FasterCures' Executive Director to Participate in Trade & Travel's Tech Accelerator

WASHINGTON, Aug. 6, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Trade & Travel (T&T) announced that Ms. Esther Krofah, Executive Director of FasterCures, a center of the Milken Institute focused on accelerating biomedical innovation, will participate in its inaugural technology accelerator program as a "Leading Voice." Krofah will provide critical context on the status of COVID-19 vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics to T&T's cohort of technology companies focused on enhancing passenger screening and safety in the trade and travel industries.

Across the globe, government and industry leaders are developing new requirements for the trade and travel industries. As a "Leading Voice" participant, Ms. Krofah's will assist T&T's cohort companies in understanding the current state of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics, and provide guidance on how to navigate this environment.

"It is critical for leaders in the travel and tourism industry to understand the evolving landscape of possible vaccines and treatments for COVID-19, a global crisis that is reshaping society," said Krofah, a noted expert in the development of vaccines and treatments. "I am eager to share my insights with this group, and hear from travel and tourism leaders about what it's going to take to leverage the groundbreaking medical innovations that will save lives and help our economy recover."

In May, Dcode and Pangiam announced their commercial partnership to de-risk and accelerate emerging tech companies that can advance trade and travel. Trade & Travel combines Dcode's proven go-to-market acceleration strategy with Pangiam's decades of expertise in security and innovation in the U.S. government and trade and travel industries.

Patrick Flanagan, CEO of Pangiam stated, "Historically, innovation in the trade and travel industries has been defined by security and a need to meet a growing demand. While those opportunities remain, there is an urgent need to address the current public health challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. We are excited to have Esther joining us as a 'Leading Voice' to provide the health expertise that will help our companies solve these challenges."

Meagan Metzger, CEO of Dcode, said, "FasterCures' participation adds a vital public health perspective to the programming for our inaugural Trade & Travel accelerator. With Esther's participation, Trade & Travel can provide a holistic experience for companies entering these highly regulated industries, embodying Dcode and Pangiam's vision to help emerging tech improve these spaces with a focus on public health, security, safety, and more."

The coronavirus outbreak highlights an urgent need for passenger screening technology that can mitigate the impact of global crises and support the travel industry's ability to adapt safely and swiftly to emerging threats. Particularly in health crises, existing collaboration in threat detection, data analytics and movement, contact tracing, rapid detection and diagnostics, and emergency response deployments struggles to keep pace with the virulence of pandemics, compounding global health exposure. This public-private partnership problem leaves the trade and travel industries with significant financial burden and public exposure, and no clear solutions.

T&T's inaugural program on passenger screening and safety kicks off August 11th and focuses on bringing some of the world's most promising technologies to leading brands in these industries, with the goals of expediting the safe and efficient resumption of travel and leveraging technology to better protect the global trade and travel ecosystems in the future.

About Trade & Travel "Leading Voices"

Trade & Travel invites senior leaders across industry and government to participate in its technology cohorts, speaking to its companies and learning about their technical capabilities, in order to advance its mission of helping emerging technology firms accelerate rapidly into the trade and travel industries. Leading Voice participants have a vested interest in the policies governing the trade and travel industry. Leading Voice participants represent government and nongovernmental stakeholders who advance the legislative and regulatory goals of the trade and travel industries. T&T works with each Leading Voice participant to determine the appropriate level of engagement in the T&T program.

About Dcode

Dcode connects the tech industry and government to drive commercial innovation in the federal market. Dcode has worked with more than 100 tech companies and hundreds of government organizations, driving more than 200 new implementations of commercial technology in government and millions in federal contracts. Visit dcode.co to learn more.

About Pangiam

Pangiam is a public-private partnership company creating a network of industry partners aimed at revolutionizing the future of operations, security, and safety at airports, seaports, and land border crossings through the use of emerging technology. As a team of customs and security professionals with over 50 years of experience at senior levels of the U.S. government, Pangiam has an intimate understanding of the security, facilitation, and disaster response challenges and aspirations of governments and industry leaders around the world.

About FasterCures

With an independent voice, FasterCures is working to build a system that is effective, efficient, and driven by a clear vision: working with our partners to build a patient-centric system where science is accelerated, unnecessary barriers are overcome, and lifesaving and life-enhancing treatments get to those who need them as rapidly as possible.

SOURCE Trade & Travel