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Science in Space to Cure Disease on Earth–the International Space Station National Lab and NASA Announce New Funding Opportunity

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Joint solicitation will award up to $4 million for biomedical R&D leveraging the orbiting laboratory

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla., Aug. 15, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — The International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory is collaborating with NASA on a solicitation for space-based research addressing some of the most significant diseases of our time—such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, and neurodegenerative disease. ISS National Lab Research Announcement (NLRA) 2024-09: Igniting Innovation: Science in Space to Cure Disease on Earth, released in partnership with NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences division, is aimed at overcoming challenges hindering progress in disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. This NLRA will offer up to $4 million in total funding for an expected two to three awards for multiflight translational and transformative research and technology development.

Through this joint solicitation, the ISS National Lab and NASA seek projects that leverage the space environment to improve existing or develop new technologies that help solve health problems on Earth. Therapies for cancer and cardiovascular, immune, muscle and bone, and neurodegenerative diseases face obstacles that thwart scientific advancements and the translation of research findings into clinical applications. These challenges frequently overlap and share common elements, despite the complexity and variability of mechanisms within and among these diseases. Many of these challenges can be mitigated using accelerated disease models in microgravity through ISS National Lab resources.

This NLRA aims to foster collaboration between academia, industry, and government to develop innovative, commercially viable products and technologies to improve medical outcomes on Earth. Below are topics of particular interest for this NLRA:

Enhanced Models to Study Disease Mechanisms: It is difficult to unravel the intricate dynamics of disease onset and progression and to identify effective therapeutic targets. Leveraging microgravity to improve cell-based models like tissue chips and organoids could deepen understanding of disease mechanisms and lead to personalized therapies.Population and Disease Heterogeneity: Population and disease heterogeneity pose significant obstacles to drug discovery. Variability in genetic and demographic factors, such as age and sex, leads to differing treatment responses across individuals. Genetic and phenotypic diversity in diseases themselves must also be considered.Drug Screening and Development: Microgravity enables high-throughput drug screening in 3D cell cultures and tissue models that more accurately simulate the human body. Innovative approaches and technologies to identify preclinical drug candidates are needed to accelerate development of new, more effective therapeutics.Drug Delivery: Innovation in drug delivery, such as nanotechnology and targeted therapies, is vital to enhance treatment precision and reduce side effects. Additionally, the absence of well-defined biomarkers complicates treatment selection, and innovative strategies for biomarker discovery are needed to improve treatment outcomes.Drug Resistance and Toxicity: Drug resistance poses significant challenges in treating many diseases. For example, cancer cells can become resistant due to genetic mutations or changes in signaling pathways, decreasing drug efficacy. Additionally, the toxicity of treatments like chemotherapy requires careful balancing of efficacy and adverse effects.

Last month, at the annual ISS Research and Development Conference in Boston, the ISS National Lab and NASA announced five projects selected through the inaugural Igniting Innovation NLRA, which sought to harness the unique space environment to advance cancer research to benefit patients on Earth.

“We are proud to collaborate again this year with NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences division on this important initiative to bring the transformative power of space-based inquiry into the fight against diseases that touch all of our lives,” said ISS National Lab Chief Scientific Officer Michael Roberts. “Our inaugural solicitation in 2023 resulted in the selection of five innovative concepts to leverage microgravity and the space station to benefit patients on Earth. We look forward to enabling access to even more ideas that ignite innovation and fuel research and development for the benefit of humanity.”

“Space-based research has a long history of contributing to advancements on Earth,” said Lisa Carnell, director of NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences division. “Continuing the Igniting Innovation solicitation could contribute to the next big leap in disease therapies. We are excited to collaborate with the ISS National Lab on this endeavor to help address some of the biggest health challenges facing the world today.” 

This research announcement will follow a three-step proposal submission process (Step 1A: Concept Summary, Step 1B: Technology Roadmap, and Step 2: Full Proposal). Step 1A: Concept Summaries must be submitted by end of day on September 26, 2024.

Those interested in learning more about this research announcement can register for a webinar hosted by the ISS National Lab on August 22, 2024, at 1 p.m. EDT.

For more information on this funding opportunity and how the space-based environment can accelerate research and technology development for the benefit of life on Earth, please visit the official solicitation page.

To download a high-resolution image for this release, click here.

About the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory:
The International Space Station (ISS) is a one-of-a-kind laboratory that enables research and technology development not possible on Earth. As a public service enterprise, the ISS National Laboratory® allows researchers to leverage this multiuser facility to improve quality of life on Earth, mature space-based business models, advance science literacy in the future workforce, and expand a sustainable and scalable market in low Earth orbit. Through this orbiting national laboratory, research resources on the ISS are available to support non-NASA science, technology, and education initiatives from U.S. government agencies, academic institutions, and the private sector. The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space™ (CASIS™) manages the ISS National Lab, under Cooperative Agreement with NASA, facilitating access to its permanent microgravity research environment, a powerful vantage point in low Earth orbit, and the extreme and varied conditions of space. To learn more about the ISS National Lab, visit our website.

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, CASIS accepts corporate and individual donations to help advance science in space for the benefit of humanity. For more information, visit our donations page.

Media Contact:

Patrick O’Neill 

904-806-0035 

PONeill@ISSNationalLab.org

 

International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory

Managed by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, Inc. (CASIS)

6905 N. Wickham Rd., Suite 500, Melbourne, FL 32940 • 321.253.5101 • www.ISSNationalLab.org

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SAP AppHaus and NTT DATA Expand Global SAP AppHaus Alliances to Accelerate Human-Centered SAP Business AI at Scale

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WALLDORF, Germany and LONDON, May 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — SAP AppHaus and NTT DATA Business Solutions today announced the expansion of their global SAP AppHaus Alliances partnership. The next phase of the collaboration focuses on helping organizations move beyond isolated AI experiments and accelerate the adoption of scalable, business–driven AI embedded into Cloud ERP environments.

Building on its established role within the SAP AppHaus Alliances, NTT DATA Business Solutions is taking a leading role in operationalizing human–centered solutions built with SAP Business AI at global scale. Central to this approach is the combination of the SAP AppHaus methodology with NTT DATA Business Solution’s GenAI Accelerated toolkit, enabling customers to identify high–value AI use cases, rapidly prototype solutions on SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP), and industrialize them across SAP Cloud ERP landscapes.

Through its Global Enablement Program, using the SAP AppHaus methodology, NTT DATA Business Solutions is equipping multidisciplinary teams worldwide with a repeatable framework for AI exploration, design and delivery. The initiative brings together SAP AppHaus human–centered design, NTT DATA Business Solution’s proprietary GenAI Accelerated assets, and SAP technologies such as Joule and SAP Business Data Cloud.

This integrated approach helps customers achieve faster time–to–value, lower development risk and higher adoption by directly connecting AI innovation to core business processes. Rather than treating AI as a standalone initiative, NTT DATA Business Solutions embeds it into Cloud ERP transformation programs – an approach reflected in its global customer engagement theme Cloud ERP Supercharged.

“With Cloud ERP Supercharged, we are deliberately redefining how SAP Business AI is used in SAP environments. It is not about isolated use cases, but about embedding AI directly into Cloud ERP processes, from master data and partner collaboration to document handling and logistics,” said Nicolaj Vang Jessen, Executive Managing Director Consulting GIIC and Nordics & Eastern Europe, NTT DATA Business Solutions.  “By combining human–centered design, ready–to–run AI extensions and Joule capabilities, we enable our customers to automate, run and continuously learn, turning Cloud ERP into a platform for sustained business performance.”

The expanded alliance builds on successful joint customer engagements, including organizations such as Amey and Aspen Pumps, where NTT DATA Business Solutions applied the SAP AppHaus approach and the GenAI Accelerated toolkit to deliver tangible outcomes – from smarter decision–making and process automation to improved operational resilience.

“Our expanded partnership with SAP AppHaus reflects a deliberate shift from isolated AI use cases to enterprise–wide SAP Business AI,” said Mark Wheeler, Global Head of Product Engineering & AI Customer Success, NTT DATA Business Solutions. “By combining human–centered design with our GenAI Accelerated toolkit, we enable customers to translate AI ambition into solutions that improve speed, quality and competitiveness, directly within their SAP Cloud ERP environments.”

With operations in more than 30 countries and over 15,000 SAP specialists worldwide, NTT DATA Business Solutions continues to differentiate itself in the SAP ecosystem by combining industry expertise, proprietary AI assets and global delivery at scale. The SAP AppHaus methodology further reinforces the company’s ambition to actively shape how SAP Business AI is designed, deployed and scaled within SAP–centric enterprises.

For more information, please visit nttdata-solutions.com.

About NTT DATA Business Solutions

NTT DATA Business Solutions is focused on SAP and works within a strong ecosystem of partners including Microsoft and ServiceNow. We enable midmarket and lower large enterprise companies worldwide to become Intelligent Enterprises – from consulting and implementation to managed services. We are part of NTT DATA a $30+ billion business and technology services leader, serving 75% of the Fortune Global 100. Together, we are committed to accelerating client success and positively impacting society through responsible innovation. We are one of the world’s leading AI and digital infrastructure providers, with unmatched capabilities in enterprise-scale AI, cloud, security, connectivity, data centers and application services. Our consulting and industry solutions help organizations and society move confidently and sustainably into the digital future. As a Global Top Employer, we have experts in more than 70 countries. We also offer clients access to a robust ecosystem of innovation centers as well as established and start-up partners. NTT DATA is part of NTT Group, which invests over $3 billion each year in R&D.

Press Contact NTT DATA Business Solutions

Jasmin Straeter

Head of Global Communications

NTT DATA Business Solutions AG

Königsbreede 1, 33605 Bielefeld,

Germany

T: +49 521 9 14 48 108

Email: Jasmin.Straeter@nttdata.com

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AnySearch Launches as Search Infrastructure Built for AI Agents

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HONG KONG, May 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — As AI agents rapidly evolve from experimental tools into productivity systems, AnySearch, a next-generation AI search product purpose-built for AI agents and enterprise AI systems, has officially launched, offering AI agents unified access to high-quality information.

Unlike traditional search engines or AI search products built primarily around public web content, AnySearch is founded on a fundamentally different premise: much of the information most valuable to AI agents is not publicly searchable.

A significant portion of high-value data does not reside on the open web, but within authenticated professional systems such as industry databases, real-time financial terminals, code repositories, academic platforms, and structured API services. As AI agents begin handling increasingly sophisticated tasks — including research and analysis, software development, and security audits — efficiently connecting to and accessing high-quality, fragmented data across multiple sources has become a key challenge for the next stage of AI application development.

The AnySearch team said, “Traditional search engines can only access a small fraction of the internet. But AI agents need far more than webpages — they require secure, reliable, structured, and real-time information that can support reliable reasoning and execution.”

To address this challenge, AnySearch aggregates extensive vertical data sources spanning finance, legal, academic research, cybersecurity, energy, and corporate intelligence, among other specialized domains. Through a single unified API, AI agents can directly retrieve accurate, structured results without requiring developers to manage dozens of disparate data interfaces. AnySearch natively supports Skill, MCP, and API connectivity, enabling seamless integration into AI agents, enterprise systems, and automated workflows.

The product is now available across multiple developer ecosystems, including GitHub, skills.sh, ClawHub, SkillHub, and Glama, with users currently receiving 1,000 free API calls per day.

As momentum in the AI search space continues to build, AnySearch is pursuing a distinct path from traditional search engines such as Google, focusing on high-precision, structured search capabilities purpose-built for AI agents.

According to internal benchmark evaluations across Frames, FreshQA, and WebWalkerQA, AnySearch delivered stronger results than public-web-based AI search products in both answer accuracy and execution efficiency. In complex real-world scenarios — including code retrieval, security analysis, real-time business decision-making, and industry research — agents integrated with AnySearch also demonstrated stronger capabilities in information seeking and task completion. Rather than sifting through vast amounts of unstructured web content, AnySearch intelligently routes queries to the most relevant specialized data sources and returns accurate, concise, and execution-ready results.

A growing number of industry observers believe AI is fundamentally reshaping the underlying logic of search. For decades, search engines have focused on helping people access webpages and information. As AI agents become more active across the digital ecosystem, the next generation of search infrastructure will focus on enabling AI systems to better understand the world and autonomously complete tasks.

From this perspective, AnySearch is not positioning itself as just another AI search product, but as a new form of infrastructure for the AI era.

Learn more about AnySearch:

Website: https://www.anysearch.com/

Github: https://github.com/anysearch-ai

X: https://x.com/AnySearchAI

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eclicktech Explores What Happens When AI Agents Start Owning KPIs

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XI’AN, China, May 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Over the past year, the conversation around artificial intelligence in Silicon Valley has undergone a subtle yet significant shift.

From OpenAI introducing Agent-based solutions, to Anthropic launching Computer Use and Claude Cowork, and the emergence of autonomous AI systems like Devin and Manus, the industry focus is no longer centered solely on model performance or parameter competition. Instead, a new theme is becoming increasingly dominant: AI is moving beyond the “tool layer” and entering the “organizational layer.”

When financial giants like Goldman Sachs begin referring to AI coding assistants as “employee number one,” and SaaS companies shift discussions from “adding AI features” to “whether AI Agents could eventually take over the software control plane,” one thing becomes increasingly clear: AI is no longer just a copilot for human workers — it is beginning to function as an actual organizational participant.

This transformation is no longer limited to discussions in Silicon Valley. At eclicktech, a growing number of AI Agents have quietly “joined the workforce.” They are taking briefs, conducting analysis, drafting proposals, managing workflows, optimizing campaigns, and even operating with their own KPIs.

Drawing from eclicktech’s recently completed “AI Implementation Hackathon” and its large-scale AI Agent practices, a new question is emerging:

What happens when AI Agents start owning KPIs? And how will that reshape the growth systems of global enterprises?

Why Global Marketing Became One of the First Industries to “Organize Around AI”

“The rise of organizational AI wasn’t accidental — it was driven by the complexity of the business itself,” said Aodi Zhang, Chief Product Officer at eclicktech.

Global marketing today is no longer a competition of isolated creative ideas. It has evolved into a highly complex, real-time operating system involving multiple markets, platforms, languages, and creative assets running simultaneously. Millions of impressions, clicks, and conversions are generated daily, all requiring immediate analysis and response.

In this environment — one defined by high-frequency decisions, data intensity, and rapid iteration — traditional linear growth models built on scaling headcount are quickly reaching their limits. They can no longer match the increasing complexity or real-time responsiveness required by modern global businesses.

At the same time, AI capabilities have crossed a critical threshold.

Previously, AI functioned primarily as an assistive tool for isolated tasks. Today, AI Agents are capable of long-chain execution, tool orchestration, autonomous collaboration, contextual understanding, and independent decision-making.

For the first time, AI is beginning to meet the standard of an “organizational teammate.” It no longer requires constant human supervision at every step. Instead, it can understand objectives, autonomously plan execution paths, and deliver outcomes.

According to the 2025 China Enterprise AI Agent Application Research Report published by First Voice Research Institute, China’s enterprise AI Agent market reached RMB 23.2 billion in 2025, with a projected compound annual growth rate of 120% from 2023 to 2027. Behind this rapid growth is a strong enterprise demand for efficiency gains, cost optimization, and smarter decision-making.

Global marketing — with its complexity and need for real-time responsiveness — has naturally become one of the first large-scale testing grounds for organizational AI.

What Do These “AI Coworkers” Actually Look Like?

eclicktech’s recent “AI Implementation Hackathon” served as something closer to an organizational-level A/B test — placing AI directly into live business workflows to observe how organizations evolve around it.

“We no longer think of AI as a tool sitting in a browser bookmark bar,” Zhang explained. “We think of it as a teammate that can be assigned tasks, held accountable for outcomes, and integrated into operational workflows.”

Several standout projects emerged from the hackathon. But viewing them simply as “efficiency tools” would significantly underestimate their value. Once these systems are viewed through an organizational lens, it becomes clear that eclicktech has already introduced a new category of “AI coworkers” into its business operations.

These AI systems collaborate directly with human employees across the full global marketing workflow.

Hubert: The Always-On Collaboration Hub

In traditional workflows, communication between sales teams, account managers, campaign optimizers, and designers often resembled a relay race full of information leaks and disconnects.

Now, an AI system called Hubert has taken over much of that coordination.

Functioning like an always-online executive assistant, Hubert listens to fragmented requests across teams, automatically structures client information into centralized systems, and proactively alerts relevant stakeholders whenever updates occur.

Instead of relying on fragile human memory, Hubert transforms organizational knowledge into a shared operational intelligence system.

Dexter: The Data Specialist Built for Operational Problem-Solving

Anyone working in campaign optimization knows that analysts often spend the majority of their time reconciling data, identifying discrepancies, and tracing traffic sources.

Dexter now automates much of that process.

The AI system continuously monitors monetization and campaign performance dashboards. When anomalies occur, Dexter can identify root causes within minutes and generate attribution analysis and optimization recommendations before the workday ends.

By handling repetitive analytical work, Dexter enables senior analysts to focus on higher-level strategic decision-making while preserving organizational expertise as scalable operational intelligence.

Hunter & Link: AI Systems Reshaping Customer Acquisition

Within eclicktech’s business development and operations teams, two additional AI systems — Hunter and Link — are redefining sales workflows.

Hunter functions like a constantly active prospecting engine, scanning emails, LinkedIn, and websites to identify high-potential leads. It can autonomously generate personalized outreach emails and even optimize messaging through automated A/B testing.

Meanwhile, Link operates as an intelligent workflow assistant inside messaging platforms, automating inquiry collection, order notifications, and operational coordination.

Together, these systems allow human business development teams to focus less on repetitive prospecting and more on high-value negotiations and strategic relationship building.

AI Agents Are Becoming Infrastructure

These examples represent only part of eclicktech’s broader AI ecosystem.

Today, dozens of AI coworkers are embedded across eclicktech’s operations, supporting creative generation, campaign optimization, budget allocation, data attribution, intelligent customer service, and technical operations. Together, they form a goal-oriented organizational AI ecosystem.

Zhang emphasized that this does not mean organizations can completely remove humans from the loop.

“The more powerful AI becomes, the more important clear operational boundaries become,” he said. “AI handles execution and operational tasks, while humans remain responsible for oversight, judgment, and final decision-making. That human-AI collaboration model is critical for maintaining operational safety and business reliability.”

The scale of adoption is already significant.

According to preliminary estimates, eclicktech’s internal AI systems currently consume more than 4 billion tokens per day. Behind that figure is a growing number of AI Agents operating across real production environments, transforming AI computing power into measurable business growth.

Supporting this ecosystem is EC-Agent, eclicktech’s proprietary enterprise AI Agent development platform. The company says customized AI Agents can now be built in as little as five minutes, reducing development costs by up to 80% and enabling large-scale AI deployment across the organization.

From Silicon Valley’s evolving AI conversations to eclicktech’s real-world implementation, one trend is becoming increasingly evident:

When AI Agents begin owning KPIs, they are not simply improving operational efficiency — they are fundamentally reshaping how global enterprises function.

AI is no longer just an assistive tool. It is becoming an organizational participant working alongside humans. And as AI systems continue evolving, enterprises that successfully redesign themselves around human-AI collaboration may gain a significant competitive advantage in the next era of global business.

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