Cambridge-based Latitude News is a global Website with a mission is to make what’s going on in the world relevant to what’s happening in the US.   It’s a sort of  “local global mashup” in which writers and editors produce stories that are ” fresh, relevant and crying out to be told,” says founder and veteran BBC journalist Maria Balinska.

Recent examples include :

• Texans Victims to Algerian Hostage Crisis?
• Do Casinos Prey on Asian Americans?
• In Turkey The Simpsons and Game of Thrones Are Blasphemy

Balinska points out that Latitude News stories have  been featured in the Christian Science Monitor, the Week, Mental Floss, Marketplace, Hoy and the BBC.  And PRX (the Public Radio Exchange, another Cambridge-based outfit) commissioned a series of monthly podcasts last summer.

Latitude News recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund production of  a weekly audio program, The Local Global Mashup Show,  that, Balinska says,  “will give you the inside edge on the stories that connect Americans with the world.”   It’s an ambitious project, Balinksa adds,  in part because it proposes to use  a subscription model in order to become a sustainable business.

For more info or to donate and receive a reward,  go to the Latitude News  Kickstarter page  before February 15.

–Anita M. Harris

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, a collaborative team of experts in public relations, content marketing and new media services.

UK-based Alacrita, a global life science consulting firm with consultants worldwide, will soon be opening an office in Cambridge, MA, according to Robert Johnson, who will head the office, here.

The company was co-founded two years ago by Anthony Walker, who had previously served as Executive Director of Global External R&D Europe at Eli Lilly,  and  by Johnson, who had led business development at Onyvax, a biotech company that developed biopharmaceuticals to combat cancer.

Drawing on the capabilities of more than 50 consultants worldwide, Alacrita  provides strategic, operational,  technical  advice or  hands-on project management to organizations of all sizes in  the pharma, biotechnology and life science industries, Johnson said.

According to the Alacrita Web site, clients may be academic institutes, tech transfer experts,  life science investors, startups  or  established companies in need of expertise in:

• Business development and marketing
• Intellectual property
• Product development
• Regulatory affairs

Recent whitepapers available on the  company Website   include:

• Biotech in Israel: A Land of Promise » May 2012 – by Anthony Walker, PhD
• FDA Approvals Provide Reason For Cheer » March 2012 – by Robert Johnson
• Deal Watch Annual Review 2011 » January 2012
• Viewpoint: Pharma Industry Myths » January 2012 – by Anthony Walker, PhD
• Europe’s stellar decade of prostate cancer innovation » September 2011 – by Rob Johnson
• Are we all biotech now? » June 2011 – by Anthony Walker and Rob Johnson
• China: Opportunities for biotech firms » March 2011 – by Rob Johnson and Li Zeng
• Re-Profiling: a Hidden Threat to Originators? » February 2011 – by Dr Jo Davies
• Deal Watch Annual Review 2010 » January 2011 – by Roger Davies and Jill Ogden
• Mitigating Out-sourcing Risk » December 2010 – by Robert Johnson and Anthony Walker
• Deal Watch: a Review of Notable Deals » October 2010 – by Sharon Finch

Alacrita’s US offices will be located in the Cambridge Innovation Center in Kendall Square.  The company name comes from the Latin, “alacritas,” or “lively.”  It is meant to convey “a cheerful readiness,” Johnson said.

–Anita M. Harris

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, an award-winning strategic public relations,  marketing communications and thought leadership firm in Cambridge, MA.