Connect with us

Technology

The Context Network Joins Kearney to Deepen Support for Clients Across Agriculture and Food Value Chains

Published

2 years ago

on

Deal enables broader depth of transformational support for Kearney and The Context Network clients.  

CHICAGO, Oct. 17, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Kearney, a leading global management consulting partnership, today announced its acquisition of The Context Network (Context), a consultancy with deep expertise in agribusiness and more than 30 years of serving clients in the sector. The acquisition increases Kearney’s presence in agriculture and food, two priority areas for the firm, while contributing to the ongoing growth of Context’s business and furthering rewarding career paths for the Context team.

Context’s team of professionals provide strategic advice to clients across the entire food and ag value chain, including crop input manufacturers, equipment manufacturers, and agricultural retailers. Alongside Kearney’s history, presence, and expertise in agriculture and food, Context will bolster the Kearney team to serve our clients with an even greater depth of knowledge. Kearney has prioritized investments across the food system as a key area for the firm’s growth.

“Acquiring The Context Network is a significant step to expand and deepen our client impact across the agriculture and food value chain,” said Carol Cruickshank, Kearney’s Americas region chair. “Kearney keeps a continuous focus on building the capabilities and solutions needed to adapt and support our clients in an ever-changing world.”

For Context, being acquired by Kearney is an opportunity to bring Context’s expertise to more clients and broaden their offerings to help more companies with end-to-end transformation. “The breadth and depth of Context’s network and expertise, combined with Kearney’s, will enable us to do even more toward our mission of advancing agriculture—of delivering meaningful, actionable solutions to our clients’ most pressing challenges,” said James Mann, partner and chair of the board of managers at Context. “That’s the goal that has always driven us, and we’re excited by what being part of Kearney means both for our people and for our clients.”

Kearney partner Rob Dongoski shared that the Context team works similarly to Kearney in their entrepreneurial spirit, focus on innovation, and willingness to roll up their sleeves and get to work. “The Context team has an unmatched understanding of large-scale production of staple crops and the complexity of the agriculture and food value chain,” Dongoski said. “This transaction will combine complementary capabilities to provide a stronger offering for our clients across the agriculture and food spectrum, solving a known gap in the industry.”

The Context acquisition represents a continuation of Kearney’s strategy of using inorganic moves to accelerate its top-line growth and better serve clients. In the past five years, Kearney has also acquired Cervello, a data and analytics provider; Prokura, a procurement and supply chain consultancy; OPTANO, which provides AI-powered operations optimization solutions; TEAMS, an industrial design firm; MSE – Management Solutions Experts, a Middle East consulting firm; and Silicon Foundry, an innovation advisory firm.

The Context Network will be known as “The Context Network, a Kearney Company,” while still offering the same level of service they’ve always delivered to their clients.

About Kearney

Kearney is a leading global management consulting firm. For nearly 100 years, we have been a trusted advisor to C-suites, government bodies, and nonprofit organizations. Our people make us who we are. Driven to be the difference between a big idea and making it happen, we work alongside our clients to regenerate their businesses to create a future that works for everyone. To learn more about Kearney, please visit www.kearney.com. 

About The Context Network

The Context Network® is a global agribusiness consulting firm which helps organizations achieve remarkable results through strategic management insights and a network of agriculture, biotechnology, and food industry professionals, creating business solutions that deliver actionable outcomes. With a rich history of advancing agriculture across the entire food and ag value chain, our passion for agriculture is what drives us and is one of the main reasons we have become the premier global agribusiness consulting firm in advancing agriculture. To learn more, please visit us at www.contextnet.com.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-context-network-joins-kearney-to-deepen-support-for-clients-across-agriculture-and-food-value-chains-302279615.html

SOURCE Kearney

Related Topics:
Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Technology

From China Mobile’s Call Upgrade to the Commercial Launch of “Calling + AI” by Leading Operators: AI Is Reshaping the Value of Native Calling

Published

1 hour ago

on

July 25, 2026

By

BEIJING, July 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — On June 15, 2026, China Mobile announced a comprehensive upgrade to its traditional calling services, ushering in a next-generation calling experience defined by HD, intelligence, and security. This milestone not only marks a major leap in telecommunication innovation but also reflects a global, inevitable shift: the transformation of basic communication into intelligent, inclusive services.

Breaking Experience Barriers and Redefining the Paradigm of Basic Calling

Overcoming the limitations of traditional, voice-only interactions, China Mobile has leveraged its mature VoLTE/VoNR network foundation to deeply integrate AI models with HD audio and video capabilities. Without requiring users to change their phones or SIM cards, seven core AI functions are now seamlessly embedded into the native dialer interface.

These upgrades include Live Captions bridge communication gaps for the elderly and hearing-impaired; HD video calls and AI noise reduction create a crystal-clear, immersive calling experience; AI anti-fraud intercepts high-risk calls in real time to safeguard users’ assets. Furthermore, the introduction of Data Channel (DC) technology and visual call menus transforms standard calls into agile, interactive service windows, enabling multi-party collaboration and seamless business transactions directly within the call. Through this initiative, China Mobile has successfully evolved traditional calls from a mere voice pipeline into a secure, integrated information hub.

“Calling + AI” Becomes a Strategic Consensus Among Global Leading Operators

From a global perspective, China Mobile’s call upgrade is not an isolated milestone, but a microcosm of the global telecommunications industry’s broader transformation. Throughout 2026, major operators worldwide are accelerating the commercial deployment of “Calling + AI” solutions:

Deutsche Telekom launched Magenta AI, leveraging artificial intelligence to enhance calling across all scenarios;T-Mobile US introduced a network-side, real-time translation service covering over 80 languages, effectively breaking down cross-border communication barriers;Saudi stc rolled out English-Arabic bilingual simultaneous interpretation, which has now entered large-scale commercial trials;South Korea’s LG U+ launched its ixi-O intelligent calling assistant, shifting the user experience from passive responses to proactive smart interactions and earning three prestigious GLOMO industry awards.

The synchronized efforts of these global leaders confirm that basic calling services have officially entered a new era of AI integration. Deeply empowered by artificial intelligence, “Calling + AI” has become the definitive blueprint for the intelligent transformation of the global telecommunications industry. As operators continue to refine these native capabilities, the traditional voice network is poised to reclaim its position as the most secure, ubiquitous, and valuable entry point in the AI era.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/from-china-mobiles-call-upgrade-to-the-commercial-launch-of-calling–ai-by-leading-operators-ai-is-reshaping-the-value-of-native-calling-302834622.html

SOURCE China Mobile

Continue Reading

Technology

Trip.com Group Sincerely Accepts Administrative Penalty Decision Issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation of the People’s Republic of China

Published

4 hours ago

on

July 25, 2026

By

SINGAPORE, July 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Trip.com Group Limited (Nasdaq: TCOM; HKEX: 9961) today announced that it has received the administrative penalty decision issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation of the People’s Republic of China.

Trip.com Group sincerely accepts the decision and will adopt rectification measures in accordance with applicable laws and regulations to implement the decision’s requirements. The Company will strengthen its long-term governance mechanisms and strive to contribute to the sustainable development of the travel industry.

Trip.com Group’s management team will host a conference call at 8:00 AM U.S. Eastern Time on July 27, 2026 (or 8:00 PM Hong Kong Time on July 27, 2026).

The conference call will be available on Webcast live at: http://investors.trip.com.

All participants must pre-register to join this conference call using the participant registration link below:
https://register-conf.media-server.com/register/BIb78e08d8f18340c4882a7e4ab961906b.

Upon registration, each participant will receive details for this conference call, including dial-in numbers and a unique access PIN. To join the conference, please dial the number provided, enter your PIN, and you will join the conference instantly.

For further information, please contact:
Investor Relations
Trip.com Group Limited
Email: iremail@trip.com

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tripcom-group-sincerely-accepts-administrative-penalty-decision-issued-by-the-state-administration-for-market-regulation-of-the-peoples-republic-of-china-302834599.html

SOURCE Trip.com Group Limited

Continue Reading

Technology

NAVER Partners with Brookfield and NVIDIA to Expand Korea’s National AI Factory Infrastructure Buildout

Published

6 hours ago

on

July 25, 2026

By

SAN FRANCISCO, July 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — NAVER, Brookfield and NVIDIA announced an expansion of Korea’s sovereign AI factory infrastructure. New investments will increase the initial NVIDIA DSX™ AI factory deployment from 55 megawatts to 200 megawatts.

Announced during Korea President Jae Myung Lee’s AI Summit visit to San Francisco, the planned 200-megawatt expansion will be built with the NVIDIA DSX platform at NAVER’s GAK Sejong hyperscale data center in Sejong, South Korea. The expanded infrastructure will provide Korea- and U.S.- based AI innovators with access to production-scale AI compute for building next-generation models, agents and AI-powered services.

Under the terms of the agreements, Brookfield will fund up to $9 billion as the exclusive capital partner, NVIDIA will invest $1 billion and NAVER will fund the remaining amount to finance the $10 billion project.

This builds on NAVER’s June announcement to extend its GAK Sejong data center with NVIDIA DSX, with a long-term path to gigawatt-scale sovereign AI infrastructure serving Korea’s enterprises, industries, government organizations and global AI cloud customers. Combining Brookfield’s capital with NVIDIA’s computing platform, the investment supports NAVER’s AI factory deployment.

“NVIDIA’s strategic investment and our infrastructure supply agreement with Brookfield have propelled NAVER’s vision for the AI Factory business into a robust execution phase,” said Haejin Lee, Founder and Chairman of NAVER. “Leveraging the solid partnerships with our global partners, we will drive technological innovation, foster a sovereign AI ecosystem, and spearhead efforts to strengthen South Korea’s AI competitiveness.” 

AI Factory Expansion and Open Model Collaboration to Fuel AI Innovators

NAVER, as an NVIDIA Cloud Partner, provides deep expertise in operating hyperscale infrastructure powered by the full-stack NVIDIA AI platform. The 200-megawatt AI factory, featuring NVIDIA Vera Rubin and Blackwell platforms, will establish a dedicated resource pool for emerging AI companies, providing the compute, software and support needed to develop and deploy competitive AI models and applications at scale.

This expanded infrastructure also builds on NAVER and NVIDIA’s collaboration on open model development for agentic and physical AI. NAVER is advancing its HyperCLOVA X models to be based on NVIDIA Nemotron™ 3 Ultra open models with its proprietary data and training expertise. NAVER is also the first Korean company to join the NVIDIA Nemotron Coalition, contributing to open model development across pretraining, post-training and reinforcement learning.

NAVER plans to launch an AI agent platform in Korea in the second half of the year, powered by NVIDIA Agent Toolkit software including NVIDIA NemoClaw™ blueprints. NAVER is also developing a Seoul World Model using proprietary urban street-view and spatial modeling data, built on NVIDIA Cosmos™ world foundation models.

About NAVER

Founded in 1999, NAVER is Korea’s largest Internet company and one of the world’s top tech companies. Leading cutting-edge technologies, NAVER operates the No.1 search engine in Korea and holds various business portfolios encompassing commerce, fintech, cloud, AI and robotics.

NAVER recorded sales of KRW 12.04 trillion (USD 8.18 billion) in 2025. TEAM NAVER continues to enhance its business portfolio and expand its global presence across Japan, North America, and Europe, while pursuing innovation through continuous research and development in future technologies.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/naver-partners-with-brookfield-and-nvidia-to-expand-koreas-national-ai-factory-infrastructure-buildout-302834577.html

SOURCE NAVER

Continue Reading

Trending