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Quebec’s first hydrogen-powered truck is on the road

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Harnois Énergies positions itself with a pioneering pilot project

SAINT-THOMAS, QC, June 26, 2024 /CNW/ – Harnois Énergies (HÉ) is proud to be the first company to introduce a hydrogen-powered truck on Quebec’s roads. This vehicle, built by Nikola Corporation and supplied by ITD Industries, represents a major step forward for the transportation industry and will be tested for a month. This unique adventure opens the door for a future in which hydrogen power has a place in the energy portfolio of the company.

The truck will be in operation on various routes in the province, allowing Harnois Énergies to test its efficiency and performance during real-life conditions. This pilot project is also an opportunity to demonstrate the advantages of hydrogen power to the public and other companies as an alternative energy source, all while participating in the decarbonization of heavy transport.

During this trial period, the truck will be fueled with hydrogen from the only multi-energy station in Quebec, located on Wilfred-Hamel Boulevard in Quebec City and owned by Harnois Énergies.

« We are enthusiastic about bringing this innovative project to Quebec. Over the past years, Harnois Énergies has invested a great deal of effort in sustainable energies. With this pilot project, we are giving ourselves the means to be pioneers in the ongoing energy transition. This experience fits perfectly with our vision of providing the right energy for the right vehicle. » explains Serge Harnois, president and chief executive officer of Harnois Énergies.

Harnois Énergies, a pioneer of green hydrogen in Quebec

In addition to its first foray into the world of hydrogen in 2018 with the multi-energy station, the company has taken several initiatives. In 2023, in partnership with the government of Quebec, Alstom, and HTEC, Harnois Énergies took part in the project for the first green hydrogen passenger train in North America, all of which was made possible by the Québec City production station. At the same time, the company also announced that it was the first in Canada to reserve five Peterbilt 579 hydrogen fuel cell trucks for delivery in early 2026.

Harnois Énergies looks to the future and keeps an open mind. Energy diversification is at the heart of the company’s priorities.

About Harnois Énergies (https://harnoisenergies.com)

Since its founding in 1958, Harnois Énergies’ mission has been to efficiently provide energy sources, specialty products and quality services, all with a friendly customer experience. It distributes petroleum products, propane, lubricants and specialty products across Canada, and looks to the future with its network of electric charging stations and a gas station that offers hydrogen.

HÉ counts on its partner companies and a vast network of sub-distributors to meet the needs of its customers in six different market segments: retail, commercial/services, industrial, residential, agricultural and aviation. Harnois Énergies provides products and services under the Esso and Mobil brands as well as under the private labels Harnois, Pétro-T, H-Go, Énergies Express, AFS Exécutif, Proxi and Proxi Extra. Harnois Énergies counts on its team of over 1,700 people to achieve its mission.

Best Managed Companies

In March 2018, Harnois Énergies was listed among Canada’s Best Managed Companies, standing out for its overall performance and steady growth. In 2024, the company became a member of the Platinum Club. Over the years, Harnois Énergies has become a one-stop shop for its customers. Although enjoying steady growth over the last few years, the company aims to remain an agile organization and on the lookout for new market opportunities.

SOURCE Harnois Énergies

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OceanBase Receives Honorable Mention for the Second Consecutive Year in the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ Report

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SINGAPORE, Dec. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — OceanBase has once again been named as Honorable Mention in the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Cloud Database Management Systems (Cloud DBMS), marking the second consecutive year it has received this recognition.

OceanBase offers scalable distributed database for data-intensive transactional and real-time operational analytics workloads, with ultra-fast performance and high compatibility across major global cloud infrastructures, including Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Alibaba Cloud and Tencent Cloud. Operating across more than 30 regions in Asia, Europe, and America, OceanBase has already served over 2,000 customers, such as SAIC Volkswagen, DiDi Global, vivo, Pop Mart, Haidilao, Kwai, Trip.com, GCash, DANA, and PalmPay.

Over the past year, OceanBase has made significant strides in the Southeast Asian market. In December 2024, Starpay, a leading financial technology company in the Philippines, announced a partnership with OceanBase to leverage its cutting-edge distributed database solutions.

OceanBase hosted the inaugural OceanBase INFINITY tech conference in Jakarta, Indonesia in June 2024. During the event, the company announced strategic partnerships with leading local resellers to better serve customers in the Indonesian market.

According to Gartner’s latest DBMS market data in the Magic Quadrant, “the overall database management system market grew by 13.4% in 2023, reaching $103.2 billion“, up from $91 billion in 2022. The DBMS segment remains one of the fastest-growing areas within the software market, alongside analytic platforms, networking software, and supply chain management software.

In May 2024, OceanBase was also recognized as an Asia/Pacific Customers’ Choice and also named a Strong Performer in the 2024 Gartner® Peer Insights™ Voice of the Customer for Cloud DBMS report.

Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Cloud Database Management Systems, 18 December 2024

Gartner, Voice of the Customer for Cloud Database Management Systems, 24 May 2024

Gartner Peer Insights content consists of the opinions of individual end users based on their own experiences, and should not be construed as statements of fact, nor do they represent the views of Gartner or its affiliates. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in this content nor makes any warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this content, about its accuracy or completeness, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

GARTNER, MGAGIC QUADRANT and PEER INSIGHTS are registered trademarks of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

About OceanBase

OceanBase is a distributed database launched in 2010. It provides strong data consistency, high availability, high performance, cost efficiency, elastic scalability, and compatibility with mainstream relational databases. It handles transactional, analytical, and AI workloads through a unified data engine, enabling mission-critical applications and real-time analytics.

To learn more, please visit: https://www.oceanbase.com/

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/oceanbase-receives-honorable-mention-for-the-second-consecutive-year-in-the-2024-gartner-magic-quadrant-report-302339146.html

SOURCE OceanBase

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Matwings Technology Raised Series A Funding of Tens of Millions USD to Redefine Protein Design

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‘Beyond Structure, Predicting Function’

SHANGHAI, Dec. 25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Recently, Shanghai Matwings Technology Co., Ltd. (‘Matwings’), a global leader in AI-driven protein design, announced the successful completion of Series A funding rounds, raising tens of millions of USD, led by Qiming Venture Partners.

Matwings is pioneering a new frontier in protein engineering with its proprietary AI-based general protein design platform, AccelProtein™, which directly predicts protein functionality beyond the structural data. By predicting functionality, AccelProtein™ offers a new approach for acquiring high-functioning proteins.

AccelProtein™ is built on the Pro-PRIME model, a breakthrough developed by a collaborative team led by Professor Liang Hong at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. After years of research focused on data collection, curation, and optimization, the team developed the Pro-series – an AI framework for protein design. Their work, titled “A General Temperature-Guided Language Model to Design Proteins of Enhanced Stability and Activity” was recently published in Science Advances.

A featured case of AccelProtein™’s impact is the design of a specialized Glycosyltransferase enzyme, which is used in the production of EPS-G7, a core material for pancreatitis screening. Within just 4 months, Matwings increased the enzyme’s total glycosylation activity by 7 times, enhanced product specificity from 60% to 98%, and reduced hydrolytic activity by 33%. These improvements cut down the cost of EPS-G7 by 90%.

In another application, Matwings successfully engineered a super alkali-resistant affinity ligand (a nanobody) for affinity chromatography, improving alkali resistance by 3 folds, binding capacity over 100%, and heat stability by 8℃. This innovation saved millions of USD in CMC costs for a Matwings client. Additionally, scale-up production to 5000L has been successfully completed. Such advancement enables low-cost affinity chromatography purification a viable option for a wide range of biologics, bringing more cost-effective solutions for drug production.

Since 2021, Matwings has successfully delivered over 30 protein-engineering and enzyme-mining projects either proprietary (e.g., Enterokinase, Carboxypeptidase B, KEX2 Protease, Maltogenic Amylase, Subtilisin, Protein A, PETase, T7 RNA Polymerase, and phi29 DNA Polymerase) and co-developed with our stakeholders. These projects span across various applications, including drug innovation, in vitro diagnostics, nutrition and healthcare, food and beverage, and green energy.

About Matwings

Matwings, founded in 2021 by an elite team from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, is one of the earliest companies to focus on AI protein models.

Matwings is dedicated to moving beyond directed evolution methods to design and engineer functionally optimized proteins by leveraging a proprietary, pre-trained, AI-based general protein design platform with 780 million curated full-length protein sequence data, including nearly 500 million private data.

This cutting-edge technology platform, AccelProtein™, enables us to engineer proteins and uncover or de novo design novel proteins with significantly improved properties, including stability, activity, affinity, yield, etc.

To date, Matwings has successfully engineered more than 30 proteins either proprietary or co-developed with its stakeholders, and more than 40 ongoing projects across various applications in pharmaceutical industries and synthetic biology industries, e.g.  key enzymes and proteins for CMC, innovative Biologics, synthetic biology and more.

Matwings is actively seeking global partnerships to jointly develop and commercialize new products.

Contact Information:
Email: info@matwings.com
Website: https://www.matwings.com/en/ 
Tel: +86 158 2106 5410
Paper Link: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adr2641 

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/matwings-technology-raised-series-a-funding-of-tens-of-millions-usd-to-redefine-protein-design-302339150.html

SOURCE Matwings Technology

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Agoda Highlights Tokyo as Top Global New Year’s Eve Destination

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SINGAPORE, Dec. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Digital travel platform Agoda has announced Tokyo as the most popular destination for New Year’s Eve, based on accommodation searches. This marks a shift from last year when Taipei held the top spot. Following Tokyo, the list includes Bangkok, Taipei, Pattaya, and Osaka, showcasing a diverse range of preferences among travelers.

The data highlights a perpetual interest in Tokyo, a city known for its unique blend of tradition and modernity. Travelers are drawn to its vibrant celebrations, cultural experiences, and iconic landmarks. Bangkok and Taipei, too, continue to be favored destinations, offering rich cultural festivities and lively atmospheres. Pattaya and Osaka also make the list, appealing to those seeking beachside celebrations and culinary delights, respectively.

Agoda’s data reveals Tokyo’s prominence not only on a worldwide scale but also within Japan. Domestic accommodation searches have increased by 23%, with Tokyo leading as the preferred destination, followed by Osaka, Kyoto, Yokohama, and Okinawa Main Island. For Japanese traveling abroad, the destinations primarily considered are Taipei, Seoul, Bangkok, Pattaya, and Hong Kong.

Hiroto Ooka, Associate Vice President North Asia at Agoda said: “Tokyo’s rise to the top of Agoda’s New Year’s Eve destination list is a testament to the city’s global appeal. Whether you’re celebrating New Year’s Eve in Tokyo, Osaka, or anywhere else in the world, Agoda is ready to help you find the perfect spot to ring in the New Year.”

As travelers prepare for their New Year’s Eve plans, Agoda offers a comprehensive selection of over 4.5 million holiday properties, more than 130,000 flight routes, and over 300,000 activities, all available for seamless booking. Download the Agoda app for the latest deals or visit agoda.com/deals.

 

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/agoda-highlights-tokyo-as-top-global-new-years-eve-destination-302338856.html

SOURCE Agoda

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