Partstat Partner News May 2021

Philips Foundation Releases Annual Report, Highlights Various 2020 Successes Fighting COVID-19

The Philips Foundation has published its 2020 Annual Report, which serves to highlight some of Philips’ recent accomplishments deploying health technology to underserved communities.

With the COVID-19 pandemic impacting so much in the last year, this year’s report is particularly poignant. For example, according to the report the foundation completed 75 projects that resulted in 7.5 million people in disadvantaged communities around the world having access to affordable quality healthcare services. This includes projects in China, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. A detailed list of their accomplishments for 2020 can be found on their website.

Beyond COVID-19, the foundation has also launched various projects such as its joint initiative with UNICEF Funding, as well as provided support for programs such as the “Maker Innovation” project in Kenya.

GE and Toshiba Begin Strategic Partnership for Wind Turbines in Japan

GE and Toshiba are combining forces to localize critical phases of the manufacturing process of GE’s offshore wind turbines in Japan. With Toshiba’s resources, GE believes that its technology can be much more competitive in the Japanese wind energy market.

This comes in the wake of Japan’s ambitious announcement that it plans to grow the country’s offshore wind capacity to generate 10 GW this decade with tenders for 1 GW per year. By 2040, Japan expects to have between 30 and 45 GW of offshore wind power installed. The plan calls for a combination of fixed bottom and floating offshore wind turbines, which by extension will help build a strong domestic supply chain for the industry.

As part of the strategic partnership, GE will provide the technology, parts, and components for nacelle assembly of its Haliade-X wind turbines, and support Toshiba in jointly developing a local supply chain as well as completing assembly of the nacelles. Toshiba will assemble, warehouse, transport Haliade-X nacelles, provide preventative maintenance services, and have sales and commercial responsibilities for the Japanese market.

“GE’s Haliade-X is the most powerful offshore wind turbine built and helps to make offshore wind a more cost-effective and competitive source of clean energy,” said Mamoru Hatazawa, President & CEO of Toshiba Energy Systems and Solutions Corporation. “Through this strategic alliance, Toshiba will actively participate in offshore wind projects by supplying reliable products and contribute to the spread of renewable energy in Japan.”

Honeywell Spearheads Creation of COVID-19 Care Centers Throughout India

Honeywell has announced that it will be setting up COVID-19 care centers and critical care facilities across five states throughout India, which in recent weeks has seen a deadly surge in cases. The states include Maharashtra, Delhi, Haryana, Karnataka, and Uttarakhand.

Each COVID center is equipped with beds, oxygen supply, PPE kits, medical consumables, and basic medical infrastructure to treat non-critical patients. The Sustainable Environment and Ecological Development Society (SEEDS), a renowned not-for-profit organization, is helping to build the centers, which are then handed over to the government to operate and maintain.

Additionally, Honeywell will be donating 1,000 oxygen concentrators, 50 ventilators, 10,000 N95 respirators, and 2,500 personal protective equipment (PPE) kits to various government and private hospitals. Since the beginning of the pandemic, it has pledged over $3 million for pandemic relief efforts.

Hewlett-Packard Announces Ambitious Employee Diversity Goals

Hewlett-Packard, in a new announcement, has laid out bold and ambitious goals for employee diversity in the coming years. This includes achieving 50/50 gender equality among its leadership ranks by 2030, having 30% of its technical and engineering roles to be held by women, and hiring more from underrepresented groups. “We’re really talking about answering all the way up to the board of directors on what we’re doing—our dashboards, our matrices that we pulled together will go to our board of directors to say, ‘Here’s what we said we’re going to do, how are we tracking, and then ultimately what was the impact,’” said Lesley Slaton Brown, HP’s Chief Diversity Officer. “And so that’s what we’re building today. I consider that the infrastructure.”

Brown also highlighted how HP plans to broaden its focus to find prospective in a variety of more non-traditional places. “I would submit there is not a shortage of talent,” Brown continued. “It’s about how do you get to the talent? It has traditionally been through top-tier schools such as Stanford and MIT. But you know what? Smart people and great talent are everywhere.”

Today, HP has roughly 50,000 employees globally, with 31% of its leadership roles and 22% of its technical roles currently held by women, figures that already appear significantly higher than most industry averages.