Panjiva has been selected as one of ten presenting companies for the annual MIT Sloan CIO Symposium’s Innovation Showcase, which connects the innovators creating next-generation technology—like Panjiva CTO and co-founder Jim Psota—with some of the most creative minds in Enterprise IT to discuss grounbreaking ideas and solutions.

A panel of judges selected Panjiva to partake in the Showcase due to its cutting edge platform that offers strong value and innovation to enterprises and other organizations.  Additionally, judges were impressed with Panjiva’s rapid growth and clientele of leading retailers, apparel makers and manufacturers.

“We are pleased to award these top ten Innovation Showcase finalists, as their technologies represent cutting edge solutions with strategic value,” said David L. Verrill, executive director of the MIT Center for Digital Business, and the co-chair of the Innovation Showcase.  “The Symposium provides these companies a foundation to demonstrate their solutions that are architecting the future of technology and creates an environment for valuable partnership opportunities.”

The Innovation Showcase will take place at 5:00 PM in the Kresge courtyard tent on Wednesday, May 22, 2013, at MIT, in Cambridge, MA. This event is part of the MIT CIO Symposium, the premier global event for CIOs and senior IT executives to become better business leaders. The annual event provides CIOs and senior IT executives with actionable information that enables them to meet the challenges of today’s changing global economy.

The full agenda of the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium is available at www.mitcio.com/agenda. For a full list of Innovation Showcase finalists visit http://www.mitcio.com/innovation.

Earlier this year Panjiva announced the addition of Latin American Trade data to the Panjiva platform, and we hinted that other data sets were on the way. We are very pleased to announce that we are now offering ChineseTrade Data through a unique partnership with Export to China (ETCN), a Chinese platform that helps international enterprises [trading with] China. Through this partnership, Panjiva now provides unparalleled insight into companies supplying goods from China to the rest of the world.

Panjiva’s work with ETCN is the first of its kind – and Panjiva’s integration of ETCN data is unique. With help from ETCN, we have integrated Chinese Trade Data into the 25+ other data sets that power Panjiva. It can be found within Panjiva company profiles, and panjiva subscribers can find companies ETCN-provided data by using Global Search. The data covers hundreds of thousands of companies operating in 17 industries, including textiles, apparel, furniture, autos and pharmaceuticals. This new data benefits buyers of all sizes, providing additional insight into existing trade-relationships as well as showing new companies previously unknown with the old customs-data universe.

Subscribers to Chinese Trade Data on Panjiva can now discover the following about cover Chinese suppliers:

• Shipments to and from every country around the world, including the U.S.
• Breakdown of the value of goods sent to each country
• Mode of transport, vessel, road, or air
• Enterprise type – state owned, private, and foreign invested

Chinese Trade Data is live on Panjiva, and accessible to members who have subscribed for access. Learn more about Chinese Trade Data and contact us to set up a demo. Panjiva’s mission is making it easier for companies of all sizes to do business across borders. We further the mission by bringing a whole new set of Chinese suppliers to Panjiva.

It looks like soft imports in August have made this a slightly less sweet Halloween.

Looking at year over year shipments for “halloween” related items, and “candy corns”, we see a softening:

The drop in candy corn imports to the US is especially severe, pointing to a true candy corn shortage.  We checked in with Boston-based candy corn connoisseur Martin Clinton, who confirmed the dip in candy corn availability:

“Candy corn has been getting harder to find over the last two years. This year has been even more noticeable, with the added frustration that Brach’s candy corn in particular, has been especially difficult to find. In the past, it’s been everywhere: different supermarkets chains, as well as CVS, which has traditionally been filled with bags candy corn – and it’s chocolate and pumpkin cousins. This year, the Brach’s has been gone by early October and replaced with the ersatz store brand candy corn, which just can’t compare.”

There you have it folks.   It’s a slightly less sweet Halloween this year.

h/t @martinclinton, our candy corn expert.

Next week, two interesting things are going to happen, one right after the other:

1. The candidates for president will argue about who’s going to be tougher on China.
2. Then, the next day, people will go nuts for the iPad Mini, a product that’s assembled in China.

In honor of this strange coincidence, we invite you to compete in the #ChinaChallenge.  Correctly guess the combined number of times the candidates say “China” or “Chinese” in Monday night’s debate, and you could win an iPad Mini — or whatever the device actually ends up being called.  Rules:

• NO PURCHASE NECESSARY.
• Guesses have to be in by 9 pm ET on Monday.
• To enter via Twitter, tweet your guess to @panjiva using #ChinaChallenge, so we know you’re not just tweeting random numbers at us.
• To enter via Weibo, message your guess to @磐聚网 using #总统竞选中国之战.
• You can also submit your guess by email (josh+cc@panjiva.com).
• One guess per person.
• If more than one person gets it right, we’ll draw from the metaphorical hat to see who gets the iPad Mini.  PwC won’t be watching, but we’ll be fair.  Promise.
• If no on gets it right, we’ll give the iPad Mini to the person whose guess was closest.
• We’ll pay for the Mini of your choice, but you’re responsible for any and all costs after the initial purchase.

Why are we doing this?

1. To have some fun.  (Since Panjivans aren’t eligible to win, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them turn this into a drinking game.)
2. To point out the absurdity of protectionism in a world as interconnected as ours.  Every four years, presidential candidates play the protectionism card, presuming consumers have no idea that trade enables us to have the stuff we love at the prices we want — or that trade gives businesses access to markets which are growing a lot faster than ours.  Ok, to be fair, the candidates may well be right that people don’t know the role that trade plays in our daily lives.  But what happens when one of the candidates becomes president and, as always seems to happen, wants to promote trade in an effort to bolster economic growth?  They’re going to find that the seeds of protectionism they planted during election season have left them without support for pro-trade initiatives.  Ok, hopping off the soapbox.  It’s Mini time.

Follow @panjiva or #ChinaChallenge during the debate on Monday night for a live (albeit unofficial) count.