Press Release
Ned Curic Highlights Customer-First Approach to Technology and Product Development
Stellantis technology executive emphasizes practical innovation, integrated engineering and the importance of building technology around real customer needs.
Illinois, CA, 4th September 2026, ZEX PR WIRE, As artificial intelligence, advanced computing and connected technologies become increasingly important to product development, Ned Curic believes the value of innovation should still be measured by a straightforward standard: whether it makes the product better for the person using it.
Curic, who is responsible for Product Development & Technology at Stellantis and is a member of the Stellantis Leadership Team, has spent his career working across engineering, software and automotive technology.
His approach places the customer at the center of technology decisions rather than treating new technology as an objective on its own.
“Technology only matters if it makes life better for people,” Curic has said.
The principle has become increasingly relevant as companies gain access to more powerful artificial intelligence, computing systems and development tools. The challenge is no longer simply whether a technology can be built or incorporated into a product. Companies must determine where it creates meaningful improvements for customers.
Building Technology Around the Product
For the automotive industry, that distinction is especially important.
Modern vehicles bring together mechanical engineering, electronics, computing, software, design, manufacturing and increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence. Customers, however, experience those individual technologies as one product.
Curic has publicly emphasized the importance of viewing the vehicle as a complete system rather than allowing any individual technology to become the product’s defining purpose.
That philosophy also influences how Stellantis approaches product development.
In February 2025, Stellantis integrated its software activities into the Product Development & Technology organization led by Curic. The company said the change was intended to streamline the process of bringing products and services to market across its brands and markets.
The organizational structure brings technologies that increasingly influence the customer experience closer to the broader engineering and product-development process.
Rather than separating software from the rest of vehicle development, the approach reflects the reality that customers ultimately judge how all parts of a vehicle work together.
From Technical Capability to Customer Value
The rapid development of artificial intelligence provides another example of the distinction between technical capability and practical value.
Stellantis has been exploring AI across areas including engineering, manufacturing, vehicle technology and customer interaction.
Curic has consistently framed those efforts around tangible results.
When Stellantis expanded its collaboration with Mistral AI in 2025, Curic said the companies were exploring applications of artificial intelligence that could enhance product development and the customer experience while delivering real benefits.
That focus places a higher standard on innovation than novelty alone.
A new technology may be technically impressive, but its long-term value depends on whether it can improve quality, simplify an experience, accelerate development, increase capability or address another genuine customer or business need.
The same principle applies as AI becomes a larger part of engineering and product-development workflows.
Technology can help teams analyze information, test ideas, improve development processes and create new experiences. The objective, however, remains the product rather than the technology used to create it.
Innovation Requires Integration
Curic’s perspective has been shaped by a career spanning several technology-intensive industries.
He began his career in Engineering Systems at Northrop Grumman in 1996 before joining Microsoft in 2000, where he held positions in consulting, product, security and advisory functions.
He entered the automotive industry in 2013 as Group Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Toyota Motor North America. In 2015, he became a co-founder of Toyota Connected, serving as Executive Vice President, Technical Director and Board Member.
Curic joined Amazon in 2017 as Vice President of Alexa Automotive, spearheading the company’s efforts in the automotive industry.
In August 2021, he joined Stellantis as Chief Technology Officer. His responsibilities later expanded to encompass engineering and research and development before Stellantis brought software activities into the Product Development & Technology organization in 2025.
Across those roles, Curic has worked in environments where multiple technologies, teams and disciplines must contribute to a single product or customer experience.
That experience underpins an approach to innovation based on integration rather than technology in isolation.
A Practical Standard for Emerging Technology
The number of technologies available to product-development organizations will continue to grow.
Artificial intelligence is advancing rapidly. Computing capability continues to increase. Development tools are becoming more sophisticated, and vehicles are incorporating increasingly complex electronics and connected functions.
For Curic, those developments do not change the fundamental purpose of technology.
The relevant questions remain practical ones: Does it improve the product? Does it make something easier for the customer? Does it solve a genuine problem? Does it enable an experience that people actually value?
Those questions can also help organizations distinguish lasting innovation from short-term technology trends.
The companies best positioned to benefit from emerging technologies may therefore be those that are most selective about how they use them—integrating technology where it improves the complete product rather than adding capability simply because it is available.
As the automotive industry continues to evolve, Curic’s approach keeps the emphasis on an outcome that is easy to understand even when the technology behind it is increasingly complex: building better products for the people who use them.
About Ned Curic
Ned Curic is responsible for Product Development & Technology at Stellantis and is a member of the Stellantis Leadership Team. He previously served as Vice President of Alexa Automotive at Amazon, Group Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Toyota Motor North America, and held roles in consulting, product, security and advisory functions at Microsoft. He began his career in Engineering Systems at Northrop Grumman.
Curic studied Informatics and Computer Science and received an MBA from Pepperdine University’s George L. Graziadio School of Business and Management in 2012.
For more information, visit NedCuric.com.
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Disclaimer: The views, suggestions, and opinions expressed here are the sole responsibility of the experts. No Digi Observer journalist was involved in the writing and production of this article.
Press Release
Karunamaya Vesna Blazhevska sets a personal challenge: seven days of small climate action
New York City, NY, 4th September 2026, ZEX PR WIRE, Karunamaya Vesna Blazhevska has worked within United Nations Sustainable Development communications since 2008. Her work involves helping large, complicated ideas about the environment and international cooperation reach ordinary readers. She has decided to turn some of that thinking into a short, practical challenge that anyone can try, using seven days as the frame.
The idea is simple. Each day points to one Sustainable Development Goal and one small action tied to it. Nothing on the list requires special equipment or money. Blazhevska says she designed it that way on purpose.
“Big goals get people excited for a week and then they quit,” she says. “I wanted something a person could actually keep doing after the challenge ends.”
The seven-day plan
Day 1, climate action. Skip one car or rideshare trip. Walk, bike, or take transit instead.
Day 2, affordable and clean energy. Unplug devices that sit idle overnight. Blazhevska points out that standby power adds up over a year, even if it feels small on any single day.
Day 3, quality education. Spend twenty minutes reading about one environmental topic you do not already understand well. She suggests picking something specific, like ocean plastic or soil health, rather than a broad subject.
Day 4, gender equality. Support or promote the work of a woman colleague or a woman-led project you respect. Blazhevska frames this as a habit of attention, not a one-time gesture.
Day 5, responsible consumption. Try one full meatless day. This is the piece of the challenge closest to her own life. She has been vegetarian since 1991, avoiding meat and fish while still eating cheese, eggs, and yogurt. “I’m not asking anyone to do what I do for thirty-five years,” she says. “I’m asking for one day, to see how it feels.”
Day 6, life below water. Cut back on single-use plastic for the day. Bring a reusable bottle or bag instead of a new one.
Day 7, peace. Have one respectful conversation with someone whose views differ from yours, without trying to change their mind. Blazhevska sees this as connected to her interest in harmony among different faiths and backgrounds. “Peace starts in small exchanges before it shows up anywhere bigger,” she says.
Why she built it around small steps
Blazhevska says her communications work has taught her that people respond to specifics, not slogans. A goal like “protect the climate” is hard to act on directly. Turning off a device or skipping a car trip is not.
She also says the challenge reflects something she has learned from her own long-standing habits. Her vegetarian diet has lasted more than three decades not because she set out to prove something, but because it became ordinary. She hopes the same happens with small climate habits: that they stop feeling like a challenge and become routine.
“None of these seven days ask for something dramatic,” she says. “They ask for something repeatable.”
How to take part
Blazhevska is encouraging people to pick any single day from the list and try it this week, rather than waiting to start all seven at once. She says starting small and staying consistent matters more than doing everything at once.
She also notes the challenge is meant to be shared informally, among coworkers, friends, or community groups, rather than tracked through any formal program. “The point isn’t a certificate,” she says. “The point is that seven habits are easier to keep than one big promise.”
To read the full interview, visit the website here.
About Karunamaya Vesna Blazhevska
Karunamaya Vesna Blazhevska is a Communications Assistant with the United Nations Department of Global Communications, based in New York City. She has worked there since 2008, with a focus on communication tied to sustainable development and international cooperation. She holds a degree in Economics from the Faculty of Economics in Skopje, part of Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in North Macedonia, and grew up in what was then Yugoslavia. She has been a vegetarian since 1991 and has a long-standing interest in spirituality, peace, and harmony among different faiths.
About Author
Disclaimer: The views, suggestions, and opinions expressed here are the sole responsibility of the experts. No Digi Observer journalist was involved in the writing and production of this article.
Press Release
Publishberry Launches AI-Powered Platform to Automate the Entire Blogging Workflow
New SaaS platform handles keyword research, content planning, SEO writing, visuals, and CMS publishing in one automated workflow
London, United Kingdom, 4th September 2026, ZEX PR WIRE— Publishberry, an AI-powered blogging and content automation platform, has launched to help businesses research, create, optimize, and publish high-quality blog content more consistently.

Publishberry brings the entire blogging workflow into one platform. After a user enters their website address, the software analyzes the site’s niche, audience, existing content, keyword footprint, and brand voice. It then identifies promising keyword opportunities and creates a tailored editorial calendar based on search demand, competitive gaps, seasonality, and ranking potential.
The platform produces long-form articles with structured headings, metadata, internal links, citations, and relevant visuals. Content can be reviewed and edited before publication, or businesses can enable autopilot to publish approved articles directly to their website according to a chosen schedule.
“Many businesses understand the value of content marketing but struggle to publish consistently,” said Uwe Dreissigacker, co-founder of Publishberry. “Publishberry was created to remove the operational work behind blogging. Instead of coordinating separate tools for research, planning, writing, images, optimization, and publishing, businesses can manage the entire process in one place.”
Uwe Dreissigacker brings nearly two decades of experience in the SEO and link-building industry to Publishberry. He also runs Linkhandy, where he provides bespoke link-building solutions designed to help SaaS and technology companies improve their organic search visibility.
Publishberry is designed for SaaS companies, startups, small businesses, marketing teams, bloggers, and agencies that want to grow organic traffic without building a large internal content operation. The platform can also help agencies manage content production across multiple clients or websites.
Key Publishberry capabilities include:
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Automated keyword research and competitor-gap analysis
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Semantic keyword clustering and opportunity prioritization
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Rolling content calendars based on the user’s publishing frequency
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Long-form articles written to match an existing brand voice
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SEO scoring, metadata, schema, citations, and internal linking
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AI-generated hero images and supporting visuals
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Editing, rewriting, approval, and team-review workflows
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Manual or fully automated CMS publishing
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Content-performance and keyword-rank tracking
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Support for WordPress, Webflow, Ghost, Shopify, HubSpot, Wix, Drupal, and custom integrations
Publishberry offers three monthly plans. Starter costs $49 per month and includes four articles, Growth costs $99 per month and includes 12 articles, and Scale costs $149 per month and includes 30 articles. A seven-day free trial is available without requiring a credit card.
About Publishberry
Publishberry is an AI-powered blogging platform that automates keyword research, content planning, article writing, SEO optimization, visual creation, and CMS publishing. The platform helps businesses maintain a consistent publishing schedule and build organic traffic without relying on a complicated collection of writers, agencies, and disconnected software tools.
About Author
Disclaimer: The views, suggestions, and opinions expressed here are the sole responsibility of the experts. No Digi Observer journalist was involved in the writing and production of this article.
Press Release
Ignacio Duron Discusses Why Customer Trust Is Becoming a Competitive Advantage in Home Services
Los Angeles, CA, 4th September 2026, ZEX PR WIRE— As homeowners have more choices than ever when selecting service providers, Ignacio Duron, CEO and co-founder of Most Valuable Plumber, believes that customer trust has become one of the most important competitive advantages a business can build.
While pricing and technical expertise remain essential, Duron argues that long-term business success increasingly depends on how consistently companies communicate, follow through on their commitments, and create positive customer experiences.
“Customers aren’t just hiring someone to repair a plumbing issue,” said Duron. “They’re inviting a professional into their home and trusting them to solve an important problem. That trust has to be earned through every interaction—from the first phone call to the final walkthrough.”
Duron has spent years building his leadership philosophy around the idea that trust is created through consistency rather than promises. Before becoming CEO of Most Valuable Plumber, he worked extensively in the field, where he learned that customers often remember how they were treated just as much as the quality of the repair itself.
According to Duron, businesses that prioritize clear communication, reliability, and accountability are better positioned to strengthen customer relationships and generate long-term growth through repeat business and referrals.
“Technical skills are expected,” he said. “What separates exceptional companies is how they communicate, how they handle unexpected situations, and whether customers feel respected throughout the entire experience.”
Duron believes that trust begins long before work starts. Providing realistic expectations, arriving on time, explaining recommended solutions clearly, and maintaining transparency throughout a project all contribute to building customer confidence.
He also emphasizes that trust extends beyond the customer relationship. Businesses that invest in employee development, encourage accountability, and create a culture of integrity are often better equipped to deliver consistently positive service.
“When employees understand the company’s values and feel supported by leadership, that confidence naturally carries over into the customer experience,” Duron said. “Strong cultures create stronger customer relationships.”
As competition intensifies across the home services industry, Duron encourages business owners to view trust as a long-term investment rather than a marketing strategy.
“Businesses can compete on price for a while,” he said. “But companies that earn trust consistently build something much more valuable. Customers come back, they recommend you to family and friends, and your reputation becomes one of your strongest business assets.”
Duron believes this people-first approach will continue to shape the future of service businesses, particularly as customer expectations evolve and reputation becomes increasingly influenced by online reviews and personal referrals.
“Every interaction matters,” he added. “Trust isn’t built through one great experience. It’s built through hundreds of small decisions that demonstrate professionalism, honesty, and genuine care for the customer.”
To read more, visit the website here.
About Ignacio Duron
Ignacio Duron is the CEO and co-founder of Most Valuable Plumber, a family-owned plumbing company serving communities throughout Los Angeles County. After beginning his career in the field, Duron built his leadership philosophy around practical experience, operational excellence, and customer-focused service. In addition to leading the company’s continued growth, he is pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Business Law at Arizona State University and coaches youth football, flag football, and basketball. Duron regularly shares insights on leadership, mentorship, business strategy, and building high-performing teams through trust, accountability, and continuous learning.
About Author
Disclaimer: The views, suggestions, and opinions expressed here are the sole responsibility of the experts. No Digi Observer journalist was involved in the writing and production of this article.
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