April 18, 2023

Chinese pandemic whistleblower tried in secret was given 3-year jail term

Citizen journalist Fang Bin, who disappeared for three years after filming from hospitals and funeral homes early in the COVID-19 pandemic from the city of Wuhan, had been sentenced in secret to three years in prison, Radio Free Asia has learned.

Fang went incommunicado after a Feb. 1, 2020, livestream from Wuhan healthcare facilities, and made a couple more videos in the days that followed about his interrogation by police, before falling silent for three years, with no news of his fate.

He was among a number of high-profile bloggers who tried to report on the emerging and little-understood viral outbreak from Wuhan. His report also described the pandemic as a “man-made” disaster, calling on people to resist government “tyranny.”

Fang’s family was notified by police that he will be released from prison on April 30, said a person familiar with the case who declined to be identified for reasons of personal safety.

“Fang Bin was sentenced in secret by the Jiang’an District People’s Court to more than three years’ imprisonment,” the person said. “The family hasn’t received any legal documents or a copy of the judgment, however … and they don’t know the nature of the charges.”

ENG_CHN_COVIDWhistleblower_04182023.img02.png — Feng Bin’s final YouTube video published before his arrest features this handwritten note, urging the people of China to resist. Credit: RFA screenshot from YouTube

Fang had served his sentence in the Xiaojunshan former juvenile correctional center in Wuhan’s Jiangxia district, the source said.

“He may have been held in solitary confinement for more than three years,” the person said.

The presiding judge who sentenced Fang, surnamed Lian, declined to comment when contacted by the person to enquire about the case, saying only: “How dare you ask about this kind of thing?” before hanging up, the source said.

“Friends of the family have said Fang Bin will likely go to live with his relatives after his release, and the police told the family to prepare for that,” the person said.

‘Disaster of the century’

Wuhan resident Wang Xiaohua said Fang had reported on “the disaster of the century” through his live-streamed video reports to the rest of the world during the Wuhan lockdown.

Fang had been reporting from the Wuhan No. 5 Hospital and a funeral home in Wuchang, part of the three-city conurbation that makes up Wuhan, at the time, and watched staff move out eight dead bodies in the space of five minutes, his video report showed.

ENG_CHN_COVIDWhistleblower_04182023.img03.jpg — Covid-19 coronavirus patients lie on hospital beds in the lobby of the Chongqing No. 5 People’s Hospital. Credit: AFP

“He was the first to make a video saying publicly that the Chinese Communist Party’s authoritarian rule had given rise to the outbreak,” Wang said. “He launched a nationwide citizen journalism effort, and let people see the dead bodies in the hospital, counting them, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight — it was shocking.”

Fang’s disappearance came a few days after the detention of another citizen journalist, Chen Qiushi, who had been interviewing people around the new mega hospitals being thrown up at great speed in Wuhan.

Fellow citizen journalist Kcriss Li continued reporting from the scene for a few more weeks after that, until his dramatic, live-streamed chase by police on Feb. 26.

Lawyer-turned-reporter Zhang Zhan was detained and taken back to Shanghai, where there are ongoing concerns about her health in prison following months of on-off hunger-striking and forced feeding.

The U.S. The Congressional-Executive Commission on China called for Fang’s release in its annual report last November, along with all those detained for reporting on the pandemic in China.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

April 18, 2023

Did the Chinese military launch missiles into Taiwan’s airspace?

In Brief

The Chinese military held three days of exercises from April 8-10 near Taiwan in apparent response to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s April 5 meeting with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy during her stop in the United States.

These war games, which Beijing described as a warning to pro-independence forces on Taiwan and their foreign allies, were accompanied by the spread of misinformation that exaggerated the extent of Chinese military actions and the degree of instability across the Taiwan Strait.

These claims fanned speculation on Chinese social media platforms that an invasion of Taiwan was imminent – claims that Asia Fact Check Lab found to be false.

In Depth

On the morning of April 8, @IndoPac Info, a Twitter account with more than 117,000 followers, cited Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense as saying that 71 Chinese planes had crossed the median line – an unofficial buffer line in the middle of the Taiwan Strait – as part of China’s exercises aimed at “encircling” the island.

The post came at the start of the “United Sword” military exercises, which included flying bombers over the Taiwan Strait, firing shells from Chinese warships and practicing the enactment of a blockade of the island. China has never renounced the use of force to take back democratically-ruled Taiwan, which it views as part of its territory, and has routinely held drills in the Strait in apparent attempts to show it is ready to carry out those threats.

The war games came right after the April 5 meeting between Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and U.S House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California.

The April 8 tweet, written in English, included a map that purportedly showed Chinese forces encircling Taiwan, with warship icons surrounding the island on the north, east and south.

Red and yellow dots marked amphibious staging areas on the island and live-fire exercise areas in nearby waters, respectively; red arrows tracked potential invasion routes. More Twitter users, including several with verified accounts, reposted the map and repeated that Taiwan was encircled by People’s Liberation Army, or PLA, forces.

The map soon spread across Chinese-language platforms. For example, one netizen posted a copy on Weibo, with the comment that “Taiwan’s army announces that it will fire on those who cross the middle line [of the Taiwan Strait]. [Chinese forces have] not only surpassed, but already surrounded.”

Who created the map?

AFCL found that the map tweeted by @IndoPac_Info was originally published by the U.K.’s Daily Mail in August 2022, as part of a report on Chinese drills conducted around Taiwan following then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island. The accompanying caption explained that the map showed areas where Chinese troops were likely to land if Beijing were to invade Taiwan.

The difference between @IndoPac_Info’s tweet (left) and the original Daily Mail photo (right) is that the latter clearly notes: “This graphic shows areas Chinese troops are likely to launch from and where in Taiwan they are likely to land if Beijing did launch an invasion.”

But @IndoPac_Info cut out the caption, along with the name of the designer and “Mailonline” from the map’s lower left corner. This use of the map out of context, together with the post’s urgent tone, contributed to an impression that the actions on the map were taking place then.

On April 9, U.S. cybersecurity expert Jackie Singh wrote a post how the, claiming that @IndoPac_Info and other Twitter accounts posting similar messages (termed super-spreaders by Singh) were acting in a coordinated effort aimed to spread fear that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan was imminent.

Singh noted that the superspreader tweets shared some similarities: close timing of postings, use of phrases such as “fully encircled” or “completely encircled” and of other alarmist language about the military exercises; assignment of blame directly or indirectly to U.S. President Joe Biden or Nancy Pelosi for the Chinese drills; and claims by the user to be in Taiwan or to know Taiwanese who were “afraid.”

Lev Nachman, an assistant professor at the National Chengchi University in Taipei, also sought to dispel the misinformation, noting that the Daily Mail map was an “old image” that did not represent the current military exercises.

Was Taiwan planning to fire on any Chinese vessels that crossed the center line?

Taiwan’s Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng said during a question-and-answer session at the legislature on April 6 that Taiwan continues to maintain the integrity of the median, or center, line. Chiu noted that despite China’s efforts to blur the center line last year, Taiwan would continue to “resist” and “evict” any Chinese military aircraft and warships that cross the line.

Chiu also clarified that Taiwanese forces would only open fire on enemy ships that breach Taiwan’s territorial space. This space begins 12 nautical miles (22.2 km) from Taiwan’s coast, which is much closer in than the center line, located 24 nautical miles (44.4 kilometers) from Taiwan’s coast at the narrowest point.

In fact, during the recent round of Chinese drills, dozens of PLA aircraft were reported to have crossed the center line, and about 20 ships from the Chinese and Taiwanese militaries to have engaged in a standoff near the center line—but without resulting in any serious confrontations.

Did Chinese missiles violate Taiwanese airspace?

A day after the misleading reports broke on Twitter, another post entitled “The CCP military’s missiles violated [Taiwan’s] airspace, yet the Ministry of National Defense is still sleeping?!” appeared on the Taiwanese Internet forum PTT.

The author of the post claimed that the information about a Chinese missile launch had first been released in Japan, and that a Japanese friend had provided the trajectory map of the missiles to the author. “Are you going to wait until [the missiles] fall to issue an air defense alarm?” the post asked. “The Ministry of National Defense is really running a fraud syndicate.”

Compare the altered PTT chart (left) with the chart published by the Japanese Defense Ministry on August 4, 2022 (right), which detailed the presumed trajectory of missiles launched by China during its military exercises last year.

AFCL found through an online search that the map appeared to be an altered version of one released by the Japanese Ministry of Defense in August 2022. That map was part of a ministry report about a series of missile launches by Beijing on Aug. 4 last year in response to U.S. Speaker Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. Tokyo protested at the time that five of the missiles had landed in its exclusive economic zone.

During April’s wargames, a Chinese amphibious landing ship fired missiles near Taiwan’s Matsu Island, and multiple PLA units carried out simulated joint precision strikes against specific targets on Taiwan and nearby waters—the first time China is believed to have carried out such an exercise. But unlike last August, there were no media or government reports of missiles encroaching on Taiwan airspace.

Many Taiwanese netizens questioned the credibility of the PTT post, with some attaching the original Japanese map and asking “why are the landing points on this map similar to the last?” The PTT board administrator quickly labeled the post as “pending verification” due to a lack of credible sources to verify its claims, the similarity between the two maps, and the fact that the account was only recently activated.

Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense subsequently issued a news release confirming that the PTT post was “fake news.”

Was China behind the misinformation campaign?

Identifying which, if any, state actor or actors are behind an online misinformation campaign is challenging, if not impossible, and this recent case is no exception.

Singh, the cybersecurity expert, noted that the original English-language tweeter @IndoPac_Info is self-described as “anti-China” with a bio that uses the term “multipolarity.” That term, which originated with Russian philosopher Aleksandr Dugin, is “strongly suggestive of Russian influence,” according to Singh.

Addressing the PTT post on missiles, Taiwan’s defense ministry said it did not rule out that the post could be part of the enemy’s “combat tactics” aimed at “deliberately undermining the public’s support of and confidence in the military”—a potential reference to China.

Chinese authorities did release a number of official videos and images during the drills that apparently sought to convey a message of threat and intimidation. On April 9, China Central Television, or CCTV, released a 10-second animation of a simulated joint precision strike against Taiwan by the PLA Eastern Theater Command, showing multiple missiles hitting the island and surrounding waters. The same day, the Chinese state-run Global Times ran an article about the PLA’s “encirclement drills” along with a screenshot from the video; Pakistan-based Chinese diplomat Zhang Heqing then tweeted the same screenshot along with a link to the article.

CCTV released an animated video of a missile attack on Taiwan. Zhang Heping, a Chinese diplomat based in Pakistan, tweeted a screenshot from the video showing explosions in the north and south of Taiwan . [Photo from Zhang Heqing’s Twitter account]

Conclusion

AFCL found that while Chinese wargames targeting Taiwan had involved blockade simulations and live fire exercises, there was no evidence that Chinese forces had launched missiles into its airspace as part of the drills or that an invasion of Taiwan was ever imminent.

In this case, cybersecurity experts, political scientists and government agencies helped to combat the spread of such coordinated misinformation. Even so, the tweets and retweets of the altered maps still accumulated millions of views and magnified fears at a time of heightened tension across the Taiwan Strait.

As many of the misleading Twitter posts on the Chinese military exercises have yet to be removed or modified, AFCL reminds readers to always approach any alarmist reports on current events with a questioning, critical eye.

Translated by Shen Ke. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

April 18, 2023

Philips and MIT IMES develop enhanced critical care data set to give researchers and educators access to advance clinical understanding and AI in healthcare

April 18, 2023

Latest clinical data set of 200,000 patients from over 200 hospitals, includes pandemic data for a broader and dependable foundation for machine learning

Amsterdam, the Netherlands and Cambridge, MA, USA – Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a health technology provider, today announced an expansion of its initiative with the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to allow health care researchers access to a new critical care data set to help advance machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare. The updated eICU Collaborative Research Database (eICU-CRD) includes de-identified data of 200,000 critical care patients, including patients who were impacted by COVID-19. The broader and clinically dependable data set will support the development of solutions that improve patient care and clinical outcomes.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, eICU and critical care saw a dramatic increase of patients and unique challenges in the way that care was provided, prompting Philips and IMES to expand the original data set, first released in 2016. The new secure database includes de-identified and detailed clinical information such as vital signs, pharmacy and medication orders, laboratory results, diagnoses, and novel severity of illness scores. The dataset gives comprehensive insights on patient treatments, co-morbidities, readmissions, and clinical outcomes.

Researchers at Philips and the Laboratory of Computational Physiology within IMES will grant researchers around the world access to the data to help develop advanced algorithms and provide new insights on critical care. The Laboratory of Computational Physiology will continue to serve as the academic research hub for the initiative and will provide and maintain access, as well as help educate researchers on the database and offer a platform for collaboration. The database is available for medical research, to those who are credentialed, who take human subjects training, and who agree to a data use agreement.

“The database, which includes patient information from 2020 and 2021, now contains significant overlap with the Covid-19 pandemic, yielding valuable patient data for research,” said Leo Anthony Celi, principal research scientist and clinical research director at the Laboratory of Computational Physiology at IMES. “This updated database is a vital resource for education, including in many courses at institutions like Harvard, MIT and Stanford; and training, as well as low-resource institutions,” said Jesse D. Raffa, research scientist in the Lab for Computational Physiology at IMES.

The eICU-CRD is the only dataset containing detailed critical care data from over 200 hospitals across the U.S., representing many ‘real-world’ challenges for successful deployment of algorithms and models, which are often not readily apparent in single-center datasets. Unlike other organizations that do not share data or only share single source data sets, Philips shares its data with credentialled researchers to help advance AI for improving outcomes in human health. More than 3,000 users have used the original database with citations in over 660 published academic research papers, including in Nature, The New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of the American Medical Association.

“This initiative demonstrates our commitment to advancing machine learning and AI efforts, by making eICU data available for global research initiatives,” said Shiv Gopalkrishnan, General Manager of EMR & Care Management at Philips. “This is how we can enhance patient care and improve clinical outcomes: liberating and connecting data across systems and applications with integrated devices, systems and informatics, which can inform research with patient insights that can help clinicians make the right decision at the right time for their patients.”

For further information, please contact:

Silvie Casanova
Philips North America
Tel.+1 781 879 0692
E-mail: silvie.casanova@philips.com

Anna Hogrebe
Philips Global Press Office
Tel.: +1 416 270 6757
E-mail: anna.hogrebe@philips.com

Mindy Blodgett
MIT IMES
Tel.+1 617 324 4019
E-mail: mblodget@mit.edu

About Royal Philips
Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company focused on improving people’s health and well-being through meaningful innovation. Philips’ patient- and people-centric innovation leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver personal health solutions for consumers and professional health solutions for healthcare providers and their patients in the hospital and the home. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, ultrasound, image-guided therapy, monitoring and enterprise informatics, as well as in personal health. Philips generated 2022 sales of EUR 17.8 billion and employs approximately 77,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. News about Philips can be found at www.philips.com/newscenter.

About IMES
The Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is an inclusive community of students, administrative staff, research staff, and faculty who research, work, educate, and learn, at the convergence of engineering, science, and medicine to transform human health for all. More about IMES can be found at imes.mit.edu.

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A researcher reviews patient data

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April 18, 2023

Fortinet Joins the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC) to Continue Strengthening U.S. Cybersecurity Resiliency

JCDC will benefit from Fortinet’s in-depth cybersecurity expertise and industry-leading threat intelligence from FortiGuard Labs

SUNNYVALE, Calif., April 18, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) —

Ken Xie, Founder, Chairman of the Board, and Chief Executive Officer at Fortinet
“Fortinet is honored to become a member of JCDC to build on our existing collaboration and trusted relationship with the U.S. government to help improve our nation’s cybersecurity. Fortinet has a long track record of supporting mission-critical public-private partnerships and we look forward to collaborating with JCDC and sharing our expertise in cybersecurity, our broad visibility into threat activity, and the actionable threat intelligence we generate. We applaud the work JCDC has accomplished to forge cross sector collaboration since their founding in 2021 and look forward to helping JCDC mature its capabilities and contribute to building the United States’ cyber resiliency.”

News Summary
Fortinet® (NASDAQ: FTNT), the global cybersecurity leader driving the convergence of networking and security, today announced it has become a member of the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC), furthering the company’s commitment to strengthening the United States’ security posture and cybersecurity resilience. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) established JCDC in 2021 to bring together public and private entities with the goal to gather, analyze and share actionable information to more proactively protect and defend against cyber threats. These types of collaborative efforts help build systemic resilience by both coordinating incident response and by addressing vulnerabilities and other cyber risks before they are exploited.

Fortinet will work with JCDC to leverage the company’s more than 20 years of cybersecurity leadership and expertise, including actionable threat research from FortiGuard Labs, Fortinet’s elite threat intelligence and research organization established in 2005. FortiGuard Labs continuously monitors the worldwide attack surface using mature artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technology to neutralize events and issue actionable updates.

Fortinet will share this timely and actionable threat intelligence and cyber best practices with the JCDC community to prevent risks and mitigate the greatest cyber threats and vulnerabilities faced by the United States and its international partners. This collaboration further expands Fortinet’s long-standing commitment to cross-industry and cross-sector partnerships with organizations such as Interpol and the World Economic Forum’s Centre for Cybersecurity to help combat today’s most pressing cyber challenges and to disrupt cybercrime.

About Fortinet
Fortinet (NASDAQ: FTNT) is a driving force in the evolution of cybersecurity and the convergence of networking and security. Our mission is to secure people, devices, and data everywhere, and today we deliver cybersecurity everywhere you need it with the largest integrated portfolio of over 50 enterprise-grade products. Well over half a million customers trust Fortinet’s solutions, which are among the most deployed, most patented, and most validated in the industry. The Fortinet Training Institute, one of the largest and broadest training programs in the industry, is dedicated to making cybersecurity training and new career opportunities available to everyone. FortiGuard Labs, Fortinet’s elite threat intelligence and research organization, develops and utilizes leading-edge machine learning and AI technologies to provide customers with timely and consistently top-rated protection and actionable threat intelligence. Learn more at https://www.fortinet.com, the Fortinet Blog, and FortiGuard Labs.

About the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative 
Pursuant to new authority from Congress, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) established JCDC in August 2021 to transform traditional public-private partnerships into real-time private-public operational collaboration and shift the paradigm from reacting to threats and vulnerabilities to proactively planning and taking steps to mitigate them. JCDC combines the visibility, insight, and innovation of the private sector with the capabilities and authorities of the federal cyber ecosystem to collectively drive down cyber risk to the nation at scale. Learn more about JCDC at CISA.gov/JCDC.

FTNT-O

Copyright © 2023 Fortinet, Inc. All rights reserved. The symbols ® and denote respectively federally registered trademarks and common law trademarks of Fortinet, Inc., its subsidiaries and affiliates. Fortinet’s trademarks include, but are not limited to, the following: Fortinet, the Fortinet logo, FortiGate, FortiOS, FortiGuard, FortiCare, FortiAnalyzer, FortiManager, FortiASIC, FortiClient, FortiCloud, FortiMail, FortiSandbox, FortiADC, FortiAI, FortiAIOps, FortiAntenna, FortiAP, FortiAPCam, FortiAuthenticator, FortiCache, FortiCall, FortiCam, FortiCamera, FortiCarrier, FortiCASB, FortiCentral, FortiConnect, FortiController, FortiConverter, FortiCWP, FortiDB, FortiDDoS, FortiDeceptor, FortiDeploy, FortiDevSec, FortiEdge, FortiEDR, FortiExplorer, FortiExtender, FortiFirewall, FortiFone, FortiGSLB, FortiHypervisor, FortiInsight, FortiIsolator, FortiLAN, FortiLink, FortiMoM, FortiMonitor, FortiNAC, FortiNDR, FortiPenTest, FortiPhish, FortiPlanner, FortiPolicy, FortiPortal, FortiPresence, FortiProxy, FortiRecon, FortiRecorder, FortiSASE, FortiSDNConnector, FortiSIEM, FortiSMS, FortiSOAR, FortiSwitch, FortiTester, FortiToken, FortiTrust, FortiVoice, FortiWAN, FortiWeb, FortiWiFi, FortiWLC, FortiWLM and FortiXDR. Other trademarks belong to their respective owners. Fortinet has not independently verified statements or certifications herein attributed to third parties and Fortinet does not independently endorse such statements. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary herein, nothing herein constitutes a warranty, guarantee, contract, binding specification or other binding commitment by Fortinet or any indication of intent related to a binding commitment, and performance and other specification information herein may be unique to certain environments.

Media Contact:	Investor Contact:	Analyst Contact:
Stephanie Lira Fortinet, Inc. 408-235-7700 pr@fortinet.com	Peter Salkowski Fortinet, Inc. 408-331-4595 psalkowski@fortinet.com	Brian Greenberg Fortinet, Inc. 408-235-7700 analystrelations@fortinet.com

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April 18, 2023

Philips Future Health Index 2023 global report: healthcare leaders focused on addressing staff shortages, with the support of more AI investments

April 18, 2023

Healthcare leaders are heavily investing in AI or plan to do so for both critical decision support and operational efficiency, helping tackle staff shortages
Largest global survey of its kind shows healthcare leaders continue to recognize virtual care as key to bringing care closer to patients, wherever they are

Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and Chicago, USA – Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a global leader in health technology, today announced the results of its Future Health Index (FHI) 2023 report: Taking healthcare everywhere. Unveiled at HIMSS23, the eighth annual FHI 2023 global report shows healthcare leaders are increasingly prepared to invest in AI, recognize the opportunity virtual care offers to bring care closer to patients, and acknowledge the importance of building partnerships to improve care.

“Post Covid, demand for healthcare services has increased, but there are fewer healthcare professionals available to serve this growing number of patients. This year’s report shows healthcare leaders are prepared to invest in AI to alleviate this pressure on their workforce,” said Shez Partovi, Chief Innovation & Strategy Officer and Business Leader of Enterprise Informatics at Philips. “In order to genuinely relieve that burden, it’s essential that new AI capabilities are interoperable and embedded into clinical and operational workflows.”

Tackling staff shortages with digital innovation and automation
Planned investments in AI over the next three years show the biggest increase in critical decision support (39% in 2023, up from 24% in 2021). This was a top choice among cardiology (50%) and radiology (48%) leaders. The percentage of healthcare leaders planning to invest in AI for operational efficiency, including automating documentation, scheduling patients, and performing routine tasks, remained steady at 37%.

Bringing care closer to the patient, expanding access points and convenience
With moving care to new settings a key contributor to reducing staffing pressure, 70% of all respondents say virtual care has had the biggest impact on improving patient care or will in the next three years. The report also shows virtual care is moving into more areas of care, meeting patients where they are. 82% of healthcare leaders say that their facility currently provides intensive or critical care supported virtually (41%) or plans to in the next three years (41%). Virtual care also plays a vital role in attracting and retaining talent, with 44% of younger healthcare professionals indicating new care delivery models that connect different care settings are a top priority when choosing where to work.

Partnering across the healthcare ecosystem to expand the reach of care
One in three (34%) healthcare leaders are building partnerships outside their healthcare system to be able to provide the best possible care. Among their top choices of current partners are diagnostic imaging or screening centers (28%), ambulatory care centers (23%), emergency medical centers (23%), and retailers or pharmacies (22%) – all of which can also help in bringing care closer to the patient.

The FHI 2023 report is based on proprietary research among nearly 3,000 healthcare leaders and younger healthcare professionals conducted in 14 countries. To access the report, visit Future Health Index 2023.

For further information, please contact:

Meredith Amoroso
Philips Global Press Office
Tel.: +1 724-584-8991
E-mail: meredith.amoroso@philips.com

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April 18, 2023

Iveco Group inaugurates its new plant in Foggia and returns to producing buses in Italy

IVECO GROUP N.V.

20230418_Inaugurazione IVECO BUS Foggia – da sin Gerrit Marx Adolfo Urso Domenico Nucera Michele Emiliano

Turin, 18^th April 2023. IVECO BUS, the urban, intercity and tourism bus brand of Iveco Group N.V. (MI: IVG), inaugurated today its new Foggia plant dedicated to the production of zero- and low-emission buses, in front of public authorities, trade union representatives, customers, suppliers and partners.

Adolfo Urso, Minister for Business and Made in Italy, and Michele Emiliano, President of the Puglia Region, attended the event. Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, Minister of the Environment and Energy Security, sent a video message.

According to the industrial plan, at full speed the new facility will employ 100 highly specialised people working lines equipped with the most advanced Industry 4.0 technologies. The production volume of the plant will be 1,000 vehicles per year: high-tech buses with zero-emission propulsion (battery electric and hydrogen electric) and low-emission propulsion (methane/biomethane, traditional fuels and biofuels).

The plant emits zero net CO₂ emissions. 100% of its energy comes from renewable sources, including over 1,000 photovoltaic panels that produce 640 MWh per year. The entire project focuses on reducing energy consumption and recycling, making use of high-performance construction materials, Intelligent LED lighting and rainwater reuse.

Iveco Group is already present in Foggia with its FPT Industrial plant for the production of industrial engines and 1,600 employees, which make this one the largest industrial establishments in Puglia. The investment in the new plant of approximately 40 million euros – that will be partially offset by funds from the PNRR, the National Recovery and Resilience Plan ‒ is strategic and puts two pillars of the PNRR into practice: “Green revolution and ecological transition” and “Infrastructure for sustainable mobility”.

The inauguration of the new plant comes just eight months after the first stone was laid and less than a year after IVECO BUS announced its intention to return to producing buses in Italy. Through this “Sustainable Enhancement of the Italian Bus Supply Chain” project, IVECO BUS is contributing to the energy and ecological transition process for public transport in Italy, ensuring as well as the acquisition of new technologies for the country. In addition to Foggia, the project involves other Iveco Group sites and Italian suppliers: the Research and Development activity related to zero-emission propulsions and battery production is being conducted at the Turin site of FPT Industrial ‒ the Group’s powertrain technology brand ‒ and the completion of the bus production that will take place in the new Foggia plant will utilise components (from seats to information technology systems) provided by the Italian supply chain.

Gerrit Marx, CEO, Iveco Group, said: “The new IVECO BUS plant in Foggia represents an important investment for Iveco Group, which is fully in line with our strategy to maintain and strengthen our presence in Italy at centres of excellence like our historic engine plant in Foggia. It is therefore with pride and pleasure that today we concretely mark the return of our bus production to Italy. In this way, we will provide the Italian public transport sector with our most technologically advanced and environmentally sustainable vehicles”.

Iveco Group N.V. (MI: IVG) is the home of unique people and brands that power your business and mission to advance a more sustainable society. The eight brands are each a major force in its specific business: IVECO, a pioneering commercial vehicles brand that designs, manufactures, and markets heavy, medium, and light-duty trucks; FPT Industrial, a global leader in a vast array of advanced powertrain technologies in the agriculture, construction, marine, power generation, and commercial vehicles sectors; IVECO BUS and HEULIEZ, mass-transit and premium bus and coach brands; IDV, for highly-specialised defence and civil protection equipment; ASTRA, a leader in large-scale heavy-duty quarry and construction vehicles; MAGIRUS, the industry-reputed firefighting vehicle and equipment manufacturer; and IVECO CAPITAL, the financing arm which supports them all. Iveco Group employs more than 35,000 people around the world and has 26 manufacturing plants and 29 R&D centres. Further information is available on the Company’s website www.ivecogroup.com

Media Contacts:
Francesco Polsinelli, Mob: +39 335 1776091
Fabio Lepore, Mob: +39 335 7469007
E-mail: mediarelations@ivecogroup.com

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