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New Scholarship Program from Daikin and the Astros Foundation Will Award $100,000 to College-Bound Seniors

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“Daikin’s Most Valuable STEAM Scholarship” applications officially open; kickstarts community programming from Daikin Park

HOUSTON, March 4, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Step up to the plate, Houston area seniors! The Astros Foundation and Daikin Comfort Technologies North America, Inc. (Daikin) have announced an inaugural scholarship program, Daikin’s Most Valuable STEAM Scholarship, that will award ten Houston-area high school seniors each with a $10,000 scholarship. Applications open today, March 3, and close April 14, 2025.

Daikin’s Most Valuable STEAM Scholarship program will be hosted annually to recognize the role well-rounded curriculum plays in fostering innovative, creative and critical thinking skills. The scholarships will be awarded to ten graduating seniors determined by their excellence in STEAM education and their personal experiences both inside and outside of the classroom.

“The Astros Foundation is excited to team up with Daikin to invest in Houston’s future leaders as they pursue higher education,” said Emelda Douglas, Senior Vice President of Community Affairs for the Houston Astros and Executive Director of the Astros Foundation. “By supporting these talented students, we are empowering them to focus their passion and creativity to positively impact our community and beyond.”

Building an All-Star Team of Bright Young Minds

STEAM curriculum goes beyond traditional Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) programming by incorporating the arts. This includes fine arts, language arts, manual arts such as architecture and landscape design, physical arts, and liberal arts. Through STEAM learning, students are encouraged to think outside of the playing field and problem solve by using creativity and technical expertise cultivated through their high school and college careers.

Key requirements for applicants pursuing the scholarship include:

A 300-word essay on the importance of STEAM education and how it has contributed to personal growth, academic achievements and career aspirations.Graduating high school seniors in the class of 2025 that will be attending a higher education institution upon graduation and provide proof of acceptance.Permanent address in one of the following Texas counties: Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery, San Jacinto, Walker, Waller and Wharton.Complete application by deadline along with two adult letters of recommendation.

As a global leader in HVAC&R, Daikin understands the importance of driving innovation to develop sustainable technologies, and it is through initiatives like this where students can harness the skills needed to become the innovative leaders of their generation. In addition to developing career-driven skill sets through hands-on learning, STEAM students can also strengthen their soft skills like collaboration and communication that will only help further their professional acumen and make them MVPs.

“At Daikin, we believe in the unlimited potential of people and know student scholarships are crucial for fostering the next generation of innovative thinkers,” said Kristi Pittman, Senior Vice President of Human Resources, Daikin. “We are proud to play a role in supporting our local youth through this inaugural scholarship program and look forward to seeing them score home runs in college and beyond.”

Those meeting the requirements and interested in applying for Daikin’s Most Valuable STEAM Scholarship can learn more at: https://www.mlb.com/astros/community/foundation/steam-scholarship 

About Daikin

Daikin Industries, Ltd. (DIL) is a Fortune 1,000 company with more than 98,162 employees worldwide and a leading indoor comfort solutions provider. Daikin Comfort Technologies North America, Inc. (DNA) is a subsidiary of DIL, providing Daikin, Goodman, Amana® and Quietflex brand products. DNA and its affiliates manufacture heating and cooling systems for residential, commercial and industrial use that are sold via independent HVAC contractors. DNA engineering and manufacturing is located at Daikin Texas Technology Park near Houston, TX.  For additional information, visit www.daikincomfort.com

Amana® is a registered trademark of Maytag Corporation or its related companies and is used under license. All rights reserved.

About Daikin Park

On January 1, 2025, the Houston Astros and Daikin Comfort Technologies North America, Inc. (Daikin) entered into a 15-year, exclusive naming-rights partnership that brands the home of the Astros as Daikin Park. The agreement runs through the 2039 season, and includes official naming rights, partnership benefits, and giving back to the Greater Houston community through educational programming and youth sports development in underserved communities. 

Overall, Daikin has invested more than $1 billion in the Houston area, including more than $500 million in building Daikin Texas Technology Park. Also, in August 2024, Daikin launched an initiative with the City of Houston to equip low-to-moderate income homes with advanced air conditioning and heating solutions, providing more comfort and energy efficiency for homeowners. Daikin is always looking for new ways to support their community and to create innovative technologies, with an unwavering commitment to making sustainable and responsible choices. For more information on Daikin Park, visit https://daikincomfort.com/about-daikin/daikin-park.

About Houston Astros and Astros Foundation

The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division. Established as the Houston Colt .45s, the Astros entered the National League as an expansion team in 1962. The current name, Houston Astros, reflecting Houston’s role as the host of the Johnson Space Center and space exploration, was adopted three years later, when they moved into the Astrodome. The Astros moved to their current home ballpark in downtown Houston in 2000. The Astros have had great success on the diamond, having won two World Series (2017 and 2022), five league pennants, and advanced to a record-setting seven-straight American League Championship Series, winning four of the last seven American League pennants.

A tenant of the organization is to give back to the greater Houston community, and that is done through the Astros Foundation, the official 501(c)(3) team charity of the Houston Astros. The foundation seeks to harness the passion of baseball fans to support youth baseball and softball programs, the recognition and honor of our nation’s military, childhood cancer awareness, domestic violence awareness and efforts to reduce homelessness. The cornerstone initiatives include the Community Leaders program, the Astros Youth Academy and the Astros RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) Program. For more information on the Astros Foundation, please visit www.astros.com/foundation.

Media Contact:
Bradlee Borgfeldt
713-627-2223
bborgfeldt@piercom.com 

 

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SOURCE Daikin Comfort Technologies North America, Inc

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Genedata Expands AI Discovery Workflows with NVIDIA BioNeMo Open Models, Including the New RFD4-Proteina Release

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Bringing next-generation binder design models into production discovery

BASEL, Switzerland, Oct. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Genedata, a Danaher company, and the leading provider of enterprise software solutions for biopharmaceutical R&D, today announced the addition of the new RFD4-Proteina binder design model into Genedata’s AI-enabled discovery workflows, following the model’s introduction at NVIDIA GTC Berlin. As an early ecosystem partner, Genedata is among the first companies to make RFD4-Proteina available within its production discovery workflows. By connecting AI-generated molecular designs, scientific data, and laboratory results, Genedata helps researchers transform AI predictions into continuous learning cycles that accelerate biologics discovery.

The workflow begins with scientists defining target characteristics and required properties using Genedata’s AI co-scientist. NVIDIA’s open protein design models then generate and evaluate candidate binders within Genedata. As candidates move into laboratory testing, results are captured and linked back to the original designs, helping scientists refine and rank the next round.

“Advances in AI are creating unprecedented opportunities for protein and antibody discovery, but unlocking their full value requires more than access to powerful models alone,” said Othmar Pfannes, Ph.D., President of Genedata. “Researchers need a way to connect molecular design, experimental execution, and scientific data into a continuous learning process. Genedata serves as the digital backbone that brings these elements together, helping scientists evaluate more candidates before testing, preserve the scientific context behind each outcome, and build knowledge from one discovery cycle to the next.”

While advances in generative AI are rapidly expanding what scientists can design, many organizations still struggle to operationalize these models within production scientific research workflows. Genedata provides the orchestration, governance, and scientific data foundation needed to deploy NVIDIA BioNeMo open models, including RFD4-Proteina, directly within the discovery workflows scientists use every day. Researchers can apply AI-generated designs within established processes while maintaining lineage, traceability, and scientific context across the discovery lifecycle.

Within Danaher’s autonomous laboratory initiative, these capabilities connect AI, automation, and scientific data in a closed-loop discovery framework where each experimental outcome informs the next design cycle, creating a continuous learn-and-improve process that advances science while keeping scientists in control.

About Genedata
Genedata, a Danaher company and the leading provider of enterprise software solutions for biopharma R&D, transforms biopharma data into intelligence. Our innovative solutions combine deep science, technology, and AI domain knowledge. Leading biopharma organizations and cutting-edge biotechs partner with Genedata to digitalize and automate complex data workflows. Our advanced analytics and embedded AI enable data-driven decisions. From early discovery through development to the clinic, Genedata solutions drive innovation and maximize ROI being trusted by customers worldwide for more than 25 years.

www.genedata.com
LinkedIn | YouTube

About Danaher
Danaher is a leading global life sciences and diagnostics innovator, committed to accelerating the power of science and technology to improve human health. Through our connected ecosystem of industry-leading businesses, we work side by side with customers to solve their most complex scientific and clinical challenges—helping move innovations from discovery to delivery faster for patients who depend on them. Powered by the Danaher Business System, our advanced science and technology and proven ability to innovate help enable faster, more accurate diagnoses and reduce the time, cost, and risk required to discover, develop, and deliver life-changing therapies. Through continuous improvement and operational excellence, our approximately 60,000 associates worldwide are focused on delivering lasting impact and improving quality of life around the world, while building a healthier, more sustainable tomorrow. Explore more at www.danaher.com.

Disclaimer

The statements in this press release that relate to future plans, events or performance are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including risks associated with uncertainties related to contract cancellations, developing risks, competitive factors, uncertainties pertaining to customer orders, demand for products and services, development of markets for the Company’s products and services. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to release publicly the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

All product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies.

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SOURCE Genedata

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Bybit AI Empowers Users with Their Personal Financial Edge, Adding Personalization and Memory

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DUBAI, UAE, Oct. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Bybit, the New Financial Platform trusted by more than 80 million users worldwide, has announced new personalization and memory features for Bybit AI, its in-app intelligent conversational layer. Bybit AI now builds a profile from each user’s assets, positions, behavior and risk profile, connecting wealth, markets and trading across the Bybit ecosystem.

Launched in September, Bybit AI organically unifies Bybit’s core services within a single chat interface. The newly added features extend its capacity from responding to individual requests to maintaining a continuous understanding of the user, giving each user their personal financial edge.

Putting the user at the center, Bybit AI is evolving on three pillars:

Personalized: With permissions granted and limits set, Bybit AI analyzes actual account information, including financial behavior and risk profile alongside assets and positions, to generate outputs tailored to the individual.Connected: Bybit AI links Markets, Trading, Earn, Card and other Bybit products, drawing on the full picture of a user’s holdings and activity rather than a single product.Remembered: Users can proactively share their preferences with Bybit AI, which retains this context through long-term memory so that each conversation builds on the previous one.

The release also introduces Featured, a set of customized entry points for specific use cases. Each entry point offers predefined prompts, such as generating a wealth management plan based on a user’s assets and risk tolerance, and returns structured analysis with key data, clear insights and suggested next steps.

Bybit AI supports main account operations while giving users the option to deploy it within a dedicated Bybit AI sub-account. The AI-powered assistant is built on a security-first architecture. Outputs are provided for informational purposes only and do not constitute investment advice. Instructions are executed in chats only after customer authorizations.

Bybit expects to introduce further updates to Bybit AI as it continues to build toward AI-native financial services, with conversational intelligence positioned as core infrastructure.

To explore Bybit AI and learn more about how it works, users may visit: Bybit AI  – Learn how to use Bybit through conversation.

#Bybit  / #NewFinancialPlatform 

About Bybit

Bybit is The New Financial Platform.

We believe every person should have access to every financial opportunity on earth. That’s why we’re building the first intelligent platform that connects anyone, anywhere to the world’s finance.

Trusted by more than 80 million users worldwide, Bybit brings together investing, trading, payments, and wealth-building in a single secure and intelligent ecosystem. Through the combination of AI-powered technology, deep global liquidity, robust security, and transparent operations, Bybit makes global finance more accessible, efficient, and empowering for everyone.

Built for everyone. Powered by intelligence. Open to the world.

Learn more at Bybit.com.

For more details about Bybit, please visit Bybit Press

For media inquiries, please contact: media@bybit.com

For updates, please follow: Bybit’s Communities and Social Media

Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Reddit | Telegram | TikTok | X | Youtube

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Poq is now a Shopify Certified Technology Partner

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LONDON, Oct. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ —  poq, the native mobile app platform for retail brands, today announced it has been recognised as a Shopify Certified Technology Partner. Shopify’s certification is reserved for app partners that meet Shopify’s standards for quality, security, performance and support. poq is now listed in the Shopify Technology Partner Directory and the Certified Technology Partner App Store Collection, making it easier for enterprise Shopify merchants to find and adopt a proven native app platform.

poq already powers native iOS and Android apps for joint customers including Ardene, Steve Madden UK, e.l.f. Beauty (globally), Horze (pan-European), Mamas & Papas (UK) and ECO. Modern Essentials (ANZ and UK). Across the poq platform, shoppers convert at 1.8 times the rate of mobile web, based on the median across 21 brands from January 2025 to January 2026.

“Certification from Shopify is independent validation that poq meets the high standard Shopify sets for its technology partners,” said Jay Johnston, CEO of poq. “Our customers use their apps to build loyalty and drive repeat purchases from their most valuable shoppers. This recognition means more Shopify merchants can launch a high-performing native app with confidence, on a platform already proven at scale across four continents.”

Results for Shopify Brands

European equestrian retailer Horze moved to Shopify and chose to stay with poq for its native app. “After choosing to continue working together, I can confidently say that this was absolutely the right decision. The level of motivation, ownership, and commitment the poq team demonstrated throughout the project was truly impressive,” said Dominik Schlag, CFO of Horze.

In the UK, Mamas & Papas uses its poq app to make shopping easier for busy parents. “Our poq app makes shopping with us quick and easy wherever they are, and drives loyalty and repeat purchases,” said Jo Molineux, Digital Director at Mamas & Papas.

About poq

poq is a leading Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform that empowers retailers and brands to create and maintain engaging, high-performance native mobile apps. With a focus on driving customer engagement and revenue, poq’s platform enables seamless integration, powerful personalisation, and an enhanced shopping experience for businesses worldwide. Learn more at poqcommerce.com.

Media contact
Emma Williams, Marketing Lead
emma.williams@poqcommerce.com  

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SOURCE Poq

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