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Semi-finalists for the international IQ-CHem petrochemical startup contest announced

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Moscow, 4 May 2017. The jury at the international IQ-CHem startup contest has selected its short-list of best petrochemical projects. The 12 selected startups will now advance to the IQ-CHem contest final, which will be held on 7 June during the Skolkovo 2017 Startup Village conference. The finalists comprise teams from Belgium, Germany, Russia, the USA, the Czech Republic and Switzerland.

All the submitted applications are of a very high quality, each displaying innovative approaches towards solving the specific problems and challenges faced by the petrochemicals industry.

“It’s impossible for companies in the petrochemicals industry to operate today without the continuous development of technology. Yet this technological development is increasingly coming, not from the corporations, but from small companies – start-ups – which focus their efforts on one particular technological solution,” said Dmitry Stepkin, Director of Corporate R&D at SIBUR.

“The number and quality of applications that we have received in 2017 confirms the huge potential of tapping into open innovation sources to develop the petrochemicals industry. The IQ-CHem platform was created precisely for this potential to be translated into real projects that will contribute to development of the industry and society as a whole,” he added.

The finalist teams they pitch their projects to the jury, who will then deliberate and determine the winner. The pitches will be evaluated by representatives from the competition’s partner companies, including Dr. Joost Waterloos, Head of  Scouting & Exploration Network Ventures & Business Development at The Dow Chemical Company; Simone Arizzi, Technical and Innovation Director EMEA at DuPont; and Kurt Vanden Bussche, Director of Research and Development at UOP.

In total, 251 teams from 27 countries took part in the international IQ-CHEM contest. The largest number of applications came from teams in Russia, India, Canada, the Netherlands and the United States.

59 projects are presented at the nomination category “Modern equipment and technological solutions to increase operational efficiency in chemical-technological processes”; 52 projects at the nomination category “Innovative technologies and products for the production of basic monomers and the production and application of special chemicals”; 34 projects are presented at the nomination category “Innovative technologies and products in gas processing and transportation”, and 20 applied at the nomination category “Innovative technologies and products in the production and application of new plastics and elastomers”. Another 86 applications focused on other project areas, including energy efficiency and environmental protection.

The finalists will win the opportunity to cooperate with the contest’s partners to bring their project into reality. These partners – SIBUR, Sinopec, The Dow Chemical Company, DuPont, Solvay, 3M, AkzoNobel, BASF, LG Chem, Henkel, Linde, Technip, and Honeywell UOP – are globally recognised industry leaders. The winners will also be awarded cash prizes. The value of the competition’s total prize fund this year is USD 55,000.

Background information:

The international IQ-CHem platform for petrochemical start-ups was established in 2017 by Russia’s largest gas processing and petrochemical company, SIBUR. It was launched with the support of the following international industry leaders: The Dow Chemical Company, DuPont, Solvay, 3M, AkzoNobel, BASF, LG Chem, Henkel, Linde, Technip, and Honeywell UOP, as well as the Skolkovo Foundation. The project aims to identify and encourage development of promising innovative solutions in the production technology field, and to increase application of petrochemical products to the development and modernisation of the industry to increase its energy efficiency.

SIBUR is a unique vertically integrated gas processing and petrochemicals company. SIBUR owns and operates the largest gas processing business in Russia by volume of processed associated petroleum gas, and is leader of the petrochemicals industry in the country.

SIBUR operates at 23 production sites located across Russia’s various regions, and the group employees around 28,000 people. The company sells products to more than 1,400 large consumers in the fuel and energy, automotive, construction, consumer goods, and chemicals industries, as well as to other sectors in 75 countries.

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UserTesting Highlights How Inflation Is Squeezing Indian Consumers, 75 Percent Join The Gig Economy To Meet Increased Cost Of Living

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Inflation Is Squeezing Indian Consumers
  • On an average, 3 out of 5 Indians are witnessing the highest impact of inflation on entertainment and petrol expenditures
  • In order to save money, 65 percent of Indians are now buying their necessary products from generic brands
  • View consumer responses to the impact of inflation

India, July 13, 2022: UserTesting (NYSE: USER), a leader in video-based human insight, conducted a survey to understand the effects of the rising inflation on Indians’ spending habits and personal finances. As per the survey findings, over 95 percent of Indians reported that growing inflation is directly impacting their daily and monthly expenditure.

A host of cost pressures such as rising commodity prices, global supply disruptions, and more has been translated to end consumers in the form of elevated prices for goods and services across the board. Therefore, to meet basic needs, Indians are cutting back on their everyday expenses to meet their basic needs. About 60 percent of Indian respondents indicated that they are cutting back on entertainment and leisure activities such as movies, eating out, staycations, etc. Unsurprisingly, the respondents also mentioned minimizing personal car travel and opting for public transport to reduce their expenditure on petrol.

Mounting prices of essential commodities

Indians are facing the brunt of inflation majorly on petrol prices, as mentioned by 100 percent of the respondents during the survey. With essential grocery items such as bread witnessing a sharp rise in prices, 90 percent of the respondents have reported that it is becoming a burden to keep up with the inflation storm. Adding to the trouble, some respondents mentioned not having received any salary appraisals in the past year, leading to a reduction in personal savings for many.

Gig economy takes center stage amidst rising inflation

As inflation heats up, former motivations for side hustles, such as paying off debt and saving, have been replaced by a more pressing need: making ends meet. According to the survey, 75 percent of Indian respondents revealed that they are resorting to secondary sources of income to keep up with the increased cost of living. The popular options that were mentioned included freelancing and trading among other side gigs.

Indians replace their go-to shops: from big brands to local brands

Interestingly, the survey found that on average, 65 percent of Indians are buying from generic/local brands instead of name brands so as to save money. Stating that most generic brands are now offering the same quality of a product at a cheaper price, more than half of the Indians have shifted their focus on local brands, especially for purchases such as clothes and grocery items that are now being bought from local kirana shops.

About UserTesting

UserTesting (NYSE: USER) has fundamentally changed the way organizations get insights from customers with fast, opt-in feedback and experience capture technology. The UserTesting® Human Insight Platform taps into our global network of real people and generates video-based recorded experiences, so anyone in an organization can directly ask questions, hear what users say, see what they mean, and understand what it’s actually like to be a customer. Unlike approaches that track user behavior and then try to infer what that behavior means, UserTesting reduces guesswork and brings customer experience data to life with human insight. UserTesting has approximately 2,500 customers, including more than half of the world’s top 100 most valuable brands according to Forbes. UserTesting is headquartered in San Francisco, California. To learn more, visit www.usertesting.com.

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Investment

Nikola to Participate in Upcoming Investor Conferences

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Nikola to Participate in Upcoming Investor Conferences

Nikola Corporation (Nasdaq: NKLA), a global leader in zero-emissions transportation and energy infrastructure solutions, today announced its participation in the following investor conferences:

Kim Brady, CFO, will participate in a fireside chat at the Evercore ISI Global Clean Energy & Transition Technologies Summit on June 15, 2022, at 2 p.m. ET

ABOUT NIKOLA CORPORATION

Nikola Corporation is globally transforming the transportation industry. As a designer and manufacturer of zero-emission battery-electric and hydrogen-electric vehicles, electric vehicle drivetrains, vehicle components, energy storage systems, and hydrogen station infrastructure, Nikola is driven to revolutionize the economic and environmental impact of commerce as we know it today. Founded in 2015, Nikola Corporation is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. For more information, visit http://www.nikolamotor.com or Twitter @nikolamotor.

SOURCE Nikola Corporation

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Press Release

2022 Zhejiang (HUZHOU) Export Online Fair (Europe-Textiles)

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2022 ZHEJIANG HUZHOU EXPORT ONLINE FAIR EUROPE TEXTILES

China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Huzhou Committee and the China Chamber of International Commerce Huzhou Chamber of Commerce are organizing the online fair-2022 ZHEJIANG (HUZHOU) EXPORT ONLINE FAIR (EUROPE-TEXTILES) will be held online continually for 4 days from the  13th of June till the 17th of June 2022.

Facing the international epidemic situation, in order to promote the trade between Europe and Huzhou, Zhejiang in China, the 2022 ZHEJIANG (HUZHOU) EXPORT ONLINE FAIR (EUROPE-TEXTILES) will be held online.

This online fair is an international platform to help European buyers meet with professional Huzhou textiles enterprises. With abundant experience in holding expos, the Huzhou fair created the original mode of “internet + expo” in China’s exhibition field while is still keeping improving and upgrading it to a higher level. The aim of the exhibition is to provide a comprehensive overview of the global market and at the same time to offer the best possible stage for the high proportion of strong Chinese suppliers and the best European buyers.

At the exhibition there will be at least 40 quality exhibitors, the B2B Huzhou Expo will be completely free for European buyers. The exhibition will be held on the new online platform for the fair https://efair.zjseek.com/web/#/exhibition

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