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Member news: July 2023

Scottsdale content creation startup Terkel rebrands to Featured

Terkel, a Scottsdale-based company that connects publishers with subject matter experts to create question-and-answer content, has changed its name. The company recently rebranded as Featured to better communicate the company’s value proposition to its customers, said Brett Farmiloe, founder and CEO of Featured. Farmiloe launched Featured — then known as Terkel — in 2022 after incorporating the company a year earlier. Read more >>


WebPT unveils communication platform for rehab therapy businesses

WebPT, the industry-leading rehab therapy platform for enhancing patient care and fueling business growth, announced the launch of Message Manager—a communication platform that enables seamless and secure collaboration with any external healthcare provider. Designed to optimize operations and elevate care coordination for rehab therapy practices, Message Manager empowers Members to effortlessly manage all inbound and outbound communication directly within the WebPT platform. Read more >>


Raytheon to open new engineering design facility at SkySong

Raytheon is opening a new facility at SkySong, The Arizona State University Scottsdale Innovation Center, that will employ 150 people and provide collaboration opportunities for students. Raytheon announced Monday it will occupy 28,000 square feet at SkySong in an engineering design hub with a focus on digital design products to support rapid growth of the company’s defense portfolio that mostly has been concentrated in southern Arizona. Read more >>


Scottsdale’s Botco.ai named recipient of Google for Startups Latino Founders Fund

A Scottsdale-based artificial intelligence chatbot software company was selected for the most recent cohort of Google for Startups Latino Founders Fund. Botco.ai announced it’s among 23 startups nationwide selected for the Latino Founders Fund, which provides recipients $150,000 without giving up equity in return and $100,000 in Google Cloud credits. Botco.ai will also receive ongoing Google mentorship and product support to encourage future growth. Read more >>


Chandler-based Keap to host Let’s Grow Summit for entrepreneurs in November

Keap, a Chandler-based marketing and automation company, is hosting an entrepreneurship summit in November in downtown Phoenix to connect small businesses with resources. Keap announced on Tuesday its Let’s Grow Summit will be held Nov. 8-10 at the Sheraton Downtown Phoenix. The event is returning to an in-person format after it was held virtually in 2022. Read more >>


ASU, Applied Materials establishing semiconductor research and development center in Tempe

Arizona State University and Applied Materials Inc. are establishing a new research, development and prototyping facility to bolster the Valley’s growing semiconductor industry. ASU announced Tuesday it’s partnering with the Santa Clara, California-based semiconductor company to create the Materials-to-Fab Center, which will be housed in existing cleanroom space at MacroTechnology Works in ASU Research Park in Tempe. Read more >>


Waymo adds 45 square miles of driverless ride-hailing service to Phoenix metro

Waymo has expanded its driverless ride-hailing service by 45 square miles in the Phoenix Metro. The new service area for Waymo One reaches further north and south of downtown Phoenix, where autonomous electric vehicle rides have been available since August 2022. Users have also been able to catch autonomous rides in a large area of the East Valley since 2020. Read more >>


Center for the Future of Arizona names Francis as board chair

Sybil Francis, a founding member and the president and CEO of the Center for the Future of Arizona, is now the chair of the nonprofit’s board of directors. The announcement comes after a unanimous decision by the board in May to appoint Francis. She has been acting chair of the board since July 2022, assuming the role from retired CFA co-founder and former president of Arizona State University, Lattie Coor. Read more >> 


Cole Technologies announces launch of NextGen solution

Cole Technologies, a managed IT service provider, today announced the launch of NextGen – a combined managed IT, cybersecurity, and compliance solution for businesses that have government contracts or otherwise have a need for heightened security and regulatory requirements. Through this new service, small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) across many sectors now have access to outsourced IT from a local, security-centric MSP that provides IT services with security and compliance baked-in, rather than relying upon multiple vendors or consultants to meet various requirements. Read more >>


Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce proudly appoints seven new members to rising young professionals board of directors

The Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce named seven new members to the Board of Directors of the Scottsdale Rising Young Professionals (SRYP). SRYP, a program of the Scottsdale Chamber, is for Valley professionals aged 23-39 working to build and strengthen the link between the young professional demographic and the business leaders of Scottsdale, cultivating a community for everyone. Read more >>


Intero Digital guest blog: What is social media marketing and how does it help your business?

In our Digital Marketing 101 series, we’ve already reviewed the concepts of SEO and SEM tactics. But we left two main services to consider when leveraging social media: SMA and SMM. Social media is undoubtedly one of the most efficient and cost-effective digital marketing strategies for promoting your brand and engaging with targeted audiences. Popular social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others also allow access to almost every demographic, providing businesses of all sizes an opportunity to flourish. Read more >>


UAT guest blog: ChatGPT and AI: Moral quandaries of emerging technologies

In the Ethics, Technology & Society course, I use the concepts of conceptual and policy vacuums to explain the social and ethical complications that can arise when a new technology is introduced to the world. This idea comes from the philosopher James Moor, who in 1992 described how a new technology (and its associated trends, user behaviors, modifications, etc.) often poses interesting conceptual questions that have to be answered before we can address the formal and informal rules that govern the design, creation, use, modification and sale of the technology in question. This absence of rules, laws, etc. is the policy vacuum. Read more >>


element14 Community and Hackster launch Design Challenge to improve Little Free Libraries

element14 and Hackster, two Avnet communities, announced the launch of the “Little Free STEM Library Design Challenge,” encouraging their communities of makers, designers and engineers to host, build or upgrade a local Little Free Library with the STEM experience. The goal of this challenge is for the 3 million members of the element14 and Hackster communities to use their love of STEM to enhance a Little Free Library in their neighborhood, promoting the importance of STEM/STEAM education. Read more >>


Pima County awarded grant to increase broadband’s reach

The U.S. Commerce Department announced today that Pima County will receive a $30.3 million grant to expand high-speed internet infrastructure and increase internet access for residents in unserved or underserved areas. The five-year grant from the National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) will fund the creation of a 134-mile open-access fiber ring around the county. The open-access network can be made available to any viable carrier at a reasonable price to build the necessary infrastructure to connect unserved or underserved areas of the county. Read more >>


Tucson-based laser and optical technology developer looks to scale with headquarters expansion

A Tucson-based company that develops innovative laser and optical technology is adding to its space at the University of Arizona’s UA Tech Park in anticipation of continued growth. Applied Energetics Inc. is adding an 8,300-square-foot facility to its footprint at the same building where its 13,000-square-foot headquarters is already located, and it has the option to lease about 5,500 more square feet of space down the road. The company said its existing space is compliant for international traffic in arms regulations and laser safety. Read more >>


Renren Inc. rebrands, begins trading under new NYSE ticker symbol

A Phoenix-based technology company has changed its name and is trading on the New York Stock Exchange under a new ticker symbol. Renren Inc. has rebranded to Moatable in a move that it says better reflects “its focus on building great businesses,” the company announced on Thursday. Renren retired its previous NYSE ticker symbol RENN on Thursday and is now listed under ‘MTBL,’ according to the company. Read more >>

 


Register for the Council’s upcoming Phoenix and Tucson tech events and Optics Valley optics + photonics events.


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