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Avnet and The University of Hong Kong Open EMUS Lab to Accelerate AI Innovation and Commercialization in Hong Kong

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New innovation hub accelerates AI commercialization through research, engineering expertise and global supply chain support

HONG KONG, Sept. 17, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Avnet (NASDAQ: AVT), a leading global technology distributor and solutions provider, today joined The University of Hong Kong (HKU) in officially opening the Emerging Microelectronics and Ubiquitous Systems Lab (EMUS Lab), a collaborative innovation hub designed to accelerate AI hardware commercialization by connecting research, innovation, engineering expertise and global supply chain capabilities.

Located at the Data Technology Hub in Tseung Kwan O InnoPark, EMUS Lab focuses on next-generation technologies including edge AI, physical AI, robotics, high-performance computing (HPC) and emerging microelectronics. By bringing together academic research, startups and industry, the Lab provides innovators with access to engineering consultation, GPU computing resources, prototyping support, manufacturability assessments and supply chain expertise needed to transform breakthrough ideas into scalable, market-ready products. Through Avnet’s broader ecosystem, including element14, an Avnet company specializing in proof-of-concept development and prototyping, innovators can access the tools, technologies and support needed in the early stages of product development, while leveraging Avnet’s engineering, design chain and global supply chain expertise to accelerate the journey from prototype to production.

As AI moves beyond cloud-based models into intelligent devices, robotics and industrial systems, bringing AI into the physical world increasingly depends not only on advanced AI models, but also on the ability to engineer, manufacture and scale AI-enabled hardware. Industry analysts project strong growth in the adoption of edge AI, physical AI and intelligent autonomous systems over the coming decade¹. With its strong research ecosystem, international connectivity and proximity to the Greater Bay Area manufacturing network, Hong Kong is uniquely positioned to accelerate the commercialization of AI-enabled hardware technologies.

Arthur Chung, Vice President, Sales and Supplier Management, Asia, Avnet, said: “Building a great AI model is only the beginning. Turning AI innovation into a reliable, manufacturable and scalable product remains one of the biggest barriers to commercialization. EMUS Lab was created to help innovators bridge that gap by combining research with engineering expertise, supply chain readiness and market access, enabling them to move faster from prototype to product.”

Prof. Ngai Wong, Associate Professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at HKU Faculty of Engineering, and Director of EMUS Lab, said: “EMUS Lab was established to bridge the gap between cutting-edge research and real-world application. By bringing together researchers, students, startups and industry partners, we are creating an environment where research excellence, engineering expertise and industry needs converge to accelerate AI and microelectronics innovation. Together with Avnet, we are helping transform research outcomes into technologies that deliver meaningful societal and economic impact.”

Prior to its official opening, EMUS Lab had already demonstrated measurable impact. Research supported by Avnet-sponsored GPU infrastructure has contributed to publications in Nature family journals and presentations at leading AI conferences including ICLR and ICML, highlighting the Lab’s early research impact.

The opening ceremony brought together representatives from Avnet, HKU and local universities, the broader innovation ecosystem, industry partners and the technology community for keynote presentations, a memorandum of understanding signing ceremony, laboratory tours and technology demonstrations.

Accelerating AI Innovation from Prototype to Product

One of EMUS Lab’s first major industry engagement initiatives is the DfMA Launchpad for AI MMP Programme, a 12-month co-incubation programme that connects EMUS Lab, Avnet and ecosystem stakeholders to support AI startups.

The programme combines Avnet’s engineering and global supply chain expertise with EMUS Lab’s advanced research infrastructure and the startup ecosystem of Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) to provide technical mentorship, hardware-software co-design, system validation, manufacturability guidance and industry connections, helping startups move more efficiently from prototype development to scalable production.

The programme has already attracted strong interest from the startup community, with 27 startup teams selected to participate, reflecting growing demand for practical expertise that helps accelerate the path from AI innovation to market deployment.

As AI increasingly shifts from experimentation to large-scale deployment, EMUS Lab provides a collaborative platform where academia, startups and industry partners can accelerate AI hardware innovation across healthcare, robotics, industrial automation, smart living and smart city applications. By combining world-class research, startup innovation, engineering expertise and global supply chain capabilities within a single ecosystem, the Lab helps transform breakthrough ideas into products that can be built, scaled and deployed globally, while strengthening Hong Kong’s position as a leading hub for AI hardware innovation and technology commercialization.

About Avnet

As a leading global technology distributor and solutions provider, Avnet has served customers’ evolving needs for more than a century. Through regional and specialised businesses around the world, we support customers and suppliers at every stage of the product lifecycle. We help companies adapt to change and accelerate the design and supply stages of product development. With a unique viewpoint from the center of the technology supply chain, Avnet is a trusted partner that solves complex design and supply chain issues so customers can realize revenue faster. Learn more about Avnet at www.avnet.com.

About HKU Faculty of Engineering

The Faculty of Engineering is one of the founding Faculties of The University of Hong Kong established in 1912. Since its foundation, the Faculty has kept pace with developments in the engineering world and aims at providing an all-round education for students, equipping graduates not only with knowledge of cutting-edge technology, but also excellent communication and social skills, an innovation mindset, a lifelong learning attitude, professional integrity and international exposure. For more information, visit https://engg.hku.hk.

¹ Source: Deloitte, The State of AI in the Enterprise 2026: The Untapped Edge. Deloitte reports growing adoption of physical AI technologies, with more than half of surveyed organizations already using physical AI and adoption expected to increase significantly over the next two years.

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SOURCE Avnet

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Axis Bank and Cognizant Collaborate to Strengthen Application Management with AMS 2.0

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Automation-led operations to drive user experience, efficiency and productivity

BENGALURU, India, Sept. 17, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH), a leading AI builder and technology services provider, and Axis Bank, one of the largest private sector banks in India, today announced the successful implementation and go-live of Cognizant’s Application Management Services (AMS) under Axis Bank’s AMS 2.0 initiative for the Bank’s stakeholders.

AMS 2.0 is a structured, jointly driven program designed to strengthen delivery governance, improve operational consistency and accelerate the adoption of automation across application support services. Built on automation-led practices, the model aims to enhance service reliability and cost efficiency while enabling productivity, scalability, and standardized processes, with a strong emphasis on governance, compliance and operational discipline. 

Spearheaded by Axis Bank, the AMS 2.0 initiative forms a key pillar of the Bank’s broader technology transformation journey. The collaboration underscores Axis Bank’s strategic focus on building a scalable, resilient, and future-ready IT operating model, one that enables business growth, enhances system reliability and delivers a superior stakeholder experience across critical banking platforms.

Under a five-year agreement, Cognizant is working closely with Axis Bank to support systems across key business verticals, including Branch and Operations, Cards, Corporate Banking and Treasury, Core Platforms and Payments, Finance and Accounting, Retail and Wholesale Banking, Data Platforms and Integration.

Commenting on the collaboration, Avinash Raghavendra, Group Head – Information Technology & Retail Operations, Axis Bank, said, “The implementation of AMS 2.0 is part of Axis Bank’s efforts to build a more resilient, scalable, and automation enabled operations model. Cognizant has worked closely with the Bank during this transition to support a complex application environment. We look forward to collaborating with Cognizant for Application Management Services (AMS) to enhance operational effectiveness and support the Bank’s evolving business and technology needs.”

Ganesh Ayyar, President – Asia Pacific & Japan, Cognizant, said, “We are pleased to collaborate with Axis Bank as part of its AMS 2.0 initiative. Our teams are focused on supporting the bank’s application management requirements through disciplined service delivery, governance-led operations and the responsible use of automation to improve run stability and efficiency.”

About Axis Bank:

Axis Bank is one of the largest private sector banks in India. Axis Bank offers the entire spectrum of services to customer segments covering Large and Mid-Corporates, SME, Agriculture, and Retail Businesses. It has 6,295 domestic branches (including extension counters) and 12,564 ATMs and cash recyclers spread across the country as on 30th June 2026. The Bank’s Axis Virtual Centre is present across eight centres with 1,700 Virtual Relationship Managers as on 30th June 2026. The Axis Group includes Axis Mutual Fund, Axis Securities Ltd., Axis Finance, Axis Trustee, Axis Capital, A.TReDS Ltd., Freecharge, Axis Pension Fund and Axis Bank Foundation.

For more information, visit the website: https://www.axis.bank.in

About Cognizant:

Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) is an AI builder and technology services provider, building the bridge between AI investment and enterprise value by building full-stack AI solutions for our clients. Our deep industry, process and engineering expertise enables us to build an organization’s unique context into technology systems that amplify human potential, realize tangible returns and keep global enterprises ahead in a fast-changing world. See how at https://www.cognizant.ai/ or @cognizant.

For more information, please contact:

Cognizant
Hema Swamy: Manimekalai.Swamy@cognizant.com
Axis Bank:
Sandeep Kumar: Sandeep353.kumar@axisbank.com

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SOURCE Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation

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French region goes live with digital pathology from Sectra to speed up cancer diagnostics

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LINKÖPING, Sweden, Sept. 17, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — International medical imaging IT and cybersecurity company Sectra (STO: SECT B) has successfully implemented the digital pathology module of its enterprise imaging solution at four hospitals in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (PACA) region in France. The hospitals are the first of eight across the region to move onto one shared solution, letting pathologists work on cases together across sites and speed up cancer diagnostics for patients.

The first phase of the rollout covers four hospitals across the PACA region in southern France, all of which are now live:

Institut Paoli-Calmettes (IPC) in Marseille, an oncology center that is part of a national network of cancer centers Assistance Publique des Hôpitaux de Marseille (APHM), one of the largest hospital groups in France Centre Hospitalier AixPertuis (CHAP), a public hospital serving the Aix-en-Provence area Centre Antoine Lacassagne (CAL) in Nice, a comprehensive cancer center that is part of the Unicancer network

“This regional project is an important step toward strengthening cancer care across the PACA region. By working more closely with other partner hospitals, we can share expertise and ensure that patients receive faster and more accurate diagnoses. Digitizing pathology workflows through Sectra’s solution is central to this transformation and will allow us to collaborate seamlessly across sites and access cases regardless of where the patient is being treated,” says Professor Nicolas Macagno at APHM.

Professor Emmanuelle Charafe at IPC continues:

“The deployment of digital pathology represents a major advance for diagnostic practice and medical cooperation at the regional level. At Institut Paoli-Calmettes, this solution enables our teams to access records more quickly, streamline exchanges between experts, and strengthen collaboration with partner institutions. Beyond these organizational gains, it helps provide patients with faster access to highly specialized expertise and further improves the quality of cancer diagnostics. Not only has the Sectra solution improved the accuracy of cancer diagnosis, but it also enables precise evaluation of biomarkers, giving our patients access to precision medicine in oncology. It also allows us to fulfill our mission as a leading cancer center for patients across the region, as it has streamlined exchanges and second opinions. The implementation process with Sectra has been excellent, and we look forward to continuing our partnership.”

These four implementations follow orders received under Sectra’s 2022 framework agreement with UniHA, a cooperative of French public hospitals, which enables connected hospitals to purchase the solution on pre-negotiated terms and conditions. The second phase, covering the four remaining hospitals in the PACA region, CHU de Nice, Centres Hospitaliers de Toulon and Avignon, and the Centre Hospitalier d’Ajaccio (CHA) in Corsica, is already underway and planned to be completed during 2027.

Sectra’s digital pathology solution allows pathologists to review and collaborate around cases in a way that has not been possible before. The digital workflow provides instant and, if needed, remote access to digital images of tissue samples instead of relying on physical glass slides reviewed in microscopes. By consolidating pathology into a single solution, collaboration among pathologists, both within a department, between sites, and for external consultations with referent expert pathologists, becomes significantly easier, marking an essential step toward improving overall regional cancer care.

“I’m delighted to see yet another part of France working across hospital boundaries. It’s essential for efficient diagnostics, especially in cancer care where the experts are often based at different sites. We are really looking forward to seeing our digital pathology solution facilitating the hospitals’ important work and to work closely with them to ensure it will support them now and in the future,” says Fabien Lozach, President of Sectra in France.

The pathology module is a part of Sectra’s enterprise imaging solution which provides a unified strategy for all imaging needs while lowering operational costs. The scalable and modular solution, with a VNA at its core, allows healthcare providers to grow from ology to ology and from enterprise to enterprise. Visit Sectra’s website to read more about Sectra and why it’s top-ranked in “Best in KLAS“.

For further information, please contact:
Dr. Torbjörn Kronander, CEO and President Sectra AB, 46 (0) 705 23 52 27 
Marie Ekström Trägårdh, Executive Vice President Sectra AB and President Sectra Imaging IT Solutions, 46 (0)708 23 56 10

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/sectra/r/french-region-goes-live-with-digital-pathology-from-sectra-to-speed-up-cancer-diagnostics,c4396691

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Beehive and Taageer Finance Strengthen Access to SME Financing Across Oman

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MUSCAT, Oman, Sept. 17, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Beehive, the region’s first digital peer-to-peer SME financing platform, has partnered with Taageer Finance Co. SAOG, one of Oman’s leading finance companies, to sign an agreement to expand access to financing for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the Sultanate. To date, Beehive Oman has supported financing for more than 270 SMEs across Oman, and since its inception, Taageer Finance has financed more than 22,000 SME customers across 15 key economic sectors.

The collaboration brings together Beehive’s digital financing capabilities and SME-focused platform with Taageer Finance’s extensive experience, established market presence and track record in supporting businesses across Oman. Through the partnership, at least OMR 36 million in financing will be made available to eligible SMEs across Oman, supporting businesses with a minimum of two years of trading history.

SMEs remain an important contributor to Oman’s economic development, private-sector growth and economic diversification. The collaboration between Taageer Finance and Beehive is therefore intended not only to expand access to finance, but also to support businesses in pursuing their growth ambitions and contributing to the wider development of Oman’s economy in line with the objectives of Oman Vision 2040.

Sheikh Khalil Al Harthy, CEO of Taageer Finance, said: “SMEs are a vital part of Oman’s economic growth, and improving their access to finance remains an important priority for Taageer. Our collaboration with Beehive enables us to reach a broader base of SMEs seeking finance and provide deserving businesses with access to the funding they need to grow. Through this partnership, we aim to support their growth ambitions while contributing to the broader objectives of Oman Vision 2040.”

Peter Tavener, Co-Founder and Group CEO of Beehive, said: “Partnering with Taageer gives Omani SMEs a strong new route to funding. Combining Taageer’s financial strength with our streamlined processes and reach on the ground means we can get more businesses funded, faster.”

About Taageer Finance

Taageer Finance Co. SAOG was established in Oman in 2000 and provides financing solutions to individuals and businesses. Major shareholders include Oman Investment Authority, the investment arm of the Sultanate of Oman. Regulated by the Central Bank of Oman, it offers retail, SME and Corporate loan products across the Sultanate through a network of 10 branches. Learn more at www.taageer.com.

About Beehive

Founded in 2014, Beehive Group Holdings Limited is the first digital SME funding platform in the MENA region regulated by the DFSA. Headquartered in Dubai, Beehive connects businesses seeking finance with investors who can support their growth, offering a faster, more affordable alternative for SMEs across the GCC. Learn more at www.beehive.ae or www.beehive.om.

In the UAE, Beehive P2P Limited is regulated by the DFSA. In Oman, the activities are conducted under a commercial registration issued by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion. In KSA, Beehive Group Holdings Limited own a controlling stake in Themar Al Aamal for Crowdfunding Company CJSC, which is regulated by SAMA.

Media Contacts

Beehive Oman
Ola Hassan
ola.hassan@beehive.om | +968 940 28355 

Taageer Finance Co. SAOG
Rabha Al Suleimany
rabha@taageer.com | +968 972 33888

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