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Stony Brook Southampton Educators Earn Suffolk County Recognition for Science, Sustainability and Service
Suffolk County Legislator Ann E. Welker recognized educators from Stony Brook Southampton during the March 10 general meeting of the Suffolk County Legislature and the Women of Distinction luncheon, both held in Riverhead, NY. Wendy Pearson, vice president for strategic initiatives at Stony Brook University and executive director for Stony Brook Southampton, received a 2026 Woman
NBAA: Business Aviation’s Leadership in Sustainability Innovation Underscored in ‘CLIMBING. FAST.’ Capitol Hill Fly-In
The CLIMBING. FAST. Capitol Hill Fly-In, organized by NBAA, underscored the industry's essential role in supporting 1.3 million American jobs and nearly $340 billion in economic output, while driving innovation in sustainable technologies and clean fuels.
How Tapestry Makes the Business Case for Sustainability
The Coach and Kate Spade parent company is doubling down on sustainability despite ESG backlash in the US.
FNC acquires McPherson-based farm management business
Farmers National Company has acquired a Kansas-based farm management division to help provide sustainability for ag operations. FNC says the purchase from Peoples Bank and Trust in McPherson, Kansas, will give producers access to specialized management, local knowledge, and resources to help maintain profitability for producers. Grant Fitzgerald, Senior Vice President of Farm and […]
AI, embedded across the enterprise: valuable perspective from Mass General Brigham
At the HIMSS26 AI in Healthcare Forum, MGB's chief information and digital officer described strategies for governance, safety and sustainability as it strives to integrate artificial intelligence across all corners of the health system.
Think Global Health: Tracking the "America First" bilateral health agreements
Think Global Health analysis assesses the sustainability and scope of the cofinancing obligations under the bilateral health arrangements.
How To Make a Business Case for Sustainability
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESS Newswire / March 5, 2026 / Businesses are constantly juggling priorities and shifting budgets around. Needs can change almost daily, making it challenging to get any project greenlit - even ones regarding sustainability. ...
Greater Houston Black Chamber of Commerce working with local businesses to achieve long-term success
Over its 91-year history, the Greater Houston Black Chamber of Commerce has supported the growth, development, and sustainability of local businesses.
Companies Are Choosing Efficiency Over Bold Climate Goals
Sustainability executives are wrestling with what their role should be amid continued challenges.
Vatican hosts workshop on how to make healthcare for all a reality
The two-day workshop on “Healthcare for all: Sustainability and equity," organized by the Pontifical Academy for Life, is presented at the Holy See ...
Building business value through sustainable modernization
Discover how AI and sustainable modernization help enterprises reduce costs, improve resilience and turn sustainability into measurable business value.
Is Sustainability a Supply Chain Bottleneck?
As fashion races to meet stricter environmental targets, brands are discovering that responsible sourcing brings new operational constraints — reshaping timelines, costs and supplier relationships across the global supply chain.
France Digital Ad Spend Business Report 2026-2029: Google, Meta, and Amazon Dominate Spend, While Le Figaro, Le Monde, and Prisma Media Compete Through Local Content and Programmatic Alliances
In France, key digital ad market opportunities include the rise of retail media, driven by ecommerce integration, privacy-first targeting models adapting to European regulations, and the expansion of CTV and digital video. Growth is shaped by sustainability imperatives, programmatic maturation, and strategic partnerships. French Digital Ad Spend Market French Digital Ad Spend Market Dublin, Feb. 11, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "France Digital Ad Spend Market Size & Forecast by Spend Value Acros
Understanding the physics at the anode of sodium-ion batteries
Sodium-ion batteries (NIBs) are gaining traction as a next-generation technology to complement the widely used lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). NIBs offer clear advantages versus LIBs in terms of sustainability ...
Environmental science major interns as a cowboy
What cattle-rustling taught Ian Skinner about agricultural sustainability, maturity and grit
Making science more visible
As he enters a laboratory with saltwater pools full of fish, Luka Žuvić explains how climate change is affecting the feeding ecology and reproductive biology of Atlantic bluefin tuna, and how the species is adapting.It is a topic that may seem remote to many people. But in a country where fishing and aquaculture are important to the economy and national identity, Žuvić’s research is at the intersection of science and society. “In Croatia, marine and environmental science are closely connected to people’s lives because fisheries, aquaculture, tourism and coastal development are a big part of our lives,” explains Žuvić, a doctoral student working at the Croatian Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries in the Adriatic coastal city of Split. He also serves as one of Croatia’s ambassadors to Science Comes to Town (SCTT), a European Commission-funded project that aims to make scientific research more accessible, while inspiring young people to study the sciences. The project kicked off in Spilt on 20 January with a conference attended by partner institutions, community representatives, policymakers and scientists. Along with Split, Brest (in France) and Kiel (in Germany) will host a year of activities connecting scientists with the public.Žuvić, 31, is part of the Young Researchers' Career Development Project, a doctoral programme funded by the Croatian Science Foundation. His research on Atlantic bluefin tuna builds on a foundation-backed project focusing on the reproductive potential of farmed tuna, including their sexual maturation and spontaneous spawning in captivity, which has implications for the restoration of the Adriatic Sea's natural tuna populations. He also studies the tuna's feeding ecology through stomach-content analysis, using DNA metabarcoding and morphological approaches, and employs geometric morphometrics to improve the identification of juvenile tuna and related species. The research aims to enhance understanding of the tuna farming ecology, improve fish farm management and contribute to sustainable aquaculture and fisheries research.Engaging with local communitiesConnecting with the community is crucial for Žuvić’s research. Conversations with fishermen help him better understand the bluefin tuna's habits and how marine pollution affects the fish. “They are also curious about the biology and ecology of bluefin tuna,” he says of local fishermen, adding that sharing research with non-scientists benefits everyone. “Sometimes scientific research is invisible,” he explains. “That's why we as researchers need to go out from our institutions and labs to the public so that we can show them what we are working on. This helps create more trust in the scientists and their research.”Engaging the public also raises awareness about the anthropogenic changes to the marine environment resulting from human activities and pollution. Žuvić helps remove plastic and other rubbish from the Adriatic Sea that pose a direct threat to marine species. Predators, such as bluefin tuna, are especially vulnerable to ingesting waste churned up by fishing trawlers. “They are very opportunistic fish that follow trawlers and ingest everything,” he notes. To illustrate the impact, he has shown students the contents of bluefin tuna stomachs. “Finding a plastic bottle cap in the stomach of a bluefin tuna is concerning,” he says. "Science can be a powerful way to turn curiosity into practical solutions,” Žuvić adds, and sharing research outcomes “helps increase public awareness and improve understanding of human impacts on the marine environment.”The research also has implications for Croatia's economy. The Atlantic bluefin tuna’s rich, flavourful meat is highly valued for sushi and other raw fish dishes. However, overfishing nearly brought its population to collapse by the early 2000s. Although the species has made a comeback in the Atlantic and Mediterranean regions, catches continue to be managed through agreements with the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas. Croatia was a pioneer in developing commercial aquaculture as an alternative to open-sea fishing and accounts for about 10% of the EU’s farmed production of the bluefin tuna, with Japan being a key export market.A history of European collaborationCroatia has participated in Europe’s framework programmes for research and innovation since 2007, six years before officially joining the EU. Žuvić believes that EU funding and collaboration with other European researchers is vital for Croatian science. As part of the SCTT opening conference, the Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, the University of Split and other local institutions were part of a science fair to showcase research on topics, such as robotics and an EU LIFE project on the protection of sharks and rays in the Mediterranean. “I hope that Science Comes to Town will help increase scientific literacy and curiosity among citizens, particularly students, and show that science is not something that is distant or abstract, but something that directly affects everyday life,” Žuvić concludes. “Ultimately, I hope that projects like it contribute to building a society that values knowledge and critical thinking, and that we can think about long-term sustainability using knowledge from science.”Science|Business, which connects policymakers, academics and industry through its news reporting, analysis and events, is an SCTT partner.
Fostering ocean leaders through science-policy support at U.S. academic institutions
npj Ocean Sustainability - The science enterprise faces growing challenges in the United States that require stronger connections between research and decision-making. Yet training at the...
Investment and Statecraft: The International Politics of Sovereign Wealth Funds - Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
In 1953, Kuwait established the world’s first sovereign wealth fund to invest the country’s oil revenues and generate returns that would reduce its reliance on a single resource. Since then, over 100 separate funds have been created to preserve national wealth and ensure long-term fiscal sustainability. Today, they manage over $10 trillion in global assets. In this discussion with GJIA, political economist Kathryn Lavelle explains the increasingly novel dynamics that surround fund behavior and what the world can come to expect from their growing presence in international financial markets. GJIA: When it comes to the roles sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) play in global markets and politics, what would you say makes them unique? Kathryn Lavelle: Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) operate on behalf of governments as investors. That in itself is a strange relationship. Within them, a core contest takes place between the state’s interests (or sovereign) part of the dynamic, and the money interests (or wealth) part of it, and these two aspects are frequently in contradiction, serving fundamentally different goals. SWFs are also quite fascinating because when you talk to the people who manage these funds, they have an interest in convincing you that the decisions are made almost exclusively on a financial basis—they really will go to great lengths to differentiate their government owners and those who make the management decisions. At the same time, these people ultimately answer to someone in power. Therefore, for most SWFs, it remains deeply unclear who is actually making the investment decisions and for what purposes. Of course, it is not always clear how other vehicles, such as hedge funds and private equity make the decisions they do, but I think what a lot of people find particularly disconcerting about SWFs is that they seem to act on behalf of people who have a different identity from their own. People who could be trying to manipulate politics and markets in a way that would have a long-term effect on their own populations. Regular investors come and go at will, and they only share an interest in profit as far as most of us understand. However, SWFs have that extra “sovereign” part right behind them that obscures their true interest. GJIA: These funds can be found in countries all across the globe, in both authoritarian states and democracies. Would you say SWFs differ in their goals and structures between regime-type? KL: It is not necessarily regime type that makes the goals and structures of SWFs different. It has to do with their economies. Let’s look at a country like China. There’s going to be a debate about exactly how to characterize the regime, but it is a country with many different kinds of sovereign wealth funds, and a particularly opaque state connection to each. At one time, some of the state-owned Chinese oil companies created specialized investment vehicles listed outside Chinese markets that excluded parts of the firms that were more associated with human rights violations. At the same time, the China Investment Corporation (CIC)—China’s largest SWF—draws a lot of concern, not necessarily because of its investment activities, but because of the dynamics of global politics. So, I wouldn’t really tie differences to regime types themselves in a wholesale way, but rather to how such funds are perceived and how they are structured. Saudi Arabia’s SWF is getting all kinds of attention for its involvement in Hollywood, and this takes me right back to when I was a student in the 1980s, when people were concerned about Japanese investment entities buying assets in Hollywood. They aren’t quite the same in financial terms, but it’s the same kind of concern about foreign investment that drives people to be suspicious, and the whole idea that “foreigners are influencing Hollywood.” This holds true across industries, and it reflects where politics are in places like the United States right now. One metric we can try to look at is transparency, where all the funds will tell you, “we are transparent.” The problem you’ll keep running into with this approach is how you value things. When trying to do comparative studies of equity markets, you’ll find that every country doesn’t use Generally Accepted Accounting Principles like we do in the United States. A fund may appear opaque politically and not want people to show what they’re invested in or what their intent with that investment is, but they could also just not be able to report it because of the way it was purchased, or the kinds of shares they purchased. There are some assets out there that really are difficult to put a monetary value on. GJIA: To what extent do domestic politics shape SWF behavior in both the investing “home” country and the recipient “host” country? KL: This depends on the type of fund present and also on the extent to which voters’ political views are able to influence the fund. For example, in a democratic home state like Norway, the SWF doesn’t invest in nuclear weapons or tobacco because of social concerns, but there is a continuing debate over whether it should invest in oil, even though that’s where most of the money comes from. The degree to which Norway will continue to make those investments, and whether they contradict the government’s overall climate goals, is an open question in Norwegian politics. Because of the way the fund’s governance is structured, it may not be easy to resolve. On the other hand, some people consider pension funds, like the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) in Ohio, to be quasi-SWF. They have a very strict separation between the people who make up the management division and the fund owners. No teacher or professor would want to invest in things that may harm the future of their students. At the same time, a fund manager might see an opportunity in a diversified multinational corporation that offers a good return, despite it deriving part of its revenue from e-cigarettes. These contests are very apparent. Domestic politics can work in host countries too. A good example is Singapore’s SWF, Temasek, investing in Thailand’s telecommunications sector. If you study political economy, you already know that countries everywhere are uncomfortable with foreign ownership of their telecom sectors because a foreign entity could monitor or manipulate our communications with each other. In the case of Temasek, there was significant pushback from Thai citizens surrounding the deal, which went on to influence national political sentiment toward Singapore as a whole, underscoring the risks some SWFs may face with their investment choices. In this case, fund behavior led to the dissolution of the entire Thai government in 2006 and a subsequent coup d’état. GJIA: To address some of this unease, the Santiago Principles were established in 2009 to ostensibly promote trust and transparency. From your perspective, have these mechanisms actually changed fund behavior? KL: In international relations theory, we always like to have a clear set of norms and best practices—the orientation we want the proverbial ship to be going in. In that regard, the Santiago Principles at least got the discussion going about which direction SWFs should take at a time when people were very skittish about the growing size of these funds. Nobody wanted them to be out there and potentially destabilizing economies, so talks about disclosure, conditions for withdrawal, and the independence of managers were helpful when initiated. The biggest stumbling block was that there wasn’t exactly a good way to measure compliance with the Principles, let alone how to hold funds to them. If you read the Principles, they’re overall quite vague. In general, a fund doesn’t want to reveal how and why they make certain investment decisions because that information is proprietary—a fund makes money off of how and why it makes decisions—so how do you reconcile that with loosely-defined ideas of openness? Some decisions might have a political purpose. The bottom line is that trying to figure out and assign a score to compliance is not easy, and it is therefore the reason why the Santiago Principles never really got off the ground to the point where they could truly direct fund behavior. GJIA: Many emerging markets are looking to build their own SWFs from mineral and oil revenues. Historically, have funds shaped development trajectories in these countries? KL: I think the big story in international emerging markets investment is that the investment is increasingly no longer unidirectional. In the past multinational corporations of primarily Western background were the main form of foreign direct investment in a country. That has changed dramatically, to the point where you have companies from so-called “developing countries” taking over companies in the United States. Therefore, the landscape of international investment has changed, and I think SWFs are certainly a possibility to be the next step in the game. Historically, you didn’t need an entire financial vehicle to reinvest commodity revenues in your country, but as emerging markets get more financially sophisticated, their capacity to operate such funds has increased. SWFs would allow treasuries to move from relying on holding foreign exchange assets like cash or government bonds to having broader financial markets and targeted growth areas, while easing pressure on welfare expenditures. GJIA: With their increasing financial weight, do you see the presence of SWFs being a factor in the political choices leaders will have to make with regard to domestic and foreign policy? KL: It will depend on just how big the funds get. One of the reasons people are already apprehensive is because of their scale, and if certain SWFs in certain countries achieve a large-enough size, the presence will absolutely be cause for concern. The other factor political leaders will have to consider are their objectives. It’s not always clear how to define a SWF, or even where its activity is concentrated, but it is certainly a worry from the perspective of national security of opaque external investment. More than that, I think one of the most interesting questions going forward is whether the United States, the home to the world’s largest financial markets, will develop its own fund, for which the Trump administration announced a plan. There have also been several proposals in Congress. Were it to come into being, it would have tremendous weight. At the same time, one of the hallmarks of U.S. capitalism is a lack of government ownership of shares, so it would not be clear how such a fund would be received in domestic politics, or which direction it would take. Given how politically fragmented the country is, a Democratic administration would likely be concerned about different sectors of the economy, such as healthcare, and want investment there, rather than a Republican administration, which might prefer defense industries. No investment vehicle could thrive under conditions of such instability. Moreover, it remains unclear where the money to fund a theoretical U.S. SWF would come from. It would be a fundamentally different entity depending on whether it is financed with debt, economic surplus, commodities, or the sale of state companies, as in the case of Singapore. If it is debt, or government borrowing of some form, then the fund would have to outperform whatever the cost of that debt is, which is not an easy thing to do. I think our political leaders have enough on their plate. Our system has worked well keeping political and investment functions generally separate. We have seen different forms of business rise and fall, and even the perception of different countries, all of which funds are tied to. Unless a major SWF either starts—like in the case of the United States—or collapses—an issue that concerns the Saudis, I don’t see any political tsunamis on the horizon. . . . Kathryn Lavelle is the Ellen and Dixon Long Professor of World Affairs at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Her research explores the exchange between domestic and international and political institutions with a particular emphasis on political economy and multilateralism. Dr. Lavelle’s first book, The Politics of Equity Finance in Emerging Markets, explored the political circumstances that surround large issues of stock in the developing world. After being granted tenure at Case Western, she was awarded an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellowship and named the William A. Steiger fellow, a designation given to the most promising political scientist in her class of fellows. While in Washington during 2006-2007, she worked on the staff of the House Committee on Financial Services on issues related to domestic and international monetary policy. Dr. Lavelle holds a PhD in political science from Northwestern University; an M.A. in government and foreign affairs from the University of Virginia; and a bachelor’s degree in international economics from Georgetown University. She is a permanent member of the New York Council on Foreign Relations. This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and length. Interview conducted by Sid Mehrotra. Image Credit: Jason Leung, Unsplash Content Licenses, via Unsplash
Business Travel Global Strategic Business Report 2026: Market to Reach $928.4 Billion by 2030 as Bleisure Emerges as a Major Trend Shaping Market Dynamcs
The business travel market is poised for growth driven by digital innovation, economic globalization, and evolving corporate cultures. There's a surge in digital tools enhancing efficiency, diversification into personalized experiences, and sustainability-driven strategies. Regional growth variances present notable opportunities. Business Travel Market Business Travel Market Dublin, Jan. 28, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Business Travel - Global Strategic Business Report" report has been added t
Citizen science and the challenge of measuring urban sustainability
Cities are expected to track sustainability progress with data that are often incomplete, outdated, or available only at national level. New research led by IIASA in collaboration with UN-Habitat finds ...
Cornerstone Energy Park names Director of Business Development and Marketing to help advance responsible development
For more than 70 years, Cornerstone Chemical Company, LLC has been a proud community partner in Jefferson Parish. Today, as the company advances a long-term vision centered on modernization, sustainability
M.B.A. Student Explores Data Center Opportunities with UToledo Business Incubator
Alex Li brings a wealth of industry experience to his master’s program, inspiring the business plan he's developing to improve the sustainability of data centers.
Lawmakers worry about feasibility, sustainability of rural health transformation plan
South Dakota’s workforce shortage and federal limitations on a $189 million infusion of cash are making some lawmakers worry about the feasibility and sustainability of the state’s plan to strengthen rural health care.
Diffuser Films Market Report 2026-2032: New Revenue Opportunities, Next-Generation Business Models, $3.78 Billion Industry Roadmap
Diffuser films enable thinner, brighter, sustainable lighting systems, with market shifts driven by precision engineering and sustainability Diffuser Films Market Diffuser Films Market Dublin, Jan. 19, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Diffuser Films Market - Global Forecast 2026-2032" has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The Diffuser Films Market has experienced significant growth, expanding from USD 2.48 billion in 2025 to USD 2.63 billion in 2026, with a projected growth at a CAGR
These 5 health conditions cause the most deaths
Three out of four deaths worldwide are caused by non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and 80% of those deaths are caused by just five conditions. Heart disease is the biggest killer, followed by cancer, respiratory diseases and diabetes. Not only do these conditions cause tens of millions of deaths a year, they also carry a staggering economic cost. The good news is they are largely avoidable. Five major risk factors significantly ramp up your chances of contracting an NCD, from air pollution to a poor diet, and 80% of NCDs could be prevented with the right interventions. A new paper from the World Economic Forum and the Partnership for Health System Sustainability and Resilience (PHSSR) sets out recommendations for policy-makers to help boost their NCD prevention efforts.
Radiology business leaders’ top lobbying priorities in 2026
Top of mind is the need for fair reimbursement to ensure the sustainability of practices while maintaining patient access to their services, experts say.
Why Businesses are Turning to Mass Timber For Office and Data Center Construction
Companies like Crow Holdings, Toyota, Microsoft, and Walmart are embracing the natural material for productivity gains, sustainability, and the bottom line.
Sustainability teams need to speak the language of business
Sustainability professionals have created their own ‘professional language’ that does not help drive impact. Learning the language of business can help.
Entertainment with a message
HOUGHTON — The Office of Sustainability and Resilience at Michigan Technological University has announced its 2026 Sustainability Film Series, which will begin Jan. 15. The series, now in its 16th year, continues the tradition of bringing timely, informative, and thought-provoking films to campus, Lauren Furey, manager of Sustainability Programs & Outreach at Michigan Tech, said […]
Top small business ideas for 2026: Start & succeed
Explore the best small business ideas for 2026—wellness, tech, sustainability, and more. Start with low capital and grow by solving real needs.
New Aspen business upcycles luxury designer brands
Killeen Brettman is combating overconsumption one designer piece at a time. With her newly founded company Deja Nu, Brettmann is upcycling brands that include Dior, Louis Vuitton, Hermès, and more, transforming them into vests and jackets that blend the luxury Aspen lifestyle with a newfound sustainability.
New Rep. Thompson law cuts red tape, protects small business owners
“When we have multiple layers of bureaucracy, we are actively pushing entrepreneurs and small business owners out of our state,” said Thompson, of Brownstown Township. “This new law will support economic independence and sustainability for people who often face significant barriers to business ownership. The era of government nickel and diming hardworking people must end."
Vogue Business’s Top 10 Words of the Year
The terms that influenced and defined culture in 2025 across fashion, beauty, sustainability and tech.
Science Platform Sustainability 2030: Bridging science and policy for sustainable transformation
Julian Trutz Müller, Scientific Officer at GERICS/wpn2030, discusses the importance of bridging science and policy for sustainable transformation
How climate goals create business value
Atlassian, Cox, Workday and 6 other companies reflect on how sustainability strategy drives new revenue, attracts talent and closes deals.
Semlitz Fellowship builds bridges between sustainability science and business
The Semlitz Family Sustainability Fellows program brings together MBA and early career science students to strengthen the intersection between sustainability science and business decision making.
Who Has the Best Idea to Improve Denver? CU Denver Business School Launches Sustainability Competition to Find Out.
The new challenge, funded by Dr. Blair Gifford, calls on students and local partners to deliver real-world solutions for climate, housing, and urban
Chincoteague Island featured in Business View Magazine
Chincoteague has been featured in Business View Magazine as part of the publication’s ongoing series highlighting economic growth and best practices in cities and towns across North America. The feature is based on an in-depth interview between Chincoteague Mayor Denise Bowden and Business View Magazine Editor-in-Chief Karen Surca, focusing on how the island community balances tourism-driven prosperity with long-term sustainability ... Read More
Governance and responsible business
We're integrating sustainability and responsible business conduct into all our processes and decision-making
'Necessary for the future of humankind': Who was honored at the first-ever Global Space Awards?
The winners of the inaugural Global Space Awards were recently announced at a star-studded ceremony at London's Natural History Museum. The event championed innovation and sustainability, while also celebrating the life of a late NASA astronaut.
Supporting Breakthrough Health Advancements in Eswatini Under the America First Global Health Strategy - United States Department of State
Today, the United States and the Government of the Kingdom of Eswatini signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on global health cooperation that includes strategic investments to strengthen national health efforts, leverage American technology, and facilitate the long-term sustainability of Eswatini’s health system. The Department of State, working with Congress, intends to provide up […]
Two Business Students Visit the Amazon, Network with Sustainability Experts, Gain New Perspectives at COP30 Summit
‘The Most Wonderful and Insane Experience of My Life!’
Pebble's founder introduces a $75 AI smart ring for recording brief notes with a press of a button
After rebooting the Pebble smartwatch, founder Eric Migicovsky is expanding his company's device lineup with a new smart wearable: an AI-powered smart ring known as Index 01. Named for the finger where the ring is meant to be worn, the new $75 ring is not meant to be a competitor to the always-on, always-listening AI devices, like the AI pendant Friend, but instead offers a way to record quick notes and reminders with a press of a button on the ring's side. AI only comes into play via the open source, speech-to-text, and AI models that run locally on your smartphone, via the open source Pebble mobile app. That is, if the Ring's button is not being pressed, it's not recording. (And this is a press-and-hold gesture, too, which means you can't start the ring's recording and then let go to surreptitiously record a conversation.) You can wear the stainless steel ring while in the shower, washing hands, doing dishes, or in the rain, but you would have to take it off for other water-related activities, like swimming. At launch, it's water-resistant to 1 meter. The ring is also not a fitness tracker or sleep monitor. It doesn't record details about your heart rate or health. And it's not there to be your AI friend. "I'm not trying to build some AI assistant thing," Migicovsky told TechCrunch in an interview. "I build things that solve one main problem, and they solve it really well," he explains. "I think of as external memory for my brain...that's what this is. It's always with you." Plus, the ring has been designed to be highly reliable and privacy-preserving, he says, as all your thoughts are stored on your phone, not in the cloud. There is no subscription. Migicovsky has been wearing the ring for three months now and says he cannot imagine going back to a world where he doesn't always have a memory device with him. "The problem is that, during the day, I get ideas or I remember something, and if I don't write it down that second, I forget it," he says. The ring solves this problem, he adds, without becoming another device you need to charge. "The battery lasts for years," Migicovsky claims. Technically, the ring is said to support roughly 12 to 14 hours of recording. On average, the founder says he uses it 10-20 times per day to record 3-6 second thoughts. At that rate, he'll get about two years of usage. When the ring's battery dies, you can ship it back to the company for recycling. When using Index, you can record up to five minutes of audio, which can be saved to the ring and synced to your phone later. This makes sense for recording briefer, personal thoughts and notes, even when you don't have your phone handy, but it wouldn't work for recording a longer chat, like a presentation, meeting, or in-person interview of some kind. The ring also supports 99+ languages and has a bit of on-device memory, in case you're not in Bluetooth range of your device, where the recording is ultimately saved and transcribed. (The raw audio is retained, too, in case the speech-to-text is garbled due to loud background noise). If you own a Pebble smartwatch or one from another brand, your recorded thought can even appear on the watch's screen so you can verify it's correct. The ring works with Pebble's mobile app, which offers notes and reminders, but can optionally integrate with your phone's calendaring system, too, or other apps, like Notion. And the ring's software is open source, which makes it hackable by the community, the founder points out. Because of its open nature, the ring's button is already programmable. In addition to the press-and-hold gesture, you can program the ring to do other things with a single or double press, like play or pause your music or control the shutter on your phone's camera. You could use it to send a message through the universal chat app Beeper, which Migicovsky also created, or you could add your own voice actions via MCP. A new approach to hardware Migicovsky acknowledges that hardware can be difficult to get right -- as the previous exit of Pebble to Fitbit showed. (Fitbit, too, was later acquired by Google in 2021). "I didn't earn any money during Pebble -- we exited, but it was not a great exit," Migicovsky admits. This year, however, he decided to reboot the Pebble project after Google open sourced the PebbleOS, which opened up the door to new hardware. With his new company, Core Devices, Migicovsky plans to do things differently. Still, the founder doesn't regret his previous choices, he clarifies. "I wouldn't have gone back and changed anything. I loved what we built. I loved what we did. I love the company that we built, but it's not the only way to build a company," he told TechCrunch. " And, speaking as an ex-YC partner, there are -- there's a time and a place for building a venture-backed startup. Some companies are phenomenal when they raise money and build a big team, and I tried that...I think what I'm doing now is trying an alternative path, which is start from profitability," he says. The new company is a small team of five, self-funded, and focused on sustainability. So far, Core Devices has shipped the Pebble 2 Duo smartwatch with a black-and-white display. Its first run sold out, and the company is now preparing to ship the upgraded version, the Pebble Time 2. The newer device, which has seen 25,000 pre-orders, is a stainless steel watch with a larger, color e-ink screen. As for the Index 01, the ring's pre-order offer ends in March 2026. After that, the price increases to $99. It currently comes in silver, polished gold, and matte black and works with iOS and Android devices. Customers can select from eight ring sizes and three colors.
Sustainability Politics Changed, But Corporate Commitment Has Not
Also in the Forbes CEO newsletter: Top execs get more involved with AI, Netflix plans to buy Warner Bros. for $83 billion, economic picture gets complex.
Student business owners engage in sustainable entrepreneurship
The Office of Sustainability would like to highlight student business owners who have integrated sustainability efforts into their operations. Oaks Originals is a Doherty Center...
UConn Business Students Place in Top Three at BU Case Competition
‘We’re Hungry for a Win!’
From Confusion to Clarity: How Data-Driven Edge of Emerald Built Environments Helps Businesses Do Sustainability Right
Sustainability is not a checklist; it’s a transformation. And this is the very space Emerald Built Environments has claimed with certainty since its founding in 2008.
How To Build Sustainability Into Your Small Business
Learn how to build a resilient small business through strategic planning, smart financial decisions, and sustainable growth practices.
We tested Europe’s luxurious new ‘business-class’ sleeper bus between Amsterdam and Zurich
A new overnight bus service in the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland offers comfort and sustainability
I never expected to sell pencils. The brand I've built has grown into a $1.7 million sustainability business.
Michael Stausholm turned a simple plantable pencil into SproutWorld, a global brand inspiring sustainability one small idea at a time.
Cities put science in the spotlight
When three European cities launch an initiative next year to boost scientific excellence and collaboration, much of the action is likely to take place in public spaces rather than in the laboratory.That is welcome news for Ana Marušić. A medical doctor and professor at the University of Split Medical School in Croatia, Marušić champions close connections between “town and gown” to encourage citizen involvement in research, raise public health awareness and ignite young people’s interest in science. “Responsible research and innovation cannot be done in an ivory tower, answering only the questions that are relevant for scientists,” explains Marušić, who chairs the Department of Research in Biomedicine and Health and leads the Centre for Evidence-based Medicine. “The role of the university is to be a medium for transferring new discoveries in science to society, but also to listen to society about what is important and what is needed.”Three cities united by scienceMarušić’s efforts stand to gain traction through Science Comes to Town (SCTT), a new European project to highlight science’s role in society and strengthen cross-border collaboration in research, innovation and sustainability. With funding from the European Commission, three cities—Split, Brest (in France) and Kiel (in Germany)—plan more than 1,000 public events, workshops and competitions for citizens of all ages, researchers, businesses and policymakers. The year-long project kicks off in Spilt on 20 January with a conference involving partner institutions, community representatives and European policymakers. The three cities may be geographically far apart, but they share much in common. All are located on coasts and are home to top regional research institutions that are part of SCTT. Among the project's partners, the University of Western Brittany in Brest, Kiel University and the University of Split belong to the SEA-EU university alliance, uniting nine European coastal academic institutions to advance research, student exchanges and sustainable development. “These universities have a very strong connection between gown and town,” explains Marušić, who is one of Split’s SCTT ambassadors. “It's very important that these universities are there for the community so that we can learn from each other and grow together.”Tackling Europe’s STEM shortagesSCTT will also reinforce efforts to address Europe’s widening gap in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. Studies show that nearly eight out of ten small- and medium-sized businesses cannot find enough workers with the skills required in advanced computing and artificial intelligence (AI)—hindering initiatives to boost European innovation and competitiveness. In healthcare, the European Commission has estimated a shortfall in medical professionals of 1.2 million, due to fewer young people joining the field and an ageing population that needs more care.Strengthening knowledge and dialogue can also help build trust between scientists and the public at time when disruptive technologies are reshaping research and clinical practice, but are also sparking questions about ethics and accuracy. With experience in the classroom and in clinical epidemiology—a discipline involving monitoring and controlling public health problems—Marušić sees the potential risks of over-reliance on AI and chatbot answers for both research and learning. “AI is a very good tool, but one has to be very critical about it,” she adds. “Delegating brain activities will definitely diminish your neural capacities because you are not developing the circuitry that is important for higher-level cognitive engagement.” She stresses the importance of critical thinking and encourages students to use AI as a researcher’s tool to reinforce rather than supplant human discretion and brainpower.The power of outreachSplit’s experience in bringing scientists and the public together has provided a platform for discussing research ethics and explaining science in simple terms. Local efforts to expand health literacy and awareness have helped reduce cardiovascular disease among women, according to Marušić’s research. The city’s university also hosts events to introduce schoolchildren to science, using hands-on experiments to spark curiosity.Marušić’s own love of science began with an interest in studying molecular biology. “But my parents told me, why don't you study medicine?” she recalls. “I said, OK, why not? And that was the best decision that I made.” Marušić is not a practicing physician, but teaches anatomy and public health. She also co-edits ST-OPEN, an overlay university journal that works on capacity building for research publishing among students and their supervisors. Balancing teaching, research and editorial work, she is a strong advocate for medical studies, urging high school students to consider medicine “because later on it gives you a really wide perspective about human life and about society” as well as many career opportunities.As SCTT prepares to bring science into daily life in 2026, Marušić hopes that it will build permanent bridges between scientists and citizens across Europe. “We can be a showcase for making collaboration with the community stronger to share knowledge, attract young talent and integrate critical and scientific thinking into everyday life,” she explains, adding that "collaborating with businesses to improve cities and communities is also an important aspect of this project."Science|Business, which connects policymakers, academics and industry through its news reporting, analysis and events, is an SCTT partner.
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For Lauren Anderson, what began as a love for teaching and science has blossomed into a movement of sustainability and connection. The Arkansas native founded Calm+Confidence, a co-op that turns beekeeping into a tool for community growth -- supporting local businesses and inspiring others to see how small bee hives can make a big difference.