Industry news

Meta has now teased its own AI text to video tool, ‘Meta Movie Gen’. Not only will you be able to generate videos from user prompts, you can also use it to edit existing videos, and add sound (something Sora cannot currently do). Users can also use photos of themselves to create a personal video of them doing an action such as painting on a canvas. 

Read the full article on TechMarketView here.

In an increasingly complex and interconnected world, effective procurement and supply chain management is critical for business success and resilience. Global disruptions, sustainability demands, and evolving technology are transforming how organisations operate.

At Procurement Magazine we are dedicated to empowering businesses with the tools and insights they need to adapt and thrive.

Launching The Procurement Survey in 2025 furthers this ambition to be part of the conversation, tell the success stories, share the strategies, and highlight best practices from those dedicated to innovation and sustainable business practices.

Stakeholder engagement is vital for procurement, to promote sustainability across supply chains. DP World shares how it makes working together work

Engaging with stakeholders is crucial for sustainability in procurement, as it creates an environment in which collaboration can flourish, transparency can be found and all parties can align on goals towards a number of issues — including sustainability.

By working alongside these groups, organisations can improve their decision-making, mitigate environmental and social impacts and build strong, more resilient processes.

Read the full article on Procurement Magazine here.

The Government is changing the way it governs this country - setting long-term goals and breaking down silos. Mission-driven government means raising our sights as a nation and focusing on ambitious, measurable, long-term objectives that provide a driving sense of purpose for the country.

The Cabinet Office wants to understand how a new, mission-driven approach to public procurement could support delivery of the Government’s missions alongside local priorities.

Complete the survey here.

Indian businesses are eyeing expansion campaigns in the UK, according to research from Grant Thornton. However, while 89% of India’s mid-market see the UK as the top market to grow into, many feel that a lack of a free trade agreement between the nations could be holding them back.

In spite of mounting human rights concerns relating to India’s incumbent nationalist government, UK businesses are clamouring to get tap into the country’s market. The country’s GDP is anticipated to expand by 8.2% in the current fiscal year, in spite of the global economy’s slower performance – and its huge population of 1.4 billion people, alongside its historically cheap labour market, means there is plenty of room for further expansion in the coming years.

Workday and Cognizant have been appointed as the enterprise resource planning (ERP) and systems integration (SI) services suppliers for the government’s Matrix Programme. This will see a single shared service centre established to deliver corporate services across finance, HR and payroll for nine departments led Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). The ERP component of the contract with Workday is for ten years, with the Cognizant SI element running for five years; both parts can be extended by up to two further years. The maximum values of the deals are £81m and £63m respectively.

Read the full article on TechMarketView here.

University of Cambridge spin-out Neutreeno has raised $3m in seed funding in a round led by Regeneration.VC, with participation from Remarkable Ventures Climate Fund (RVC), Closed Loop Partners, Prequel Ventures, Scania Invest and Beacon Venture Capital.

Neutreeno’s tech uses proprietary process networks, material and energy flow analysis, and advanced “uncertainty models” to generate emissions data that enables enterprises to map their product lines faster—according to the company, providing insights based on as few as 10 data points per supplier whilst tracking 1,000s of products.

Read the full article here.

Accenture has announced a significant ramping-up of its collaboration with the AI chip giant through the launch of a new Accenture NVIDIA Business Group.

The move will see the services provider train 30,000 of its staff on Agentic AI systems in areas such as process reinvention, AI-powered simulation and sovereign AI.

At the core of the initiative is Accenture’s AI Refinery™️, which both leverages the full NVIDIA AI stack (NVIDIA AI Foundry, NVIDIA AI Enterprise and NVIDIA Omniverse etc) and will be available on all public and private cloud platforms.

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EY UK and Ireland has appointed Anna Anthony as its next managing partner effective from 1st January 2025. The first women to head the region, Anthony replaces Hywel Ball, who will continue as UK chair until a separate selection process for this post is completed early next year.

Anna Anthony became a partner at EY over 16 years ago and has been leading the firm’s UK financial services vertical since 2021. In her current role, she is responsible for over £1bn of revenue, 250 partners and 5,000 employees

Read the full article on TechMarketView here.

The firm has been having a tougher time of it for the last eighteen months or so, albeit the company’s latest set of quarterly results both saw an acceleration in sequential revenue growth and pointed to an improving outlook for the remainder of the year. Although reporting that both the strong trading headwinds in this country persist and client purse strings around discretionary expenditure here remain tightly drawn, UK Head, Rohit Gupta had positive news to report. There have been notable recent successes on the large deal front here and the firm’s expansion in the UK Public Sector also continues apace.

Read the full article on TechMarketView here.