The Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is a facility dedicated to the research, development, commercialization, and deployment of renewable energy and energy efficient technologies. NREL is working with the U.S. Government to produce more clean energy and use it more efficiently, while also supporting America’s domestic manufacturing base and economic growth.
Working with colleges and universities, composites companies, and National Laboratories, the NREL are developing advanced composites manufacturing for turbine components, including blades, hubs, and nacelles.
NREL’s research and development is allowing the private sector to innovate and apply this technology commercially, while maintaining economic competitiveness here in America. Their work is leading to job creation and lower energy costs, and increase energy reliability for Americans as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Department of Energy has provided over $2 billion in funding to private and public sector partners in the state of Colorado, who play a key role in America’s national energy strategy. The work done at NREL is crucial for our nation’s energy economy and for ensuring energy efficiency and reliability.
Medical Researchers, Life Science Companies, and COVID-19 Survivors Launch a National Campaign to Drive Blood Plasma Donation. Working together under “The Fight is in Us” campaign, this group is seeking to encourage tens of thousands of people in the United States who have recovered from COVID-19 to donate blood plasma, which contain vital antibodies that have fought off the disease. Organisations, such as Octaphrma, America’s Blood Centre, Survivor Corps, and Biopharma Plasma are taking part in the campaign.
The founder of Survivor Corps, Diana Berrent, notes “As an early survivor of COVID-19, I was desperate to do whatever was in my power to be a part of the solution. I started Survivor Corps to mobilize and connect the thousands of people affected by COVID-19 to support all ongoing scientific, medical and academic research, and this coalition is furthering our goal. Inside COVID-19 survivors is the antibody-rich blood plasma that may help stem the tide of this pandemic. The time is now for superhero volunteers to donate their blood plasma and to potentially help stop COVID-19 in its tracks.”
The campaign is beginning in the United States, but is looking to also expand to Europe.
With the increasing reliance on social media in today’s society, social media has quickly become an important platform to reach sports fans. The NBA has recognized this, and the ever growing need to create customized content for its fans. Since 2014, the NBA has partnered with Israeli company, WSC Sports, to experiment with artificial intelligence to analyze highlights and key moments of the game.
During All Star weekend, the NBA employed software developed by WSC Sports to create multiple clips and content for every single player on the court. Shaka Arnon, the general manager of WSC North America, described the software as “[using] machine learning or AI to take a combination of visual, audio and data cues to identify big moments in the game, as well as identify each and every play of the game, to create shareable highlights”.
Bob Carney, Senior Vice President of social and digital strategy for the NBA noted that this level of personalized content is something that the NBA would not do in the past, as it was tedious work requiring manual labour to push content out across 200 social and digital platforms across the U.S. Prior to this evolutionary software, it could “take an hour to cut a post-game highlights package”. Now, according to Carney, “it takes just a few minutes to create over 1,000 highlight packages”.
The NBA is pioneering the way in which sport and media can be integrated with technology and innovation to create more personalized content for its fans. By employing WSC Sports’ artificial intelligence software, the NBA is able to provide fans with the content they want to see, when they want at their fingertips.
In December 2019, Toyota announced that it will lead a $50 million investment and partnership with May Mobility, a Michigan-based autonomous shuttle start-up.
May Mobility was founded on the premise of discovering innovative solutions to issues caused by population growth, urban density, and immobility. They are the early leaders in autonomous transportation, operating autonomous shuttles services in Detroit, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Providence, and Rhode Island. It operates a fleet of 25 autonomous electric shuttles, and has provided over 170,000 revenue-generating rides. Continuously innovating and learning about driver’s needs, they are pioneering futuristic technological solutions to advance mobility.
May Mobility currently contracts with cities, transit agencies, and corporations to provide short trips on fixed routes in dense urban areas. For instance, they provide self-driving shuttles for Bedrock LLC, the real estate company owned by billionaire Dan Gilbert, by carrying people from its parking garage to offices almost one mile out along the loop that it runs.
Though Toyota and May Mobility have not announced the details of their partnership, it is likely that May’s autonomous vehicle technology will be paired with the Toyota e-Palette to assist in identifying market opportunities. The e-Palettes was unveiled in 2018 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and is described as a “fully-automated, next generation battery electric vehicle[s] designed to be scalable and customizable for a range of Mobility as a Service businesses.” They are envisaged to solve a variety of functions, including ride-sharing and carpooling, mobile office and retail spaces, and medical clinics.
Toyota is hoping to debut the e-Palette at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI) is responsible for developing and manufacturing large-scale engineered tissues and tissue-related technologies to benefit existing and future industries. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has recently announced that ARMI will receive a $51 million grant from the Federal Government to develop portable technology to produce medications and vaccines in an effort to expand access to “critical medical care in places where drugs are logistically and financially difficult to deliver”.
The grant will allow for major biotechnical innovation to fight health security threats and pioneer life-changing scientific advancements to change the face of medicine. Products and developments that will surface from this grant will allow the U.S to recover faster from natural disasters and other health emergencies.
The $51 million grant will be distributed over a five-year period, with U.S Senator Jeanne Shaheen recognizing the importance of the grant in “[attracting] and [retaining] the next generation of innovators”, as well as provide “good-paying jobs…[and] further strengthen the economy”.
ARMI will engage with regional experts and offer an idea lab, dry and wet labs, manufacturing space, and a learning zone, while also creating and managing a commercialization program that engages in private-sector partners to accelerate the adoption of the technologies.
ARMI’s first project will focus on maturing and validating small, portable, automated devices that could be transported easily to disaster locations to make necessary medicines available on-site.
A recent report by CBRE Research has found that between 2014 to 2017 Houston, Texas is the third – fastest growing life science market. With an increase of 14% within the workforce as well as several strong academic institutions the state’s capital has more than 200 life science companies.
In 2017 the state received $1.16 billion in funding .The steady progression in Houston’s life science sectors can be seen as the result of funding and incentives by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Texas is due to receive more funding the next few years for a collaborative 30 – acre biomedical research campus being developed jointly by the Texas Medical Center, The University of Texas Health Science Center and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The project is expected to generate over 30,000 new jobs and a $5.2 billion return when the project opens in 2022.
Through seeing a sector that was once completely associated with Texas grow into one of the bigger industries, there is no doubt that government initiatives aid in the progression and developments. Being the centre of an exponential life health sector boom, companies should leverage R&D tax credit options available to them now.
If you’ve ever lived in an apartment complex or have been a property manager, packages can overtake a leasing office or lobby in the blink of an eye. Thanks to an innovative Dallas startup, property managers will no longer need to ‘sail’ through a mass flooding of packages in their apartment complexes.
Fetch, created by Michael Patton, collects parcels that are mailed to apartments at off-site warehouses and then delivers them to residents at a convenient time. “The e-commerce explosion has flooded apartment buildings with packages. I saw what a pain it was for the property managers, and that was an eye opening moment for me,” Patton said.
Fetch works in a simple, yet innovative way. Users redirect their deliveries to a Fetch warehouse. Once the package has arrived at the warehouse, users then receive instant notifications, hours before it would normally arrive at an apartment complex. Patrons can then request their package to be delivered on their schedule—convenience at its finest, especially for bulky or large items that take a bit more effort to deliver and coordinate.
Fetch has signed 15 contracts with various properties around Dallas. The startup currently manages packages for roughly 5,000 apartments, according to an article on 512tech. Property managers are charged $10 per unit on a monthly basis. The service is available in Texas, but it plans to expand rapidly across the country.
Swanson Reed is a Specialist R&D tax advisory firm, offering tax credibility assessments, claim preparation, and advisory services. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program in Texas, from claim prep & audit compliance to claim disputes.
Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPA’s. For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.
A Chicago startup suggests that offering financial health and wellness can reduce stress and increase overall satisfaction in the workplace. Holberg Financial has created a platform that mixes behavioral economics and psychology with access to a living person that can help people, namely Millennial employees, with finances.
“I grew up in a financially unstable household, and I remember that there were times when we had enough money to go on vacations, but there were also times when we didn’t have enough money to put food on the table. I had to borrow $40 from a neighbor just to apply for college,” said CEO and Founder of Holberg Financial, Joe Holberg.
Upon signing up, a user’s financial information is gathered all in one place where they can receive assessments on how they are doing. A financial survey is then conducted, thus generating a score between 0-100. According to an article in 1871 Blog, Holberg Financial has helped to increase user financial health by 6.3 points, on average. The platform is different from others out there because, instead of providing only a financial overview, it offers users goal development with emphasis on a plan of action. “It helps people recognize that personal finance is a fixed pie and allows users to come up with prioritized goals that they can set, track, and eventually realize.”
The Holberg Financial platform provides companies with the option to offer financial health as a benefit to employees, although companies must pay for the platform, it is free and unbiased for the employees who use the service.
“Companies that have used our platform often come back to us and say that it’s really helped them retain employees and increase productivity. And then, when we look at averages, we see that employees are able to build their net worth by over $3,000 in less than a year and significantly reduce their debt profile as well.”
May questionable credit be a thing of the past.
For more information on the Holberg Financial platform, please click here.
Swanson Reed is a Specialist R&D tax advisory firm, offering tax credibility assessments, claim preparation, and advisory services. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program in Illinois, from claim prep & audit compliance to claim disputes.
Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPA’s. For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.
If you have ever wondered about (or even feared) how unmanned airplanes, air taxis and drones will not crash into each other when on a flight path, wonder no more. Boeing Co., the aerospace manufacturing giant, will partner with Austin-based SparkCognition Inc. to create unmanned traffic management (UTM) solutions. To achieve this, Boeing will use SparkCognition’s AI and blockchain technologies to track and create unmanned traffic routes to ensure safe travel conditions for unmanned air transportation.
“We partner with the world’s largest organizations that power, finance, and defend our society to uncover their highest potential through the application of AI technologies,” mentioned a blurb on the SparkCognition website. Solutions developed by the company are “agile” and can “streamline operations of any size, making it easier to accomplish goals and meet objectives in an expedited manner. These solutions can be seamlessly delivered via the cloud or on devices, and can also run on top of a client’s interface of choice.” It’s also worth mentioning that SparkCognition’s AI solutions lowered the cost of maitenance and improved available for a major aviation operator by 35%.
The company’s AI solutions can also warn of aircraft and asset failures before they occur, thus maximising fleet availability, minimizing unscheduled maitenance, and extending asset life. The company also provides simulated environments in which a user can train and control algorithms and evolve swarm tactics using reinforcement learning.
This promising partnership will also bring about a standardized programming interface to support package delivery, industrial inspection and other commercial applications. SparkCognition has its focus on a number of industries, such as cyber security, manufacturing, financial services, maritime, oil & gas, utilities, defence, and of course, aviation. “The world’s number one aviation leader partnering with the world’s most innovative industrial AI company means that unparalleled experience in safety, innovation, scale, and reliability will be brought to bear to address this monumental opportunity,” Husain said.
For more information on SparkCognition, please click here. For information on this innovative project, please see the video below.
Swanson Reed is a Specialist R&D tax advisory firm, offering tax credibility assessments, claim preparation, and advisory services. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program in Texas, from claim prep & audit compliance to claim disputes.
Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPA’s. For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.
In acknowledgment of the major roles small businesses play in spurring innovation and creating jobs in the U.S. economy, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) have awarded $95 million worth of small business research and development (R&D) grants.
The grants will be funded through DOE’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology (STTR) programs to 80 small businesses and consisting of 95 grants in total.
The SBIR and STTR programs were created by congress to leverage small businesses to advance innovation at federal agencies.
Below are the selected grants for each of the R&D programs that provided funding for the projects:
Office of Defence Nuclear Non-proliferation
Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability
Swanson Reed is a Specialist R&D tax advisory firm, offering tax credibility assessments, claim preparation, and advisory services to the state of Texas. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program in Texas, from claim prep & audit compliance to claim disputes.
Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPAs. For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.
