Entrepreneur Brian McClendon will give the keynote address at Iowa State University’s ISU Innovation Prize on Friday, April 5 in the Alliant Energy/Lee Liu Auditorium in Howe Hall, ISU announced this week. McClendon has worked with Google and Uber, and continues to advise startups. The ISU Innovation Prize is held from April 5-6, and aspiring […]

The Center for Advancing Innovation, a global nonprofit that accelerates research commercialization, has launched the BRAIN RACE, an open, global innovation contest to advance high-impact inventions and solutions to defeat brain tumors. Individuals, multidisciplinary teams or existing startups may all participate in the contest, which aims to launch 15 or more startups to commercialize promising […]

How do startups navigate the world of venture capital? Next Level Ventures principal partner Scott Hoekman broke it down for the audience at Wednesday’s 1 Million Cups presentation. The whole presentation is available on Facebook @1MillionCupsDSM, but here’s a few takeaways to note if you’re unfamiliar. Next Level Ventures is seeking its next eight to […]

The Iowa State University Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship awarded $2,500 to four student businesses as part of the annual Innovation Pitch Competition this year. More than 25 students pitched their ventures to judges at The Maintenance Shop this year; juniors Konner Koerselman, Brian Fleming and senior Brad Lechton won the $1,000 prize of Best Overall […]

This week, entrepreneur and Startup Factory cohort member Shelby Smith is caring for 5,000 to 6,000 babies. On Wednesday, they were mostly under 24 hours in age. Jiminy crickets, that’s a lot of babes. Luckily for Smith, the “pinheads” are just young acheta domesticus — house crickets — and fit very easily into the standard-sized […]

The Technology Association of Iowa and LWBJ have announced the finalists for the 2019 Prometheus Awards presented by LWBJ. The winner in each of the 14 award categories will be announced at a banquet on April 11 at the Community Choice Credit Union Convention Center in Des Moines. The awards feature four new categories in […]

A bill that would have raised insurance coverage requirements on Uber and Lyft in Iowa has been sidelined at the statehouse, reports Radio Iowa. The bill would have shifted insurance requirements from drivers to the ride sharing companies. Representative David Maxwell said he and two other legislators on a House subcommittee didn’t have enough time […]

Predictive Health Partners, with founder Jim Lewis, is the only local startup represented in the Global Insurance Accelerator’s 10-member cohort for 2019. It’s also one of only three Iowa startups that have participated among 36 since the GIA’s first cohort in 2015.  Based now in West Des Moines, Lewis, a serial entrepreneur, thinks of Predictive Health […]

Monetery 2019, Dwolla’s second regional summit dedicated to creating value in the Midwest, is dedicating Day 2 of the summit (scheduled May 21-22 at the Temple for Performing Arts)  to One-on-One meetings between selected startups and representatives from at least five national venture capital firms traveling to Des Moines for the conference, events manager Ryan […]

The Innovation & Technology Showcase and opening of coworking space Salem Connection is scheduled for Feb. 26 in two locations, from 2-4 p.m. and 4:30-6 p.m. The showcase will spotlight several technologies and faculty-led STEM projects at Simpson College and in the Indianola business community, a statement by Simpson College said. Presentations include the nanotechnology […]