Forbes

RISE: Ready To Put Hong Kong's Startup Ecosystem Back On The Global Map Forbes One of the most efficient ways to boost the Hong Kong startup ecosystem is by hosting large scale tech and startup events. An upcoming conference, which is truly putting Hong Kong firmly on the global map, is RISE. Produced by Web Summit, RISE is the ...

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RISE: Ready To Put Hong Kong's Startup Ecosystem Back On The Global Map - Forbes

(TNS)-- Nearpod, an education-technology startup, keeps outgrowing its Aventura offices.

We have been doubling the company every year in people, revenue, users, all the key metrics, said Felipe Sommer. He co-founded the company with Guido Kovalskys and Emiliano Abramzon, three Argentine friends who have worked on ventures together for more than a decade. Nearpod now employs 70 people and expects to be 100-strong by the end of the year.

As you can see, he said, motioning toward the dozens of workers in the spacious, open office, we like to double.

Now the company, which develops online lessons for students and teachers, will be doubling down on South Florida. Until now, Nearpod has kept some of its top management in Silicon Valley to tap talent and stay close to its Bay Area investors. Those employees, including CEO Kovalskys, the vice president of marketing and directors of content and product, will be relocating to Miami.

Nearpod and other South Florida fast-growing startups will be celebrated as the fourth annual eMerge Americas technology conference opens Monday at the Miami Beach Convention Center. At least 13,000 people are expected to attend the two-day conference, headlined by Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple; Uri Levine, co-founder of Waze; Gustavo Cisneros, founder of Grupo Cisneros; and Marcelo Claure, founder of South Floridas Brightstar and now CEO of Sprint. eMerge will also be a show of force for the startup community: More than 125 startups will be exhibiting, while scores more will be attending.

The backdrop for the conference: a number of recent success stories in South Floridas tech community.

In a transaction that closed last month, Dania Beach-based Chewy.com was acquired by PetSmart for about $3 billion, the largest e-commerce deal ever. Chewy CEO Ryan Cohen said the 5,000-employee unit that booked $900 million in revenue in 2016 will operate as an independent subsidiary and continue to grow in South Florida.

Modernizing Medicine, the Boca Raton health-tech company founded in 2010, raised $231 million to fund its growth. Modernizing Medicine employs more than 550 people and is booking $100 million in annual revenue.

And theres the near-instant global technology player in cybersecurity company Cyxtera Technologies, headed by Manny Medina, who also founded Terremark Worldwide, Medina Capital and eMerge Americas. The result of a $2.8 billion transaction that closed last month, Cyxtera combines 57 data centers and four cybersecurity and data analytics companies from Medina Capitals portfolio, and employs 1,000 people worldwide about 100 in South Florida.

With the major successes were seeing like Modernizing Medicine, Chewy.com and Cyxtera not to mention the massive potential impact of [augmented-reality technology company] Magic Leap we are poised to have a number of very large, global technology companies based in this ecosystem, said Xavier Gonzalez, CEO of eMerge Americas. These companies and many others will continue to grow, innovate and attract talent from all over the world. That talent will develop new companies and bring even more interest from investors.

The cycle, he said, points to increasing maturation of Miamis technology sector.

Matt Haggman agrees. He is the Miami program director of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which leads the local movement to develop South Florida into a hub for technology and innovation. Increasingly, what we are seeing is an evolution from what could be to what is now, and that is super exciting, he said. If you go online right now for jobs in tech, there are hundreds of jobs.

The Knight Foundation has funded organizations and projects to develop an ecosystem since 2012, including Endeavor Miami, Miami Dade Colleges Idea Center, Startupbootcamp, The LAB Miami and LaunchCode. It has committed more than $25 million in more than 200 projects in the Miami area, including recently $1.2 million to the Miami Urban Future Initiative, a joint project of Florida International University and the Creative Class Group for economic research on entrepreneurship and technology in South Florida. It also recently announced $1.2 million in new support for Code Fevers signature event Blacktech Week, planned for September, and related programs that aim to expand opportunities for entrepreneurs of color.

The foundation plans to continue investing in infrastructure projects and organizations that help support and accelerate the growth of an entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Were just getting started, Haggman said. If this is a nine-inning game, we are at the bottom of the first or the top of the second. The important thing to understand is that it can happen.

Recent studies shed light on the challenges of that long game ahead. South Florida is a startup and small-business factory, sprouting more new businesses every year than any other large U.S. metro area. But growing large companies has always been a challenge for the Miami area as well as for the state.

Last year, the Miami metro area ranked 39th among the 40 largest metro areas for growth entrepreneurship. Bloombergs 2016 U.S. State Innovation Index ranked Florida 34th. The Milken Institutes State Technology and Science Index for 2016 put Florida in 41st place four places lower than in 2014. Among the components of the Milken index, the state ranked the lowest, 46th, for science and technology workforce. Other indicators show the state and South Florida lagging in patent activity and venture capital. (See related data on tech and startups here.)

If you look at startup activity in Miami its new venture creation it is incredibly high. When we look at growth entrepreneurship, its pretty low, said Arnobio Morelix, senior research analyst at the Kauffman Foundation and one of the authors of recent reports on startup activity and growth entrepreneurship.

Another key challenge: Miami-Dades technology sector is dwarfed by the service economy and its low-paying jobs. Still, by number of employees, tech is growing faster than aviation, banking/finance, creative design, tourism, healthcare and trade/logistics all industries targeted for growth by the Miami-Dade Beacon Council, the countys public-private economic development agency.

The tech sector is growing faster than the overall economy, said Jaap Donath, the Beacon Councils senior vice president of research and strategic planning. What we are starting to see is growth subsets linked to existing sectors, such as fintech, health IT, trade/logistics and tourism.

By number of employees, the technology sector has grown 27.6 percent from 2012 through 2016 to 10,413 employees in Miami-Dade, according to Beacon Council data. The number of tech companies, 1,654, is up 10.9 percent, and the average salary is $95,087, up 16.8 percent the second-highest after banking/finance.

In Broward County, where technology is a much larger sector with the likes of Magic Leap, MDLIVE, Chewy and JetSmarter, 3,742 technology companies employ 44,431, and the average salary is $94,273. Thats up 19.2 percent from 2012, when the industry employed 37,266, according to the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance.

The last five years have seen an enhancement of our tech ecosystem. For us, it is very exciting to see that growth, especially looking at potential scalability, Donath said. Weve seen that with CareCloud that was a local startup, and now [the health-tech company] is a mainstay of the Miami economy with hundreds of employees. Albert [Santalo, founder of CareCloud,] made a conscious choice to build and grow the company in Miami.

This goes for companies focused on the Latin American market, too. Were seeing companies that come out of Latin America but find what they need in Miami to sell their products back into Latin America a good example being Yellow Pepper, the fintech company, said Donath. Based in Wynwood with a team of 61, Yellow Pepper is a pioneer and leading player in mobile payments and banking solutions in Latin America and has been recently valued by the Inter-American Development Bank at more than $100 million.

Community leaders point to progress on other fronts as well.

In the past year, new incubators and accelerators such as Startup FIU, Startupbootcamp and Babson WIN Lab have graduated their first cohorts, joining pioneer Venture Hive. Global fund 500 Startups has run a growth accelerator, conference and other events here; it is now planning to establish a permanent presence in Miami. An international venture-builder, with Silicon Valley veterans at the helm, will be launched in Miami and announced during eMerge Americas. Organizations such as LaunchCode and coding bootcamps train tech developers and designers and help match them with job openings.

Although the region still lags badly in venture capital investment, several new funds have been announced in the past year, including Rokk3r Fuel and Las Olas Venture Capital. Local companies are attracting investment from beyond the region. They include JetSmarter, which raised $105 million in December, and Modernizing Medicine, which last month announced an investment of $231 million. Other firms including Boatsetter, MealPal, Nearpod, Nymbus, Altor Bioscience and F1 Oncology have each raised well north of $10 million in the last six months.

Wynwoods Rokk3r Labs is announcing Monday the launch of 10xU, a global educational platform focused on teaching entrepreneurs to identify and assess opportunities for fast-growing, world-changing companies, as well as the nuts and bolts of team building, raising capital, scaling and exiting. Its content and programming will also be targeted at corporations whose models will likely face disruption.

10xU will become a portfolio company of Rokk3r Labs, a company builder that has worked with more than 40 startups. In March, Rokk3r announced that it launched an investment fund, Rokk3r Fuel. It aims to raise a $150 million fund its not there yet and already has invested in startups AdMobilize, Hyp3r, Taxfyle and Emerge.me. Over the next few weeks, the fund plans to announce more capital deployments, locally and globally. A second set of investments is planned in the fourth quarter, said Nabyl Charania, CEO of Rokk3r Labs.

The growth of an ecosystem is not an overnight thing. If we wait for someone else to come in and do things for us, we will just continue to wait, he said. Thats why we proceeded with Rokk3r Fuel and 10xU and will continue to co-build companies, because we believe that is the best way to help an ecosystem providing all the right tools to build world-changing companies.

Some local serial entrepreneurs are already beginning to sprout new ventures and invest in others. After the $2 billion sale of Terremark, Medina started eMerge, Medina Capital and now Cyxtera. The $1.65 billion sale of Mako Surgical made way for co-founder Rony Abovitz to start Magic Leap, while former Mako CEO Maurice Ferr is involved with several health-tech ventures, including running the Israel-based Insightec from Miami.

Adam Boalt sold his first company, RushMyPassport.com, in 2013. Last September, Boalt sold his second tech company, LiveAnswer.com, to Stericycle, a publicly traded Fortune 1000 company. Now he is building again.

govWorks will be launching in January 2018 and will change the way the public interfaces with the government, Boalt said. The platform is aimed at greatly simplifying the processes for travel visas, passports, fishing licenses and other documents by storing customer information securely. An earlier company, the original govWorks, collapsed after raising $60 million. Boalt acquired the domain name: They had a good idea that was ahead of their time, and they had challenges executing. I know the time is right now, and we have the team that can pull it off.

govWorks has a team of 32 in Miami, 80 percent of them engineers. Boalt expects to add 20 more software engineers and product designers later this year.

Ive had opportunities to be in New York and the West Coast, but this is my home, Boalt said. I feel like people have doubts about Miami. I hate that. I feel like I can make a difference here.

Other entrepreneurs have been urged to move elsewhere sometimes by their own investors. Abovitz may be the most famous of these South Florida bulls, choosing Plantation as the base for his cutting-edge, mixed-reality technology startup, valued at an eye-popping $4.5 billion with a whos who list of Silicon Valley and global investors, even though its initial product has yet to be released. Now Magic Leap is rumored to be raising another round of funding at a $6 billion to $8 billion valuation.

In Aventura, meanwhile, above a Bank of America office, Nearpods bright and open offices hum with employees at work on laptops or on the phone with customers. Two years ago, the company moved into 3,000 square feet; now Nearpod has filled 9,000 square feet, and it could already use more space.

As the co-founders demo the companys virtual reality lessons, Abramzon explains that students virtually visit sites of history or culture like the Eiffel Tower, the Egyptian Pyramids and Checkpoint Charlie to learn about the Cold War or even concentration camps. The visits are accompanied by in-app videos, quizzes and opportunities for questions and interaction with teachers. Altogether, the VR lessons, which Nearpod began offering last year, have drawn more than 6 million views.

Nearpod has users in one of every 10 schools nationwide, including more than 40 schools in the Miami-Dade and Broward County public school districts, Gulliver Prep, LaSalle, American Heritage and Pine Crest. About 4 million students worldwide view the content monthly. Nearpod also recently launched Nearpod for ELL at Miami-Dade public schools, which includes 500 ready-to-teach lessons designed specifically for non-native English speakers.

In March, Nearpod announced it had raised $21 million to fund its growth. We are hiring for VPs of customer success and finance and a head of content, said Abramzon. All will be based in South Florida because of its lifestyle, cost of living, diversity, growing entrepreneurial environment, strong partnerships with local schools, and support from local investors Krillion Ventures, Knight Enterprise Fund and the AGP network.

Miami is in our DNA, added Sommer. We want everyone under the same roof, and that roof is going to be in Miami.

But for all its growth, Rokk3rs Charania believes South Floridas startup ecosystem needs to develop more quickly: What we need is more people from the community supporting the ecosystem. We need corporations to step into the game. We need the government and educational institutions with a lot more impact. Were not there yet but people are starting to pull together.

Knights Haggman said its important to get the word out about the opportunities here: There is still some disconnect, whether it is job opportunities, resources or funding, because there are still fixed ideas about this place, and we are changing. We are a much different place than we were, say, five years ago.

Haggman also believes the ecosystem should connect the entire community, west of Miamis urban corridor and well north of the Broward County line, and this isnt the time to rest: This is a work in progress. This is a long game.

2017 Miami Herald Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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South Florida Startup Ecosystem Continues Pattern of Growth and Investment - Government Technology

From cloud-based video conferencing services to broad array of software and hardware endpoints, InFocus ConX enables real-time collaboration between anyone, anytime on virtually any device.

Portland, Ore. June 12, 2017 InFocus unveils its transformative ConX communication and collaboration ecosystem today, centered around the new ConX Cloud video conferencing service. ConX Cloud connects with ConX display hardware solutions ranging from Mondopad touch-enabled displays and ConX video phones to scalable ConX video conferencing walls supporting up to 96 displays, as well as ConX software and web apps for laptops, iOS and Android smartphones and tablets. The ConX system also supports H.323 and SIP industry standards, allowing businesses, schools and government agencies to connect to anyone using standards-based third-party devices.

With ConX, users can connect and collaborate with more ease and more flexibility than ever before. From small team meetings to large-scale, company-wide meetings of people and ideas, the ConX universe has everything needed to connect people and information. And unlike any other solution on the market, ConX delivers the freedom and flexibility for anyone to actively participate in a virtual meeting, no matter the device or operating system in front of them. The combination of ConX Cloud and ConX devices and software from InFocus provides an unparalleled, integrated collaboration experience, while built-in support for industry standards provides the freedom to connect with people using legacy systems and other video conferencing services both inside and outside their organization

Our intention is to propel the collaboration market to the next level of possibility and affordability. The ConX ecosystem leverages our three decades of leadership in touch-enabled display solutions and collaboration software with cloud services that allow anyone to connect on virtually any device. With ConX, InFocus provides a complete end-to-end universe of solutions meeting all of the communication and collaboration needs of businesses, schools, and public agencies, said Mark Housley, CEO of InFocus. Unlike every other hardware or software communication solution out there, were not locking you into a proprietary, limited system. Were also not going to make our customers pay for the things that should be included like support for industry standards. Our ConX Cloud service is boundless and available at prices unmatched in the industry. We think this kind of connectivity should be available and affordable for every entity, large and small. But if your business prefers other communication services or you have legacy display equipment, thats fine too. InFocus ConX works seamlessly with all of it.

ConX Cloud Video Conferencing Service The new ConX Cloud was designed and built to enable powerful, reliable video conferencing and collaboration from anywhere. Instead of presenting one-way data during a meeting, ConX Cloud provides dual-stream data and video allowing everyone to see both faces and information at the same time, providing the closest experience to an in-person meeting. With ConX endpoints from InFocus, users on the video conference can present, annotate, whiteboard, create, edit, share, save and send information in real-time. ConX Cloud supports SIP, H.323, and Skype for Business interoperability, so you can bring people and data together through a wide variety of endpoints and services on both InFocus and legacy third-party devices. Connectivity across communication platforms is essential and ConX Cloud delivers it at no extra cost.

ConX Cloud service includes support for InFocus Mondopad and a range of InFocus ConX endpoints including ConX Wall, ConX Exec, and ConX Phone, as well as audio (PSTN) dial-in, ConX mobile apps for iOS and Android, ConX apps for Windows and Mac OS, and ConX web apps. ConX Cloud also supports InFocus BrightCam technology for intelligent HD video enhancement, adaptively improving video conferencing image color and detail in a variety of ambient light conditions on selected InFocus devices.

ConX Ecosystem Hardware ConX hardware endpoints integrate advanced video and information-sharing technologies into fully configurable and scalable solutions for conference rooms, huddle rooms, and video walls.

Offering the capabilities typically provided by multiple devices in traditional conference rooms, Mondopad is an enormous touch-enabled screen that combines an HD video conferencing system, an interactive whiteboard, a 1080p or 4K screen, audio conferencing, and a powerful PC. Users can control the system, present, annotate, and whiteboard using their fingers and an intuitive, easy to use graphical user interface. Documents can be saved to the Mondopad for future access, stored to the network, or emailed to anyone directly from the device. A built-in high-quality camera and speakers facilitate enterprise-grade video conferencing, making Mondopad the standalone collaboration system that connects people, devices and information easily, seamlessly and reliably right out of the box. Mondopad is available in 57-inch and 65-inch sizes and Mondopad Ultra, with 4K resolution and an even more robust PC, is available in 70-inch and 85-inch sizes.

- ConX Wall and ConX Exec

For collaboration and conferencing with even more screen real estate, InFocus offers ConX Exec and ConX Wall. Both are video conferencing solutions that feature multi-screen configurations that can scale from two displays to 96 showing both shared data and video conferencing participants. ConX Wall and ConX Exec are ideal for those applications in which seeing the big picture means seeing a big picture. Using multiple ultra-narrow-bezel HD displays, users can customize these ConX solutions for any wall size ranging from that in an executive suite to the largest venue.

What sets ConX Wall and ConX Exec apart from a basic video wall is an integrated video conferencing multipoint control unit (MCU) server. The server enables users to instantly configure and change each input image to any number of the displays, allowing in-room participants to focus on whatever content they want at any given time, such as a data or video stream from a remote participant. This unique ability to create a user-defined layout and to have control from all kinds of devices makes ConX Wall and ConX Exec ideal for enterprise management, public services, education and training.

ConX Exec is available in pre-configured display, hardware and software solutions available in 2x2 or 3x2 configuration with 48.5-inch HD screens. ConX Wall is a fully-configurable solution that can be matched with third-party displays, accommodating up to 96 screens for enormous collaboration walls.

- ConX Phone

The ConX Phone from InFocus is a powerful desktop videophone with a 10.1-inch color HD screen, a 720p camera, and an immediately familiar user interface. The built-in wide-band speaker and high-dynamic-range microphone ensure clear hands-free conversations, or use your headset. Making an audio or video call with the ConX Phone is as easy as using a standard phone and you can import your existing contact lists and manage features from the web. ConX Phone users not only see and hear remote participants on any supported ConX device, but can also see shared presentations and whiteboards on the integrated screen.

ConX Software and Web Apps In addition to the range of ConX hardware endpoints from InFocus, users can also participate in ConX video conferencing and collaboration from their own PCs, laptops, smartphones and tablets using ConX apps. These apps support both iOS and Android mobile devices. In addition, there are ConX apps for both Windows and Mac OS computers. There is also a ConX web app that works with browsers that support WebRTC, such as Google Chrome and Firefox. With universal support and compatibility for virtually every platform, the ConX system offers more ways to connect and collaborate than any other solution on the market.

ConX Cloud Pricing ConX Cloud is both powerful and affordable, designed to make the power of collaboration available to more people and more institutions than ever before. It is the only service that is available at a single price without hidden fees. Support for standards and Skype for Business is built-in and included at no additional charge. The goal is maximum connectivity and flexibility, assuring the system is compatible with important standard protocols and future-proof for any changes that an enterprise may undertake in the future. ConX Clouds game changing price makes it possible for businesses, agencies, and schools to provide every office and employee with their own video conferencing and collaboration system.

ConX

Pricing

3-seat room

10-seat room

50-seat room

10 50-seat rooms

100 50-seat rooms

Promotions

Free 1-yr trial

$4.99 promotional price (valid for 1 year with contract)

Monthly

$8.29/month/room

$9.99/month/room

$7.49/month/room

$5.99/month/room

Total Annual Cost

$99.00

$119.00

$899.00

$7,099.00

InFocus ConX is the ultimate way for people to connect, continued Housley. With ConX Cloud, people can video conference and collaborate in boardrooms, in huddle rooms, at their desk and on-the-go more powerfully, easily, and more affordably than ever before. Combining the aggressively priced ConX Cloud service with our uniquely expansive and complete range of ConX hardware and software solutions, people can see each other and collaborate easily, reliably and more effectively than ever before.

ConX Cloud, ConX Wall, ConX Exec, Mondopad and all other ConX hardware and software solutions are available now. To learn more, visit: http://www.infocus.com/conx. To get a free ConX Cloud trial, go to http://www.infocus.com/conx-cloud.

About InFocus Corp. InFocus makes connecting people and ideas easy, reliable and affordable. The industry leader for more than 30 years, InFocus creates innovative collaboration solutions that support visual teamwork. Its award-winning, integrated services, hardware and software products are employed and trusted by thousands of the most successful businesses, public agencies, and schools around the world. With solutions for conference rooms, huddle rooms, office desktops, control rooms, classrooms, large venues, and people on the move, there is an InFocus product and service for every application. Learn more at http://www.InFocus.com. Visit the InFocus store at http://www.InFocusDirect.com. Follow InFocus on social media at facebook.com/InFocusCorp, linkedin.com/company/InFocus or twitter.com/InFocusCorp.

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InFocus Transforms Collaboration with ConX Ecosystem - Twice

Following an overwhelming response in the first week of its Pre ICO, XinFin XDC reaffirms its mission to provide real world connectivity to the bitcoin ecosystem.

(For Immediate Release) XinFin XDC, a distributed and decentralised permissioned blockchain platform meant for global trade and financing ecosystem meant to bridge the $5 trillion infrastructure deficit has moved into its second week of Pre ICO.

Xinfin.org Head of Marketing, Alex Mathbeck says : We have received amazing response by the community and early investors and our mission to bridge the global infrastructure deficit has been highly appreciated.

Market capitalisation of Bitcoin and blockchain built alt coins has reached over $110 billion as of today. It is growing too fast. There is no wonder that we all as a community believe in the blockchain technology and its potential. However, the question that needs to be answered today is what problem are we really solving? Peer to peer digital cash and global payments are the primary use cases of the bitcoin ecosystem but as the market capitalisation of the economy grows many fold, the world will start questioning real use of the bitcoin ecosystem. XinFin XDC has an answer for that.

XinFin XDC network is built to connect the bitcoin ecosystem to a very common real world person who is looking for simplicity.

XinFin XDC network :does not use proof of work mining that is highly computing resource intensive. It uses a combination of Proof of Importance/proof of Reputation that has reduced the latency time to few secondsChecks a wallet address for its existence. Does not initiate a transfer to a non-existent XinFin XDC address Provides greater security due to its permissioned distributed network.Provides instant global payments and settlements XinFin is currently building an application layer over its blockchain layer that :

Locks XDC rate to a Fiat Currency rate for 2 days. This feature is especially required for real world instant global remittancesIncentivizes financiers to finance public infrastructure projects of critical importance and voted by the community backed by the regulators/institution Allows Trade & financing between buyers and sellers with non-existent ratings.Allows Institutions to trade rapidly depreciating and idle inventories

Commenting on its Pre ICO Model

We have received tremendous response even before our Pre ICO round. Our upcoming marketplace is the most anticipated by the community and will demonstrate first real world trades and peer to peer financing between global institutions. XinFin does not want to raise too much capital before its real world trade transactions and framework is launched. Hence it is applying a phase wise ICO model and listing on some of the Crypto-coin exchanges. Some ICOs have raised millions of dollars even before demonstrating a real product. XinFin wants to stick to business basics of delivering value and real product as it raises more capital and lists across exchanges.

Speculation may be the short term way of appreciation but delivering real product is a long term model and XinFin will stick to it.

XinFin Pre ICO is open to its early backers on.

How to get XDC

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XinFin.org aims real world integrations of Bitcoin Ecosystem, moves into second week of Pre ICO - newsBTC

WISE, Va. (WYMT/UVA Wise) - The University of Virginias College at Wise will receive $3.5 million from the University of Virginia to increase enrollment in targeted programs at the College and to create a robust culture of entrepreneurship and innovation in the region.

The Wise Innovation Ecosystem received the funding from the University of Virginias Strategic Investment Fund.

The Strategic Investment Fund is an extraordinary opportunity for the University of Virginia community to dream big and exercise creative license to design and implement high-impact, high-value initiatives, UVa-Wise Chancellor Donna P. Henry said. The University of Virginias College at Wise is grateful for this award. This is truly a transformative opportunity which will strengthen innovation and entrepreneurship in our curriculum while reinforcing student outcomes and economic development.

Approval was announced Friday by the Board of Visitors.

One goal of the Wise Innovation Ecosystem is to diversify the regions economy by boosting enrollment in the software engineering, computer science and management of information systems programs, said Shannon Blevins, assistant vice chancellor for economic development and engagement. Another goal is to give students the skills needed to be relevant and competitive in the emerging economy by creating a center for innovation for students to collaborate and develop entrepreneurial skills through hands-on learning experiences.

The funding will be received over a five-year period. The majority of the funds will support a Center for Innovation, including the hiring of a professor of entrepreneurship, a professor of cyber-MIS, a center manager and operation costs, including start-up scholarships, student internships, an entrepreneurship boot camp, a cyber-security symposium, an entrepreneurial certificate program and the student innovation center.

The College at Wise already has top-notch academic programs, including ABET accredited Computer Science and Software Engineering, said Jacob Somervell, chair of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science. These degrees are underutilized resources for the Commonwealth. The programs need more students and this SIF grant will support bringing more students to these degree programs.

Somervell explained that efforts to increase awareness of the programs and to attract more students would strengthen the mission of the College and provide much needed technology talent to the various technology companies across the Commonwealth and beyond. Increasing enrollment and the number of graduates can have the ripple effect of attracting more technology companies to the region; potentially helping to shift the local economy from the struggling coal industry towards a more sustainable technology sector, he explained.

I thank the Board of Visitors and the review panel for their foresight and clarity of vision in recognizing the importance these degrees can have for the region and the Commonwealth, he said. My hope is that the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science can graduate significantly more majors with technology degrees and help Southwest Virginia become a competitive destination for myriad technology companies.

The funds would also support a retention program for students in various programs, including a mandatory summer program for entering students, highly monitored turbo classes in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, early intervention for at-risk students and shared courses with the University of Virginia.

This represents a level of outreach that our department has never engaged in before, said Frank Frey, chair of the UVa-Wise Business Department. It is a great opportunity for us to provide more scholarship opportunities and additional educational opportunities for our students. It will also help us grow as a school and help attract more students.

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UVa-Wise gets $3.5 million for Wise Innovation Ecosystem - WYMT - WYMT News (press release)

As summer comes to Northeast Ohio, rising water temperatures are bringing an infestation of midges along the shores of Lake Erie.

Residents complain of swarms covering buildings and cars. The fly-like insects do not bite and only live for a few days.

Experts say theyll likely die down during a heat wave this week.

But John Pogacnik, a biologist with Lake Metroparks, says the midges show Ohio has a healthy ecosystem.

If it was heavily polluted, you wouldnt see the huge numbers of them hatching. And when they do hatch, its a huge thing for breeding birds who right now are raising young, so its an easy food supply. They know youre getting a lot of insects hatched this time of year and its free food.

He says Ohio could get more midges later this summer, but their numbers will be much smaller.

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What the Re-emerging Midge Swarms Mean for Ohio's Ecosystem - WKSU News

Conservation photographer Paul Nicklen has spent more than two decades documenting the ice and wildlife in some of the most inhospitable places on Earth the Arctic and the Antarctic.

Its a risky business: Nicklen often finds himself immersed in frigid waters, just a cameras length away from deadly predators. Once, in Antarctica, he came face-to-face with a 1,000-pound leopard seal: She opened up her mouth and her head is twice as big as a grizzly bear, and I am starring down her throat, he says.

Nicklen adds that his utmost concern is for the well-being of the animals he encounters. I want to get close, but I also never want to harass an animal, he says. What you learn about these animals is how communicative they are, how intelligent they are, how social they are, how forgiving they are.

A humpback whale flings its tail high in the air as it dives down on a ball of herring near Lofoten, Norway. The winter months in Norway are a critical time of year for these whales to gorge and gain weight. (Photos: Paul Nicklen/Paul Nicklen Gallery via NPR)

Emperor Penguins shot from the Mario Zuchelli Base, Ross Sea, Antarctica. Penguins at Floe Edge at Terra Nova.

An adult emperor penguin hovers high above her chick near Antarctica's Ross Sea. Adults will go to sea for days or even weeks at a time to bring back food for their rapidly growing chicks.

Offshore the coast of BC lives a plethora of marine life.

The Nordaustlandet ice cap gushes high volumes of meltwater. Even though this photograph was taken just 600 miles from the North Pole, the temperature was in the high 60s Fahrenheit.

On how hes come to ignore his gut in dangerous situations

When it comes to working with these big predators your, sort of, innate fear mechanisms are telling you not to do it. So youre always ignoring your gut. And when you ignore your gut all the time, at some point you dont know where that benchmark is anymore. Youre always stepping into this gray area and youre stepping over the line, and so now Ive learned when my guts really screaming at me, to slow down and be smart. I start to back up a little bit and just spend more quality time analyzing, thinking, watching and then moving on with it if it seems like the right decision.

I think I get so caught up in how important these stories are and how my images have to have that three-dimensional feel to them, to really bring people into the issues I care about, and I think I just get so focused sometimes on getting those images.

On not being afraid of dying doing his work

Im not really scared of death, I just want my death to be cool, and I guess being speared by a narwhal would be a pretty cool way to go. I think if Im out there pushing and trying to push the limits to come back with something amazing to connect the world to what I love, then sure.

On a memorable interaction with a leopard seal

This leopard seal stayed with me for four days straight. And every time I would show up on the water, shed be there to greet me. She would follow me back to the sailboat at night. Once she established her dominance, she completely relaxed, and then she disappeared and I thought the encounter was over.

Then she showed up a few minutes later with a penguin in her mouth. She had just caught a penguin chick she was holding it by the feet and the penguin is flapping, trying to get away from her. And she would sort of line it up with me, and when it was lined up perfectly with me she would let it go, and it would swim off, she caught it, she did this over and over.

And I realized at that moment that she was trying to feed me a live penguin. And I think she realized quickly in this encounter that I was not capable of catching a live, moving, swimming penguin, and so she brought me another penguin. She did all these different attempts to feed me live penguins. And at one point theres a photo of her looking dejected, sort of disappointed in me that Im so useless that Im unable to catch or accept one of her gifts, so then she started to bring me dead penguins, and at one point I had five penguins floating around my head.

Further on in the encounter she got so tired of me being unable to accept one of her penguins that she grabbed it and she flipped it on top of my head.

On falling in love with the leopard seal

I definitely fell in love with this seal. Its embarrassing to admit this to you. Id fall asleep at night with tears coming down my cheeks. I was just so grateful, just to spend your life out with animals and to be fighting to get yourself into a situation where you can try and get close, where you can try and even get within 100 meters of something.

And all of a sudden heres a top predator, and not only are you getting to see it, its interacting with you; its trying to force-feed you penguins, its trying to take care of you. Its a very very humbling thing. Just to flop yourself into its world and for it to spend that much time and energy trying to figure out who you are and to interact with you. I think thats why I get emotional, because we had such a connection.

On what happens to the polar bears when the sea ice melts

In the last 20 years, to have the scientists talking about how were reaching the lowest extent of ice weve ever had, a place like Svalbard, Norway historically has been covered by sea ice year-round. In the last 20 to 30 years that ice has been just in a few fjords, and then now in the last few years theres been no ice at all around Svalbard. Theres been a little strip down on the east side.

And when theres no ice that means bears basically do not have that platform to catch seals, and thats their main food source. They might eat a little bit of seaweed they might get the odd bird egg or the odd bird, but thats not giving them any nutritional value.

Essentially, bears are designed to go on land for long periods of time. They can be on land for two months and not eat a meal. But theyre not designed to go four or five or six months on land without eating any food, and thats where were starting to find emaciated bears, dead bears.

Ive never had a scary moment with a polar bear, and people come to me like, Isnt that the only animal that actively pursues humans for food? And I just see this powerful, but very fragile, vulnerable species that is so at the mercy of its ecosystem. And its sort of the one species that I really use to drive home that connection to how important this icy ecosystem is. I want people to realize that ice is like the soil in the garden without ice the polar regions cannot exist.

Radio producers Amy Salit and Thea Chaloner and Web producers Bridget Bentz, Molly Seavy-Nesper and Beth Novey contributed to this story.

Read the original:

Polar Photographer Shares His View Of A Ferocious But Fragile Ecosystem - Flatland (blog)

Editors note: This originally appeared on Analyse Asia,a weekly podcast hosted by Bernard Leong, dedicated to dissecting the pulse of business, technology, and media in Asia. The podcast features guests from Asias vibrant tech community.

Jay Kim, host of the Jay Kim show & author of Hack Your Fitness, joined us to discuss the chronology of the rise of the Hong Kong startup ecosystem. He discussed the chronology of the Hong Kong startup ecosystem and how it has transformed into a vibrant scene with a few enthusiasts and the entry of prominent conferences such as RISE. Last but not least, we discussed the backstory of his podcast, The Jay Kim Show and his latest book, Hack your Fitness.

Here are the interesting show notes and links to the discussion (with timestamps included):

Listen to the episode here or subscribe.

TechNode does not necessarily endorse the commentary made in this program.

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[Podcast] Analyse Asia 188: The Hong Kong Startup Ecosystem with Jay Kim - TechNode (blog)

The term ecosystem describes both the living and non-living components of an area that interact with one another. All the components are inter-dependant in some way with each other. An ecosystem may be aquatic or terrestrial.

Advantages It is difficult to find a perfectly balanced ecosystem but you can make a model at home and observe how the ecosystem functions.

This way you will not disturb the bed or any other plants or fish when you pour water. When the water is at least 1 inch higher than the bed, put the plants into the soil. As the water level goes up the leaves of the plants will also rise up.

After the tank is full with about 4 inches left on top, stop pouring the water. Let the water settle for some time. Now introduce the fish one by one and close the top.

Observation Observe whether some fish are destroying the plants or whether some fish are eating other fish. If the population of one species goes down dramatically, try and find the reason why this has happened. See what will bring back the balance- is it more fish of the same species, places for them to hide and be protected from predator fish, or more oxygen in the water?

For your project display, describe the abiotic (nonliving) factors present. Explain why the living and nonliving elements are needed in the aquarium. Give reasons for selecting the organisms or type of fish and the plants. Explain what relationship the fish have with each other and the plants- are they prey-predator? Show where they are in the food chain. Note their life cycle. Describe their adaptations and interactions with each other and the environment.

Resources

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A Balanced Ecosystem - An Aquarium | WWF

During the past few years, many have covered the remarkable and rapid road that Portugal, and particularly its capital, Lisbon, has travelled by reframing its financial and economic woes into an opportunity for the nation to reinvent itself as a global startup hub.

The Portuguese scaleup ecosystem is growing twice as fast as the European average reads the headline of the report released this week by the SEP Monitor, entitled Portugal Rising. Unsurprisingly, Lisbon has the highest concentration of activity, representing 40 percent of scaleups and raising 65 percent of the total money made available to Portuguese scaleups.

Its interesting to note international investors are playing a central role in the scale-up of the Portuguese ecosystem. 62 percent of capital made available to scaleups 86 percent of later stage rounds comes from abroad. Ricardo Marvo, cofounder and Head of Global Projects at Beta-i, commented in the reports highlights.

There couldnt be stronger validation that the bustling startup ecosystem that was kindled just seven short years ago is thriving, and is well on its way to launching the kind of big ticket exits that seem to be inevitable at this pace.

The timing of the report accompanied the latest edition of the Lisbon Investment Summit that also ran this week, organized by Beta-i, notably one of the central pillars responsible for the current Portuguese startup renaissance. Beta-i codeveloped the report in partnership with Mind the Bridge, a foundation that promotes entrepreneurship around the world.

Lisbons recovery is very much owed to the likes of Beta-is founders, battle-tested executives that, unlike many of their peers, didnt leave their country at the outset of the recession but instead chose to work alongside the grassroots community and an incredibly supportive government, turning the tide of their economy by leveraging a mix of favorable factors that Portugal is renowned for.

I do believe even though the crisis was bad for Portugal, it gave an impressive boost to its entrepreneurial aspect and forced a new generation into creating their own jobs, Marvo told me.

Above: Battle-tested Beta-i founders.

Those favorable factors include an English-speaking workforce, a wide pool of technical talent, and a low burn rate that together have been drawing in an increasing supply of startup founders that choose Lisbon as their base. The year-round sunny, warm, climate and exceptionally high quality of life may also have something to do with it.

The Portuguese ecosystem has the right ingredients to prosper in the future. Of course, it still needs some companies to exit over $100 million and/or IPO to help inject the ecosystem with more capital, but progress is in the works, Google Clouds Europe VC and Startup Manager, David Roldan, told me. He also pointed to English-language TV in the country as a big plus, since it has made for a large population of English speakers. (A government spokesperson told me that because Portugal hasnt had the budget to dub foreign shows, they run instead with subtitles instead, so Portuguese children grow up hearing a lot of English.)

In fact, waves of all sorts of foreigners are splashing onto the shores of Lisbon. The resurgence has spread along parallel lines to produce a thriving art scene that draws in the creative types that reminds one of the kind of conditions that led to Berlins blooming startup scene.

But trying to tie down the evolution of Lisbon and Portugal by looking for some reference point, as if that could capture whats happening here in the west coast of Europe, is somewhat of a futile exercise.

Above: One of the billboards across Portugal

This is not the New Berlin and This is not the New Silicon Valley, no, This is Portugal read the highway billboards that have been plastered around the country by StartupPortugal in order to set the record straight and curb the twirling associations that attempt to tell the story before its had a chance to unfold for itself.

A testament to the fact that the local community is only growing stronger and more resilient by the day is the Portuguese Startup Manifesto released by a group of Portuguese entrepreneurs last year, illustrating an ambition to succeed not just in the region but globally.

And its proving increasingly tricky to find someone in the startup industry who isnt aware of Lisbons rising status when the Web Summit, the event that Forbes has declared the best technology conference on the planet, relocated to the city and held its first run last year. The flagship event attracted over 53,000 people from around the world, raked in over 175 million of revenue for the city, and is expected to scale to even greater proportions this coming November.

Above: Web Summit Lisbon

We moved to Lisbon because it is an exciting tech hub with strong infrastructure, a world-class venue and a thriving startup community. This year were expecting 60,000 + attendees from over 160+ countries, Web Summit CEO Paddy Cosgrave told me in an email.

Over the past several years, dozens of incubators, accelerators, hubs, coworking spaces, and boot camps have appeared, and even the top universities, like the Instituto Superior Tcnico, have pivoted their curriculum to prioritize entrepreneurship.

A lot has changed in the last few years regarding the way entrepreneurship is seen by the Portuguese people, but we still have a lot of work to increase the numbers of those that decide to start new and innovative businesses, explained Antonio Lucena de Faria, founder of Fbrica de Startups, a four-year-old accelerator that runs boot camps for aspiring startup founders, including applicants from Brazil, Macao, and other Portuguese-speaking lands.

Joo Vasconcelos, Secretary of State of Industry for the Portuguese Industry, told me that half of the new jobs being created in the country are coming from companies less than five years old. He said that this news, as well as news like Mercedes opening a digital hub in Lisbon with plans to hire over 300 people, is important to stopping the brain drain and attracting some of the best talent that left Portugal in the financial crisis back to the country.

Above: Fbrica de Startups Ideation Week for Retail, May 2017

Amir-Esmaeil Bozorgzadeh is founder of Virtuleap, a sandbox for creative developers to showcase their VR concepts to the world. He is also the European Partner at Edoramedia, a games publisher and digital agency with its headquarters in Dubai.

See the original post here:

Portugal's scaleup ecosystem is growing twice as fast as the European average - VentureBeat

Whats lacking?

70pc of Pakistans youth is less than 30 years old and internet penetration has increased from 10pc to 18pc in 2017. Its a low broadband penetration as out of a total of around 200 million people, only 36 million people are online

Entrepreneurship is the key for progress of the world. The big tech giants of the world, e.g. Google, Facebook or booking.com were, just a decade back, tiny startups which due to the presence of a strong ecosystem in their respective countries were able to scale at such a massive level. Startups cannot survive without a proper tech eco system established around them. Making an analogy with the natural ecosystem, the tech or the startup ecosystem is a mutually beneficial system with inter related entities working to support the startups by helping in creating new startups and scale existing ones.

In Pakistan, the entrepreneurship discourse became talk of the town just 23 years back. Now, Pakistans ecosystem has graduated from an infant to a premature stage and thanks to the efforts made by the various stake holders, the government is also giving equal importance to it which is laying the foundations of a vibrant startup community. An entrepreneurial ecosystem depends on existing infrastructure fundamentals required for startup growth e.g. broad band and mobile penetration in the country, literacy rate, government policies, the non-profit organisations working for the support of entrepreneurship in the country, numbers of incubators and accelerators in a country, the network of angel investors, and formal venture capital and equity investment companies in a country.

Pakistan is a market ripe for entrepreneurship and technological innovation. 70pc of Pakistans youth is less than 30 years old and internet penetration has increased from 10pc to 18pc in 2017. Its a low broadband penetration as out of a total of around 200 million people, only 36 million people are online. But, encouragingly, the growth is fast. According to one source, every month one million mobile users are coming online through their phones every month in Pakistan. The active social media users constitute about 16pc of the total population while active mobile social users constitute about 14pc of the total population. However, active social media users are registering a growth of 35pc year on year. Similarly, like other developing markets, Pakistan is rapidly moving towards a mobile first market. According to the data by the hootsuite and we are social, two leading digital media agencies, 70pc of the Pakistans web traffic comes from mobile phones. Recently an interesting report was published about the Pakistans entrepreneurial ecosystem. According to the report, 23pc of the Pakistan youth want to start their own business, a no. they took from the UNDP data. But the report also states that this 23pc is clueless about the procedures and the requirements of the business.

The most important stakeholders in an entrepreneurial system are the incubators and accelerators. Making an analogy with the child incubator, incubators allow the startup to breathe and give it oxygen by providing free office space, internet, and most importantly mentorship for the first few months of its existence. They also help them in connecting with the potential investors for their startups. An accelerator is meant to accelerate an already founded startup which is in operational phase. Since 2014, many new incubators and accelerators have been formed in the country. The most important ones among them are the LCE (LUMS center for entrepreneurship), Plan 9, and the [emailprotected] (Nest i/o). The other considerable ones are women X, we create center,Founders institute, Revolt and NUST technology incubation center. The federal government has also launched a national incubation center in Islamabad with the help of Mobilink. Among the accelerators are the Plan X, i2i (Invest to innovate), Telenor velocity and 10 XC. Recently, Pakistan Innovation Foundation in collaboration with innoventures has launched an accelerator as well. However, one problem is that the number of startups being churned out by these incubators is much more than those who are getting funded. Another problem is the lack of entrepreneurship training for the young startups which are incubated in these incubators. There must be formal entrepreneurship and digital marketing boot camps by these institutions for the startups which get incubated with them.

The second most important stake holder in an entrepreneurial ecosystem is the government. Encouragingly, our government, both at the provincial and the national levels, is playing a very positive role in the development of entrepreneurship. Thanks to Mr Umar Saif, Punjab was the leader in bringing the IT revolution to the country. Plan-9 and Plan X, the incubator and the accelerator of the government of Punjab respectively, are doing a commendable job. At the policy level, the federal government is taking important steps for the creation of a vibrant tech ecosystem. Startups have been exempted from income tax for the first three years. Similarly government plans to invest Rs2 billion for building an e-payment gate way in Pakistan which will facilitate all kind of e-commerce transactions. According to some sources, government is also planning to create a publicly funded venture capital fund to support the startups.

The third important pillar of the tech eco system is startup competitions and non-profits striving to foster the culture of entrepreneurship. In Pakistan, theres been a lot of activity going on in this domain. The most important competition is the startup weekend which is a global competition having local chapters in every country and city respectively. Then there is [emailprotected] ICT awards, startup cup, MIT enterprise forum Pakistan and others. Recently, Karandaaz Pakistan, a non-profit funded by UKAID, organised the Pakistan Fin tech disrupt challenge in which the winner, creditfix, got a prize money of US$100,000. There are notable non-profits working in this domain such as Pakistan Innovation Foundation, Invest 2 Innovate and others. Along with these non-profits, successful Pakistani entrepreneurs from Pakistani diaspora have also formed organisations such as TIE (the Indus entrepreneurs) and OPEN (Organisation of Pakistani Entrepreneurs of North America) which support entrepreneurial ecosystem in Pakistan.

The fourth and the most vital pillar of the tech ecosystem is the angel investment networks and venture capital industry. In Pakistan, a lot of development has been made since 2014 in this regard, particularly in the domain of angel investments. The old industrialist class is now giving attention to this new vehicle of investment which can give them much higher returns than their traditional industries but still they are so less in number that can be counted on the tip of your fingers. Two of them are based in Lahore namely Cres ventures founded by Mr Humayun Mazhar and Fatima Ventures of Fatima group. Along with that, Dot zero ventures which is a group of tech industry veterans and Planet N are supporting the nascent tech startups in Karachi. Some others groups or individuals are also slowly emerging such as Sarmaayacar which is a group of Pakistani IT veterans from abroad; they have recently invested a considerable amount in Patari, Pakistans premium online music portal.

However, ironically, there are no venture capital companies in Pakistan which are necessary to take the startups to the next level in their lifecycle. According to the Pakistani entrepreneurship ecosystem report, there are now less venture capital funds operating in Pakistan than 2014, as DYL ventures and Impakt Capital have not invested since 2014. The only venture capital fund which has opened shop in Pakistan recently is 47 ventures, managed by Mr Khurram Zafar, Executive Director LCE (LUMS Centre for Entrepreneurship) and this venture capital fund plans to invest a hefty sum of money in Pakistani startups. The scanty of venture capital companies in Pakistan represents a problem for Pakistan based startups as they have less funding available after the seed stage. However, some have been able to secure funding from regional venture capital firms e.g. Frontier Digital Ventures of Malaysia invested in the property portal,zameen.pk.

Given the present scenario, Pakistans startup ecosystem is inevitably making a stride towards success. We hope one day, some Pakistani startups will be able to achieve what former Pakistani entrepreneurs have been unable to do; to scale globally and form large multinationals spanning across regions and continents.

Read the original post:

Pakistan's tech eco system an overview - Pakistan Today

Launched recently in April 2017, the Goa Technology Association (GTA) is the first representative body of the local IT industry. Here Mangirish Salelkar, president, GTA, talks of the association objectives of fast tracking growth of local companies. He says to Team B&C that, plans are afoot to collaborate with the department of technical education (DTE) to upgrade the syllabus of engineering colleges.

Q: How does the GTA plan to put forward the cause of IT units in the state?

The primary goal of this association is to uplift the industry which has been ignored and taken for granted all this while. GTA now has membership of 70 plus tech companies based in Goa. Our aim is to work along with the government and educate them about the current IT ecosystem and bring forward the world class services and products developed by these companies. We are closely working along with NASSCOM for building a healthy and productive ecosystem where every individual can grow. Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) has extended full support to GTA for conducting seminars and giving access to national and international trade fairs. We also aim to very soon work with the department of technical education (DTE) for upgrading their syllabus and helping the graduates to be industry ready.

Q: What is GTAs opinion on the initiatives taken by the government in attracting IT investors to the state?

GTAs initiative along with a strong IT policy coming from the government side will definitely boost this industry. It will definitely attract mid- sized companies and tech Entrepreneurs to choose Goa as their startup base. We are also working along with the government to draft a very simple yet industry friendly IT policy which will definitely help the existing IT companies who have sustained business in Goa inspite of all odds and also attract new tech players. This will in turn lead to a lot of job creation and also bring back lot of Goan IT talent who want to be back home.

Q: What do you think of the ecology for IT start-ups in the state?

GTA has recently done a survey to help the government know the strength of this IT ecosystem. The summarized data will be released shortly. However we realized that startups makes almost 70 per cent of this ecosystem. We need to understand that they are the future and they need to be mentored and incubated well for benefit of this state. Proper incubation facilities with plug and play model should be made easily available.

Q: Is Goa missing the IT bus?

Bangalore and Pune are in an overloaded bus, Those IT hubs are getting saturated. We need to think positive that our bus has just started with GTA as the driver. We will get the right resources onboard to fast track what we have missed. We seriously aim to take Goan IT industry to the next level and we will achieve it.

Q: What does GTA think of the Cyberage Scheme?

Sorry, we are aware of it. However we are not the right team to handle the situation or intervene. It is all to do with hardware vendors.

See more here:

Startups make almost 70 per cent of the IT eco system in Goa - The Navhind Times

WISE, Va. The University of Virginias College at Wise will receive $3.5 million from the University of Virginia to increase enrollment in programs at the college and to create a robust culture of entrepreneurship and innovation in the region, the college said Friday.

The Wise Innovation Ecosystem received the funding from the UVas Strategic Investment Fund, according to a news release from the college.

The Strategic Investment Fund is an extraordinary opportunity for the University of Virginia community to dream big and exercise creative license to design and implement high-impact, high-value initiatives, UVa-Wise Chancellor Donna P. Henry said.

She added that college officials are grateful for the award.

This is truly a transformative opportunity which will strengthen innovation and entrepreneurship in our curriculum while reinforcing student outcomes and economic development, Henry added.

Approval of the award was announced Friday by the Board of Visitors.

One of the Wise Innovation Ecosystems goals is to diversify the regions economy by boosting enrollment in the software engineering, computer science and management of information systems programs, said Shannon Blevins, assistant vice chancellor for economic development and engagement.

Another goal is to give students the skills needed to be relevant and competitive in the emerging economy by creating a center for innovation for students to collaborate and develop entrepreneurial skills through hands-on learning experiences, Blevins said.

The college will receive the funding over a five-year period. The majority of the funds will support a Center for Innovation, including the hiring of a professor of entrepreneurship, a professor of cyber-MIS, a center manager and operation costs, including start-up scholarships, student internships, an entrepreneurship boot camp, a cyber-security symposium, an entrepreneurial certificate program and the Student Innovation Center.

Jacob Somervell, chairman of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, said the award will bring more students to the computer science and software engineering programs.

Increasing enrollment and the number of graduates can have the ripple effect of attracting more technology companies to the region, Somervell added.

The funds will also support a retention program for students in various programs, including a mandatory summer program for entering students, highly monitored turbo classes in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, early intervention for at-risk students and shared courses with the University of Virginia, the college said.

WISE, Va.The University of Virginias College at Wise will receive $3.5 million from the University of Virginia to increase enrollment in targeted programs at the College and to create a robust culture of entrepreneurship and innovation in the region.

The Wise Innovation Ecosystem received the funding from the University of Virginias Strategic Investment Fund, according to a written statement from the university.

The Strategic Investment Fund is an extraordinary opportunity for the University of Virginia community to dream big and exercise creative license to design and implement high-impact, high-value initiatives, UVa-Wise Chancellor Donna P. Henry said. The University of Virginias College at Wise is grateful for this award. This is truly a transformative opportunity which will strengthen innovation and entrepreneurship in our curriculum while reinforcing student out-comes and economic development.

Approval was announced Friday by the Board of Visitors, the release states.

One goal of the Wise Innovation Ecosystem is to diversify the regions economy by boosting enrollment in the software engineering, computer science and management of information systems programs, said Shannon Blevins, assistant vice chancellor for economic development and engagement. Another goal is to give students the skills needed to be relevant and competitive in the emerging economy by creating a center for innovation for students to collaborate and develop entrepreneurial skills through hands-on learning experiences.

The funding will be received over a five-year period. The majority of the funds will support a Center for Innovation, including the hiring of a professor of entrepreneurship, a professor of cyber-MIS, a center manager and operation costs, including start-up scholarships, student internships, an entrepreneurship boot camp, a cyber-security symposium, an entrepreneurial certificate program and the student innovation center, the release states.

The College at Wise already has top-notch academic programs, including ABET accredited Computer Science and Software Engineering, said Jacob Somervell, chair of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science. These degrees are underutilized resources for the Commonwealth. The programs need more students and this SIF grant will support bringing more students to these degree programs.

Somervell explained that efforts to increase awareness of the programs and to attract more students would strengthen the mission of the college and provide much needed technology talent to the various technology companies across the commonwealth and beyond. Increasing enrollment and the number of graduates can have the ripple effect of attracting more technology companies to the region; potentially helping to shift the local economy from the struggling coal industry towards a more sustainable technology sector, he explained.

I thank the Board of Visitors and the review panel for their foresight and clarity of vision in recognizing the importance these degrees can have for the region and the Commonwealth, he said. My hope is that the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science can graduate significantly more majors with technology degrees and help Southwest Virginia become a competitive destination for myriad technology companies.

The funds would also support a retention program for students in various programs, including a mandatory summer program for entering students, highly monitored turbo classes in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, early intervention for at-risk students and shared courses with the University of Virginia.

View post:

UVA-Wise to get $3.5 million for Wise Innovation Ecosystem | News ... - Bristol Herald Courier (press release) (blog)

Thanks for your article highlighting the commitment of the Friends of the Woods and Wetlands at Landis Homes (Back to nature, May 17). They are the retirees who are enhancing their campus by reintroducing native plants and removing invasive ones. They understand that insects, most notably our native bees whom we rely on to pollinate our food plants, need native flora to survive. These folks also know that non-native plants, such as teasel and garlic mustard, privets and burning bushes, crowd out plants that have lived here for millennia.

And these plants are the ones our hardworking insects and birds rely on for food and habitat.

Many of us love butterflies but need a reminder that these pretty summer creatures also rely on certain native flowers to keep them around. With the use of pesticides and herbicides and the loss of habitat, our useful insects and birds face an uphill battle to survive. Not only does this put our own food production at risk, it also diminishes our wondrous quality of life.

We need to learn from the example set by the Friends of the Woods and Wetlands. Homeowners with a patch of space can turn their properties into mini nature preserves simply by planting native trees, shrubs and flowers that support our friends in the animal kingdom. Simply Google native plants for Pennsylvania gardens to learn which species to grow. They are just as beautiful as the exotics from Asia that dominate our present landscape.

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Native plants help ecosystem - LancasterOnline

The ecosystem had thrived for thousands of years but collapsed less than two centuries ago. The seabed off the coast of southern California is one of the most studied areas in the world, characterized by its high biodiversity and by its important roles in biogeochemical cycling and commercial fishing. Today, this seabed consists of soft sediments and is inhabited by mollusks, crustaceans, worms, and urchins that feed on organic matter. However, this was not always the case.

Paleontologists Susan Kidwell of the University of Chicago and Adam Tomaovch of the Slovak Academy of Sciences recently discovered a lost ecosystem off the coast of Southern California that once stretched for nearly 250 miles from San Diego to Santa Barbara. Kidwell and Tomaovch noticed an abundance of dead shells from scallops and marine organisms called brachiopods in the muddy California seabed and began examining the remains. Using geologic methods that Kidwell had developed since the 2000s, the researchers discovered that the now-muddy seabed was once decorated with shell-gravel habitats that housed these scallops and brachiopods for at least 4,000 years.

Kidwell and Tomaovch analyzed 190 shells using a molecular dating technique known as amino acid racemization. They found that all of the shells were older than 100 years and that most were over 200 years old. No similar shells have been produced in the region within the past century, indicating that the sea creatures died off recently and relatively quickly.

Scallops and brachiopods prefer colder waters than those found off the coast of southern California, but Kidwell and Tomaovch do not consider climate change to be a likely cause of the ecosystems collapse. Instead, they argue that the main culprit is siltation, the pollution of water by fine sediments such as silt.

In 1796, Spanish missionaries introduced livestock such as cattle and sheep to southern California. For the next century, the regions economy was dominated by cattle production, subjecting the land to unmanaged, open-range grazing. The researchers believe that siltation resulting from this unmanaged grazing altered the ecosystem in the coastal seabed during the 1800s, leading to the decline and eventual collapse of scallop and brachiopod populations.

This loss unfolded during the 19th century, Kidwell explained, Thus well before urbanization and climate warming. The disappearance of these abundant filter-feeding animals coincided with the rise of lifestock and cultivation in coastal lands, which increased silt deposition on the continental shelf, far beyond the lake and nearshore settings where we would expect this stress to have an impact.

Kidwell and Tomaovch published their findings online in the journal Royal Society Proceedings B, arguing that more research is needed to fully understand the ecological consequences of coastal land use and siltation.

Originally posted here:

Paleontologists discover lost ecosystem off the coast of southern California - Treehugger

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President Donald Trump's attorney Marc Kasowitz in a statement Thursday disputed former FBI Director James Comey's testimony that the president had indicated he wanted the FBI to back off its investigation of Flynn. Photo: AFP/Getty

Even as Islamic State is destroying antiquities in Syria, the militant group is also shipping them -- to intermediaries working with buyers in Europe and the U.S. The Wall Street Journal reveals a pattern of plunder that takes priceless relics from the battlegrounds of Syria to art traders in the West.

More U.S. tech companies including Apple and a startup called LimeBike are providing services, such as mobile wallets and bike-sharing apps, that imitate those offered by Chinese rivals, says venture capitalist Connie Chan at the WSJ D.Live Asia conference.

Watch highlights from former FBI Director James Comey's testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Photo: Getty

President Donald Trump's attorney Marc Kasowitz in a statement Thursday disputed former FBI Director James Comey's testimony that the president had indicated he wanted the FBI to back off its investigation of Flynn. Photo: AFP/Getty

In a 2.5-hour keynote, Apple announced a slew of new hardware and software products. WSJ's Joanna Stern recaps what you need to know about the most important announcements.

Jessica and Cem Savas's London home includes partial walls and open bookcases to separate rooms. Floor-to-ceiling glass doors lead to the yard, which includes a vegetable garden and seating areas. Photo: Dylan Thomas for The Wall Street Journal

Tesla CEO Elon Musk outlines bold ambitions as the company's market value races past GM and Ford.

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Baidu's Case for an AI Ecosystem - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

Petri Artturi Asikainen/Getty

By Lesley Evans Ogden

THE Federal Bureau of Investigation has a spectacular view of the city skyline from its Chicago office tower. But when special agent Julia Meredith arrived at work one Monday morning, her eyes were focused firmly on the ground. Thats where the bodies were more than 10 of them.

Some of the dead were Blackburnian warblers, birds with bright yellow and orange plumage that are rarely seen in the city. They had been on their way to their wintering grounds in South America when they had collided with the buildings glass facade. They had come all this way and here they were, dead, says Meredith.

Its not an isolated incident. Just last month, 395 migrating birds were killed in one building strike in Galveston, Texas. The world over, wherever humans are extending their buildings, machines and light into the sky, the lives of aerial creatures are at increasing risk. We dont have very accurate figures, but in the US, casualties are thought to run into the hundreds of millions every year. Yet while efforts to protect areas on land and in water have accelerated since the 1970s, the sky has been almost entirely ignored.

That could be about to change if a new wave of conservationists have their way. They want to reclaim the air for its inhabitants, creating protected areas that extend into the sky and designing buildings to avoid death. If this noble aim is to succeed, however, we must first address a more fundamental question: what exactly is it that we are

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Life aloft: The unexplored ecosystem above your head - New Scientist

June 8, 2017 by Steve Koppes Shells from muddy sediment collected on the western Palos Verdes shelf off the coast of southern California. The shells are from the scallop Chlamys hastata. Credit: Prof. Susan Kidwell

Paleontologists investigating the sea bed off the coast of southern California have discovered a lost ecosystem that for thousands of years had nurtured communities of scallops and shelled marine organisms called brachiopods.

These brachiopods and scallops had thrived along a section of coast stretching approximately 250 miles from San Diego to Santa Barbara for at least 4,000 years. But they had died off by the early 20th century, replaced by the mud-dwellling burrowing clams that inhabit this seabed today. Paleontologists Adam Tomaovch of the Slovak Academy of Sciences and Susan Kidwell of the University of Chicago examine the lost ecosystem in a study published online June 7 in the Royal Society Proceedings B.

Evidence indicates that the brachiopod and scallop die-off occurred in less than a century. Because this community disappeared before biologists started sampling the seafloor, its existence was unknown and unsuspected. Only dead shells remain, permitting analysis by paleontologists.

"This loss unfolded during the 19th century, thus well before urbanization and climate warming," said Kidwell, the William Rainey Harper Professor in Geophysical Sciences. "The disappearance of these abundant filter-feeding animals coincided with the rise of lifestock and cultivation in coastal lands, which increased silt deposition on the continental shelf, far beyond the lake and nearshore settings where we would expect this stress to have an impact."

Continental shelves, the submerged shoulders of the continents, are a worldwide phenomenon. They form a distinct environment separated by a steep slope from the much deeper and vaster expanse of ocean floor beyond, and provide key habitats for biodiversity and fisheries.

Seabed studies

The seabed off southern California is one of the most thoroughly studied in the world, but in applying geologic methods to modern biological samples of the sea floor, Kidwell and Tomaovch encountered unsuspected results. Today that seabed consists of soft sediments, where creatures such as segmented worms, crustaceans, molluscs, crabs and urchins feed on organic matter.

This is a fundamentally different ecosystem than the one that preceded it not so long ago, said Tomaovch, who heads the Department of Paleoecology and Organismal Evolution at the Slovak Academy.

"The methods applied here provide crucial information on ecosystem response to natural and human pressures over otherwise inaccessible timescales," he said.

In pioneering these methods since the 2000s, Kidwell and her associates have fostered the field of conservation paleobiology. Their work has shown that misfits between live populations and the shells they leave behind on modern sea floors do not signal poor preservation. The differences instead indicate a recent ecological shiftone usually driven by human activities such as pollution or sea-floor dredging.

Tomaovch and Kidwell based their new study on the analysis of samples and data collected from multiple sources. They have conducted their own research on the sea floor off southern California, but they've also benefited from samples and monitoring data that other scientists have collected from the area since 1954.

Brachiopods and scallops, which prefer cold waters and a gravelly environment, range from the U.S.-Mexico border to the Gulf of Alaska. Tomaovch and Kidwell eliminated climate warming as a likely culprit in their ecosystem collapse, given that large populations of brachiopods persist near Catalina Island, where water temperatures are similar to those of southern California's mainland coastal waters.

The paleontologists instead pointed to the dramatic changes that southern California's watersheds have undergone since 1769, after Spanish missionaries introduced cattle, horses and sheep to the area.

Unmanaged grazing

The researchers established the age of the brachiopods using a molecular dating technique called amino acid racemization. All of the 190 shells analyzed were more than 100 years old, and most were older than 200 years, indicating that the start of the population die-off coincided with the rise of livestock and cultivation on the nearby mainland.

Brachiopods and scallops have low tolerance for high levels of suspended sediment, leaving them vulnerable to the side effects of a regional economy that focused on cattle production from 1769 to the 1860s. During this time, much of modern-day Los Angeles and Orange counties were subject to unmanaged, open-range grazing. The economy shifted to agriculture in the late 19th century, but in the absence of soil conservation methods, the side effects on the coastal ocean would have continued unabated into the early 20th century.

The researchers concluded that siltation associated with this prolonged period of unmanaged land use probably drove the collapse of the brachiopod-scallop populations.

"Extirpation was complete by the start of 21st-century urbanization, warming, bottom fishing and scientific surveys," Tomaovch and Kidwell reported, emphasizing the value of combining many lines of historical evidence, especially the application of paleobiological methods to present-day ecosystems, to gain a fuller picture of recent biotic changes.

They further concluded that siltation derived from coastal land-use practices is an under-recognized ecological factor on continental shelves around the globe.

Explore further: Dead clams tell many tales

More information: Adam Tomaovch et al. Nineteenth-century collapse of a benthic marine ecosystem on the open continental shelf, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2017). DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2017.0328

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Lost ecosystem found buried in mud of southern California coastal ... - Phys.Org

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Podcast: Rick Fox And Stratton Sclavos Are Building The Sports Ecosystem Of The Future - Forbes

This case study was originally published onGetting Smart

Achievement First operates a network of 32 high-performing college-preparatory, K-12 public charter schools in Connecticut, Rhode Island and New York City. In keeping with its name, the network is centered on a goal of outstanding student achievement. Its rigorous standards, high-quality curriculum and ongoing professional development for teachers serve to support this goal. Teachers regularly analyze student data to drive daily instruction and long-term planning, and an emphasis is placed on building strong relationships with students, parents and guardians.

Since the opening of its initial school, Amistad Academy, in 1999, the network has grown to three states, opening elementary, middle and high schools centered on its REACH core values: Respect, Enthusiasm, Achievement, Citizenship and Hard Work. Students are admitted on a lottery basis, with an average of 10 applications received for each seat.

Schools are staffed with operations, logistics and technology teams that enable teaching and learning staff to focus on curriculum development and delivery, assessment, and professional learning. Three years ago, the network launched Greenfield, a new school model that emphasizes self-motivated learning with greater access to technology, smaller group instruction, and a variety of enrichment activities. (By the 201718 academic year, three network schools will follow this model.)

Archana Parab, Database Architect, leads a small and mighty team of developers and database staff who build and refine data connections and design solutions to meet the entire networks technical needs. She explained that Achievement First employs a variety of assessment platforms: Illuminate is in place for benchmark assessments, while STAR assessments, along with a whole host of other digital reading platforms, are used for reading. The network also piloted and uses Cortex, a next-generation learning platform developed by InnovateEDU.

Our team believes very strongly in being able to build and maintain your own toolsand it has created a massive competitive advantage for us, as that kind of internal capability is still unusual among charter schools.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the networks Greenfield program, which demonstrates how schools can be built from scratch. For example, through Illuminate, Greenfield teachers are disseminating weekly quizzes, which offer a variety of benchmark assessments. Lisa Minott, Senior Director of Greenfield Technology, noted that it enables her team to intervene before an issue becomes a crisis, and we can also subdivide into a week-by-week basis, focusing on two to three items for mastery. Those assessments feed into Cortex. This interoperability between systems means that interventions are structured and meaningful, and address key gap areas while giving teachers actionable data.

You take something huge like moving a kid across a couple of grade levels in a year, and turn that into a feasible accomplishment, Nevico added.

While Achievement Firsts existing assessment tools currently do not adapt to students responses in real time, they offer varied assessments in which each student can move at his or her own pace.

We do a lot of reporting for various blocks throughout the day: science, humanities, math, etc.and from that we gather a suite of reports on a specific trend line, Minott said. This enables us to set rigorous yet appropriate goals for every student in terms of proficiency. The ability to pull data together in an interoperable way means that this trend line deeply informs the core work of the team.

While overall student growth is charted by analytics obtained from weekly assessments, teachers in the Greenfield model also rely upon the Cortex platform to drive personalized learning.

With our 1:1 model, all Greenfield students have access to a Chromebook, and specific times when theyre learning science, English, and other topics, Minott explained. They log into Cortex, where weve laid out core content and several go deeper modules, which enable fast-moving students to explore a given topic further. Each student encounters a playlist of digital content and activitieswhether those involve text, multimedia or simulationsthat have been curated alongside a study guide with questions and prompts. If they pass, they can move onto the other playlist. Students see their progress in real time, driving engagement in the content and exploration of passion-driven and interest-driven deeper dives. Teachers can understand through the data, not only if a student is learning, but how.

Students needs are met at all ends of the spectrum. For those reading below grade level, we can customize down to the students level, so that on the surface it looks the sametheyre covering the same topic as their peersyet its a way to reach students with challenges where they are, Minott said. The module then serves as a benefit rather than a roadblock.

Many school leaders talk about an unwavering commitment to their students. What that means and how it can be put into practice varies widely, of course. Just what would happen if every adult staff member was committed to student success on a daily basis?

Our Greenfield model schools are set up so that students have goal coaches and goal teams; for example, every teacher in the building is assigned somewhere between 10 and 16 students for whom they are a goal coach, Minott said. This means that they work with this particular cohort of kids both academically and personally. They share experiences, personal histories, and stories. Its enabled us to build a real, tangible community around each student. They meet every day for 15 minutes. This goal team data is able to live side-by-side with the interoperable assessment data in Cortex, allowing teachers and staff to get a holistic picture of the students academic performance.

The Greenfield model uses a dream team concept. Instead of a typical report card, students are asked to select a group of adults such as parents, grandparents, guardians, clergy members or coaches who are important role models to them. Students as young as five (kindergarten students) then present to their dream teams.

Students in the Greenfield model also receive weekly progress reports, stating their proficiencies and how far they may be from an academic target. In the networks other schools, traditional report cards and a report card night held in the schools pull a childs support team into the conversation. The ability to have an interoperable solution in Cortex, which captures data from disparate systems into one view, allows for more real-time weekly updates for students, teachers, parents and the goal team to assess where a student is and how far he or she has to go. This inherently shifts the dynamic from teacher-led to student-led, and leads to more informed decision making.

Whether in the networks classic schools or in its Greenfield model, innovation continues to be rolled out at Achievement First. This year, we launched a platform called Curriculum Hub. Its a custom piece of software that provides daily lesson resources that create scope, sequence and scaffolding for teachers. Instead of spending time figuring out the basics (how to write a lesson and bring the content alive with certain nuances), the software allows teachers to go a lot deeper and drive mastery of content.

The answer doesnt lie in a single solution, Nevico said.

Theres no secret sauce in terms of platform, reports or software; its about creating an interoperable ecosystem, developing the right habits and empowering teachers to accomplish lofty goals.

Read the full Achievement First case studyhere.

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How Achievement First is Creating an Interoperable Ecosystem - EdSurge