BANGKOK, Nov. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — On November 18, 2024, Ms. Melissa Bastos, Director of Corporate Strategy and Insights for Cotton Incorporated shared marketing data and analyses about consumer attitudes and habits relating to apparel shopping based on company’s latest global market research with the professionals from the textile apparel industry at the media sharing session in Bangkok, Thailand.

Ms. Bastos oversees consumer attitude and behavioral research and retail assessments in the United States, Latin America, Korea, Thailand and other Asian countries. As a non-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting cotton products, Cotton Incorporated’s mission is to increase the demand for and profitability of cotton. The company keeps providing valuable market insights to help industry players understand the current state of the cotton consumer market and optimize and promote cotton products.

Bastos pointed out that more consumers are shopping online because of the ease of access to styles and prices, but more than 60 percent of consumers are experiencing problems with the quality of their products. She noted that cotton products are often perceived as comfortable, durable and trustworthy, so more than half of consumers globally say they are willing to pay more for cotton clothing.

“Denim is an important cotton product.” Bastos said that the global denim market is expected to grow by 36 percent between 2023-2029, with 87 percent of Thai consumers saying they like to wear jeans, and half of those female consumers will pay for new styles of jeans.

Bastos emphasizes that more and more consumers within the market are now concerned about the sustainability of their garments, and that factors such as the use of natural fibers and sustainable production may influence their decision when purchasing jeans. In the context of the active implementation of traceability strategy in the industry, cotton, as the most often traced material, continues to optimize product performance while increasing the commercial value of cotton products.

In addition to in-depth research on marketing data, Cotton Incorporated also focuses on sustainability, launching environmental initiatives such as the Blue Jeans Go Green™ denim recycling program, which increases consumer awareness and purchasing habits of sustainable cotton products and further strengthens the market position of cotton products.

For more information about cotton, you can visit the Cotton Incorporated website (www.cottoninc.com) to access a wealth of industry data, including market data, cotton sustainability, cotton production information, trend forecasting, and performance technologies related to cotton.

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SOURCE Cotton Incorporated

HANGZHOU, China, Nov. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — The Global AI Defense Challenge 2024 has successfully concluded, attracting over 3,200 participants from 18 countries and regions across the world. Co-hosted by the China Society of Image and Graphics (CSIG), the Cloud Security Alliance Greater China Region (CSA GCR), and Ant Group, the competition aims to facilitate collaboration between academic and industry communities, exploring and addressing potential technical risks associated with large model applications, and supporting the sustainable and reliable development of the global AI industry.

Launched in September 2024, the competition focused on defense strategies for large model applications. Over the past two months, participants from more than 290 universities, including renowned institutions such as Tsinghua University, Peking University, Nanyang Technological University, Johns Hopkins University, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and The University of Sydney, and more than 280 companies, including ByteDance, Zhipu AI, Tencent, Shopee, and NetEase, joined the competition. They competed in two tracks: Vaccination for Text-to-Image Generative Models, and AI Identity Verification – Financial Certificate Tampering Detection.

Based on the results submitted by participating teams, the judging panel announced the winners for each track, including one team from ByteDance and another from INTSIG Information.

Wang Yaonan, an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Chairman of the CSIG, noted, “Enhancing security measures and constructing a comprehensive security system for large models are crucial for ensuring the sustainable, reliable, and healthy development of AI technologies. This responsibility falls on all industry participants and researchers as we address the opportunities and challenges posed by AI.”

“This competition is committed to exploring the security challenges in large model applications and fostering the continuous advancement of AI security technologies, “added Wang Weiqiang, Chief Scientist of Ant Security Lab and a member of the judging panel. “Meanwhile, it has also brought together technology experts and talents from across the globe, creating a platform for collaboration and competition. We are excited to witness the remarkable capabilities of these exceptional security talents, which will contribute significantly for the industry’s continued development.”

The competition is organized by Ant Security Lab, Alibaba Cloud, Tsinghua University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Zhejiang University, and various other industry, academic, and research institutions, with the Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory serving as a technical advisor. In addition to awarding the overall winners, the competition also presents Outstanding Solution Awards to recognize the practices in algorithm innovations and computational sustainability from participating teams.

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SOURCE Ant Group

SINGAPORE, Nov. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Yokogawa Engineering Asia announces the launch of the Sustainability Incubation Hub (SIH) today, a first-of-its-kind corporate Research and Development (R&D) hub dedicated to driving environmentally sustainable innovations in process manufacturing.

This year, Yokogawa celebrates its 50th anniversary in Singapore and the 20th year of its Singapore Development Centre (SGDC) operations. Growing together with Singapore and customers globally, SGDC has expanded its operations to over 100 Yokogawa innovators exploring co-innovation, digital transformation, and AI solutions.

Co-located with the SGDC, the SIH is established in partnership with the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), and provides a crucial platform for Yokogawa to collaborate with customers and partners in the region and beyond to develop and deploy frontier technologies to accelerate their energy transition to net-zero future.

“We recognise the need to raise the level of climate change action in the region. To support this move, we will invest over S$6 million in establishing SIH. Through the new hub, we will apply our expertise to drive sustainable innovations across industries to close the gap between ideation and application,” said Chay Kin Wah, President and CEO of Yokogawa Engineering Asia. “As we integrate sustainability throughout our operations and business model, we are ramping up efforts to develop new solutions and collaborate with like-minded partners and agencies including the EDB to catalyse positive sustainability impact.”

“Congratulations to Yokogawa on its 50th anniversary in Singapore. The launch of the Sustainability Incubation Hub builds on this longstanding partnership, and is a good example of how Singapore can serve as an innovation hub for green and sustainability solutions. We look forward to the collaborations this Hub will foster with our ecosystem, as well as the impactful solutions this Hub will develop for the region,” said Lim Tse Yong, Senior Vice President and Head, Mobility and Industrial Solutions, EDB.

Creating Sustainable Solutions
By capitalising on Yokogawa’s expertise in automation and technology, the SIH aims to serve as a sustainability growth engine to bridge the gap between the present and future solution needs in creating cutting-edge climate technology for the process manufacturing industry. This enables the industry to define, plan, and meet their sustainability goals, addressing global challenges.

As a regional hub for innovation, SIH fosters collaboration and co-creation across Southeast Asia, Oceania, and Taiwan. The SIH leverages Yokogawa’s network to identify, evaluate, and acquire sustainable manufacturing technologies and cultivates strategic partnerships with public agencies, regulatory bodies, and technology suppliers at all stages of development – from research institutions to startups and SMEs – creating new ecosystems and enhancing existing ones.

“We need to be close to our customers to help them succeed. This means knowing the challenges they are facing intimately so that we can better address their unique needs on the ground. Our strategic location enables us to gather critical insights and talents in the region for rapid creation and deployment of innovations at scale for our global customers,” said Saurabh Bhandari, lead of SIH.

The establishment of SIH reinforces Yokogawa’s commitment towards growth for sustainability, focusing on net zero emissions, circular economy, and well-being, to support the industry transition to a low-carbon economy.

About Yokogawa
Yokogawa provides advanced solutions in the areas of measurement, control, and information to customers across a broad range of industries, including energy, chemicals, materials, pharmaceuticals, and food. Yokogawa addresses customer issues regarding the optimization of production, assets, and the supply chain with the effective application of digital technologies, enabling the transition to autonomous operations.

Founded in Tokyo in 1915, Yokogawa continues to work toward a sustainable society through its 17,000+ employees in a global network of 126 companies spanning 60 countries.

For more information, visit www.yokogawa.com

The names of corporations, organizations, products, services and logos herein are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Yokogawa Electric Corporation or their respective holders.

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SOURCE Yokogawa