For more than 50 years, the Center for Industrial Research and Service at Iowa State University has aimed to be a partner for Iowa businesses looking to grow in their communities. We asked Director Ron Cox what is changing for CIRAS in 2018 — and, by extension, what is changing…
By the end of May, the Iowa AgriTech Accelerator welcomes six new startups fresh on the agriculture field to Des Moines. Each of those startups selected to participate receives $40,000 in seed funding, subsidized housing throughout the 94 days, and time to build mentorships, partnerships and a broader agritech network…
Entrepreneur Mark Darrah and his wife, Lyn, left Iowa 35 years ago because they were unable to use their degrees in advanced biomedical technology from Iowa State University within the state. In 2007, they returned from Southern California to Des Moines to launch Athena GTX to produce leading-edge medical monitoring…
Co-founder and CEO Arsalan Lodhi likes to compare agtech startup Wisran to public utilities metering. Without water or gas meters, Lodhi said, communities would have no way to track the waste of resources incurred by residents, and costs would look much different. “The same concept and principles we are bringing…
How can a regional health care organization with operations in three states and some 32,000 employees become more innovative? Iowa-based UnityPoint Health — the 13th-largest nonprofit health system in the country — decided it would build a mechanism to empower its employees to think like entrepreneurs, by developing a center…
From self-driving cars to face-scanning phones, technology is encroaching into the most mundane parts of everyday life — and the insurance industry is seeing change arriving. We asked four leaders in the industry to reflect on their company’s role during this transformation, and what customers can expect from the industry…
The 2018 Technology Councils of North America (TECNA) Conference will take place July 24-26 in downtown Des Moines, the Technology Association of Iowa (TAI) announced today. TECNA represents more than 50 IT and technology trade organizations comprised of more than 22,000 technology-related companies in North America. TAI board member and…
Highway Equipment company of Cedar Rapids has become the first Platinum Harvester Sponsor for the Ag Startup Engine at Iowa State University. The Ag Startup Engine effort was launched two years ago to help with seed-stage investment and organized mentorship. “Now more than ever, we need entrepreneurs and innovators in…
The 2018 edition of innovationIOWA magazine was unveiled at Corteva Agriscience. See the presentation and hear from this year’s award winners Sukup Manufacturing and Robert Riley. Plus, get the magazine here!
EntreFEST 2018’s opening keynote is still fresh in attendees’ minds after keynote speaker Victor Hwang, vice president of entrepreneurship at the Kauffman Foundation, laid the foundation for attendees to explore building local economies by ecosystem instead of building individual-by-individual. It seemed fitting for Hwang to commence the conference on the topic…