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AI-Generated Content is a Game Changer for Marketers, but at What Cost?

Goizueta’s David Schweidel pitted man against the machine to create SEO web content only to find that providing an editor with bot-generated content trounces the human copywriter every time. Good news for companies looking to boost productivity and save cash, he says. But could there be other hidden costs? In December 2022, The New York Times ran a piece looking back on the year’s biggest consumer tech updates. The review was mixed. Ownership shifts in the world of social media garnered special mentions, but hardware innovations had been largely “meh,’ mused the Times. There was one breakthrough area that warranted attention, however: AI-powered language-processing tech capable of generating natural-looking text, the same technology that powers familiar chatbots. And one such technology could well be poised to “invade our lives in 2023.” Earlier in December, AI research lab OpenAI, released the latest update to its Generative Pre-Trained Transformer technology, an open source artificial intelligence. It’s latest iteration, ChatGPT, immediately went viral. Here was an AI assistant that sounded intelligent. Not only could it answer any question thrown its way without supervised training, but when prompted, it could also write blog posts, as well as find and fix bugs in programming code. ChatGPT could draft business proposals and even tell jokes. All of this at a speed that beggared belief. Since its first release in 2020, OpenAI’s GPT technology has powered through a slew of updates that have seen its capabilities leap forward “by light years” in less than 24 months, says Goizueta Professor of Marketing, David Schweidel. For businesses looking to harness this rapidly-evolving technology, the potential is clearly enormous. But aren’t there also risks that industry and consumers alike will need to navigate? Schweidel is clear that the academic community and initiatives such as the Emory AI Humanity Initiative have a critical role in asking hard questions—and in determining the limitations and dangers, as well as the opportunities, inherent in tech innovation—because, as he puts it, “these things are going to happen whether we like it or not.” Man Versus Machine To that end, Schweidel and colleagues from Vienna University of Economics and Business and the Modul University of Vienna have put together a study looking at how well natural language generation technologies perform in one specific area of marketing: drafting bespoke content for website search engine optimization, better known as SEO. What they find is that content crafted by the machine, after light human editing, systematically outperforms its human counterparts—and by a staggering margin. Digging through the results, Schweidel and his colleagues can actually pinpoint an almost 80 percent success rate for appearing on the first page of search engine results with AI-generated content. This compares with just 22 perfect of content created by human SEO experts. In other words, the AI content passed to a human is roughly four times more effective than a skilled copywriter working alone. Reaching these findings meant running two real-time, real-world experiments, says Schweidel. First, he and his colleagues had to program the machine, in this case GPT 2, an earlier incarnation of GPT. GPT relies on natural language generation (NGL), a software process that converts manually uploaded input into authentic-sounding text or content—comparable in some ways to the human process of translating ideas into speech or writing. To prepare GPT-2 for SEO-specific content creation, Schweidel et al. started with the pre-trained GPT-2, and then let the machine do the heavy lifting: searching the internet for appropriate results based on the desired keyword, scraping the text of the websites, and updating GPT-2 to “learn” what SEO looks like, says Schweidel. We partnered with an IT firm and a university to run our field experiments. This meant creating SEO content for their websites using GPT-2 and actual human SEO experts, and then doing A/B testing to see which content was more successful in terms of landing in the top 10 search engine results on Google. So this was an opportunity to put the AI bot to the test in a real-world setting to see how it would perform against people. The results point to one clear winner. Not only did content from GPT-2 outperform its human rivals in SEO capabilities, it did so at scale. The AI-generated content scored a daily median result of seven or more hits in the first page of Google search results. The human-written copy didn’t make it onto the first result page at all. On its best day, GPT showed up for 15 of its 19 pages of search terms inside the top 10 search engine results page, compared with just two of the nine pages created by the human copywriters—a success rate of just under 80 percent compared to 22 percent. Savings at Scale The machine-generated content, after being edited by a human, trounces the human in SEO. But that’s not all, says Schweidel. The GPT bot was also able to produce content in a fraction of the time taken by the writers, reducing production time and associated labor costs by more than 90 percent, he says. “In our experiments, the copywriters took around four hours to write a page, while the GPT bot and human editor took 30 minutes. Now assuming the average copywriter makes an annual $45K on the basis of 1,567 hours of work, we calculate that the company we partnered with would stand to save more than $100,000 over a five-year period just by using the AI bot in conjunction with a human editor, rather than relying on SEO experts to craft content. That’s a 91 percent drop in the average cost of creating SEO content. It’s an orders of magnitude difference in productivity and costs.” But there are caveats. First off, there’s the quality of the machine-generated content to consider. For all its mind-boggling capabilities, even the newly released ChatGPT tends to read somewhat sterile, says Schweidel. That’s a problem both in terms of Google guidelines and brand coherence. Human editors are still needed in order to attenuate copy that can sound a little “mechanical.” “Google is pretty clear in its guidelines: Content generated by machines alone is a definite no-no. You also need to factor in the uncanny valley effect whereby something not quite human can come off as weird. Having an editor come in to smooth out AI content is critical to brand voice as well as the human touch.” Asking the Big Questions Then there are the moral and metaphysical dimensions of machine learning and creativity that beg an important question: Just because we can, does that mean we should? Here, Schweidel has grave reservations about the future of ChatGPT and its ilk. The potential of this kind of technology is extraordinarily exciting when you think about the challenges we face from productivity to pandemics, from sustainable growth to climate change. But let’s be very clear about the risks, too. AI is already capable of creating content—audio, visual and written—that looks and feels authentic. In a world that is hugely polarized, you have to ask yourself: How can that be weaponized? At the end of the day, says Schweidel, the large language models powering these generative AIs are essentially “stochastic parrots:” trained mimics whose output can be hard to predict. In the wrong hands, he warns, the potential for misinformation—and worse—could well be “terrifying.” “Shiny new tech is neither inherently good nor bad. It’s human nature to push the boundaries. But we need to ensure that the guardrails are in place to regulate innovation at this kind of pace, and that’s not easy. Governments typically lag far behind OpenAI and companies like them, even academics have a hard time keeping up. The real challenge ahead of us will be about innovating the guardrails in tandem with the tech—innovating our responsible practices and processes. Without effective safeguards in place, we’re on a path to potential destruction.” Covering AI or interesting in knowing more about this fascinating topic - then let our experts help with your coverage and stories. David Schweidel is the Rebecca Cheney McGreevy Endowed Chair and Professor of Marketing at Emory University's Goizueta Business School. Simply click on David's icon now to arrange an interview today.

Aston University to help power Indonesia with affordable energy made from rice straw

Project to convert unwanted rice straw into cheap energy on a commercial scale Most rice straw in Indonesia is burned causing pollution and health problems Project will almost double affordable energy captured from waste. Scientists at the Energy and Bioproducts Institute at Aston University are to start a project to convert Indonesia’s unwanted rice straw into low-cost energy on a commercial scale. Each year the country produces 100 million tonnes of the rice waste, of which 60% is burned in open fields, causing air pollution and has even been linked to lung cancer. The amount burned is equivalent to approximately 85 Terawatts of electricity, which is enough to power Indonesia’s households 10 times over. A consortium which includes Aston University aims to develop processes to capture more affordable energy from rice straw than ever before - and demonstrate that it can be done on a commercial scale. Part of the process involves a biomass conversion technology called pyrolysis. This involves heating organic waste materials to high temperatures of around 500 °C to break them down, producing vapour and solid products. Some of the vapour may be condensed into a liquid product called pyrolysis oil or pyrolysis bio-oil. Both the pyrolysis vapour and liquid bio-oil can be converted to electricity. Current methods convert just 35% of the thermal energy of rice straw to affordable electricity. However, a newly patented combustion engine designed by consortium member, UK-based Carnot Limited, could see that doubled to 70%. Energy extracted this way could help low and middle-income countries create their own locally generated energy, contribute to net zero by 2050, create new jobs and improve the health of locals. The project will help develop a business model which could support companies and local authorities to produce local, cheap energy in Indonesia, and other countries with biomass capacity. Three academic experts from different disciplines at Aston University are involved in this initial project, which focuses on Indonesia’s Lombok Island. Dr Jude Onwudili, Dr Muhammad Imran and Dr Mirjam Roeder are based at Aston University’s Energy and Bioproducts Research Institute (EBRI). Dr Jude Onwudili who is leading the team said: “This project has huge potential - commercialisation of this combined technology will have significant economic benefits for the people of Indonesia through direct and indirect job creation, including the feedstock supply chain and electricity distribution and sales. “About one million Indonesian homes lack access to energy and Indonesia's 6,000 inhabited islands make sustainable infrastructure development challenging in areas such as Lombok Island. “The new techniques being explored could reduce environmental pollution, contribute to net zero and most importantly, provide access to affordable energy from sustainable local agricultural waste. “Aston University is a global leader in bioenergy and energy systems, and I am delighted we received funding to explore this area.” Over a power plant’s life, the project team have calculated that biomass produces cheaper electricity (approx. $4.3$/kWh) compared to solar (approx. $6.6/kWh), geothermal (approx. $6.9/kWh), coal (approx.$7.1/kWh), wind (approx. $8/kWh) and subsidised gas (approx.$8.4ckWh). The project will start in April 2023 with a total of £1.5 million funding for the four partners from Innovate UK. Alongside Carnot Limited, the Aston University scientists will be working with two other UK-based businesses to deliver the project, PyroGenesys and Straw Innovations. PyroGenesys specialises in PyroChemy technology which will convert 70% of the rice straw into vapour or bio-oil for electricity production, with the remainder converted into nutrient-rich biochar, which can be sold back for use as fertiliser on the rice farms. Straw Innovations will contribute their rice straw harvesting and collection expertise, with their many years of similar operations in Asia.

Aston University appoints new pro-vice-chancellor and executive dean of business and social sciences

Professor Zoe Radnor has been appointed as Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean of the College of Business and Social Sciences She has had a successful career in higher education for over 25 years Professor Radnor will be joining Aston University in Spring 2023. Aston University has appointed Professor Zoe Radnor as the new Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean of the College of Business and Social Sciences. Professor Radnor will succeed Professor George Feiger, who will be standing down after 10 years of leadership of Aston Business School and the College of Business and Social Sciences. With a successful career in higher education spanning over 25 years, Professor Radnor will be joining Aston University from The University of Law (ULaw), where she is currently Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, specifically focused on leading the diversification of the academic portfolio, including building an academic model for the provision of high quality, innovative teaching and thought leadership. In addition, she is leading the TEF submission at the institution Prior to her executive role at ULaw, she was Vice-President for Strategy and Planning; Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and Professor of Service Operations Management at City, University of London, leading the development of the University EDI strategy. In this role she also led the creation of the new enabling Civic Strategy and established the new institution-wide Change Support Unit. Before City, Professor Radnor was the founding Dean of the School of Business at the University of Leicester, and prior to that, as Associate Dean Teaching and Learning, she led the development of new curriculum offerings for the Loughborough University campus in London. Professor Zoe Radnor is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS) and the British Academy of Management (FBAM). She is also a member of the Athena Swan Governance Committee for Advance HE. Her main research interests are in performance, process improvement and service value within public sector organisations. She has led research projects for a number of Government and healthcare organisations, evaluating the use of ‘lean’ and associated techniques and continues to maintain a strong ongoing research profile. Professor Aleks Subic, Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of Aston University, said: “I am looking forward to welcoming Professor Radnor to the Executive Team at what is a hugely exciting period of development for the University and to working with her as we shape our Aston University 2030 Strategy. Zoe brings significant leadership experience to the team and ambition in line with our bold vision. “I would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the significant contribution made by Professor George Feiger during his leadership of Aston Business School and the College of Business and Social Sciences over the last 10 years.” Professor Radnor said: “I am delighted to be joining such a prestigious and forward-thinking University and College. “The reputations of the College of Business and Social Sciences and of Aston University generally and the strategic vision of the new Vice-Chancellor and University leadership are what attracted me to this exciting role. I can’t wait to get started working with so many talented and innovative new colleagues.” Professor Radnor will be taking up her post in Spring 2023.

Aston University research to support SMEs and mid-sized companies to be ‘future ready’

‘Future readiness’ is defined as a set of capabilities and orientations that enable companies to thrive in the future Researchers say SMEs and mid-sized companies’ leadership should focus on bridging their resilience gap and exploiting their high level of agility The report found circular economy can combat environment and social impact without sacrificing economic performance. A new report from Aston University has highlighted opportunities for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-sized companies to develop strategies and pathways to increase their future readiness. The report defines future readiness as “a set of capabilities and orientations that enable companies to thrive in the future”. For SMEs and mid-sized businesses to be future-ready, they must be successful on the three pillars of long-term growth, societal impact and adaptive capacity. Experts say they must be able to generate lasting financial strength driven by innovative business models, products and/or services, to affect society positively in line with environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals and to develop high levels of resilience and agility, which enables them to bounce back in difficult times and to identify and seize opportunities as they emerge, creating disruption in business models for the future. The report aims to support leadership teams and the wider ecosystem in understanding how they can help increase the capacity for smaller companies to thrive and positively impact the economy and environment, as well as aid the recovery from the pandemic. Experts also say that circular economy adoption, where the ‘make, use and throw away’ supply chain is converted to ‘take, make, distribute, use and recycle’, in SMEs and mid-sized companies creates a win-win situation for every supply chain stakeholder through sustainability measures to achieve economic, environment and social performance. The World Economic Forum will use the insights generated in this report to further support SMEs and mid-sized companies in their future readiness journey. This will be done through the creation of additional resources, including the continuous development of the Forum’s self-assessment and benchmarking tool on future readiness, the creation of a platform for informal peer-to-peer learning between companies and meet ups with key experts. Prasanta Kumar Dey, professor in operations and information management at Aston Business School and lead author of the report, said: “The post-COVID-19 era is significantly more challenging than most people had initially hoped. Heightened geopolitical tensions, the energy crisis, supply chain disruptions, hyperinflation and extreme weather events are just a few of the difficulties that will make the next decade a demanding one. “SMEs and mid-sized companies’ leadership should try to focus on bridging their resilience gap and exploiting their high level of agility, afforded by their smaller size, as a competitive advantage. “Future readiness capability building should not be developed as ad-hoc initiatives but should be embedded into key corporate strategies and decision-making processes, ideally from the beginning, so that it becomes part of the fundamental building blocks of the company. “While smaller companies can go a long way in building their future readiness, it is important to recognise the direct and important impact that their wider policy environment has on their ability to thrive. It is therefore crucial for policymakers, investors and other stakeholders to do what is in their capabilities to contribute to building the future readiness of this segment of the economy. “One of the high-impact areas of intervention at the system levels revolves around digital trade and includes implementing targeted measures to harmonize and drive trade data interoperability across borders and supply chains. This would greatly contribute to making it easier for smaller companies to trade internationally.” You can find out more about the report findings here.

Aston University’s accounting department wins Global CIMA Excellence award for second successive year

It reflects the University’s strong and longstanding relationship with the accounting industry The University’s graduates achieved the fourth highest global pass rate in CIMA Operational Level exams It is the second year in a row the University has been recognised in this way. Aston University’s Accounting Department has won a Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) Global Excellence Award at the CIMA Excellence Awards for the second year running. The annual Awards recognise institutions and individuals across the world going above and beyond to shape the next generation of Chartered Global Management Accountants and lead the accounting profession into the future. The Accounting Department has been awarded Global High Distinction - CGMA Campus of the Year 2022, reflecting the strong and longstanding relationship it has with the accounting industry and the professional bodies in accounting which benefits students throughout Aston Business School. The award reflects the University’s graduates achieving the third highest number of CIMA exams taken over the previous 12 months per university campus globally with above average global pass rate as well as the fourth highest global pass rate in CIMA Operational Level exams. Andy Lymer, professor of taxation and personal finance and head of department of accounting in Aston Business School, said: “Ensuring our graduates are well prepared for long and successful careers in the accounting profession is a key focus of our approach to designing and delivering our accounting degrees, and where we work on other degrees with our accounting teaching. “To be recognised for doing this at the level of one of the top three or four Universities in the world by one of the major global accounting professional bodies is clearly great news for our students - current, past and future. “It is also wonderful recognition for the great teaching team we have here that this award underlines are genuinely world class at what they do.”

Is the sun set to shine again on a rebounding Florida tourism economy?

It was a tough couple of years for the Florida tourism industry. With flights restricted, travel discouraged and theme parks closed or limiting the number of guests, Florida felt the full economic brunt of the pandemic when the tourists stopped coming. To put it in perspective: In 2020, Walt Disney World took a $7 billion loss. But with COVID all but a memory, the rebound already is in full swing with visitors and their disposable income returning to the Sunshine State. Florida tourism exploded to record numbers as the state has welcomed 104.5 million visitors so far this year, a 15.3 percent increase over the same time period in 2021, according to the offices of Gov. Ron DeSantis and Visit Florida. In the third quarter alone, Florida welcomed 35.1 million tourists – a 6.9 increase from the same period in 2021 and the fifth quarter in a row that saw overall visitation surpassing pre-pandemic levels. About 32.6 million domestic visitors traveled to Florida in the third quarter period of 2022.  Islander News - December 2022 But still after such a slowdown, should we be cautious? What can tourism operators, hoteliers and the rest of the hospitality industry expect for 2023? With COVID no longer a deterrent, will a shaky economy be the next shoe to drop? Or, after being stuck at home for so long, will visitors help places such as Disney, Universal and LEGOLAND become recession-proof? These are great questions, and if you are a journalist covering the 2023 tourism season in Florida, let us help. Peter Ricci, Ph.D., is a clinical associate professor and director of the Hospitality and Tourism Management program in Florida Atlantic University’s College of Business. He is a hospitality industry veteran with more than 20 years of managerial experience in segments including food service, lodging, incentive travel and destination marketing. Peter is available to speak with the media about space-travel tourism as well as other topics, including the labor shortage in hospitality and tourism. Simply click on his icon to arrange an interview.

ChristianaCare Earns IABC Silver Quill Award for Innovative Use of Technology to Connect Journalists and News Producers with Health Care Experts

ExpertFile-powered “Our Experts” site makes health experts findable and accessible to media at a click of a button ChristianaCare and its collaborative partner ExpertFile have been recognized with a 2022 Silver Quill Award from the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) for its "Our Experts" media database. Designed to easily and quickly connect journalists to subject-matter experts, this online resource has been recognized with the top prize – an “Award of Excellence” in the Communications Management, Media Relations category. The IABC Silver Quill Awards showcase business communication excellence and are acknowledged as among the most prestigious awards programs in the communications industry. “I’m proud to accept the Silver Quill Award on behalf of our organization and our incredible Communications team, including our ExpertFile partners,” said Shane Hoffman, communications director at ChristianaCare. “The ‘Our Experts’ platform has given us next-level ways to engage our experts and share our knowledge as a trusted source of health care information. It has also helped us re-imagine the traditional online news room experience and turn it into a truly new and innovative way to serve the needs of both journalists and our community.” IABC’s Silver Quill awards honor the dedication, innovation and passion of communicators on a global scale. Each entry is scored independently by evaluators who judge the award submission on factors that include: stakeholder analysis, strategic and tactical planning, quality of execution and measurable results. Since launching in March 2021, the "Our Experts" media database has received more than 20,000 online visits and has resulted in more than 200 news stories. “We are honored to earn this Silver Quill Award with our client, ChristianaCare,” said Peter Evans, CEO of ExpertFile. “Despite the pressures of the pandemic, their team collaborated closely with us to create a world-class program that continues to help a variety of audiences discover and connect every day with credible medical experts and groundbreaking research.” Powered by the ExpertFile software platform, the ChristianaCare “Our Experts” site provides a digital media toolkit with advanced search/digital content features to help journalists discover experts and access resources that make it easier for them to complete stories and meet their deadlines. Awarding top honors “with distinction,” the IABC judging panel provided a number of detailed comments on the “ChristianaCare Experts Program”: “Very well-done website. Nice content that is well organized and searchable. From planning and implementation to measurement afterward the program shows great work.” “Great work in the time of COVID. Your knowledge of journalists and their challenges. during COVID was spot-on.” “I liked the media advisories. Having been on both sides of the reporter/media relations thing, I like clear and simple. You achieved this!” “If I were a reporter, the advisory would be invaluable when I needed an expert.” “Very specific and focused on business-results. Great work here.” “Very comprehensive! You thought of everything without getting bogged down in unnecessary details.” Nearly 100 ChristianaCare experts are featured in the database today, and that number continues to grow. “As communicators in health care, it has always been important for us to provide timely, accurate, easy-to-understand information to the communities we serve so that people can make informed decisions about their health,” said Karen Browne, vice president of marketing and communications at ChristianaCare. “The COVID-19 pandemic added an entirely new level of urgency to our role as communicators, and it made it even more important for us to build strong relationships with our partners in the news media so that they can deliver compelling, actionable health information to the community—from experts they can trust.” The pandemic also highlighted the need to do more with less. ChristianaCare’s innovation was driven out of a desire to improve the reach, impact and efficiency of its media relations efforts—amid rapidly increasing demand—without the need to add additional resources. “With our partners at ExpertFile, we leveraged ExpertFile’s outstanding technology platform to create a database of our experts that helps reporters and news producers find the sources they need quickly, and it enables our team to nimbly manage their requests and facilitate interviews in a way that makes the absolute best use of our resources,” Hoffman said. “The ExpertFile team worked as our strategic thought partners throughout this process, and they’ve really embraced our desire for innovation that drives results. They’ve helped us to work smarter and do more without adding a lot of additional resources. Together, we’ve built a system and process that is helping us to communicate in new and better ways—and we’re just getting started.” About ChristianaCare Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, ChristianaCare is one of the country’s most dynamic health care organizations, centered on improving health outcomes, making high-quality care more accessible and lowering health care costs. ChristianaCare includes an extensive network of primary care and outpatient services, home health care, urgent care centers, three hospitals (1,299 beds), a freestanding emergency department, a Level I trauma center and a Level III neonatal intensive care unit, a comprehensive stroke center and regional centers of excellence in heart and vascular care, cancer care and women’s health. It also includes the pioneering Gene Editing Institute. ChristianaCare is nationally recognized as a great place to work, rated by Forbes as the 2nd best health system for diversity and inclusion, and the 29th best health system to work for in the United States, and by IDG Computerworld as one of the nation’s Best Places to Work in IT. ChristianaCare is rated by Healthgrades as one of America’s 50 Best Hospitals and continually ranked among the nation’s best by U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek and other national quality ratings. ChristianaCare is a nonprofit teaching health system with more than 260 residents and fellows. With its groundbreaking Center for Virtual Health and a focus on population health and value-based care, ChristianaCare is shaping the future of health care.

Brexit changes caused 22.9% slump in UK-EU exports into Q1 2022 - research

Researchers at Aston assessed the impact of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the EU and the UK UK exports fell by an average of 22.9% in the first 15 months following the deal Variety of UK products exported to EU down by 42% Research by the Centre for Business Prosperity at Aston University has shown that UK exports to the EU fell by an average of 22.9% in the first 15 months after the introduction of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, highlighting the continuing challenges that UK firms are facing. Building on earlier work funded through Aston University’s Enterprise Research Centre, the researchers found that a negative effect on UK exports persisted and deepened from January 2021-March 2022. According to the research, the UK has also experienced a significant contraction in the variety of goods being exported to the EU, with an estimated loss of 42% of product varieties. The researchers say this, combined with an increased concentration of export values to fewer products, has serious implications for the UK’s future exporting and productivity. The authors are calling for an urgent national debate from politicians about the UK’s post-Brexit trade arrangements. The researchers assessed the impact of the TCA, which allows goods to continue to be bought and sold between the UK and EU without tariffs in the wake of Brexit, by creating an ‘alternative UK economy’ model, based on the case that the UK had remained within the European Union. By comparing the model UK’s exports and imports with actual figures for the UK, they could accurately isolate the impact which the new trade rules were having. “What we are seeing is the effect of Brexit on exports; and that is persisting. It’s not diminishing, and exports have yet to show signs of recovering,” says Professor Jun Du of Aston University. “Until this serious problem with exports is openly acknowledged and discussed, we won’t see any necessary actions being taken.” Unlike exports, an initially significant drop on EU imports to Britain has recovered during the same period, suggesting that UK businesses and consumers have quickly adjusted to new rules. This stands in contrast to the persistent decline in UK exports, which the researchers believe is caused by more fundamental factors. Professor Du said: “It seems that the UK can buy, but it can’t sell – and that’s reinforcing the problem of Brexit. A reduction in import bottlenecks might help exports to rebound, but this recovery is likely to be offset by the rising costs of imports.” Researchers found that as many as 42% of the product varieties previously exported to the EU have disappeared during the 15 months after January 2021. This, they say, is principally caused by a large number of exporters simply ceasing to export to the EU, while the remaining exporters are streamlining their product ranges. Co-author, Dr Oleksandr Shepotylo, says: “The product varieties that have disappeared are mostly those with low export value – we know this because the average export value increased as the number of varieties declined. These products are the ones typically exported by small firms or new exporters, or are exported to new markets. And It’s those smaller businesses that would normally export much more in future, as they grow their volumes and products – so that’s the UK’s future export pipeline being affected, which has bleak implications.” Professor Du says: “The evidence we present here shows the real loss of Brexit, the overall competitiveness of the UK as a global trader. The considerable contraction of the UK trade capacity, combined with an increased concentration of export values to fewer products, signify some serious long-term concerns about the UK’s future exporting and productivity. Debate is essential so that the UK can start to address its current challenges. Of course, no one is suggesting going back into the EU, but there are collaborations, conversations and discussions that must be had. If the UK’s political leaders don’t acknowledge the facts, they are setting the course towards even longer-term problems.”

ChristianaCare Names Its Breast Center: The Tatiana Copeland Breast Center

ChristianaCare has named its Breast Center The Tatiana Copeland Breast Center at the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute in recognition of Gerret and Tatiana Copeland’s generous financial support. The Copelands, local philanthropists and business entrepreneurs, provided a $1.2 million gift to the Graham Cancer Center in 2019 for breast cancer prevention and research for underrepresented women. Tatiana Copeland previously provided $800,000 to fund the purchase of two 3D mammography units. As a result of their philanthropic leadership, the Graham Cancer Center was one of the first facilities in the nation to offer 3D mammography. “ChristianaCare is deeply grateful to the Copelands for their generous support of the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute,” said Janice Nevin, M.D., MPH, ChristianaCare president and CEO. “They have made a tremendous difference in the lives of so many women in and around Delaware. We are deeply honored to name the Breast Center after Tatiana.” In a private event celebrating the naming, Dr. Nevin read a personal letter from President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden that was sent to Tatiana about her support of the Breast Center. “Tatiana is a woman with extraordinary vision and a compassionate heart,” wrote President Biden. “As a breast cancer survivor, she has taken her pain and turned it into purpose, ensuring that all those who come in for testing at the Breast Center will receive extraordinary care. She has put lifesaving and life-altering care within the reach of those who need it most. And through it all, she has pushed for progress, fought for patients and kept hope alive.” “The Copelands share our commitment to providing our patients with the very best breast care, diagnosis and treatment,” said Nicholas J. Petrelli, M.D., Bank of America endowed medical director of the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute. “Their generous gifts have enabled women from Delaware and surrounding communities to receive expert, compassionate care right here at the Breast Center without ever having to leave the state. The Copelands have a way of discovering a need and then making the impossible possible.” “As longtime Graham Cancer Center supporters and as a breast cancer survivor myself who received wonderful treatment here, we are confident our investment in the Breast Center will continue to enable women to receive the same care that I did,” Tatiana Copeland said. “The atmosphere of the Breast Center is very comforting — like a nurturing hospital,” she said. “Everybody is very caring and attentive. Dr. Petrelli has created a team effort that is truly admirable. We hope our support inspires others to join us in the fight against cancer.” At The Tatiana Copeland Breast Center, patients are supported by an exceptional care team that includes radiologists, surgeons, radiation oncologists, genetic counselors and support staff. On-site capabilities include: 3D mammography. Digital mammography. Dedicated breast MRI. Breast ultrasound. Minimally invasive breast biopsies. Financial resources. Delaware’s first Center for Breast Reconstruction. According to the Delaware Division of Public Health, breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed among women in Delaware and the second leading cause of cancer death among women in the state after lung cancer. The Graham Cancer Center conducts community outreach to educate women about the importance of breast cancer detection and early prevention, including specially designed programs for underrepresented communities, including Black, Latinx and Asian women. “The Copelands’ ongoing generosity and support have helped us elevate the level of care at the Breast Center,” said Dia Williams, vice president of Philanthropy at ChristianaCare. “This gift will have an impact for generations to come.” To learn more about ChristianaCare’s philanthropy opportunities, visit https://christianacare.org/donors.

Interested in the true pursuit of greatness? Take a look at what Florida Tech has to offer

If you are up for the challenge and want to begin your own relentless pursuit of greatness, let us help. The Florida Tech campus is located in the heart of Florida’s Space Coast. That means proximity to key agencies and operations, such as NASA-Kennedy Space Center, SpaceX, Embraer, L3Harris Corporation, Northrop Grumman and more. Oh, and did we mention there are miles and miles of Atlantic Ocean beaches just moments away?  Learn more about all Florida Tech has to offer. Get in touch today! Simply contact: Adam Lowenstein Director of Media Communications (321) 674-8964 adam@fit.edu