has been inundated with enquiries since launching the freight industry’s first multi-modal carbon insetting platform in September 2022 The 2023 Winner of the Captain’s Table shares his start-up journey Shipping stakeholders across the board are fully aware of their role in supporting the maritime industry in its efforts to address decarbonisation but how to manage the costs involved is less easily understood a former sustainability consultant at Accenture who also spent a handful of years at GoodFuels – a global supplier of sustainable fuels – to launch the world’s first independent carbon insetting platform for all the parties that make up the global freight industry supply chain supports companies in recovering their decarbonisation costs by specifically allocating their carbon reductions to freight forwarders and cargo owners “The carbon insetting process is based on a globally accepted book-and-claim methodology and on verified low carbon reduction measures,” he explains “123Carbon issues blockchain-backed environmental attribute certificates (EACs) that provide complete transparency from start to finish as a result of the company’s legal framework Per actor in the supply chain only one certificate is issued of which the ownership is logged into the 123Carbon registry the certificates can be allocated to the direct customers of fleet operators or sold in the broader market.” Since the first participants were admitted to the programme in January 2023 more than 15 companies have signed up and are now live on the platform Enquiries have ramped up since 123Carbon won the Captain’s Table a maritime pitch competition that LR has supported since 2019 in Hong Kong “The Hong Kong Stock Exchange was a fantastic location for us to make our pitch,” declares van Heiningen “It’s a breeding ground for carbon insetting with a number of global liner firms across the APAC region and a strong local market too We’re breaking new ground here.” In February 2024 123Carbon announced its collaboration with Japanese transport company which represents the first APAC based carrier to issue carbon insets one carrier contacted van Heiningen immediately after the event van Heiningen decided not to pursue this option on the grounds that the platform should remain entirely independent we’re getting an average two or three requests from Fortune 500 companies every week,” he reveals But applicants must be carefully screened and assured by Verifavia an independent specialist in environmental accreditation and auditing for sectors including aviation and maritime transport We undertake a four-phase process with them which is extremely thorough it is crucial that we undertake this process in order to ensure the credibility of carbon insetting” Carbon insets are completely different to offsets which have been used for some years as a relatively inexpensive way for companies to compensate for their emissions Although many projects do stand up to scrutiny offsetting is unregulated and therefore can be open to so-called “green-washing” offsetting takes place between different industrial sectors a steel producer in Europe might offset emissions by planting hundreds of trees in a deforested area of South America it compensates for its carbon-intensive emissions at its production plants in Europe is tightly regulated and takes place between participants with interests in the same industrial supply chain It focuses not only on the emissions that are created directly from a process but all of the indirect emissions that occur across the supply chain of a company or organisation seeks to improve the carbon footprint of suppliers or customers rather than an unrelated offsetting process and do not contribute to the decarbonisation of that specific industry It is well-suited to applications in the maritime sector because shipping’s supply chain has participants with common interests it could provide a pathway towards a net zero global transport chain When van Heiningen set up 123Carbon almost two years ago The numbers stand for the type of emissions Scope 1 emissions represent the direct Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions resulting from the combustion of fuel by a ship whereas scope 3 emissions represent the (indirect) emissions that need to be reported by those further down the value chain The 123Carbon platform ensures the correct allocation of any scope 1 reduction to the scope 3 parties restrictions to the allocation of carbon insets throughout the supply chain cargo owners can only reduce their sea freight emissions with insets that have been realised within a sea freight context This “modality for modality” principle ensures that cargo owners do not use cheaper marine insets to reduce harder to abate air fright emissions These restrictions and principles are defined by Smart Freight Centre an NGO leading the space in decarbonising the transport sector and with close links to the GHG Protocol and the Science Based Target initiative (SBTi) Van Heiningen attributes 123Carbon’s success so far to the fact that it is unique in being multimodal might wish to acquire insets covering emissions on sea insetting can lead to the entire global supply chain becoming net-zero potential to use this technology in other sectors is also applicable to other high-emission sectors such as plastics Having appointed a Chief Technology Officer in March 2022 van Heiningen needs more personnel following the increased level of interest He has run the company so far based on his private investments he plans to raise Series A funding to support him in servicing the increasing demand “I hope the blessing stops her from barking,” Barbara Van Heiningen joked while holding the leash of her seven-year-old terrier cross Clare’s was one of several pet blessings in the archdiocese around the Oct accompanies Van Heiningen on visits to sick residents at local care homes While being a quieter dog might be helpful the blessing was more about receiving Grace to help her and her owner as they go on their visits Amie has unofficially served as a therapy dog for most of her life and for Van Heiningen the experience has brought significant spiritual fulfillment when she first began visiting the elderly with Amie she is a Catholic and a Third Order Benedictine Oblate those early visits continue to enrich her life Visiting the elderly and infirm is one of the corporal works of mercy and Van Heiningen has been blessed to accompany some residents through their final spiritual rites Van Heiningen was asked by a Lutheran woman to help her find a Lutheran pastor they shared the Lord’s Supper – memorable moment in Van Heiningen’s spiritual journey dozens of animals were brought for blessings—mostly dogs and cats along with a few hamsters and even a house-trained duck named Quacker “Except for snakes,” he added with a laugh Father Wos reminded everyone of the spiritual connection between humans and animals has often used animals in His service and made them symbols of salvation,” he said “Animals were saved from the flood and made part of the covenant with Noah; the paschal lamb reminds us of the Paschal sacrifice; a giant fish saved Jonah; ravens brought bread to Elijah Animals were included in repentance and joined with humans in their suffering.”  he continued: “God created us and placed on this earth to be stewards of all living things.”  “As we go so let us praise the creator and thank him for putting us over the creatures of the earth “How wonderful are the works of Your hands Your voice matters! Join the conversation by submitting a Letter to the Editor here.  Faithful gather to bid farewell to Archbishop Smith in Edmonton ‘Our lives are bound together’: Archbishop Miller consoles a grieving city Here are the four cardinals from Canada taking part in the conclave Canada’s Mark Carney joins world leaders in mourning Pope Francis Surrey pastor urges prayers for politicians as Poilievre New icons breathe life into Precious Blood sanctuary “It’s been the great blessing of my life to be able to exercise the priestly ministry as a bishop and to be able to do so with.. The Archdiocese of Edmonton has been marking the winding down of Archbishop Richard Smith’s time as its shepherd with the.. In one of his last public acts before he retires later this month Pope Benedict XVI said music can open hearts and minds to the good and beauty created by God death came to Francis as a friend,” Archbishop J Michael Miller told the multi-faith congregation gathered at.. 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This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page As the maritime industry looks for ways to reduce CO2 emissions and reach its ultimate goal of net zero carbon insetting is emerging as a promising strategy to tackle these challenges While some shipping companies have already pioneered carbon insetting others still perceive it as uncharted territory carbon insetting is a term used to describe all initiatives that reduce emissions throughout a company’s own supply chains and operations Such initiatives are directly related to the company’s business and may span from transitioning to alternative fuels to improving energy efficiency and collaborating with other stakeholders within the supply chain a consortium of maritime organizations introduced ‘the world’s first’ carbon insetting program for zero-emission shipping Initiated by Dutch shipping companies Future Proof Shipping (FPS) and Zero Emission Services (ZES) the one-stop platform for carbon insetting in multimodal transport and validate methodologies for ships powered by swappable batteries and hydrogen using the Smart Freight Centre’s Book and Claim framework which separates emission reductions from the transportation of goods carbon insetting still lacks guidelines and regulatory framework at both the EU and global level Offshore Energy had the pleasure of speaking with Jeroen van Heiningen Founder and Managing Director of 123Carbon about the potential of carbon insetting and its applications in the shipping sector van Heiningen: Carbon insetting is a process by which operators within the transportation sector can share the cost of carbon reduction projects with supply chain partners that are willing to pay the green premium These partners can include direct customers or the broader market operators can pay for their decarbonized transport through verified carbon claims Based on a globally accepted book-and-claim methodology and supported by low-carbon reduction measures platforms such as 123Carbon enable organizations to verify register and manage their low-carbon activities via a safe and fully encrypted process Through the use of blockchain-backed environmental attribute certificates (EACs) 123Carbon can provide complete transparency regarding the sustainability credentials of a specific low-carbon project insets represent concrete reductions realised within the supply chain which can be allocated to freight forwarders and shippers based on a globally developed book and claim methodology This flexible allocation allows for an acceleration of low carbon initiatives as opposed to the retrospective mitigation of carbon emissions through offsetting insets improve the net environmental performance of the transportation industry as a whole van Heiningen: Insetting is an essential instrument to reduce all scope 3 emissions insetting has taken off specifically within the container segment and we are now seeing a spill over to other maritime sectors that are looking at insetting to recover costs The critical limitation within insetting is that it needs to be done on a modality-per-modality basis you need tailored insets to reduce these specific emissions per modality the advantage is that insetting is a truly global market and is applicable to all fuels to ammonia and hydrogen – all are available for insetting as they sit between the carriers and shippers and are vital in taking full advantage of the environmental benefits of insetting and passing these benefits on to their customers There are essentially two markets for insets where ship owners and operators directly allocate or sell insets to their customers The other is more of an “over-the-counter” market which will provide smaller players with a potential entry-point into the inset market by allowing them to set up their own insetting systems insetting needs to be made available to everyone The strength of carbon insetting is in its multi-modal approach it is vital that efforts are considered across all transportation modalities together van Heiningen: Insetting is primarily a financing instrument providing a guarantee to a ship owner/operator that they can recover the costs of low-carbon activities There are a number of barriers that exist when it comes to the adoption of low-carbon fuels at scale The significant cost compared to fossil fuel counterparts limited availability versus significant demand as well as a fragmented global supply chain In sharing the cost of low-carbon initiatives throughout the supply chain insetting represents a proven and viable means of stimulating low-carbon fuel production the use of sophisticated digital platforms to facilitate the creation and distribution of carbon insets connects fuel buyers and sellers from across the global value chain removing the geographical barriers that arise from sourcing through physical supply chains van Heiningen: Environmental regulations are forcing cargo owners to adopt low carbon solutions they only provide limited support in recovering the costs of those solutions Insetting can ensure that a cargo owner can remain (price) competitive by allocating this green premium to customers that are willing to pay there is one restriction to environmental regulations which may narrow the insetting market Where the adoption of a fuel has been used to comply with an environmental regulation the ship operator is not allowed to allocate the green premium to a customer that is located outside of its customer base The development of carbon insetting will help to significantly accelerate the adoption of low-carbon fuels by addressing the two key barriers that inhibit its development van Heiningen: 123Carbon has executed insetting projects across all modalities making it the most widely used insetting platform in the world As all of these modalities have their own specific requirements it is important that we provide a solution that is flexible enough to deal with all of these different projects they also need to be tailored to their specific solution whilst maintaining a standardised approach Many ship operators are interested in using insetting to decarbonize but only the more advanced sustainability-driven customers are currently driving demand that demonstrate how powerful insetting is as an instrument to cargo owners in reducing their supply chain emissions van Heiningen: The concept of mass balancing is gaining visibility and ship operators are increasingly aware of carbon insetting – but knowledge and understanding remains low Those that do know about it can see the potential which shows that the willingness is absolutely there need a substantial amount of education to ensure that these operators understand the detailed requirements of building a powerful insetting programme that complies with the globally-accepted methodologies van Heiningen: There are two primary elements that we need to address for this market to be fully scalable requires a better understanding of the interaction between insetting and the mandated markets specifically with regards to the way that FuelEU Maritime can affect the insetting process of a ship owner The other key factor is that inset buyers (freight forwarders and cargo owners) need to be reassured by the GHG protocol and SBTI that well-executed transparent are an accepted instrument to reduce supply chain emissions The first signals of this are very positive the market is still waiting for final guidance from these authorities Daily news and in-depth stories in your inbox The Pioneers of Offshore Engineering GustoMSC part of NOV’s Marine and Construction business is recognized for providing advanced design & engineering consultancy for mobile offshore units and reliable equipment and technical knowledge into realistic & innovative ideas The performance of new and existing jack-ups Please select what you would like included for printing: Copy the text below and then paste that into your favorite email application Enter your phone number above to have directions sent via text This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors trained to be a teacher in the Montessori school system She ran a small private school in Amersfoort for children with severe learning disabilities when her friend asked her to take in some Jewish children seven-year-old Caroline (Lineke) Sons and her four-year-old sister Caecilia did everything possible to give the children a natural environment to grow up in and she even gave extracurricular music lessons The house kept up the appearance of a normal school with regular pupils coming and going every day The risk Caecilia took was enormous; her house was located near the Amersfoort internment camp and thus there were always Germans in the vicinity a hiding place was constructed in the attic but it was only used a few times a number of adults also found temporary refuge in Caecilia’s home during the war Among them was the mother of one of the children who had been forced to leave her previous hideout from time to time men who escaped from the Amersfoort internment camp hid temporarily in Caecilia’s house Caecilia and Dina were also involved in a number of Resistance activities including courier services and distributing illegal newspapers Caecilia also hosted Resistance meetings in her house On November 11, 1969, Yad Vashem recognized Caecilia Antonia Maria Loots as Righteous Among the Nations The two key ambitions and their related targets are the first in a wave of measures and focus on the “Planet” element of the company’s new “People “AkzoNobel is sustainability leader in the paints and coatings industry and achieving our ambition to be carbon neutral and a zero waste company by 2030 will ensure that we remain the reference in the sector,” says AkzoNobel CEO by innovating and creating a better world for future generations we’re harnessing our passion for paint to make a positive contribution to the lives of the communities we operate in.” Adds AkzoNobel’s Director of Sustainability Rinske van Heiningen: “The ambitions we’ve set are realistic and deliverable and will enable us to continue making an important contribution to addressing the sustainability challenges faced by our company we’re also actively contributing to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.” AkzoNobel is already making strong progress with its long-standing commitment to sustainability The company is on track to have zero waste to landfill by the end of 2020 while renewable electricity is already in use at 33 locations and eight countries Solar panels have also been installed at 14 locations AkzoNobel has reduced its waste by 40% in the last eight years while total VOC emissions fell by 24% in 2019 Continues Van Heiningen: “Ongoing efforts to integrate sustainability into everything we do has been boosted by the recent introduction of People down-to-earth approach which makes sustainability a daily priority It’s about focusing on the things we can truly influence Through our sustainable solutions and processes we are delivering tangible benefits for our customers enhancing our position as the sustainability leader in the paints and coatings industry.” We’re experts in the proud craft of making paints and coatings setting the standard in color and protection since 1792 Our world class portfolio of brands – including Dulux Sikkens and Interpon – is trusted by customers around the globe we are active in over 150 countries and employ around 33,000 talented people who are passionate about delivering the high-performance products and services our customers expect Schréder is the leading independent smart outdoor lighting solution provider worldwide is present in over 70 countries on 5 continents The family-owned company takes pride in exploring the potential of light to transform environments by enhancing safety and the Coliseum to an innovative project in Heiningen that adapts lighting levels in response to traffic while reducing the impact of light on insect populations Schréder is a global company that takes a local approach to creating safer “Our growth and our ability to proactively serve our customers relies on robust data and a robust platform Schréder has been building partnerships and relationships that guide the company in understanding the specific needs of local environments that means providing the technology to power smart cities To meet the challenges of a new era in outdoor lighting Schréder embarked on its own technology modernization agile enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution including Infor LN (formerly Baan) and Infor M3 (formerly MoveX) Schréder’s business is global and moving faster than ever Projects are defined by new complexities that require more software and more data to manage Moving to a software as a service (SaaS) model with Microsoft Dynamics 365 centralized platform and continuous updates would both eliminate misalignments and save on costly maintenance Transforming the entire enterprise to run on Dynamics 365 would be like moving from incandescent lighting to LED technology Just as important as an energy-efficient ERP are Schréder’s relationships with its customers The firm is committed to delivering an exceptional customer journey and Dynamics 365 offers a common platform for customer relationship management (CRM) that includes increased security with a focus on protection Schréder aimed to improve quality and productivity and have the right data at the right time in the right way to continue lighting the world for its customers By illuminating data and revealing actionable analytics The company’s reliance on multiple disparate ERP and CRM systems gave leaders an obstructed view of transactions and prevented effective collaboration among and across teams a single platform with applications shared across the enterprise allows Schréder to manage all data centrally and unify reporting total digitization—this “one-flow” approach—has unified and standardized processes across a complex intercompany structure The foundational template is the same for each of the company’s separate entities but can be customized for unique requirements The sweeping digital transformation involves cleansing and centralizing data into a single environment The project’s scope includes implementing Dynamics 365 Finance and customer engagement information offers a truly holistic view that enables Schréder to provide exceptional service to its customers A critical component of the project’s success was establishing a change manager to lead the process and ease the adoption of the new solution within the operating companies and a dedicated hypercare team ensured that users were equipped with the tools they needed to be successful in the new environment and the user-friendliness of Dynamics 365 guided the transformation delivering enhanced efficiency and productivity Schréder operates as multiple legal entities in different countries and business complexities like intercompany transactions Doing business across borders makes shipping cloud-based platform with out-of-the-box flexibility like Dynamics 365 could simplify and streamline these complex interactions ensuring accurate and timely tax compliance As complex and far-reaching as its business is ultimately Schréder is a family company that regards its customer relationships as its most prized asset Schréder builds its global success locally by understanding the environments and needs of its customers—the communities and venues where Schréder lighting systems are installed Improving the journey from quote to installation is key to good customer relations Schréder prides itself on its ability to offer endlessly customizable product solutions to suit its customers' needs its catalog can potentially include 300 million SKUs Dynamics 365 provides the flexibility required to maintain the best variation output for customers based on enterprise-wide availability and lead-time for transport Using DXC Technology’s solution for master company data sharing Dynamics 365 makes sure that data that’s released to Schréder's commercial entities is clean because at the scale at which Schréder does business and with the company’s deep commitment to customer relationships a standardized but local approach to quotes is essential Configurable price quotes and speedy generation of accurate proposals improves lead conversion and promotes faster sales cycles Dynamics 365 is the perfect tool for Schréder to streamline the relationship between sales and manufacturing "Imagine our sales teams sitting in a cockpit They have all the controls at their fingertips and can deliver exactly the right information to get them where they want to land,” says Denis Mortiaux With one common Dynamics 365 solution around the globe each commercial entity can execute transactions in the same system eliminating inconsistent or inaccurate quotes and supply chain misalignments The commercial entities can collaborate with factories to ensure that materials are in the right place when they’re needed With a business that has many configure-to-order needs Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management seamlessly integrates with the Bluestar PLM (product lifecycle management) solution for full visibility between production and sales not just speeding the quotation process but harmonizing it The result is a more agile company that’s able to identify and remediate quality issues before they become too costly to fix or risk disappointing customers Dynamics 365 streamlines product delivery cycles driving superior customer and sales journeys It eases the job of Schréder’s sales teams who work in the field to stay close to customers to better understand their needs The company’s vision of a future in which sales representatives work on site with tablets to design a lighting solution with pricing and timing on the spot is fast becoming today’s reality “Imagine our sales teams sitting in a cockpit They have all the controls at their fingertips and can deliver exactly the right information to get them where they want to land.” The success of the sweeping initiative can hardly be overstated Here are just a few of the benefits Schréder has realized as a result of its digital transformation Replacing multiple dated systems with Dynamics 365—a modern resilient SaaS solution—has increased security with a focus on data protection out-of-support system failures and reducing cyber security vulnerabilities and flexible architecture of Dynamics 365 have reduced costs through more fluid and efficient supply chain and quote-to-cash processes and better data quality and visibility Schréder defined a template for future Dynamics 365 rollouts to make the work more predictable and efficient The company’s One-flow framework speeds data migration and all other aspects of implementation supporting the goal of seven or eight rollouts per year Schréder has enhanced enterprise-wide analytics capabilities to inform business decision making tax compliance is straightforward and easily maintained with no custom logic needed Configurable parameters allow handling more complex scenarios and support tax reporting formats in different countries Microsoft-first strategy and looks forward to a long partnership as the company continues its journey rolling out Dynamics 365 to all sales entities worldwide Next steps include a planned expansion to seven manufacturing sites and further investments in Dynamics 365 planning optimization Schréder is a customer-driven company dedicated to achieving its customers’ vision it has a powerful tool to help its customers more accurately plan the budgeting and execution of the projects that light up our world We are Microsoft Empowering others Our mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more are collaborating on technology that turns paper sludge into resources for making paint Alucha won the partnership in the 2019 Paint the Future global startup challenge A lot has happened since Alucha became one of five winners of the 2019 Paint the Future startup challenge share what’s next in this exciting partnership to turn paper sludge into useable resources that can be used to make paint.A lot has happened since Alucha became one of five winners of the 2019 Paint the Future startup challenge share what’s next in this exciting partnership to turn paper sludge into useable resources that can be used to make paint calcium carbonate comes out of mines and quarries in great quantities pharmaceuticals and all sorts of everyday life products which will be thrown away and end up in landfill or incineration facilities,” says Gijs “Either way you lose the calcium carbonate and burning it will generate carbon dioxide (CO2),” Gijs explains “Our technology to recover calcium carbonate will mean less waste in the landfill or incinerator Participating in the circular economy – which AkzoNobel is keen to do – means reducing or eliminating our waste and our continual use of resources It certainly helps to find new and more sustainable sources like this one made possible by Alucha Alucha entered the Paint the Future challenge knowing that the paint industry was an important consumer of calcium carbonate Our two companies have a sourcing agreement in place and are working closely together on next steps we intend to buy this mineral from Alucha and become their launching customer We’re very excited for opportunities to use recycled raw materials in our products Our partnership with Alucha helps support our sustainability ambitions.” we’ll be testing the calcium carbonate Alucha collected from its pilot phase at the Sassenheim laboratory in the Netherlands We’ve decided to use the recycled calcium carbonate in a filler to start with Because of the filler’s relatively small scale especially if it’s a large corporation like AkzoNobel is a sign of trust that there is real potential,” says Gijs “We’re now creating a consortium of partners in order to create the world’s first circular calcium carbonate ‘mine’.” “We’re supporting Alucha in their quest for funding and beyond,” says Rinske we expect to launch the first products infused with Alucha’s magic in 2021.” Stay tuned for updates as we work with Alucha and the other four winning startups to develop their technologies The Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science congratulates alumnus Pepijn van Heiningen and the with the Technische Hochschule Köln shared PhD-student Samineh Bagheri At the SSCI 2016 conference on computational intelligence in Athens last week both of them won an award for the high quality of their papers Pepijn van Heiningen studied computer science at Leiden University he is working as an analyst at the logistic advising agency DENC Van Heiningen wrote a scientific article on the results of his graduation project which is basically the second prize of the whole conference with 460 submitted articles in total They asked me to come forward and say something I couldn’t get much more out of my mouth than ‘I can’t believe this’ and ‘Thank you so much’ Van Heiningen’s research was honoured because it gives insight into the working mechanism of different metamodels for optimization algorithms processes or products are often optimized with algorithms there are many more characteristics you want to optimize That is why it will cost very much time and computational power to do a complete run with optimization algorithms Metamodels of these simulators try to fasten this process ‘My essay is a large comparing study of different metamodels I found out what happens if the amount of dimensions grows and whether one of the techniques will then have advantages over the other I looked at the influence of the arrangement and how many samples are necessary before it works well In total, there were 9900 different tests The subtitle of the publication is: ‘How expensive is your lunch?’ Van Heiningen: ‘There is something like the No free lunch theorem It says that there is no model that is in all cases better than all the other models on all benchmarks Every benchmark will have a variety that works best but on beforehand we didn’t expect one of them to be the best is how expensive or difficult it would be to apply this method Samineh Bagheri uses comparable metamodels for her PhD-research although she prefers to use the term ‘surrogate models’ Bagheri is a member of the Cologne University of Applied Sciences in Germany with Thomas Bäck of the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science as a promotor Bagheri won the Best Paper Award for PhD-students explains her work with the example of safe cars ‘How can you test whether a car that is more energy-efficient One solution is to crash it against a wall But that is clearly not a good idea because it would be very expensive Another solution is to do advanced computer simulations Every new car-design would take a full day to be tested We use surrogate models: cheaper mathematical models to run our optimization process.’ That is why we have proposed an algorithm that automatically chooses the best model from a pool of models This happens online and over and over during every step of the process.’ Bäck:　Online Selection of Surrogate Models for Constrained Black Box Optimization In:　IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence Bäck: A Framework for Evaluating Meta-Models for Simulation-Based Optimization CIMPLO – Maintenance prediction for industries ECOLE: Experience-based COmputation: Learning to optimisE SAPPAO - Optimizing the flight times of airplanes using data science DAMIOSO - data mining on high volume simulation output Cal Marsh (left) and Boris Hasler met when they were studying Many a successful business was launched by two friends Starting a business with someone close to you can make the process less daunting And working with people you trust can breed success That's exactly what the founders of web design agency bocapa found Boris Hasler and Paul Heddington all met at Natcoll Design Technology school where they studied for what is now called a diploma of web development All three had previous careers under their belt Marsh says: "We used to go to bars (together) on Thursday and Friday nights and it grew from there "After Natcoll two of us went out and got a job But we found we weren't delivering what clients wanted." Marsh doesn't remember the exact moment when the trio decided to launch a business But it would have been over a regular beer session at the pub They decided their selling point would be an emphasis on service which was lacking in the industry - and bocapa was born progressed to a living room and then an office at Hasler's apartment before even moving to offices was the website NZBus.co.nz Marsh said the owners' previous experiences were complementary Marsh had come from a management background and Heddington from customer services in corporates There are an awful lot of what-ifs to consider before going into business with your best mate Do you have the same expectations for money says some of the pros of setting up a business with friends are: * You like spending time with your business partner * You know what is going on in their personal life * You have someone to celebrate the good times with Paul Cafferkey and Robert van Heiningen have been friends for 30 years and have had to thrash out some difficult issues since they bought Alert Taxis together in 2002 The pair met while driving cabs for Co-op Taxis Young taxi drivers were a rarity in the 1980s so Cafferkey and Van Heiningen struck up a friendship Political issues in the organisation led one and then the other on to the board of the co-operative where they stayed for six years Having taxi company management experience under their belts when changes meant they were no longer needed at Co-op was a help when the pair decided to buy Alert Taxis They put some of their success down to good legal structures; advice echoed by many "I think it is very good advice to say you should never go into business with friends and family," says van Heiningen You really have to be sure you are both capable of taking criticism and dishing out criticism to resolve issues." That's what happened at bocapa when Heddington decided to move on He had a young family and couldn't cope with the financial insecurity of being the owner of a fledgling business "He had a couple of kids and a mortgage," says Marsh "It just wasn't for him and there are no hard feelings." Merrick says some of the cons of being in business with friends are: * Friends can be difficult to performance manage * You may not push as hard as you would if another employee isn't being productive * It can be tougher to thrash things out with friends Friends in business need to know their business partner/s very well They sometimes appear like husband and wife Van Heiningen jokes that his business partner Cafferkey knows him better than his own wife We can look at each other in a meeting and the other one will take over." Merrick says an important rule for friends in business is to have clear documented accountability in place from the outset "We bend over backwards and don't even take a newspaper home." was the right man to go into business with when the latter broke his leg kite surfing Sentch says in the 4 years since they set up Ecoflow together and the fact that the business has gone very Friendships can fail when businesses struggle There are lots of reasons that businesses fail It may be nothing to do with the friendship But a business fallout or failure might be the end of the friendship Charlene White talks to Tom Raynel about her event-management business First Response manager Paul Staples (left) and Alert Group manager Rob Van Heiningen with Alert taxi driver Warren Gilchrist (in mirror) The only high-reach ladder truck in Auckland broke down last night the enthusiasm for the inaugural Gadebridge parkrun could not be dampened and thankfully the rain held off Not even the imminent birth of a Royal baby prevented runners turning out in their hundreds for this event designed by event director Carol Skates and parkrun ambassador Glen Turner starts by the bowling green in the south-east corner of the park and takes two almost figure of eight laps around the fields going under the underpass and up the bank on the other side of the road Whilst there were some comments about the hills most runners managed to smile for the camera There are a few hills around the two-lap route including at least 87 females and 106 males (10 runners didn’t have barcodes) Over 50 were from local running clubs Gade Valley Harriers and Dacorum and Tring  A fantastic 11 under 10’s completed the run Lola and Charlotte) and six running their first ever parkrun The total number of first time park runners was 43 A few of the young runners did a Mo Farah pose for the camera First home was Joshua Van Heiningen in 18:53 closely followed by Oliver Hill in 19:08 and first lady Claire Hallissey in 19:19 First home for the Harriers was Julian Smith in 20:36 At least three dogs and one pushchair took part in the run too Thanks to at least 15 volunteers who made this event possible The run was officially started by Claire Lynch from Dacorum Borough Council who cut the tape The run directors and volunteers smiling following a succesful first run The first Gadebridge parkrun was started by Claire Lynch from Dacorum Borough Council The event finished with a cup of coffee and results uploading in the Gallery Café Old Town Hall © parkrun Limited (Company Number: 07289574) No part of this site may be reproduced in whole or in part in any manner without the permission of the copyright owner