After a boost last year, the worldwide growth in IT spending will settle down to about 3 percent this year. That's a key takeaway from a new forecast by industry research firm Gartner.

Thin Film Electronics ASA, a player in development of printed electronics, and Bemis Company Inc., a Fortune 500 supplier of flexible packaging and pressure-sensitive materials, plan to develop a flexible sensing platform that can collect and wirelessly communicate sensor information, for use by food, consumer products and healthcare companies.

In the '90s, ERP officially became a technology market segment challenging MRP, accounting and financial-only package sales. At the time, companies worried that they would confront major replacement challenges when their business changed, grew or (most often) new and better technologies came along, making a compelling argument and value opportunity to replace and migrate upward.

Emerging market multinationals are struggling to build effective international management teams as they grapple with cultural differences, conflicting internal perceptions of talent management, difficulties in balancing global and local talent, and a lack of a reliable leadership pipeline.

Lufthansa Cargo reduced CO2 emissions by more than 700 tonnes through the use of lightweight containers in May and June alone. For the first time, more than half of the standard containers utilised for freight and baggage transports were made from light composite materials. By reducing weight, the composite materials lower fuel consumption and carbon emissions.

This spring, President Obama said he had "good news" to report: Lost American jobs are returning to the U.S. "For a lot of businesses, it's now starting to make sense to bring jobs back home." In trumpeting this "reshoring" of jobs from abroad, the administration points to employers, including General Electric and Caterpillar, that have shifted some manufacturing to the U.S. The president also cited an April online survey by Boston Consulting Group showing that 37 percent of manufacturers with sales of more than $1bn and almost half of those with more than $10bn "plan to or are actively considering bringing back production from China to the U.S." Yet there's little data to back up claims of a reshoring rush.

Business uses for YouTube, Facebook and Twitter are fast catching up to the leisure uses that have been their primary raison d'etre so far, and usage of LinkedIn, which was created as a business tool, keeps soaring.

Sealed Air Corporation and Ecovative Design LLC say they are accelerating production, sales and distribution of Ecovative's EcoCradle Mushroom Packaging, a technology for environmentally responsible packaging materials made from agricultural byproducts and mycelium, or "mushroom roots."

The European Parliament overwhelmingly defeated an international anti-piracy trade agreement after concern that it would limit internet freedom sparked street protests in cities across Europe. The vote - 39 in favor, 478 against, with 165 abstentions - appeared to deal the death blow to the European Union's participation in a treaty it helped negotiate, though other countries may still participate without the EU.