Finance

The price for U.S. wind turbines delivered in 2H 2017 dropped to $0.83 million per megawatt, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s Wind Turbine Pricing Index – well below the global average price of $0.99 million per megawatt. Fierce price competition between turbine manufacturers to secure as much of a surge in 2016 orders drove the rapid U.S. pricing plunge. The 11 gigawatt surge in 2016 turbine and equipment orders – delivered at most 3.5 months after 2016 – was a direct result of developers rushing to qualify as many projects possible for the final round of 100 percent of U.S. wind’s main federal subsidy.

Clients can access the full report here.

BNEF Shorts are research excerpts available only on the BNEF mobile app and the Bloomberg Terminal, highlighting key findings from our reports. If you would like to learn more about our services, please contact us.

Output: The price for US wind turbines delivered in H2 2017 has reached a low of $830,000 per MW. The price is significantly below the global average for wind energy of $990,000 per MW. The fall is on the back of fierce competition as developers rushed to qualify projects for the final round of a federal subsidy programme, which led to an 11 GW increase in orders in late 2016.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Catholic church to launch record fossil fuel divestment action
 More than 40 Catholic institutions are to announce the largest ever faith-based divestment from fossil fuels, on the anniversary of the death of St Francis of Assisi.

The sum involved has not been disclosed but the volume of divesting groups is four times higher than a previous church record, and adds to a global divestment movement, led by investors worth $5.5tn.

Christiana Figueres, the former UN climate chief who helped negotiate the Paris climate agreement, hailed Tuesday’s move as “a further sign we are on the way to achieving our collective mission”.

She said: “I hope we will see more leaders like these 40 Catholic institutions commit, because while this decision makes smart financial sense, acting collectively to deliver a better future for everybody is also our moral imperative.”

Church institutions joining the action include the Archdiocese of Cape Town, the Episcopal Conference of Belgium and the diocese of Assisi-Nocera Umbra-Gualdo Tadino, the spiritual home of the world’s Franciscan brothers.

A spokesman for the €4.5bn German Church bank and Catholic relief organisation Caritas said that it was committing to divest from coal, tar sands and shale oil.

In a symbolically charged move, the Italian town of Assisi will also shed all oil, coal and gas holdings the day before a visit by the Italian prime minister, Paolo Gentiloni, to mark St Francis’s feast day.

Assisi’s mayor, Stefania Proietti – a former climate mitigation professor – told the Guardian: “When we pay attention to the environment, we pay attention to poor people, who are the first victims of climate change.

“When we invest in fossil fuels, we stray very far from social justice. But when we disinvest and invest in renewable and energy efficiency instead, we can mitigate climate change, create a sustainable new economic deal and, most importantly, help the poor.”

The origins of the latest church action lie in last year’s climate encyclical by Pope Francis – himself named after St Francis of Assisi – although the project was advanced by the Global Catholic Climate Movement.

Output: Over 40 Catholic institutions are to launch the largest ever faith-based fossil fuel divestment on the anniversary of St. Francis of Assisi’s death. Although exact sums have not been revealed, the volume of groups involved is four times greater than the previous church record. Institutions involved in the action include the Archdiocese of Cape Town, the Episcopal Conference of Belgium and the diocese of Assisi-Nocera Umbra-Gualdo Tadino. The move will boost a global divestment movement headed by investors worth $5.5tn. The €4.5bn German Church bank and Catholic relief organisation Caritas also pledged to divest from coal, tar sands and shale oil.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Mobile payments to trump debit cards in e-commerce by 2019: UN
 Electronic payment options on offer at a seafood market in Beijing. A report by the UN’s trade and development body sees e-payment overtaking credit cards as the most popular way to pay in e-commerce by 2019. Photo: EPA

Output: Digital payments are set to overtake the use of credit and debit cards as people's preferred method of making e-commerce transactions, according to a report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The body cited figures from payment company Worldpay showing credit and debit cards falling in online use from 51% of all transactions three years ago to 46% by 2019, with mobile, online and digital currency payments becoming the majority for the first time. UNCTAD's figures back up other reports that have found increasing numbers of customers are using electronic payments for transactions.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
US community health centres at risk from lack of funding
 BOSTON — Massachusetts officials are sounding the alarm over a possible loss of federal money for certain health care programs, and advocates said its impact has already hit community health centers.

While public attention has been focused on the fate of the Affordable Care Act, Congress last week quietly missed a funding reauthorization deadline leaving $3.6 billion hanging in the balance across the country, including $196 million for community health centers in Massachusetts.

“If in fact it is not ever reauthorized, it is catastrophic,” Eliza Lake, CEO of Hilltown Community Health Center in Worthington, told the Health Policy Commission Monday at a hearing exploring trends in state health care spending. “It is, for my health center, about one-sixth of our budget, maybe a little more, and so we rely upon that as part of our federal mandate to serve everyone who comes in our doors.”

Health center officials locally spent last week pressing Congress to act by the Saturday, Sept. 30 deadline. No action was taken, but the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, chaired by Rep. Greg Walden (R-Oregon), announced plans to consider a bill this week that would extend federal funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), community health centers, diabetes programs, the National Health Service Corps, and Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education.

“CHIP, now in its 20th year, has always been bipartisan and we hope this extension will be no different,” Walden said. “These public health programs play a critical role in communities across the country. It’s imperative we finish our work quickly so these vital services continue to be available for those who rely on them.”

Health centers in Massachusetts and across the country are already feeling impacts from the uncertainty around future funding, according to the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, which cited reports of community health centers instituting hiring freezes, struggling to recruit or retain providers, and beig unable to secure loans to expand capacity.

“Even the uncertainty of a fix is creating business disruptions for Massachusetts health centers, including hiring freezes and unplanned delays in expansion projects to add needed services and new sites,” James Hunt, the league’s president and CEO, said in a statement last week. “In one case, a health center has delayed plans to hire more care management staff, effectively preventing its Accountable Care Organization from fully implementing its goals to improve care outcomes and lower costs.”

Lake, whose health center has locations in Worthington and Huntington, said there is a history of bipartisan support for community health centers. She said she hopes Congress “will rally through the distractions at the moment” to reauthorize the funds.

Hilltown’s federal grant runs through May, Lake said, leaving the health center “sort of holding tight in this storm of uncertainty that surrounds all of us right now.”

According to the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, federal funds represent an average 11 percent of a health center’s budget and allow them to expand capacity through new personnel, services and physical space.

Speaking to reporters Monday, Gov. Charlie Baker said community health centers and the Children’s Health Insurance Program are programs that people “really depend on.”

“The CHIP program, which has been really important to Massachusetts - and we were one of the first states to adopt it and chase it hard — has not been reauthorized. ...That worries me,” Baker said after speaking at the health costs hearing. “And they also did not reauthorize the community health center program. So while a lack of action on some of the issues around ACA reform may have been good news, there’s a whole bunch of other things where a lack of action creates real issues for everybody and in a very immediate term.”

Output: The US Congress has missed the deadline for reauthorising funding to community healthcare centres across the country, leaving the fate of such establishments hanging in the balance, according to reports. While the deadline was missed, a bill prolonging the funding of such centres is due to be considered in the House of Representatives later this week. “These public health programs play a critical role in communities across the country. It’s imperative we finish our work quickly so these vital services continue to be available for those who rely on them”, said Oregon Representative Greg Walden.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Ryanair pilots investigated by HMRC over employment arrangements
 Ryanair pilots are being investigated by HM Revenue & Customs over complex employment structures imposed on them by the no-frills airline.

Several experienced pilots told the Guardian that they have faced tax investigations relating to the way in which they are employed by Ryanair. Europe’s busiest airline is already grappling with a PR disaster caused by errors in how pilots are rostered for work – leading to the cancellation of tens of thousands of flights through to March next year, which has disrupted the travel plans of 700,000 passengers.

Ryanair has also clashed with its pilots over their working conditions, with many complaining about the same contract arrangements that have piqued HMRC’s interest.

The tax authority’s focus on individual pilots emerged two years after it launched an investigation into Ryanair’s use of agencies such as Brookfield Aviation to provide about half of its 4,200 pilots.

Those who apply to join Ryanair are told to set up an Irish limited company and are made directors of it, under the guidance of accountants recommended by the airline. That company then supplies pilots to one of several agencies, including Brookfield Aviation and McGinley Aviation, who in turn supply them to Ryanair.

The system limits Ryanair’s obligations to the pilots, such as sick pay – among the factors that allows the Dublin-based carrier to keep its costs low. But the use of Irish limited companies to employ pilots based in the UK has led to pilots with limited experience of the tax obligations of a limited company falling foul of its fraud investigators.

One UK-based pilot said he has been under investigation since February 2015, and is being questioned by HMRC about an employment structure he had no choice but to use.

“When I started employment, I had to set up a limited company in Ireland with two other pilots who I knew from training and were employed by Ryanair at the same time. We had to go to Ireland, meet their accountant and set up a company.”

He said his lack of experience of acting as a company director meant he left tax affairs to the accountant recommended by Ryanair, but has still been hit with a two-year investigation.

“You’re sitting there waiting for the brown envelope to hit the doormat,” he said.

“I’m no tax expert and I thought I was doing everything correctly. Now I’ve had to send my logbook off, which is priceless to me.”

A former colleague, who used to train pilots for Ryanair, said: “The public should be aware that some of the pilots flying the planes are stressed because of the way they operate.

“You have HMRC hounding people who have been pulled into this system that is run by Ryanair.”

A third pilot, who is under investigation for non-payment of taxes over five years, said HMRC told him tax on his earnings should have been paid in the UK, even though he was employed by an Irish limited company.

He said he had been given “no control over the governance of the way [tax] was being paid”.

According to one letter sent to him by HMRC and seen by the Guardian, the tax authority conceded that he had not “engineered” the complex structure and was simply trying to gain employment.

“You speak to some of the people affected by this and they’re broken men,” he added.

Another pilot showed the Guardian a document in which the agency he worked for told him sign a disclaimer to say he was not an employee of the company but of his own Irish limited company.

He said this structure ultimately led HMRC to look into his tax affairs, causing him undue anxiety.

“It was one of my main reasons for leaving. I was sick of always being worried if I was paying tax correctly,” he said.

And he warned that pilots from other countries are also facing investigations by their domestic authorities.

“I flew with one guy who had to sell his house and car because he’d been landed with a tax bill of €40,000,” he said. “He hadn’t been fiddling it on purpose but he’d just got it wrong.”

A fifth pilot said British pilots were now worried about their homes being raided, pointing to action taken by Germany tax authorities last year over pilots employed by Brookfield Aviation.

“Imagine doing this job when you are constantly worrying about whether what you are doing tax-wise is legal, simply because you are not given any other option by your own employer,” he said.

All of the pilots interviewed also warned that the use of self-employed contracts, which do not entitle them to sick pay, meant some were turning up to work even if they were ill.

HMRC said: “We don’t comment on identifiable individuals or organisations.”

Ryanair said: “We do not comment on rumour or speculation.”

Output: Ryanair pilots are facing investigation by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) in relation to employment structures imposed on them by the airline. Those applying to join the airline are instructed to set up an Irish limited company. That company then supplies pilots to agencies, which subsequently supply them to Ryanair. The arrangement enables Ryanair to limit its obligations to pilots, for instance in relation to sick pay, but has caused some pilots to experience difficulties with fraud investigators. Ryanair is currently facing criticism for cancelling tens of thousands of flights due to errors in rostering pilot shifts.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Kahoot! signals monitisation shift with premium corporate service
 Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.

Kahoot, an online learning platform that lets teachers create and tailor quizzes for their classes, has announced its first shift into monetization with the launch of a new premium version of the service.

With Kahoot Plus, the Norwegian startup is targeting companies with a product geared toward corporate training initiatives. Kahoot Plus subscribers will be given more flexibility over where the games are shared, as they can be confined to an organization’s own private area and can also be branded with a company’s own logo. Trainers can access advanced reports and data on game results down to the employee level, revealing who’s up to speed and what areas may need improvement.

The story so far

Founded out of Oslo in 2011, Kahoot encourages teachers to play quizmaster with their classes by creating and projecting quizzes onto a whiteboard. Students can then answer multiple-choice questions on whatever topic the teacher has chosen directly from their own device. There is also a public library of more than 20 million existing quizzes that anyone can access.

Kahoot has struck a chord in classrooms around the world, and it now claims more than 50 million monthly active users and is taking the U.S. by storm. Today’s premium launch comes just a few months after Kahoot closed a $20 million funding round, with Microsoft Ventures participating in the round.

So far, Kahoot has offered its platform and resources to educators gratis, but it goes without saying that the company had to consider how to make money at some point. This is where Kahoot Plus comes into play.

Corporate training is reportedly a $130 billion market globally, and Kahoot is going after its piece of the pie by offering to inject a little “fun and engagement” into training programs.

It’s worth noting here that Kahoot already claims corporate customers — the company said more than one million employees use Kahoot for training purposes each month, “including at 25 percent of the Fortune 500 companies,” according to a statement issued by the startup. But now it’s looking to cater specifically to corporate educators, marketers, and sales teams with a more “private, organized, collaborative, and company-branded experience,” it said.

“Billions of dollars and millions of hours are wasted on ineffective corporate training every year,” noted Kahoot CEO Erik Harrell. “All of us have suffered through dull presentation decks and boring training sessions. We believe training should not only be useful, but also fun, memorable, inspiring and even magical. A half million corporate trainers are already using the Kahoot platform and have continually asked us to provide premium features.”

In terms of cost, Kahoot Plus weighs in at an introductory price of $10 per user per month, with an unlimited number of participants on an annual subscription. Those wishing to sign a month-to-month subscription will pay $15 per user per month. The company hasn’t revealed what its full pricing will be after the introductory offer has expired, but we’ll update here if or when we hear back.

“This is Kahoot’s first move to commercialize the company in a scalable way,” added Harrell. “We have 12 paying pilot customers for this product, which has helped us validate pricing and reception to Kahoot Plus’ premium features.”

Importantly, charging businesses for a premium plan means that Kahoot intends to keep the standard version free for schools.

Output: Norwegian start-up Kahoot! has launched a premium version of its learning platform for corporate training, signalling a shift towards monetisation. Kahoot! allows teachers to build custom quizzes for their students. Its latest offering, Kahoot! Plus, is targeted at business training schemes, and lets users brand games with the company's logo, as well as giving them more control over where the games are shared. Trainers can also access data on games results, allowing for greater analysis of results.