By Market & Region

Johnston, Iowa and Ghent, Belgium – September 21, 2026 -- Vylor, the seed and genetics company set to spin off from Corteva on October 1, 2026, has partnered with Belgium's Rainbow Crops to develop climate-resilient corn traits using AI-driven multiplex gene editing.

Rainbow Crops' Trait Foundry platform edits hundreds of genes simultaneously

The collaboration will deploy Rainbow Crops' AI-supported Trait Foundry™ technology, which combines multiplex genome editing, precision breeding and automated phenotyping to accelerate development of corn hybrids resistant to heat, drought and flooding. Mat Muller, who will lead Vylor Edge, Vylor's investment arm, said the platform allows scientists to make hundreds of gene edits simultaneously while validating performance through phenotyping facilities and field trials.

Chicago – September 21, 2026 -- FutureSports has signed an exclusive agreement with Major League Baseball to build rules-based performance indexes on all 30 MLB clubs, clearing the path for CME Group to list cash-settled futures contracts tied to the sport for the first time.

MLB Data Feeds New CME FSPI Benchmarks Covering All 30 Clubs

Under the agreement, MLB will supply FutureSports with Official League Data, which the index administrator will convert into CME FutureSports Performance Indexes (FSPI) tracking cumulative team performance. CME Group plans to list weekly, monthly and quarterly cash-settled futures contracts on the benchmarks, subject to regulatory review.

Houston – September 21, 2026 -- McDermott International, Ltd has completed a comprehensive refinancing package worth more than $1 billion, combining a $500 million equity rights offering, a $550 million senior secured Nordic bond and a new long-term letter of credit facility.

Rights offering draws 97% shareholder subscription

The $500 million equity financing was structured as a rights offering to existing shareholders and was 97% subscribed by Class A ordinary shareholders. Remaining shares were absorbed through related backstop commitments, ensuring full completion of the raise.

Nordic bond matures in 2031, extends debt maturity profile

McDermott issued $550 million in senior secured bonds in the Nordic market, with maturity set for 2031. The company also secured a new long-term letter of credit and guarantee facility, alongside a revolving credit facility, as part of the same transaction.

Jupiter, Fla. – September 21, 2026 -- Bloomberg Television will broadcast a new episode of "Advancements with Ted Danson" on Saturday, September 26, 2026, at 8:00 p.m. ET, featuring four segments on construction technology, food packaging recyclability, continuous healthcare, and industrial automation.

Construction industry adopts AI and automation to accelerate megaproject delivery

The episode opens by examining how demand for semiconductor fabrication plants, clean energy projects, and transportation infrastructure is pushing the construction sector to build faster and at greater scale. The segment features Bechtel and shows how artificial intelligence, automation, and project data tools are being deployed to support craft professionals, engineers, and project managers.

Delray Beach, Fla. – September 21, 2026 -- The global rubber process oil (RPO) market is set to expand from $3.30 billion in 2026 to $3.94 billion by 2031, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 3.6%, according to a new report from MarketsandMarkets.

Tire manufacturing drives largest share of oil demand

The tires application segment is projected to register the highest growth at 4.7% CAGR and remains the largest consumer of RPO by value. Manufacturers rely on process oils to balance flexibility, durability, and processing efficiency across passenger, commercial, and specialty tire production. Rising replacement-tire demand and evolving fuel-efficiency standards are reinforcing this consumption base.

Hong Kong – September 21, 2026 -- Yeahka Limited (9923.HK) announced that YeahPay, its international payment arm, has expanded online merchant acquiring to seven markets through infrastructure built on Stripe. Businesses incorporated in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States can now be onboarded directly by YeahPay for online acquiring in their home market.

YeahPay unifies online and in-store payment acceptance for the first time

The company already provides in-store payment acceptance in Hong Kong SAR and Singapore. The latest expansion merges those in-store capabilities with online acquiring on a single integration, drawing on more than a decade of experience building payment acceptance for small and medium merchants across mainland China.

Xuzhou – September 21, 2026 -- XCMG launched the Hanjing, its next-generation new energy heavy truck for long-haul freight, on Sept. 20, positioning the vehicle to compete on range, charging speed and lifecycle operating costs against diesel incumbents.

800-volt architecture cuts charging time to under 20 minutes

The Hanjing's 800-volt architecture supports megawatt-class fast charging, taking the battery from 20% to 80% capacity in under 20 minutes. The truck pairs a low-drag cab with a proprietary integrated electric drive axle and intelligent controls aimed at reducing energy consumption on cross-regional routes.

Shanghai – September 21, 2026 -- Huawei has launched its Fintelligent AI Solution worldwide, targeting the security, scalability, and sustainability barriers that have limited large-scale AI deployment across the global financial industry.

The announcement came at the Global Finance Summit held during HUAWEI CONNECT 2026, where Jason Cao, CEO of Huawei's Digital Finance BU, delivered a keynote titled "Owning Your AI, Advancing Agentic Banking." Cao told financial customers that competition in financial AI is shifting from model capability to enterprise-wide AI system capability, and that institutions must be able to choose, operate, replicate, and evolve their AI independently rather than relying on isolated applications or single vendor models.

Taipei – September 21, 2026 -- Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) has unveiled a 3.2 Tbps silicon photonics optical engine capable of moving roughly 400 GB of data per second, doubling the throughput of its previous 1.6T generation.

ITRI mobilizes 20+ partners to commercialize 3.2T optical technology

The technology was showcased at the Innovation Economy Pavilion of the Taiwan Innotech Expo (TIE) 2026, held at the Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall 1, where the Department of Industrial Technology (DoIT) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs presented 64 technologies from more than 13 research institutes and industry partners. To push the 3.2T engine toward commercial deployment, ITRI has built a supply chain network of more than 20 partners covering chip design, fabrication, testing and packaging, and has worked with international firms to align technical specifications for the standard.

Beijing – September 21, 2026 -- VNET Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: VNET) has completed the transfer of 650,424,192 Class A ordinary shares to two investment vehicles linked to Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL), giving the buyers a combined 38.1% stake in the Chinese data center operator.

PJ Millennium entities acquire majority-scale stake from prior shareholders

PJ Millennium I Limited and PJ Millennium II Limited purchased the shares from Success Flow International Investment Limited and Choice Faith Group Holdings Limited. Both buyers are wholly owned subsidiaries of PJ Millennium Limited Partnership, whose general partner, Lochpine BG I GP Limited, sits under Lochpine Capital Limited -- a non-controlled, non-consolidated affiliate of CATL (300750.SZ, 03750.HK).

Kunshan – September 21, 2026 -- Arctech has been awarded a Silver Medal in the 2026 EcoVadis Sustainability Rating, placing the solar tracker maker among the top 15% of companies assessed by EcoVadis worldwide.

EcoVadis scores companies across four sustainability pillars

The rating agency evaluates firms on Environment, Labor & Human Rights, Ethics, and Sustainable Procurement, ranking medal recipients by percentile against all companies assessed globally over the prior 12 months. Arctech's Silver Medal corresponds to the top 15% tier.

Arctech spent RMB 4.3629 million on environmental protection in 2025

That figure, approximately US$651,000, funded initiatives tied to the company's environmental performance improvements. Its self-owned photovoltaic power stations generated more than 34 million kWh of electricity, covering 24% of Arctech's total electricity consumption.

Singapore – September 21, 2026 -- WuXi XDC Cayman Inc. (2268.HK) has secured GMP release for its Singapore manufacturing site at Tuas Biomedical Park, marking the bioconjugate CRDMO's first overseas facility just two and a half years after the site was announced in March 2024.

BCM3 dual-function line and DP4 drug product facility clear GMP release

The 25,000-square-meter site achieved GMP release for both its BCM3 antibody intermediate and conjugated drug substance production line and its DP4 drug product facility in August 2026. BCM3 supports batch sizes from 200 L to 2,000 L for antibody intermediates and up to 2,000 L for conjugated drug substances, operating under FDA, EMA and NMPA standards. A second line, BCM4, is slated for GMP release by the end of 2026 with a maximum single-batch capacity of 500 L for conjugated drug substance.

Las Vegas – September 21, 2026 -- Concept Medical's MagicTouch sirolimus-coated balloon will face fresh scrutiny at VIVA 2026 as researchers unveil new subgroup data from the SirPAD randomized trial covering 597 patients treated for femoropopliteal peripheral artery disease without tissue loss.

SirPAD enrolled 1,252 patients to compare drug-coated and uncoated balloon angioplasty

The academic, investigator-initiated trial randomized 1,252 patients with symptomatic infrainguinal peripheral artery disease to angioplasty using either the MagicTouch PTA sirolimus-coated balloon or an uncoated balloon. Primary results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed the sirolimus-coated balloon arm was both non-inferior and superior to the uncoated balloon on major adverse limb events (MALE) at one year.

Aachen, Germany – September 21, 2026 -- Grünenthal has agreed to acquire Bayer AG's oncology drug Stivarga® (regorafenib) for up to €375 million, adding an oral cancer treatment sold in more than 90 markets to its portfolio.

Grünenthal expects Stivarga to add up to €100 million to EBITDA in 2027

The German pharmaceutical company said the acquisition is immediately accretive to its business, with an estimated positive impact on consolidated EBITDA of approximately €100 million for the year ending December 31, 2027. That projection assumes the deal closes by the end of 2026 or early 2027 and includes a full year of consolidation.

Shanghai – September 21, 2026 -- Huawei unveiled its Intelligent WAN Target Architecture on September 17 at HUAWEI CONNECT 2026, targeting internet service providers seeking to monetize AI-driven connectivity demand.

Huawei ties network architecture to AI monetization strategy

Speaking at a roundtable titled "Intelligent WAN, Fortifying the AI Services Connectivity Foundation for ISPs," Wayne Zhou, Vice President of Huawei's ISP Computing and Network Infrastructure BU, said asset-heavy ISPs can convert connectivity capabilities into lightweight AI services as AI commercialization accelerates. He said ISPs are shifting from selling bandwidth to delivering AI services by combining edge nodes, computing, and APIs.

Hefei, China – September 21, 2026 -- The 2026 World Manufacturing Convention opened in Hefei, Anhui province, on September 20 under the theme "Intelligent Manufacturing for a Better Future," marking the eighth consecutive year the province has hosted the event.

Convention Draws Over 1,000 Guests as UK Serves as Guest Country of Honor

British Ambassador to China Peter Wilson delivered remarks as the UK's designated guest country of honor, while Solange Amicha, representing Côte d'Ivoire's Cabinet Minister of the Presidency, read a congratulatory letter from the Ivorian president. The convention attracted more than 1,000 guests, including over 500 overseas representatives and more than 40 overseas companies, spread across a 70,000-square-meter venue that features an unmanned-systems showcase at Luogang Park alongside China-Europe, China-France and China-UK industrial matchmaking sessions.

Shanghai – September 21, 2026 -- Huawei unveiled its SCALE partner support system at HUAWEI CONNECT 2026, aiming to move enterprise AI deployments beyond pilot projects into full-scale industry adoption.

Huawei's Leo Chen outlines five partner challenges blocking large-scale AI rollout

Leo Chen, Huawei's Senior Vice President and President of Enterprise Sales, said during his keynote that partners face five recurring obstacles when scaling intelligent industry projects: solution development, integration verification, solution delivery, operations and maintenance, and system collaboration. The new SCALE system is structured around five corresponding support pillars: Scenario-based Solutions, Co-innovation, Aligned Marketing, Local Services with Consistent Quality, and Efficient Collaboration.

Bratislava – September 21, 2026 -- EXPO 2027 Belgrade brought its "Visit Serbia" roadshow to Bratislava, convening Serbian and Slovak travel and business representatives to forge partnerships ahead of the Western Balkans' first Specialised Expo, scheduled for 15 May to 15 August 2027 under the theme "Play for Humanity: Sport and Music for All."

More than 135 countries confirm participation in Belgrade Expo

Organizers expect several million visits over the 93-day event, with over 135 countries having already confirmed participation.

Slovakia becomes first country to sign Expo participation contract

"Slovakia was the first country to sign the Participation Contract for EXPO 2027 Belgrade, reflecting the strong ties between our business communities," said Igor Kovačević, Executive Director of EXPO 2027 Belgrade, who invited Slovak travel professionals to develop itineraries and visit Serbia directly.

London – September 21, 2026 -- askelie has launched its Operational AI Platform, giving managed service providers (MSPs), software vendors and business users direct access to the AI capabilities previously reserved for its enterprise deployments.

Platform lets customers configure AI tools instead of building them from scratch

The Operational AI Platform allows organisations to combine existing, reusable askelie capabilities to create AI-powered Assistants and Automations tailored to specific business needs. Askelie says the approach cuts the time, cost and risk typically associated with building an AI foundation internally.

Boston – September 21, 2026 -- Cellular Intelligence, a Boston-based AI company building a universal foundation model of cell signaling, has appointed Turing Award laureate Yann LeCun, Moderna co-founder Robert "Bob" Langer, BioInnovation Institute CEO Jens Nielsen and Helmholtz Munich computational health director Fabian Theis to its Scientific Advisory Board. Langer also joins the company's Board of Directors as an observer.