Theme news

Ottawa, ON – September 22, 2026 -- The Federal Aviation Administration has extended its partnership with Solace to modernize SWIM, the national data network that has distributed real-time flight plans, surveillance data, weather events and airspace notices since 2011.

FAA rolls out Enhanced SWIM Cloud Services built on the Solace Platform

The extension supports delivery of Enhanced SWIM Cloud Services (ESCS), an overhaul of SWIM's developer experience and data exchange model. ESCS will enable bidirectional data flow, allowing FAA Data Partners to publish data back into the network and participate directly in collaborative decision-making rather than only receiving feeds.

Oakland – September 22, 2026 -- Fair Trade USA has launched Stories of Impact, a public data platform built on its Impact Intelligence Hub, giving buyers and consumers an interactive view of the supply chains behind Fair Trade Certified products.

Platform launch precedes October's Fair Trade Month campaign

The rollout arrives days before Fair Trade Month, timed to give the public early access to impact data as the organization's annual campaign begins. This year's campaign theme is "Fair Trade Future."

Site combines mapping, producer stories and 2025 metrics

The platform includes an interactive impact map, a producer story library covering 2023 to present, visualized 2025 impact metrics, eco-region overlays showing the environments tied to specific certified products, and cross-regional project themes spanning multiple commodities.

San Francisco – September 22, 2026 -- Teal Health has closed $22 million in Series A funding to scale its at-home cervical cancer screening device ahead of January 2027, when federal guidelines will require most U.S. health plans to cover self-collection HPV testing.

Funding round brings Teal Health's total capital raised to $45 million

The round was led by .406 Ventures, with continued participation from Emerson Collective (managed by Yosemite), Forerunner, and Serena Ventures, plus new backing from Japan-based MPower Partners. The capital will fund hiring across clinical, commercial, technology and operational teams as the company expands partnerships with payors, health systems, employers and providers.

New York – September 22, 2026 -- PulsePoint has launched DTC Explorer, a self-service workspace that lets pharma marketers build and publish clinically-informed consumer audiences in hours instead of the longer timelines previously required for custom segment creation.

New tool cuts audience-building time by connecting clinical claims data to consumer targeting

DTC Explorer draws on PulsePoint's proprietary Bespoke Audiences, which are built from de-identified diagnosis, drug, and treatment claims. Users can filter by consumer demographics, clinical signals, prescribed drugs, insurance provider, geography, or NPI list, reviewing real-time aggregate device and consumer counts as they refine selections before publishing directly to the PulsePoint platform for activation.

Minneapolis – September 22, 2026 -- Perforce Software has launched Delphix Synthetic Data, a tool it calls the first AI-native solution capable of generating realistic, referentially intact test data across enterprise systems on demand.

Perforce says the tool cuts test data wait times from weeks to minutes

The platform automatically scans metadata, schemas, and data relationships across source systems, removing the manual configuration required by legacy synthetic data tools. Developers, testers, and AI agents can describe the data they need using natural language prompts and receive it immediately, according to the company, rather than waiting days or weeks as with prior methods.

Perforce positions the tool for use cases where production data is restricted, incomplete, or unavailable, including new feature development, edge-case testing, and agentic development workflows.

Chicago – September 22, 2026 -- Charter Next Generation (CNG), a North American material science solutions provider, has named Todd Herndon as Chief Financial Officer, bringing more than 35 years of financial, commercial, and operational leadership experience to the role.

Herndon joins from Consilio, a global legal technology and enterprise legal services firm, where he served as CFO

His prior leadership roles include positions at Diversey, now part of Solenis; Gardner Denver, now part of Ingersoll Rand; and Capital Safety. Herndon began his career at S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc. and has worked extensively with private equity firms including KKR, Bain Capital, CD&R, and Stone Point Capital.

Beijing – September 22, 2026 -- ADAMA Ltd. (SZSE 000553) has launched Actagon®, a ready-mix pre-emergent herbicide for wheat growers in India, targeting the herbicide-resistant grass weed Phalaris minor.

ADAMA combines two active ingredients into a single ready-mix formulation

Actagon® blends pyroxasulfone and metribuzin in one liquid formulation applied pre-emergence, eliminating the need for on-farm tank mixing. The dual-mode combination is designed to deliver long-lasting control of Phalaris minor along with other grass and broadleaf weeds while supporting resistance management strategies.

Launch targets Punjab and Haryana, India's top wheat-growing states

The rollout focuses on regions where Phalaris minor pressure is highest and farmers face mounting difficulty controlling the weed. Actagon® is registered in India, with commercial launch expected in September 2026.

San Francisco – September 22, 2026 -- The Biological Computing Co. (TBC) has partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to bring what it calls the world's first neuron-derived AI video model to market, cutting inference costs by 80% and speeding generation by 5x compared to the base open-source model.

TBC's software layer runs on standard AI infrastructure without new hardware

The optimization is delivered through a proprietary software layer derived from measurements of living neural activity. The layer adds less than 0.1% to the underlying model's footprint, requires no biological hardware, and demands no change to existing customer workflows, according to TBC.

San Francisco/Philadelphia – September 22, 2026 -- Instacart (NASDAQ: CART) will add Gopuff to its Marketplace and deploy its Carrot Ads technology across Gopuff's digital storefront, giving more than 9,000 brand advertisers direct access to Gopuff's on-demand customer base in the U.S.

Gopuff will join over 2,200 national and local retail banners already on the Instacart Marketplace, offering Instacart customers delivery in as fast as 15 minutes from a catalog of thousands of groceries, snacks, beverages and household staples. Orders placed through Instacart will be fulfilled directly by Gopuff via its own network of micro-fulfillment centers.

San Francisco – September 22, 2026 -- Handshake, the career network for the AI economy, has launched AI Skills Studio, a free learning hub offering hands-on AI projects to more than one million employers on its platform. The tool was built with partners including Clay, Figma, Gamma, Google, Lovable, Notion, OpenAI, Replit, Salesforce, Southern New Hampshire University, and Vercel.

Job seekers complete AI 'missions' in 10 to 45 minutes using real practitioner tools

AI Skills Studio offers personalized, project-based missions that produce a tangible output, ranging from automated workflows to working software. An AI Skills Instructor guides learners through the process, and early users have built interactive games, data dashboards, personal portfolios, and sales and marketing tools.

McDonough, Ga. – September 22, 2026 -- Piedmont Orthopedics | OrthoAtlanta has added board-certified interventional pain specialist Vic Manocha, M.D., to its Henry County team, deploying him across both its McDonough office and its newly opened Locust Grove location.

New physician strengthens nonsurgical pain treatment capacity

Dr. Manocha treats acute and chronic back pain, neck pain, joint pain and musculoskeletal conditions using interventional techniques including spinal cord stimulation, peripheral nerve stimulation and minimally invasive spine procedures. He also maintains a focus on regenerative medicine and orthobiologic therapies for chronic spine and joint pain, and is the founder of RegenCures, a practice dedicated to orthobiologic treatments.

The Woodlands, Texas – September 22, 2026 -- Astound Ventures, a collaborative investment fund founded by hoteliers Burt Cabañas, Alex Cabañas and Kirk Jones, has raised more than $8 million toward a $30 million target aimed at boosting net unit margin across hotel real estate operations.

Fund targets $30 million entirely from industry "smart money"

Unlike traditional venture funds backed by institutional allocations, Astound is raising its entire pool from operators, owners and brands within the hospitality sector. Chairman Burt Cabañas is founder of Benchmark Resorts & Hotels and co-chairman of Pyramid Global Hospitality; CEO Alex Cabañas is Pyramid's executive chairman and a Convene Hospitality Group board member; CFO Kirk Jones previously served as CFO of Benchmark and Capella Hotels.

Poughkeepsie, N.Y. – September 22, 2026 -- Marist University and IBM have launched an Innovation Incubator equipped with an IBM z17 mainframe, extending their five-decade partnership into university-wide artificial intelligence research.

IBM z17 mainframe brings enterprise-scale AI computing to Marist campus

IBM provided the z17 system to give students and faculty access to enterprise technology built for the performance, security and reliability demands of large organizations, enabling hands-on application development and testing.

Atlanta – September 22, 2026 -- Siemba has launched general availability of Siemba MCP, a Model Context Protocol server that lets security and engineering teams run penetration tests and generate finished security analysis by chatting directly with AI assistants, eliminating the need for a separate dashboard login.

Six packaged skills replace manual dashboard analysis

Siemba MCP ships as a single plugin containing a connector and six named skills: Test Analysis, Kill Chain, Critical Briefing, Remediation Plan, Attack Surface, and CISO Report. Test Analysis reads login screenshots to diagnose failed authenticated test runs caused by bad credentials or unexpected multi-factor prompts. Kill Chain maps individual findings into full attack paths, rating each chain by its weakest link rather than raw severity and naming the single fix that breaks the most chains at once.

Santa Clara, Calif. – September 22, 2026 -- Palo Alto Networks has launched Unit 42 Continuous Frontier AI Defense, a new agentic offensive security service built on Anthropic's Claude Mythos 5 and OpenAI's GPT-5.6-Cyber models, aimed at helping enterprises find and fix exposures before attackers exploit them at machine speed.

The service responds to a shift in attacker capability: threat actors using AI have compressed breach cycles by nearly 97% in some cases, cutting the time from vulnerability discovery to exploitation from weeks to hours, according to Palo Alto Networks.

State College, Pa. – September 22, 2026 -- Giv Local, LLC, a Pennsylvania-based payment processor, is donating 20% of its processing revenue to nonprofits chosen by its merchant clients, a model that undercut a national competitor's rates for one Ohio retailer while funding local causes at no extra cost to businesses or customers.

Rate hike at national processor pushed Ohio retailer to switch

Roads Rivers and Trails (RRT), an independent outdoor retailer in Milford, Ohio, left its national payment processor after the provider raised rates without warning. Owners Bryan Wolf and Emily White evaluated multiple replacement processors before selecting Giv Local, found through the B Corp certification directory.

Victor, N.Y. – September 22, 2026 -- Lite Coms has been selected by Boeing Defence Australia to supply tactical satellite communications terminals for the LAND 4140 Beyond Line-of-Sight (BLOS) SATCOM program, part of the Australian Defence Force's LAND C4 Modernization effort.

Lite Coms will deliver its LITE SAT 1.3A terminals for the ADF's beyond line-of-sight network

The LITE SAT 1.3A is a lightweight, rugged, auto-acquire satellite terminal built with a carbon fiber reflector and designed for tool-free deployment. The system is engineered to establish secure, resilient satellite links for military and government operations in austere environments.

Montreal – September 22, 2026 -- AECOM used One Click LCA's Carbon Designer 3D platform to model whole-life carbon emissions for a major transportation corridor redevelopment in the City of Montreal before detailed engineering plans existed, enabling early comparison of low-carbon design options.

City of Montreal targets a low-carbon, climate-resilient district

The municipality launched the redevelopment to transform the corridor and surrounding neighborhood into a climate-resilient zone, requiring comparison of early design concepts before detailed designs were finalized.

Washington – September 22, 2026 -- The Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance (SABA) has secured long-term purchase commitments from AVEVA, Bain & Company, Google and McKinsey to back Infinium Energy's Project Atlas, a Texas facility designed to produce up to 100,000 metric tons of high-integrity sustainable aviation fuel annually.

Buyers lock in offtake to unlock project financing

The agreements cover sustainable aviation fuel certificates (SAFc) tied to Infinium's eSAF output, giving the developer the structured, multi-year demand needed to reach final investment decision. Infinium submitted its winning proposal jointly with American Airlines, which will take physical delivery of the fuel and manage logistics.

Philadelphia – September 22, 2026 -- IntegriChain will send five senior advisors to three Informa Connect industry conferences this fall, addressing government pricing, 340B compliance, and gross-to-net forecasting for biopharma manufacturers navigating tightening reimbursement rules.

Government pricing experts present at Chicago's MDRP Summit in October

At the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program (MDRP) Summit 2026, running October 5-7 at the Fairmont Chicago Millennium Park, Jeff Baab, Partner of Advisory Services at IntegriChain, will present "Updates on Landscape of Government Pricing and Contracting" on October 7 at 9:40 AM. The same day at 10:50 AM, Clay Willis, also Partner of Advisory Services, will deliver "340B Movement to Have All 340B Claims in One System of Record," covering the rebate model pilot program #2 and updated patient-definition and contract-pharmacy policies.