Technology

Axim Collaborative and Unicon Partner to Advance Skills-Based and Competency-Based Learning Through Open edX Innovation

Published

1 year ago

May 6, 2025

Research partnership will help shape a reference implementation for Open edX platform to meet the growing demand for skills-based and flexible learning models.

MESA, Ariz., May 6, 2025 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Unicon, a leading technology and digital learning enablement firm, today announced a new strategic partnership with Axim Collaborative, steward of the global Open edX platform, to drive innovation in skills-based and competency-based education (CBE) at scale.

Building on over thirty years of leadership in the open source community, Unicon is joining forces with Axim to help inform a reference implementation of the Open edX platform to better serve higher education institutions that are shifting to skills-first learning models. The collaboration marks a significant milestone in Unicon’s ongoing commitment to expanding access to flexible, future-ready education.

Through this partnership, and in collaboration with the Competency-Based Education Network (C-BEN), Unicon is conducting a comprehensive research initiative, gathering insights from community colleges, four-year universities, and other education stakeholders. The goal is to identify key functional priorities and operational challenges facing institutions offering competency-based and/or skills-forward programming — informing the development of new capabilities in an Open edX reference implementation to enable institutions to deliver scalable, skills-based learning programs.

“Bringing Unicon and Axim Collaborative together is a natural evolution in how both organizations are supporting skills-based and competency-based education,” said Kate Valenti, CEO at Unicon. “At Unicon, we believe the future of learning lies in enabling institutions to teach, validate, and credential skills at scale. This partnership demonstrates our deep commitment to the open source community and to building practical, high-impact solutions for higher education.”

This collaboration comes at a pivotal time as Unicon continues its work with institutions focused on innovation and skills advancement. The partnership with Axim strengthens Unicon’s positioning as a trusted partner for organizations aiming to create innovative, flexible, career-connected learning experiences.

In a further demonstration of its commitment to open source and the global skills community, Unicon recently announced its sponsorship of Open edX 2025 in Paris as a Premier Sponsor. This sponsorship not only expands the reach of the new partnership with Axim but also showcases Unicon’s leadership and deep investment in the future of open, skills-based education. Conference attendees will have the opportunity to meet with Unicon’s expert team to share insights on building scalable, future-ready learning platforms.

Ed Zarecor, Vice President of Engineering, Open edX, says of the partnership, “We see enabling a skills-forward approach to delivering non-credit and credit courses as a powerful way to deliver Axim’s mission at scale. We believe the platform’s ability to scale in a robust way along with the affordability that provides for low resourced institutions has powerful potential to drive impact. Given Axim’s mission around driving economic mobility, we see community colleges as powerful enablers of economic mobility, enabling rapid skills acquisition, and allowing students to connect in demand skills with employer needs. We’re excited to partner with Unicon to gather critical feedback from the higher education community and advance the Open edX platform to better support skills-based learning models globally and to reach an underserved market with a compelling value proposition to uniquely serve learners and their unmet needs.”

Learn more about Open edX 2025 and Unicon’s sponsorship at: https://con.openedx.org/

About Axim Collaborative

Axim Collaborative is a nonprofit that transforms education to work pathways by facilitating collaboration and innovations to build an ecosystem of solutions to drive better outcomes for millions of learners. With a mission to make learning more accessible, relevant and effective for all learners, we seek to catalyze new digital and education practices that engage students in their course of study and enable them to persist through their programs and excel in their careers to realize greater social and economic mobility. Axim is a non-profit, co-founded by Harvard and MIT and is the successor to edX, the pioneering online learning platform that launched in 2012.

About the Open edX Project

The Open edX platform is an open-source learning management system that is used across the globe to teach and learn online. The Open edX platform powers more than 70,000 courses and supports more than 100 million learners. It has been deployed to support everything from single classrooms to university-wide education to government-sponsored nationwide learning initiatives. The Open edX project and its community pursue innovative approaches to learning and pedagogy; promote the adoption of best practices across the education continuum; and share the vision that everyone, everywhere should have access to high-quality education.

Press Contacts

Eric Kuennen
Unicon, Inc.
ekuennen@unicon.net

Annabel (Annie) Cellini
Axim Collaborative
acellini@axim.org

Media Contact

Eric Kuennen, Unicon, Inc., (480) 558-2400, ekuennen@unicon.net, https://www.unicon.net/

Twitter

View original content:https://www.prweb.com/releases/axim-collaborative-and-unicon-partner-to-advance-skills-based-and-competency-based-learning-through-open-edx-innovation-302447464.html

SOURCE Unicon, Inc.

Technology

BlueNexus Technologies Unveils AquaX Hub at SIWW 2026 — AI Autonomous Operations Extended to Legacy Water Assets

Published

3 hours ago

June 21, 2026

SINGAPORE, June 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — At Singapore International Water Week (SIWW) 2026, BlueNexus Technologies unveiled the global debut of AquaX Hub™ — a compact plug-and-play edge device that brings full AI-powered autonomous operation to standalone water equipment and legacy treatment plants. The launch drew sustained engagement from utilities, industrial operators and engineering firms.

The water sector confronts converging pressures: aging infrastructure, a critical shortage of skilled technicians, and relentless operational cost escalation. AquaX Hub™ answers these directly — extending the AI autonomous operation already proven plant-wide by AquaX Robot™ to a single asset, and delivering comparable monitoring and operational management without a control-system overhaul.

“The industry cannot hire its way out of this problem,” said Jack Zhang, CEO of BlueNexus Technologies. “AI autonomous operation is no longer a future concept — the barrier to entry is gone.”

The AquaX Ecosystem

BlueNexus has built the industry’s first fully integrated AI autonomous water operation platform, spanning three complementary pillars:

AquaX Robot™ is the flagship plant-wide AI agent, built on large language models with proprietary vision, acoustic and infrared multimodal sensing. It optimizes treatment processes 24/7 and predicts equipment failures. Live deployments show up to 90% reduction in on-site staffing, a 50% drop in equipment breakdowns, and approximately 35% lower O&M costs.

AquaX Hub™, making its global debut at SIWW 2026, is a lightweight edge terminal extending that capability to any water system. With an independent local processing module, it monitors and inspects equipment through multimodal sensing and runs a self-contained processing loop. The device integrates seamlessly with existing SCADA, cloud and enterprise platforms via standardized APIs.

i-WaterHub™, the company’s standardized modular treatment plant, operated autonomously by AquaX Robot, delivers 2,500 to 40,000 m³/day for municipal and industrial applications.

Market Momentum

SIWW 2026 convened nearly 500 exhibitors from over 65 countries. BlueNexus has identified priority markets for AquaX Hub™ in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. “The conversations this week have already translated into concrete business opportunities and we expect rapid deployment in the coming months.” Zhang confirmed.

About BlueNexus Technologies

BlueNexus Technologies is a Singapore-based water-technology company building intelligent, AI-operated systems for the world’s most water-intensive industries. We design and deliver modular water treatment infrastructure that is smarter to run, faster to deploy, and built to operate autonomously.

Web: www.bluenexus.tech

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/bluenexus-technologies-unveils-aquax-hub-at-siww-2026–ai-autonomous-operations-extended-to-legacy-water-assets-302805849.html

SOURCE BlueNexus Technologies

Technology

VIVATECH 2026 CELEBRATES ITS 10TH ANNIVERSARY WITH A RECORD EDITION SURPASSING 200,000 VISITORS

Published

11 hours ago

June 20, 2026

With the presence of Emmanuel Macron and Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India

PARIS, June 20, 2026 /CNW/ — From June 17 to 20, 2026 at Paris Porte de Versailles, VivaTech celebrated its 10th edition, surpassing the exceptional milestone of 200,000 visitors from 165 nationalities, with more than 15,000 startups present, 1,155 speakers and over 5 billion cumulative impressions on social media. Europe’s largest tech and innovation event has reached a new dimension, consolidating its status as an unmissable global gathering.

Exceptional speakers

VivaTech welcomed the greatest figures in global tech: Jeff Bezos (Amazon & Blue Origin), Dave Limp (Blue Origin), Bernard Arnault (LVMH), Henna Virkkunen (European Commission), Ekaterina Zaharieva (European Commission). Germany, Country of the Year 2026, was represented by a ministerial delegation, while India, AI Country Partner 2026, was led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as a continuation of the AI Summit in New Delhi.

Innovation and business at the heart of the event

More than 4,500 exhibitors, 61% of whom were international, showcased their latest innovations. Among the standout innovations: the smart contact lens by XPANCEO, the thought-controlled humanoid robot by Unitree x HABS, and the 3D-printed resorbable implants by Lattice Medical. New formats such as the Business Plaza and Investors Office Hours further accelerated business connections.

The VivaTech x Bloomberg Awards

For the first time, VivaTech presented the VivaTech x Bloomberg Awards, recognising the most influential figures in global tech, including Sir Tim Berners-Lee (Visionary Award), Joe Tsai (Leadership Award) and Yann LeCun (Momentum Award).

Innovation open to all

VivaTech also took over the Champs-Élysées on June 14th for an open-air technology showcase, before opening its doors to the general public on June 20th with astronaut Thomas Pesquet as guest star.

“This 10th edition was not a celebration of the 9 previous years, but the opening of a new decade full of promise.” — Maurice Lévy, Michèle Benbunan & François Bitouzet, VivaTech

See you from June 16 to 19, 2027 at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles for VivaTech 2027!

About VivaTech

VivaTech accelerates innovation by connecting startups, tech leaders, major companies, and investors responding to our world’s biggest challenges.

Each year, over four exciting days in Paris, VivaTech creates Europe’s biggest startup and tech event, exploring the most disruptive topics in tech with world-premiere demos, launches, and conferences in a collaborative ecosystem. This is where business meets innovation. Join us for the eleventh edition of VivaTech 16-19 June 2027.

For more information go to our website at https://vivatech.com/media or follow us on social media @VivaTech.

Contact
press@vivatechnology.com

Logo: https://mmx.prnewswire.com/media/MS1865564/VT_LOGO_EN.jpg
Photo : https://mmx.prnewswire.com/media/MS1869778/VivaTech_2026.jpg

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vivatech-2026-celebrates-its-10th-anniversary-with-a-record-edition-surpassing-200-000-visitors-302805827.html

SOURCE VivaTech

Technology

Pope Leo XIV embraces paediatric patients at CNAO in Pavia

Published

14 hours ago

June 20, 2026

PAVIA, Italy, June 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The National Center for Oncological Hadrontherapy (CNAO) served as the first stop today during Pope Leo XIV’s pastoral visit to the city of Pavia. His choice to begin his journey at this center reflects a profound commitment to fostering meaningful dialogue between advanced scientific progress and the alleviation of human suffering.

CNAO President Gianluca Vago and General Manager Sandro Rossi received His Holiness, illustrating the center’s distinctive capabilities. CNAO stands out as a unique reality in Italy, remaining one of the very few facilities worldwide capable of delivering hadrontherapy using both protons and carbon ions. The technological core of the facility is its synchrotron, a subatomic particle accelerator that generates ultra-high-precision beams to treat complex, inoperable and radioresistant tumours. This cutting-edge technology allows for the targeted eradication of diseased cells while meticulously preserving surrounding healthy tissues, drastically improving patients’ survival and quality of life.

Furthermore, CNAO is expanding its capabilities as a premier multi-center utilizing new ion species, like Helium, later Oxygen and Neon. Soon, treatments will incorporate the Leo Cancer Care upright positioning and imaging system. The immediate future also includes beginning therapies with a Hitachi dedicated proton accelerator and gantry and a BNCT system for metastatic diseases, equipped with an electrostatic accelerator produced by TAE Life Science. With these new technologies, CNAO will become one of the most technologically advanced center in the world.

To date, over six thousand individuals, including approximately three hundred children and adolescents, have benefited from these life-saving treatments.

During his visit, the Pope engaged with CNAO’s Board of Directors, a collaborative body uniting national universities, clinical institutions, and research centers. He also extended his heartfelt greetings to the two hundred employees of the center. These doctors, physicists, engineers, and researchers tirelessly operate the advanced technologies in the service of oncology patients.

The emotional pinnacle of the day was the Holy Father’s private gathering with a delegation of young children who underwent treatment. The paediatric patients and their families shared a deeply touching moment of closeness, receiving the Pope’s comforting embrace.

“The visit of Pope Leo XIV honours us and represents a moment of extraordinary human value”, stated CNAO President Gianluca Vago. “In his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, the Holy Father emphasizes the necessity of a science that constantly safeguards the centrality of the person and directs technology toward the common good. In a time marked by global tensions, CNAO testifies daily how the incredible power of the atom can be used not to destroy, but to heal. The particle beams we utilize against disease are, symbolically, Rays of Hope, sharing and supporting the IAEA project bearing this name. The embrace the Holy Father reserved for our children reminds us that scientific research finds its most authentic purpose when it encounters listening, compassion, and hope”.

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2997869/Papa_al_Cnao_crediti_Andrea_Perotti.jpg
Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2997643/CNAO_Logo.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/pope-leo-xiv-embraces-paediatric-patients-at-cnao-in-pavia-302805799.html