Two startup accelerators announced inaugural teams for their 2020 cohorts this week. BrokerTech Ventures of Des Moines and Iowa EdTech Accelerator of Iowa City will both welcome startup founders on March 2 as founders begin the five-week program for BrokerTech and 14-week program for Iowa EdTech. Twelve BrokerTech Ventures startups will operate in Gravitate Coworking […]
A new report from the Governor’s STEM Advisory Council shows that Iowa teachers and residents are embracing the need for increased STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education in Iowa’s K-12 schools, but there remains room for improvement when it comes to piquing student interest, reports the Corridor Business Journal. The 2018-19 Iowa STEM Evaluation Report shows […]
An Iowa City company has won a state grant to help it continue producing some unique models, reports Radio Iowa. Neil Quellhorst of Protostudios says the Iowa Economic Development Authority Board grant of $492,000 paid for a new 3D printer to print anatomically accurate body parts, including mimicking the material feel of a real organ. Quellhorst […]
Philip Groner, a 20-year employee of the Iowa Communications Network and executive director since 2018, has died after a battle with cancer, ICN announced today. “His passing is a great loss to the State of Iowa and the customers that he loyally served. The Iowa Telecommunications and Technology Commission and the ICN extend our deepest […]
The federal emissions settlement with Volkswagen is providing nearly $5 million that school districts can apply for to replace diesel buses and to cut air emissions, reports Radio Iowa. The Iowa Propane Gas Association is lobbying districts to try propane buses over electric or new diesel engines. In the first round of funding, 19 schools and […]
America’s SBDC Iowa announced Laurie Pieper as the new tech director for the state, who began her new role Feb. 3. As tech director, Pieper will lead the SBDC’s Rural Development Initiative and work with clients and resource partners to develop opportunities for commercialization of Iowa businesses’ technologies, products and services. Previously, Pieper developed the […]
A popular data set used by thousands of students to build an open-source self driving car contains hundreds of instances of critical errors and omissions, wrote Roboflow cofounder Brad Dwyer in a company blog. “We did a hand-check of the 15,000 images in the widely used Udacity Dataset 2 and found problems with 4,986 (33%) […]
Australian entrepreneurs will join the inaugural 2020 cohort of the Cultivo Global Ag Innovation Program hosted by America’s Cultivation Corridor, a partnership program announced in October to host startups from a single targeted country each year. The names of participating companies have not yet been announced. Cohort members will travel to Iowa for a 10-day […]
Dwolla CEO/founder Ben Milne cuts the ribbon as the company unveils new headquarters in February 2019 at 909 Locust. Photo provided Dwolla is searching for a new CEO after founder Ben Milne announced he was going to step away from the role in a blog post published this afternoon. Milne and other company leaders came […]
Kansas City-based Commerce Bank announced it has launched a real-time payments system aimed at enabling property-casualty insurers to provide faster, more convenient claims payments. The new product, CommercePayments PreferPay, provides customers, claimants and service providers with multiple claims payment options including ACH, check or direct-to-debit card via Visa Direct. Commerce Bank partnered with Progressive Casualty […]