This event will gather climate scientists, development economists and decision-makers to discuss the policy options needed urgently to accelerate systems change to secure wellbeing for all within planetary boundaries. Split into two sessions, the first hour will focus on the findings detailed in Earth for All: A Survival Guide for Humanity. This will include details of the five extraordinary turnarounds that are needed in order to achieve a Giant Leap and stabilise temperatures below 2°C (above pre-industrial levels), stabilise the population well below nine billion people, reduce material use and approach an end to extreme poverty globally a generation earlier than if we continue with business as usual. In this scenario, social tension falls, and wellbeing rises throughout the century because of greater income equality. Leading policymakers and leaders will then discuss the concrete actions that are needed to upgrade our economic systems, and transition to wellbeing economies. Speakers include:
Teresa Ribera, Vice-President and Minister for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, Government of Spain
Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Environment of the Arab Republic of Egypt, COP 27 Envoy and Ministerial Coordinator
Christian Guillermet Fernández, Vice-minister of Multilateral Affairs
Plus, authors of Earth for All: A Survival Guide for Humanity
Sandrine Dixson Declève, Co-President of the Club of Rome
Johan Rockström, Director, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
Jayati Ghosh, Professor at the College of Social and Behavioural Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Owen Gaffney, Analyst, Stockholm Resilience Centre
Per Espen Stoknes, Director of Centre for Green Growth at the Norwegian Business School. The event is hosted by the Permanent Mission of Spain to the UN, the Permanent Mission of Costa Rica to the UN, and Earth4All. 19 September 1500-1700
 
Authors of Earth for All: A Survival Guide for Humanity will join representatives from the business and finance communities to discuss the findings of the book, and the investment actions to be taken to facilitate the five extraordinary turnarounds and transform our economies and societies, while reducing the impact on nature and our planet. Sandrine Dixson Declève and Per Espen Stoknes will introduce the Earth4All project and give an overview of the solutions needed to move our economies towards wellbeing, and Johan Rockström, will give a talk on the Future of Planet Earth. This will be followed by a facilitated discussion around investment action, with Doug Heske, Founder of Newday, Philippe Cousteau, EarthEcho International, Georgie Badiel, Georgie Badiel Foundation, Anna Rathmann, Jane Goodall Institute and Kevin Frey, Generation Unlimited. There will be the possibility of 1-1 media interviews with any of the speakers and authors of the book either around this event, or between 18-24 September in New York. More information:
Full press release detailing the key findings from the book: https://www.earth4all.life/news/book-launch
The book explores two scenarios beginning in 1980 and ending in 2100. These scenarios entitled Too Little, Too Late and The Giant Leap explore how population, economies, resource use, pollution wellbeing and social tensions might change this century based on decisions made this decade. Too Little, Too Late Scenario
In the first pathway, the world continues with the economic policies from the last forty years. While GDP continues to grow, the rich get richer while the poor fall farther behind, creating extreme inequalities and growing social tensions within and between countries. Political division and lack of trust make it increasingly difficult to address climate and ecological risks. Global temperatures soar to about 2.5°C by 2100, significantly exceeding the target stipulated in the Paris Agreement. The poorest economies face the most extreme conditions. They struggle to adapt to climate impacts. Later in the century around two billion people will be living in areas that are close to the limits of human habitability[1]. All societies will be reeling from rolling shocks of extreme heat, drought, crop failure and floods. If the world continues on the ‘Too Little, Too Late’ pathway, the model shows declining wellbeing globally, by an average of -40% in the 2050s than in the 2020s, even in wealthy nations, and suggests it will take until 2100 to eradicate extreme poverty as the poorest economies experience stagnating economic growth. According to the modelling, world population will peak just under nine billion people around 2050. The Giant Leap scenario
The model offers a solution through a second, achievable path, ‘The Giant Leap’. The authors conclude that it is possible to stabilise temperatures below 2°C (above pre-industrial levels), stabilise the population well below nine billion people, reduce material use and approach an end to extreme poverty globally by 2050 – a generation earlier than the Too Little, Too Late scenario. In this scenario, social tension falls, and wellbeing rises throughout the century because of greater income equality. The model shows that to achieve The Giant Leap, societies would need to adopt unprecedented and immediate action across five interconnected turnarounds:
Ending poverty through reform of the international financial system, lifting 3-4 billion people out of poverty
Addressing gross inequality by ensuring that the wealthiest 10% take no more than 40% of national incomes
Empowering women to achieve full gender equity by 2050
Transforming the food system to provide healthy diets for people and planet
Transitioning to clean energy to reach net zero emissions by 2050
Fifteen policy recommendations with the greatest potential to accelerate these turnarounds are outlined in the book. The book
Earth for All: A Survival Guide for Humanity, was published in German on the 6 September 2022 and will be released in English on 20 September 2022. The book will also be available in Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Italian. A digital press review copy of the book is available for media. Please contact [email protected] to request a copy. Read the fifteen policy recommendations from the book: here
View the book endorsements: here
Links to order the book www.earth4all.life/book
The Earth4All movement
Earth4All is launching a public campaign, hosting a series of events and citizens assemblies throughout 2022 and 2023, to bring together everyday people to devise recommendations to governments on the best way forward to make societies more equal and less polarized. NOTES TO EDITORS
About Earth4All
Earth4All is a vibrant collective of leading economic thinkers, scientists and advocates, convened by The Club of Rome, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, the Stockholm Resilience Centre and the Norwegian Business School. Earth4All builds on the legacies of The Limits to Growth and the Planetary Boundaries frameworks. Science is at the heart of our research work. We rethink capitalism and move beyond GDP for a safe, secure and prosperous future in the Anthropocene. www.earth4all.life
Authors of Earth for All: A Survival Guide for Humanity
Sandrine Dixson-Declève, Co-President, The Club of Rome and Chair, Economic and Social Impact of Research (ESIR); Chair, Advisory Board, UCL Bartlett School; Senior Associate, Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership 
Owen Gaffney, global sustainability analyst and writer and head of media at the Stockholm Resilience Centre, Analyst and Policy Advisor at the Potsdam Centre for Climate Impact Research, Fellow, Future Earth and Edmund Hillary Foundation. Jayati Ghosh, Development Economist, Professor at University of Massachusetts Amherst. Jorgen Randers, Professor Emeritus of Climate Strategy, BI Norwegian Business School, Co-Author of The Limits to Growth. Johan Rockström, Professor in Earth Systems Science; Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. Per Espen Stoknes, Author, Psychologist, Director of the Centre for Green Growth at the Norwegian Business School, previously Member of the Norwegian Parliament. The book is the result of collaboration between the 21st Century Transformational Economics Commission and systems analysts and modelling teams. The full list of contributors can be found here. Book reviews/endorsements
Kate Raworth, author of Doughnut Economics: It’s time to shift from the age of endless growth to an age of thriving in balance. This thought-provoking analysis proposes five critical turnarounds for getting us there—each of them raising urgent issues for public discussion and action. Read on to explore possible futures for humanity and join the most vital debate of our times. Vanessa Nakate, climate activist, and founder, Africa-based Rise Up Movement: “The ideas explored in Earth For All should be discussed by all the parliaments of the world. We need to change our economies so that we start putting people before profit. And we need the rich and the polluters to pay their share for the loss and damage that the climate crisis is already unleashing on poor, vulnerable communities around the globe. It’s well past time for us to create a world that’s fair and just for all.”
Ban Ki-moon, 8th Secretary General of the United Nations, and Deputy Chair of The Elders: “An extraordinary book at an extraordinary time. For today and tomorrow’s leaders, Earth for All is a must-read. This book offers a concrete, breakthrough vision on how to ensure well-being for all in any country on our finite planet. Together, we can build a world that is genuinely equitable by following the 5 Turnarounds a roadmap to accelerate the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals in the next decade. I hope it will inspire a new movement of minds and souls that are willing to save our precious humanity.”
Bill McKibben, author, The End of Nature: “If we’d paid attention to The Limits to Growth in 1972, we wouldn’t be in the fix we’re in today; as the modelling in this book makes clear, what’s left of this decade may be our last best hope to get it at least partly right.”
[1] Ft.com. 2022. Climate change could bring near-unliveable conditions for 3bn people, say scientists. [online] Available at:
[Accessed 5 August 2022].

5 extraordinary turnarounds needed to reduce risk of regional collapse and climate catastrophe

Hybrid approach and workflow platform helps developers build and run quantum hybrid applications in Leap cloud service, accelerating application development. | Source : D-Wave Systems Inc.
D-Wave Systems Inc.
BURNABY, British Columbia, June  26, 2019  (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- D-Wave Systems Inc., the leader in quantum computing systems, software, and services, today announced the general availability of D-Wave Hybrid™, a simple open-source hybrid workflow platform for building and running quantum-classical hybrid applications. D-Wave Hybrid is part of the Ocean software development kit within D-Wave’s Leap™ quantum cloud service and is available today for download . The D-Wave hybrid framework provides simplified workflow controls to developers, allowing them to use both classical and quantum systems in parallel, gain insight into system performance, optimize code across systems, and develop quantum hybrid applications more easily. D-Wave Hybrid includes:
Hybrid workflow control: enables rapid development of hybrid applications that can run across classical, the current D-Wave 2000Q™ family, and future quantum systems
Modular approach: incorporates logic to simplify distribution of classical and quantum tasks, allowing developers to interrupt and synchronize across the systems and draw maximum computing power out of each system
Problem deconstruction: capable of breaking down large problems that are bigger than the quantum processing unit (QPU) into parts that are then recombined for the overall solution
Familiar coding environment: familiar Python-based framework and documentation includes examples that make it easy to get started without knowledge of quantum mechanics
Flexibility: includes a number of example hybrid workflows, allowing developers to explore which workflows are best for the problem they are solving
Leap quantum system access and Quantum Application Environment (QAE): free, real-time access to the D-Wave 2000Q family of systems and QAE resources, including learning tools, and community and technical forums for easy developer collaboration
D-Wave Hybrid is designed to simplify and accelerate developers’ ability to build and run algorithms across classical and quantum systems, continuing D-Wave’s work to help customers with their real-world application development. This release of D-Wave Hybrid is another element of the company’s next-generation platform announced last February , and is available in Leap for use by developers today. The next-generation platform will encompass a new topology , lower noise , increased qubit count, and expansion of hybrid software and tools that will continue to come to market between now and mid-2020. As part of the general availability of D-Wave Hybrid, the company also shared its quantum hybrid strategy. The overview, Three Truths and the Advent of Hybrid Quantum Computing , details how developers, researchers, and forward-thinking businesses can optimize complex problems and now benefit from applying both classical and quantum systems to find solutions. D-Wave’s strategy is to deliver a hybrid platform that makes it easy for developers to leverage the most appropriate computing resources for each part of their application and to eliminate the need to worry about the actual size and topology of the QPU. The hybrid platform also provides the flexibility for developers to experiment with different strategies for hybridizing their applications. The approach highlights the early benefits of hybrid quantum-classical algorithm development on a live quantum computer. “At a company like Volkswagen, there are various ways in which optimization problems occur naturally. Whether it’s scheduling and logistics, production optimization, or intelligent mobility, difficult optimization problems need to be solved routinely and quickly. This is where we expect quantum annealing can help us,” said Sheir Yarkoni, quantum computing researcher at Volkswagen’s Data:Lab Munich. “Most quantum computing projects we’ve worked on in the past have relied on a classical hybrid quantum-classical approach. The release of D-Wave Hybrid has allowed us to prototype these hybrid approaches much faster than before, and gives us the algorithmic control required to customize different parts to suit our needs. We can now scale our prototypes from small proof-of-concepts to more production-ready code, which we hope to use in our next traffic flow optimization project. Moving forward, we expect D-Wave Hybrid will be an integral part of our quantum computing framework.”
“Quantum hybrid development very quickly brings the power of classical computing and quantum computing together. In fact, we expect most applications of our quantum technology to be run as hybrids of quantum and classical computation, much as CPUs and GPUs work together for many tasks today,” said Alan Baratz, executive vice-president and chief product officer at D-Wave. “Our approach is practical: D-Wave Hybrid facilitates applying current problem-solving knowledge to a hybrid platform so customers can increasingly use quantum power. This approach ensures we’re building toward outcomes where customers will see real business benefit.”
To date, D-Wave customers have developed more than 150 early applications in areas as diverse as airline scheduling, election modeling, quantum chemistry simulation, automotive design, preventative healthcare, logistics, and more. Many have also developed software tools that simplify application development. These existing applications, tools, and community give developers a wealth of examples to learn from and build upon. The releases of the D-Wave Hybrid platform, the lower-noise 2000Q processor, and the next-generation platform promise to continue expanding the variety, performance, precision, and breadth of applications. D-Wave Next-Generation Quantum Platform Information Links
The Pegasus topology can be accessed via Ocean here . Users can access and use both versions of the 2000Q processor here . Developers can download the D-Wave Hybrid platform via Ocean here and can join a webinar to learn how to get started programming quantum hybrid algorithms. About Leap Cloud-Access & Quantum Application Environment
Leap is D-Wave’s quantum cloud service, providing real-time access to a live quantum computer and a Quantum Application Environment (QAE). In addition to access, Leap’s QAE provides open-source development tools, interactive demos and coding examples, educational resources, and knowledge base articles to build and run applications in the cloud. Designed for developers, researchers, and forward-thinking enterprises, Leap enables collaboration through its online community, helping the community write and run quantum applications and speed the development of real-world applications. Users can find both free (one minute a month when developers open-source their code) and paid plans designed for individual developers, commercial enterprises, government, research, and education sectors. To find out more and get started using Leap, visit the D-Wave website at www.dwavesys.com . About D-Wave Systems Inc.
D-Wave is the leader in the development and delivery of quantum computing systems, software, and services and is the world’s first commercial supplier of quantum computers. Our mission is to unlock the power of quantum computing for the world. We do this by delivering customer value with practical quantum applications for problems as diverse as logistics, artificial intelligence, materials sciences, drug discovery, cyber security, fault detection and financial modeling. D-Wave’s systems are being used by some of the world’s most advanced organizations, including Volkswagen, DENSO, Lockheed Martin, USRA (sponsored by NASA and Google), USC, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. With headquarters near Vancouver, Canada, D-Wave’s US operations are based in Palo Alto, CA and Hanover, MD. D-Wave has a blue-chip investor base including PSP Investments, Goldman Sachs, Bezos Expeditions, DFJ, In-Q-Tel, BDC Capital, PenderFund Capital, 180 Degree Capital Corp., and Kensington Capital Partners Limited. For more information, visit: www.dwavesys.com . Contact

D-Wave Announces Quantum Hybrid Strategy and General Availability of D-Wave Hybrid

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BURNABY, British Columbia, March  26, 2019  (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- D-Wave Systems Inc. , the leader in quantum computing systems, software, and services, today announced the geographic expansion of its Leap™ quantum cloud service which includes access to the D-Wave 2000Q™ system and its Quantum Application Environment (QAE). The 33 new countries include: all 28 member states of the European Union, Japan, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. Leap is the only cloud-based service to provide real-time access to a live quantum computer, as well as open-source development tools, interactive demos, educational resources, and knowledge base articles. Developers, researchers, and businesses around the world can now access Leap and start building applications with both free and paid plans at https://cloud.dwavesys.com . The expansion is announced as D-Wave kicks off its semi-annual users’ conference, Qubits, on March 26-27 in Milan, Italy. The two-day conference brings together dozens of customers from around the world, including Volkswagen, BAE Systems, Recruit Communications, DENSO, GE Research, and Data Reply; healthcare and science firms including WuXi NextCODE Genomics, OTI Lumionics, and Peptone; and academic and government organizations including DLR, USRA, Cineca, Tohoku University, and LMU Munich. Customers have built over 150 early applications on D-Wave computers to date. Qubits attendees will present over two dozen of these new projects and early applications in transportation, online commerce, healthcare, automotive, and other industries. Selected talks at the conference include:
Quantitative financial reverse stress testing
“We believe quantum computing is set to change our world in profound ways, providing solutions to some of the toughest problems in seconds,” said Masayoshi Terabe, Quantum Computing Project Leader at DENSO. “Our work with D-Wave has allowed our team and our research partners to develop early applications ranging from a traffic IoT platform, to factory automation and beyond. Expanding access to more developers and researchers around the world will only serve our efforts as we continue exploring this new frontier of innovation with colleagues here in Japan and overseas.”
“The future of practical quantum computing relies on giving more developers and researchers the access and tools they need to build quantum applications. Expanding Leap globally and bringing customers from around the world together to share their work is critically important to realizing that vision,” said Vern Brownell, CEO of D-Wave. “I’ve never been more confident that true practical quantum applications are within reach in the near future. The range and robustness of early applications from our customers continues to grow, and customers are starting to see early value in using quantum computing to address real-world business problems.”
About Leap Cloud Access & Quantum Application Environment
Leap is D-Wave’s cloud-access and Quantum Application Environment (QAE) providing real-time access to a live quantum computer. In addition to access, Leap provides open-source development tools, interactive demos and coding examples, educational resources, and knowledge base articles to build and run applications in the cloud. Designed for developers, researchers, and forward-thinking enterprises, Leap enables collaboration through its online community, helping the community write and run quantum applications and speed the development of real-world applications. Leap offers both free (one minute a month when developers open-source their code) and paid plans designed for individual developers, commercial enterprises, government, research, and education sectors. To find out more and get started using Leap, visit the D-Wave website at www.dwavesys.com . About D-Wave Systems Inc.
D-Wave is the leader in the development and delivery of quantum computing systems, software, and services and is the world's first commercial supplier of quantum computers. Our mission is to unlock the power of quantum computing for the world. We believe that quantum computing will enable solutions to the most challenging national defense, scientific, technical, and commercial problems. D-Wave's systems are being used by some of the world's most advanced organizations, including Lockheed Martin, Volkswagen, DENSO, Google, NASA Ames, USRA, USC, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. With headquarters near Vancouver, Canada, D-Wave's US operations are based in Palo Alto, CA and Hanover, MD. D-Wave has a blue-chip investor base including PSP Investments, Goldman Sachs, Bezos Expeditions, DFJ, In-Q-Tel, BDC Capital, PenderFund Capital, 180 Degree Capital Corp., and Kensington Capital Partners Limited. For more information, visit:  www.dwavesys.com . Contact

D-Wave Expands Leap Quantum Cloud Service and Application Environment to Europe and Japan

Developers and researchers in over 30 countries can now join the existing Leap community of thousands with free, immediate access to a live D-Wave 2000Q quantum computer. | Source: D-Wave Systems Inc.
BURNABY, British Columbia, March  26, 2019  (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- D-Wave Systems Inc. , the leader in quantum computing systems, software, and services, today announced the geographic expansion of its Leap™ quantum cloud service which includes access to the D-Wave 2000Q™ system and its Quantum Application Environment (QAE). The 33 new countries include: all 28 member states of the European Union, Japan, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. Leap is the only cloud-based service to provide real-time access to a live quantum computer, as well as open-source development tools, interactive demos, educational resources, and knowledge base articles. Developers, researchers, and businesses around the world can now access Leap and start building applications with both free and paid plans at https://cloud.dwavesys.com . The expansion is announced as D-Wave kicks off its semi-annual users’ conference, Qubits, on March 26-27 in Milan, Italy. The two-day conference brings together dozens of customers from around the world, including Volkswagen, BAE Systems, Recruit Communications, DENSO, GE Research, and Data Reply; healthcare and science firms including WuXi NextCODE Genomics, OTI Lumionics, and Peptone; and academic and government organizations including DLR, USRA, Cineca, Tohoku University, and LMU Munich. Customers have built over 150 early applications on D-Wave computers to date. Qubits attendees will present over two dozen of these new projects and early applications in transportation, online commerce, healthcare, automotive, and other industries. Selected talks at the conference include:
Quantitative financial reverse stress testing
“We believe quantum computing is set to change our world in profound ways, providing solutions to some of the toughest problems in seconds,” said Masayoshi Terabe, Quantum Computing Project Leader at DENSO. “Our work with D-Wave has allowed our team and our research partners to develop early applications ranging from a traffic IoT platform, to factory automation and beyond. Expanding access to more developers and researchers around the world will only serve our efforts as we continue exploring this new frontier of innovation with colleagues here in Japan and overseas.”
“The future of practical quantum computing relies on giving more developers and researchers the access and tools they need to build quantum applications. Expanding Leap globally and bringing customers from around the world together to share their work is critically important to realizing that vision,” said Vern Brownell, CEO of D-Wave. “I’ve never been more confident that true practical quantum applications are within reach in the near future. The range and robustness of early applications from our customers continues to grow, and customers are starting to see early value in using quantum computing to address real-world business problems.”
About Leap Cloud Access & Quantum Application Environment
Leap is D-Wave’s cloud-access and Quantum Application Environment (QAE) providing real-time access to a live quantum computer. In addition to access, Leap provides open-source development tools, interactive demos and coding examples, educational resources, and knowledge base articles to build and run applications in the cloud. Designed for developers, researchers, and forward-thinking enterprises, Leap enables collaboration through its online community, helping the community write and run quantum applications and speed the development of real-world applications. Leap offers both free (one minute a month when developers open-source their code) and paid plans designed for individual developers, commercial enterprises, government, research, and education sectors. To find out more and get started using Leap, visit the D-Wave website at www.dwavesys.com . About D-Wave Systems Inc.
D-Wave is the leader in the development and delivery of quantum computing systems, software, and services and is the world's first commercial supplier of quantum computers. Our mission is to unlock the power of quantum computing for the world. We believe that quantum computing will enable solutions to the most challenging national defense, scientific, technical, and commercial problems. D-Wave's systems are being used by some of the world's most advanced organizations, including Lockheed Martin, Volkswagen, DENSO, Google, NASA Ames, USRA, USC, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. With headquarters near Vancouver, Canada, D-Wave's US operations are based in Palo Alto, CA and Hanover, MD. D-Wave has a blue-chip investor base including PSP Investments, Goldman Sachs, Bezos Expeditions, DFJ, In-Q-Tel, BDC Capital, PenderFund Capital, 180 Degree Capital Corp., and Kensington Capital Partners Limited. For more information, visit:  www.dwavesys.com . Contact

Western Digital Takes Leap of Faith with Israeli Jewish Ultra-Orthodox Female Coders
A new initiative seeks to get Orthodox coders into high-paying tech jobs. One problem: searching online for engineering solutions on a Kosher internet
Hagar Ravet 12:2807.11.18
 
 
Around 1,000 ultra-Orthodox women complete associate software engineering programs in Orthodox seminars each year, and few hundred find employment in the local tech industry through specific employment agencies. Jobs outsourced through those agencies are usually basic and low-level, mainly development and quality-assurance services, providing the women with salaries of around NIS 5,000 (around $1,350), below the minimum monthly wage Israel, and virtually no promotion opportunities. According to government data, only 0.4% of tech high earners in Israel are Orthodox and ultra-orthodox woman. It's a straightforward compromise. The women receive a tailored work environment, that enables them to observe rabbinical edicts; the employers get grunt workers at bargain prices. But some players in the market are trying to break the glass ceiling and get ultra-Orthodox women, and the ultra-Orthodox sector in general, to fully participate in the local tech industry. KamaTech, a nonprofit organization established to champion the cause, has just concluded a program that saw 18 women hired as regular employees at a Western Digital Corporation outpost in central Israel. Six were hired after a skills-assessment process, and 12 after a targeted three-month-long bootcamp program. The process is far from straightforward. Only one CEO has so far agreed to pick up the gauntlet and try to hire these women as regular employees: Western Digital's Israeli site manager Shahar Bar-or. The company employs some 1,000 people in Israel across three research and development centers. It was born out of a need to address the talent crunch, Bar-Or said in an interview with Calcalist last week. Originally intended for engineers with academic degrees wishing to add domain-specific knowledge that can get land them a job at Western Digital, the bootcamp program was later tailored specifically for the ultra-Orthodox coders: Western Digital already canvassed universities for potential employees, Bar-Or said, but a meeting with KamaTech co-founder Moshe Friedman made the company take a leap of faith. A few weeks later around 300 seminar graduates arrived at the company's Israeli headquarters for initial tests in the subjects of math, coding, and English. The first impression was somewhat disheartening. The graduates’ knowledge was significantly below what was expected, Bar-Or said. "They arrive ill-prepared, and if you compare them to someone who comes from a different educational program, the gap is telling," he said. Given the gap, Bar-Or said, the low wages that are the standard in the industry make sense. Eventually, six women were hired off the bat on the assumption that they could close the knowledge gap at work. Another 18 were put through an intensive three-month bootcamp. The training was not carried out with the intention of putting them at the same level as a university graduate, Bar-Or explained, but rather give them the self-learning tools that will enable them do it on their own after beginning to work. Of those, 12 were eventually hired, at salaries equal to those of other company employees. We were told there are many options for promotion within the company. I'm going to give it my all to succeed," said Hannah Kantor, 21, one of the bootcamp graduates slated to begin working at Western Digital in a few weeks. She is more excited than nervous about starting work, she said. The program caused quite a stir among the seminar graduates, as high-level tech job opportunities are hard to come by in the community. "KamaTech has tried to crack the issue of seminar graduates for several years now," said in an interview Sari Roth, deputy-CEO of KamaTech, and an ultra-Orthodox female entrepreneur who founded and is the CEO of website communication startup Bontact Ltd.
 
“There’s no precedent for a woman graduating the seminar and integrating into a multinational tech company,” Roth said. “I cannot begin to describe the impact it had on the community.”
 
As part of the process with Western Digital, KamaTech worked alongside the ultra-Orthodox community to get a rabbinate stamp of approval. Each side—both the community and the company—has to decide which issues are non-negotiable, and which are something they can compromise on. An example of one such question: can an ultra-Orthodox woman sit next to a secular woman at the office? There were surprisingly no non-negotiable issues, Friedman told Calcalist. One main point of discussion was the matter of internet access. The Jewish Orthodox community in Israel uses “safe internet” providers that filter content based on rabbinate directives. "The rabbis did not want the women to have unlimited access to the net, but the company said they must be able to conduct online searches. We found a solution of a partial content block, that did not hinder their ability to work but satisfied the rabbis."  
Bar-Or considers the seemingly onerous process a basic aspect of the need to diversify. "We have no intention of changing the beliefs and lifestyle of our employees," he explained. "When talents asked us for soy milk and scooter parking spaces we happily obliged. If we can find the necessary talents among ultra-Orthodox women, we'll make the necessary adjustments."  
Bar-Or said he noticed the heads of the seminars were worried about the non-homogenous work environment and its possible effects on the employees' ability to maintain and hold on to an ultra-Orthodox lifestyle. "It's clear to me that if they change their lifestyle it will be associated with us, and the whole project will break apart," he said. Roth echoes the sentiment. “If a seminar graduate is recruited by a tech company, and as a result alters her lifestyle, for us that is not a success, but a failure,” she said. The seminar heads, on their part, accepted that some compromises will have to be made, such as mixed-gender meetings, secular male supervisors, and the need for employees to be able to work with anyone regardless of gender or religious leanings. "They acquiesced happily. We had many worries but they proved unfounded," Bar-Or said. While Friedman acknowledges that the employment framework was settled only against Western Digital, and would potentially need to be redressed against each new tech company that joins the initiative, he thinks the potential problems would not be significantly different across the industry. “Most companies have a similar DNA,” he said. "None of the women or the rabbis we met with asked us to change the management style of the company," Bar-Or concluded. "You can always either try to pile up difficulties, or you can be tolerant. In my eyes, that's the kind of maturity that's needed when considering employment diversity. Not everyone has to conform themselves to the DNA you decided is right." CancelSend

Western Digital Takes Leap of Faith with Israeli Jewish Ultra-Orthodox Women Coders

ThirdLove is a San Francisco, CA-based direct-to-consumer women's bra and underwear company. By using women's measurements in its design process (Fit Finder), the company is able to consider the unique needs of diverse body sizes and shapes.

ThirdLove

ThirdLove teams up with Leap to open store in Philadelphia

NRG Energy, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a wholesale power generation company. The company engages in the ownership, development, construction, and operation of power generation facilities. It also engages in transacting in and trade of fuel and transportation services; the trade of energy, capacity, and related products in the United States and internationally; and the supply of electricity and energy services to retail electricity customers in the Texas market. As of December 31, 2009, the company's power generation assets consisted of approximately 10,660 megawatt (MW) of gas-fired; 7,560 MW of coal-fired; 3,715 MW of oil-fired; 1,175 MW of nuclear; and 365 MW of renewable generating capacity in the United States. In addition, NRG Energy also owns approximately 115 MW of thermal capacity domestically, as well as 1,005 MW of power generation capacity overseas in Australia and Germany.

NRG Energy

PowerPay is a provider of merchant accounts, credit card payment processing and other transaction solutions for businesses of all types and sizes. The company's flexible solutions can help establish a merchant credit card processing account, integrate a point-of-sale terminal, set-up electronic payment processing and more. In December 2012, PowerPay was acquired by EVO Payments International. The valuation of PowerPay was undisclosed. Other terms of the deal were not released.

PowerPay

CompanyCam is a cloud-based SaaS company providing an application that allows contractors to manage projects with more transparency and accuracy through photo capture, organization, collaboration and communication.

CompanyCam

McKinsey & Company is a global management consulting firm. It offers consultation to various industries such as electronic, aerospace, automotive, chemical, financial, oil and gas, public sector, and healthcare. The company was founded in 1926 and is based in New York, New York.

McKinsey & Company

442 startup failure post-mortems

$1B+ Market Map: The world’s 1,205 unicorn companies in one infographic

Seed

Leap allows users to discover videos, people, events, and spots within the extreme sports world.

Date	Round	Amount	Investors	Valuation Valuations are submitted by companies, mined from state filings or news, provided by VentureSource, or based on a comparables valuation model.	Revenue	Sources
3/1/2014	Seed	$0.03M	Eleven Ventures		0 FY undefined
10/1/2000	Unattributed	$99M	Subscribe to see more		0 FY undefined	0

Date	3/1/2014	10/1/2000
Round	Seed	Unattributed
Amount	$0.03M	$99M
Investors	Eleven Ventures	Subscribe to see more
Valuation
Revenue	0 FY undefined	0 FY undefined
Sources		0

First funding	3/1/2014
Last Funding	3/1/2014
Investor	Eleven Ventures
Rounds	1 Seed
Board Seats
Type	Venture Capital
Location	Bulgaria

Wells Fargo Success Story

Professional Services

Platform Overview

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