“This is the first in a series of new partnerships that the Microsoft Innovation Centre will be announcing over the coming months. Harvest and Microsoft Malta share the same commitment to supporting the growth of the local startup ecosystem and our plan is that through future initiatives, we will keep supporting the community together,” said Kyle Anastasi from Microsoft Malta.

“At a time when Microsoft has been reviewing its MIC programme in other markets, we are proud to say that in Malta, the MIC has been acknowledged for its constant growth and increased role in Malta’s IT ecosystem. We have been growing from strength to strength and the new partnerships that are currently being established keep us in line with our corporate mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more” added Kyle Anastasi.

“Partnering and supporting a success story like the Microsoft Innovation Centre is a source of great pride for us because it will give us the opportunity to bring our expertise and market presence to the table,” said Godwin Caruana, CEO of Harvest Technology. “This, together with Microsoft’s technologies, products and expertise should create the necessary synergies and learning opportunities to strengthen the start-up eco-system that is becoming increasingly more relevant in the market,” he added.

Inaugurated six years ago, the Microsoft Innovation Centre has been part of the local tech ecosystem, acting as a point of reference for technology experts, businesses, startups, students and educators to learn more how their work and operations can be improved through Microsoft’s technology, the press statement says.

Microsoft Innovation Centre has hosted and mentored startups since its establishment. To date, over 180 technology startups have been hosted at the MIC where more outreach activities are being organised in line with the evolution of newer technologies such as cloud computing, big data, blockchain, iGaming, artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality.

The post Harvest Technology becomes Microsoft Innovation Centre Partner first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

The green area is situated above the Abbatija tad-Dejr Catacombs, which represents the main reason why interested parties need to sign an accord with specific rules, Heritage Malta says. The agreement is valid for one year starting from the date of signing and the renewal is annual, according to the agency’s discretion.

The HM believes that its initiative can be of “great benefit for all the community” because it provides space for recreational gardening or food production, as well as and because green areas are always important for the environment, the press statement says.

People who are interested are asked to request a copy of the agreement plus an attached plan by email, by 14 October at noon, the latest.

The post Rabat’s Dawret id-Dejr community garden to open up for public care first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

“We are excited to be one of the few businesses working with Canadian producers to bring Canadian medical cannabis products into Germany. Mera not only provides access to a high-quality product but a long-term strategy for growth in the medical market in Germany and across Europe,” David Höhne, Chief Executive Officer of HerbaMedica.

With a population of over 83 million and wide-spread statutory health insurance, Germany is expected to become a European powerhouse for medical cannabis. Mera’s facility in St Thomas, Ontario is designed to adhere to EU-GMP standards, as part of the company’s international development strategy. Mera expects to sell the majority of its outputs from its domestic facilities to growing international medical markets.  

“With partners like HerbaMedica, Mera has the opportunity to capitalise on its experience and insights acquired through domestic operations and utilise that knowledge in the European Union. This agreement marks a significant milestone for both parties and will help bridge the gap between supply and demand in Germany,” says Zubin Jasavala, Chief Executive Officer of Mera. 

The obligations of the parties following the supply agreement are conditional upon, among other things, each of the parties obtaining all necessary licenses and authorisations, including import/export permits and EU-GMP certification, says the press release.

Canadian medical cannabis firm Mera, formerly known as Avana, is expected to set up operations in Malta this year. The company considers the island nation in the Mediterranean to become a key player in its European expansion strategy.

“As part of our larger strategy to enter European medical cannabis markets, our upcoming Maltese facility will act as our cannabis processing and manufacturing hub. We will be importing crude oil into Malta to process into medical products such as tinctures (oils), gel capsules, sublingual strips and topicals (creams),” Emily Ondercin-Bourne, Marketing Manager at Mera Cannabis Corp, told Business Malta earlier.

The post Mera signs supply agreement with German distributor first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

Under the six-figure agreement — the exact financing details have not been disclosed — Betway branding will appear on the players’ jerseys and jackets. Betway will also have access to the players for content creation purposes, as well as experiential and social media activities, the press statement says without further clarifying the details.

“Having already had plenty of success with sponsorship in eSports, we are very excited to have signed a new partnership with PSG.LGD. The PSG brand is incredibly strong around the world and their involvement in eSports has already been extremely successful, notably their more recent move into Dota 2 with LGD. The PSG.LGD team has celebrated some early victories on the Dota 2 circuit and we cannot wait to be part of their future success,” said Anthony Werkman, CEO of Betway.

“Betway has always aimed to be at the forefront of the eSports movement, and we look forward to partnering with yet another major player in the space,” he added.

The latest deal expands Betway’s portfolio of eSports partnerships, which currently includes Dota 2 sponsorships with Ninjas in Pyjamas (NIP) and Invictus Gaming, alongside partnerships with NIP’s CS:GO team, as well as BIG and MIBR. Betway also sponsors a number of CS:GO tournaments, including ESL Pro League, Intel Extreme Masters, ESL One and the BLAST Pro Series.

The newly Betway-sponsored team landed two Majors on the 2017-2018 Dota 2 Pro Circuit, which helped them secure a direct invite to The International 2018, where they advanced to the grand finals but lost against OG in game five.

“We are pleased to welcome Betway to the Paris Saint-Germain family as a jersey partner of our eSports team. The partnership between such a globally-recognised brand and our club is yet another sign of the international appeal of the Paris Saint-Germain brand,” said Sébastien Wasels, Managing Director of the Paris Saint-Germain Asia-Pacific office.

“From now on, Betway and Paris Saint-Germain will shine together around the world to the rhythm of our team’s successes, starting with one of the biggest Dota 2 events of the year this summer: The International, which will take place in Shanghai in August,” Mr Wasels added.

“This new partnership confirms our development strategy in the sport. This is the reward for the ambitious project of our PSG.LGD team. With Betway, we will be able to offer more exclusive content for a wide international audience and engage even more with the Dota 2 community,” added Fabien Allègre, Chief Brand Diversification Officer at PSG.

PSG.LGD has been formed as a partnership between French football club Paris Saint-Germain and Chinese eSports organization LGD Gaming in April 2018. The original team was founded in 2009.

The Betway Group is a provider across sports betting, casino, bingo and poker. Launched in 2006, the company operates across a number of regulated online markets and holds licences in the United Kingdom, Malta, Italy, Denmark, Spain, Belgium, Germany and Ireland. Based in Malta and Guernsey, with support from London, Isle of Man, Stockholm and Cape Town, the Betway team comprises over 1,000 people.

The post Betway partners with Dota 2 team PSG.LGD first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

Through the deal that NetEnt tags as another step in increasing its footprint in New Jersey, a large selection of its casino games will launch in the upcoming weeks, becoming available to Draftkings players.

“We are very excited to have landed a deal with DraftKings. As the world leader in fantasy sports, with a large player base they will add a new dimension to the market and we are confident that their players will enjoy our popular games,” said Erik Nyman, Managing Director NetEnt Americas LLC.

The post NetEnt increases footprint in NJ through DraftKings pact first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

MCAST launched its CSR programme on 13 February, intending to provide its students with the opportunity to complement their studies with experiences that add value to their holistic knowledge base. The CSR programme will also offer an accredited framework of knowledge and skills.

“MCAST is committed to empowering its young and adult learners to become active and employable citizens that contribute to Malta’s dynamic democratic society and economy,” the press statement says.

Michelle Muscat represented the foundation at the signing of the agreement at MCAST’s Main Campus in Paola on 21 March, at the Institute for Applied Sciences.

The post MCAST inks CSR pact with Marigold Foundation first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

“This deal with Microgaming is a significant win for us here at Wazdan, and we are excited about the potential growth and exposure for our business. We are pleased that Microgaming has acknowledged the quality and player demand for our tech-rich games. It is an honour to be working with one of the largest, most respected suppliers in the industry,” says Andrzej Hyla, Head of Sales at Wazdan.

“We are delighted to add Wazdan to the growing list of skilled developers supplying content to our customers. Wazdan were chosen for their proven ability to create innovative slots that engage and entertain players, and they fit in perfectly with our strategy of bringing diverse and trusted content to market,” says James Buchanan, Director of Global Operations at Microgaming.

The post Wazdan signs supplier deal with Microgaming first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

“This is the third customer agreement we sign where the counter-party is expected to have a significant presence in the Indian market that is growing strongly. Cricket is a huge sport locally, and I am excited about continuing to grow the liquidity network we have established. Further on this means larger prize pools and a more attractive product,” says Andreas Ternström, CEO at Scout Gaming.

“We see how Fantasy Sports has strong growth in the country. With players like Dream11 who are extremely popular at the forefront, we have explored the possibilities of expanding our value chain to operator business focusing exclusively on fantasy sports. After that scan of the market, Scout Gaming came across as the most competitive player, having established a global liquidity network with access to both popular local sports such as Cricket and Kabaddi, but also international leagues such as Premier League are something we believe will be winning in the long run,” adds Harshit Mehta, CEO of Indiabet.com.

Sports Gaming UK which owns Indiabet.com holds a stake in Scoring 11 (Playsafe Games Pvt Ltd). IndiaBet is run by Harshit Mehta in India and he owns majority shares in Playsafe Games Pvt Ltd. Indiabet.com is originally an affiliate focusing on the Indian market. Scout Gaming’s products are expected to be launched during the year. Scoring 11 is also likely to be part of Scout Gaming’s global liquidity network. Fantasy Sports is considered a skill game in India and is thus entirely legal.

Scout Gaming Group is a licensed and regulated provider of B2B Daily Fantasy Sports and pool betting. The group has approximately 70 staff and is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden with development and operations in Bergen, Norway and Lviv, Ukraine. Sales, support and product management is handled from the office in Malta.

The post Scout Gaming inks deal with India’s Playsafe Games first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

With the help of these Blockcerts, academic credentials such as diplomas, school leaving certificates, and transcripts will be issued to Maltese students in an internationally portable, instantly verifiable digital format, the statement says. Educational institutions will also continue to receive official accreditation certificates on the blockchain for instant verification of status.

Current progress comes after MEDE and three educational institutions: the Malta College of Arts Science and Technology (MCAST), the Institute of Tourism Studies (ITS), and the National Commission for Further and Higher Education (NCFHE) completed a national pilot of Blockcerts blockchain credentials.

“In 2017, we said Malta should become ‘the blockchain island’. And it has. Malta is leading its peers when it comes to emerging technologies and digital innovation,” Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said during his address when the progress was announced.

The Ministry for Education partnered with Learning Machine in 2017 to launch a pilot project where academic credentials were issued using blockchain as a secure anchor of trust. Among other recipients of this pilot project, students at ITS and MCAST were presented their credentials on blockchain during their respective graduation ceremonies, the DOI statement reminds.

“What we are doing today is another small step in fulfilling the challenge set to us by our prime minister to be amongst the first in Europe but the world. But in order to do that, we need economic growth, social justice, education, and technology to be able to have practical visions where we set ourselves ambitious objectives and work hard to meet them,” said Minister for Education and Employment Evarist Bartolo.

Parliamentary Secretary for Financial Services, Digital Economy and Innovation Silvio Schembri said that the time is ripe to translate what was garnered from this pilot project onto a national level. “Our future generations will be the fortunate beneficiaries of today’s momentous signing,” the finance minister said.

Minister Schembri added that as of October 2019 new specialised Master courses will open focusing on Blockchain and DLT in Business and Finance, Law and Regulation, and Information and Communication Technology.

The Ministry for Education and Employment Permanent Secretary Francis Fabri and Learning Machine Technologies President and Chief Operation Officer Dan Hughes sealed the agreement. Parliamentary Secretary for Youth, Sport and Voluntary Organisations Clifton Grima were also present during the press conference.

The post Malta to issue blockchain certificates for students first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

Scout Gaming’s products are expected to be launched during the first half of 2019. As part of the Brazilian launch, the product range will be supplemented by local leagues.

“We continue to build our global network and are excited about entering South America. We are experiencing an increasing global interest in Fantasy Sports gradually”, says Andreas Ternström, CEO of Scout Gaming.

Jogajà, led by Jacob Lindorff with background from Expekt, Betway and Bonnier Gaming, is a startup backed by Swedish venture capitalists.

“Fantasy Sports has experienced strong global growth with the US as a leading market. The Brazilian sports betting market is the largest in South America; therefore, we see great potential for daily fantasy sports. Together with our partners, media companies and influencers, we will launch the coming spring and have high ambitions for the product,” says Jacob Lindorff.

Scout Gaming Group is a licensed and regulated provider of B2B Daily Fantasy Sports and pool betting. The group has approximately 70 staff and is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden with development and operations in Bergen, Norway and Lviv, Ukraine. Sales, support and product management is handled from the office in Malta.

The post Scout Gaming signs pact with Jogajà, enters Brazilian market first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.