ParkVu relocating to Louisville & Hiring
March 8, 2010
Jeff Fedor and Terry Goertz, the founders of ParkVu, contacted me over a year ago through this blog, asking whether Kentucky would be a good place to relocate their startup. Over the past year they have investigated and compared it to other startup hotbeds and have chosen Kentucky. ParkVu is a mobile consumer media company. We develop products for the Android, BlackBerry, Symbian and Maemo platforms along with OS X and Windows. They are having a launch party/job event tomorrow night in Louisville, details below and we will have more on their move soon.
We’re immediately looking to fill the following positions based in Louisville:
- Senior Software Developers (C#, Java, Objective-C, C++ or similar)
- Tester/Quality Assurance Developer
- Community Manager
- Office Manager
Come celebrate with us:
When: 5 PM, Tuesday, March 9th
Where: O’Shea’s (map)
RSVP: Here
And if you’re interested in the any of the above positions, make sure you talk to Terry or myself (Jeff) on Tuesday or send an email to careers@parkvu.com. We look forward to meeting you.
startup-slam
March 4, 2010
April is Tech Month in Lexington
February 9, 2010
The month of April is called Tech Month here in Lexington. Many different organizations are planning events that are technology or innovation related. Below is a highlight of some of the most interesting happenings:
Creative Cities Summit
www.creativecitieslexington.com
Date: April 7-9, 2010
Time: varies
Location: Lexington Center Corporation
Costs: $199
A multi-disciplinary conference bringing together leading thinkers and practitioners who are changing cities and communities all over the world. Areas of focus include talent attraction & retention, innovation, developing entrepreneurship, community design and civic engagement. Featuring Richard Florida, author, Rise of the Creative Class.
Who Should Attend?
The audience will be diverse, including economic development professionals, artists, arts and cultural advocates, government, planners, architects, business leaders, young professionals, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and college students. Their common thread is the desire to make their communities better places to live, work and play.
Mechanalia ~ Newton’s Attic, Inc.
Contact: Bill Cloyd (859) 233-3337or (859) 948-0085
Cost: $60 per team of 3 to 5 individuals
Dates: April 3 and 24
Time: 10:00am to 8:00 pm
Where: TBD
Website: www.newtonsattic.com
Mechanalia is an interactive game in which teams of three to five people drive electric robotic rovers and operate robotic arms to vie for prizes. Each team is equipped with a rover that accommodates 2 players. Mounted on the front of each rover is a robotic arm that is operated from the passenger seat. This arm is capable of picking up various objects from the ground and stands or tables. The other members of each team reside in fortified base stations that are equipped with tennis ball cannons mounted in turrets on top of the base stations.
To play, the rovers race around obstacles in a football field sized arena and try to score points by retrieving objects with the robotic arms. To complicate matters, there is a target on the top of each rover that, when hit by tennis balls fired from the cannons, shuts that rover down for 30 seconds. To further complicate matters, there is another obstacle in the arena called the POD, an 18 foot tall, double barrel tennis ball machine gun that shoots at everything that moves in the arena. The team that scores the most points by collecting the most objects wins. Thirty minute elimination rounds are played and the top three scoring teams play in the final that determines the overall winner.
Kentucky Innovation & Entrepreneurship Conference
What: Sixth Annual Kentucky Innovation & Entrepreneurship Conference
When: April 6, 2010
Time: 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Where: Griffin Gate Marriott Resort, Newtown Pike, Lexington, KY
A conference which brings together distinguished speakers, tech-based economic development practitioners, innovators, and entrepreneurs. It will focus on opportunities for innovation and building science and engineering talent in the Lexington area. The conference is open to universities, the business community, state and local leaders, and students who are interested in technology-driven innovation, high-tech growth, university-business engagement, and job opportunities.
Online registration and additional conference details will be available at http://ksef.kstc.com in February.
Kentucky Space Conference
Date: April 9, 2010
Location: TBD in Lexington, KY
Time: 9:00AM - 4:00PM
Cost: TBD
Website: A link will be available soon at www.kstc.com
Kentucky Space is an ambitious non-profit enterprise involving a consortium of universities, public and private organizations throughout the Commonwealth of Kentucky to design and lead innovative space missions and develop expertise to provide inexpensive, rapid turn-around, access to space. Its goal is to help realize a space exploration program that is focused on efficient costs, robust launch schedules and research and educational opportunities. Kentucky Space seeks to push beyond the traditional models for space opportunities. It has made significant progress since its inception, and the program has brought Kentucky to the forefront of other states in building a very active program involving near-space, sub-orbital, orbital and space station projects. This conference will highlight Kentucky Space’s success in all these programs including its CubeLabTM project to the International Space Station.
Idea State U
Date: April 16 and 17, 2010
Location: Lexington Convention Center
Website: www.IdeaStateU.com.
Kentucky’s statewide business concept and business plan competition is designed to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship by rewarding participating student teams from the Commonwealth’s public universities. Winning teams will be those judged as having the best business concepts and business plans for proposed new ventures.
With $100,000 in combined cash prizes and awards, Kentucky’s Idea State U is one of the nation’s top state-sponsored business plan competitions.
All eight state universities are planning to send up to four teams to the third annual competition to be held in Lexington, April 16-17, 2010, at the Lexington Convention Center. The public is invited to observe. More information is available at www.IdeaStateU.com.
Solar Powered Earth Day Celebration
What: Solar Powered Earth Day Demonstration/Event
When: April 22, 2010
Time: 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Where: University of Kentucky College of Engineering
To commemorate the 40th anniversary of Earth day, the College of Engineering at the University of Kentucky will be hosting “Solar Powered Earth Day”. Recently, UK College of Engineering students designed, built, and raced Gato Del Sol IV-a completely solar powered automobile. The vehicle finished 2nd in the Formula Sun Grand Prix in Cresson, Texas. This vehicle will be on display for the general public. In addition, the University Kentucky Sky.Blue solar house which finished 9th in this year’s Solar Decathlon on the Mall in Washington, D.C. The Sky.Blue solar house has been reconstructed on the lawn in front of the Main Administration Building. On April 22nd, the house will be available for touring with students from the College of Engineering and the College of Architecture serving as hosts and guides to the house. Contact Ms. Vicki Cooper at vlcoop1@engr.uky.edu for more information and updates.
Geeks Night Out ~ a night with other creative minds
Date: April 22nd, 2010
Time: 5:00 until 7:30
Location: tbd
What: Innovator. Engineer. Techie. Entrepreneur.
Do you fit in one, two, or all of these categories? Are you interested in meeting others who do too?
Do you want to share ideas with them? Are you interested in learning more about up & coming companies, as well as established successful companies in Lexington? If your answer is YES to any of these questions… You are who we’re looking for! Join the other innovators, engineers, techies, and entrepreneurs from companies and start-ups across Lexington to meet, share, and create.
TedX Lex - The first Ted event in Kentucky.
Date: April 23, 2010
Time:
Location:
Website: http://www.ted.com/tedx
TEDx was created in the spirit of TED’s mission, “ideas worth spreading.” The program is designed to give communities, organizations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at the local level. At TEDx events, unique talks given by live speakers combine with TEDTalks videos to spark deep conversation and connections. TEDx events are fully planned and coordinated independently, on a community-by-community basis.
BuildyCrunkin
Date: April 24th, 2010 (a Recurring Collaborative Event)
Cost: Free attendance
Location:
Time:
Contact: @collexion
Website: http://collexion.net/events/buildycrunken
http://groups.google.com/group/collexion
Buildycrunkin is about getting things done. We often have ideas that we find time to commit to implementing. Buildycrunken is held overnight, to capitalize on time that is normally not exploited.
The atmosphere is one of jovial collaboration. Share what you’re working on, so we can laugh together at mistakes, encourage each other to press on after failures, and applaud successes. Being in a creative atmosphere and finding support is important to have the mental fortitude to complete your pet projects. You may even find new collaborators for your project.
Any project that doesn’t distract or endanger people trying to concentrate is fine. There have been table-top game sessions, software hacking, electronic music composition, novel writing, jewelry making, and other activities going on. If you feel like socializing with a bunch of makers, then Buildycrunken is your kind of event.
Tinker
Date: April 24, 2010
Location: Busters, in Lexington’s historic Distillery District
Cost: Free for presenters and attendees, Sponsorships available
Website: http://collexion.net/events/tinker
Tinker is a festival celebrating our creative spirit. Think of it as a science fair crashing a carnival being hijacked by a jazz festival. There will be three main tracks. A poster track will give participants space to present their works, give hands-on demonstrations, and interact with attendees. There will be a presentation track aimed at showing how things are assembled in practical terms by showing off actual works of electronic, software, and mechanical engineering and the tools used to create them. There will also be various competitions involving robots, software, automobiles, and toys that you can participate in or watch and cheer along with.
Tinker will bring out the basement builders and the weekend inventors. This is the first event of its type in Kentucky, and promises to be a fun-filled, high energy exposition of excellence. You will want to attend if:
you are a student, an educator, you build things, you WANT to build things, you work in government or economic development, you are looking for a technical job and want to show your skills off, you need to recruit technical talent, you want to network with the brightest minds in the region
Free Innovation Workshops
January 20, 2010
The Eastern ICC at EKU will host a special Innovation training program on Feb. 9.
Eureka Ranch, a nationally recognized Innovation Lab will present two sessions on Innovation-Profit 101 (8:30am-12:30pm) and USA National Innovation Marketplace (1:30-2:30pm) in the EKU Perkins Building on Kit Carson Drive on the south campus at EKU in Richmond.
The first session, Profit 101 Growth program is designed to assist existing organizations get the most out of the creative process (start-ups will also benefit). Find out how to accelerate ideas and successfully diversify into more profitable products, services, markets and/or customers. The session provides a hands-on simulation experience for successfully identifying opportunities, reducing risk and increasing success probability.
www.eurekaranch.com/Profit-101-Training
(8:30am-12:30pm)
The second session, USA National Innovation Marketplace (USA NIM) presents an internet-based Open Innovation Marketplace that connects Innovation Sellers, Buyers, Investors & Distributors-a virtual Tech mining/match service. Listing in this database will give sellers instant Business Credibility as it utilizes the same sales forecasting methodology used by large corporations to screen their own internal innovations. Follow-on participation and registration features an innovation research report that buyers and investors can understand in less than a minute (a potential $2,000 value).
Every time a new innovation is listed in the USA NIM, it will be automatically compared to thousands of companies and matched to their needs.
www.planeteureka.org/marketplace
Contact R. Gary Marshall, Eastern ICC at gary.marshall@eku.edu or 859-622-8577.
(1:30-2:30pm)
Alltech & UK offer entrepreneurial FastTrac program
January 8, 2010
Alltech and UK are putting on the program for $2500 a person. Details can be found here.
The Fast Trac program was conceived in 1986 at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and the Kaufman Foundation purchased the program’s intellectual property in 1997.
Topics covered include:
- Exploring Entrepreneurship
- Identifying and Meeting Market Needs
- Objectively evaluate your concept and plans for moving forward.
- Develop a working knowledge of business fundamentals such as marketing, product/service development, management, and financials.
- Begin building an infrastructure for your business operations and processes.
- Explore the risk and success factors in the marketplace.
- Understand how to access the human, financial, and business resources.
- Network with entrepreneurs and professionals.
- Respond to changes that can impact your business.
- Build an actionable business plan
Classes will meet every Tuesday and Thursday from 5 pm to 8:30 pm between March 16 and April 22.
The modules will be presented by Gatton staff and senior managers from Alltech
New Media Factory
January 6, 2010
The group behind the IdeaFestival have launched a new media factory. Few details have been released and I have asked Kris Kimel for additional information but one event in the pipeline is a Collective Intelligence/Augmented Reality game design workshop they are hosting on February 26th. I will post more details as they are available. Below is the info from their site:
The IF New Media Factory is a joint venture of future-oriented organizations and companies committed to exploring, developing and creating ways that technology, imaginatively combined with other disciplines, can be employed to enhance the learning and human experience.
Current Project
Working in partnership with the internationally known UC Berkeley Center for New Media, the Factory is now designing a health-centered reality-augmented immersive game. The code name for the project is “Cornerstone”.
New Media Skills and Competencies by Henry Jenkins, Media Studies Program at MIT.
Thomas Malone, MIT Center for Collective Intelligence quote on “new technologies..”
Buildycrunken equals collaboration
December 7, 2009
This is a guest post by Todd Willey about an event collexion, the local hacker co-op put on a few weeks ago. Unique and new events like this help juice creative thought and collaboration and can lead to the next new thing
It is important for a creative community to have spaces and associations that not only allow free expression, but encourage new modes of collaboration and community building. When people are in a comfortable environment with comforting people, they dare to find new modes of expression and prototype new ideas. When failure is tolerated and experimentation is encouraged, people will try bold, new things and people will have fun.
Buildycrunken is an event that hosts creative participants in a comfortable atmosphere. Buildycrunken #1: Hocus Focus was the inaugural event of a new outlet for creativity. Hosted at Third Street Stuff in Lexington, the event encouraged people to get the ideas they have floating around in their mind out into the world. Running from Friday evening into Saturday morning people were able to reclaim the time they usually spend in sleep or toiling in isolation to be part of making wonderful new things or completing pet projects they may have let fall through the cracks.
There was a diverse showing of people. The concept originated from Collexion, Lexington’s hackerspace, and was built from the ground up to accommodate as may people as possible. Other groups that made it an official gathering include ReBelle Stitch ‘n Bitch, National Novel Writers’ Month, and the Kentucky Ruby Users Group. There was a solid showing of people coming on their own, as well. The turnout was amazing, the coffee shop was at or above capacity until well past midnight.
By any measure it was a success. The sheer number of people turning out, the amount of work that got done, and the new connections and friendships that were built all point to the effectiveness and need for this type of event. Software, music, mittens, game scenarios, jewelery, books, and art were all created overnight, and the next morning new friends went to get breakfast together. Whenever the worst that can be said about an event is that it was hard to find a place to sit, it indicates that something good is happening.
There will be other Buildycrunken events in the future, because it seems people will always take advantage of an opportunity to be more creative. There are plans in the works now to start an event that will be interleaved with Buildycrunken events, a forum for people to demonstrate the skills they ply during their creative times, and teach those that are interested. With the cross-pollination and encouraging spirit of these events, grassroots growth and a legitimate creative culture are going to continue to grow in Lexington.
Startup Weekend-Lex
November 23, 2009
Startup Weekend was held in Lexington this past weekend for the second time. The ideas brought forth for the weekend included:
- Digital Daddy – a brand for role model Dad’s that will include content such as videos, audio podcasts, and more
- Wedding Memories – a smart phone wedding photography system that turns your wedding guests into your photographers.
- Local Resource Finder – a website that will provide city newcomers or visitors with a plethora of information on local restaurants, shops, bars, and more. User reviews and user driven content included.
- Heated keyboard – Don’t worry about your hands getting cold in the office anymore. Keep them on these fancy keyboards to keep them warm.
- Uvestor Ambassador – Viral campaign creation for Uvestor.
- Better Capper – A more efficient tool for bottling your home brewed beer.
- Hole Punch Man Card – Do something unmanly, get your man card punched. By the end of the weekend you should be able to order your personalized man card online.
Louisville’s Hot Dozen
November 13, 2009
The Enterprise Corp., a division of Greater Louisville Inc., the metro chamber of commerce, has released its “2009 Hot Dozen” list of fast-growing, locally owned entreprenurial companies.
Project Management Training
November 2, 2009
If anyone is interested in project management training, The Solarity Group & the Bluegrass Business Development Partnership (BBDP) are hosting a two day workshop for 15-20 people on November 16th and 17th. The BBDP will offer a scholarship (50% off) the already discounted registration fee of $1,000. This means that the first respondents to this offer will be able to participate in the two day workshop for only $500.
