Short on time? Jump down to the stories that you’re interested in
Network News | Opportunities | Resources | What We're Reading & watching | Events
May has come and gone and we’re entering the hot Texas summer. As promised, here’s our roundup of news, opportunities, and events in our network from this past May and into this summer.
The A-Listers
Every year the Austin Chamber awards companies with the “A-list” title. The A-List aims to increase visibility for Austin’s most innovative homegrown companies, which in turn attract talent, increase capital, and diversify the innovation ecosystem in Austin.
The Babson Diagnostics team in their new office space during constructions.
We give a special shoutout to Babson Diagnostics and CherryCircle Software for being recognized on this year’s A-list. Both companies got recognized in the start-up category and are doing work to advance how health is delivered. Both are also affiliated with the Texas Health CoLab at Dell Medical School.
You can read more about Babson Diagnostics in our 2018 Annual Review and read the view the full list of A-list winners on the Austin Chambers site.
30 Years of Innovation with ATI
Recently, Austin Tech Incubator celebrated their 30 year anniversary! They are the oldest active tech incubators in the U.S. and graduates and members of their program continue to impress. Most recently re:3D was awarded an SBIR grant from NSF and one of their graduates Alafair Biosciences raised over $7.2 million in funding.
STAR Park Host Digital 360 Summits & Announces its First Grad from STAR One
On May 21st STAR Park co-hosted the first annual Digital 360 Summit and announced a new initiative to make STAR Park a "research neighborhood".
And just on the heels of their Digital 360 Summit, they announced their first graduate. Blueshift Materials is the first graduate from Texas State University’s technology incubator program, STAR One! Since 2016 and while at STAR One, Blueshift Materials more than tripled their space and hired graduates of Texas State in key lab scientist positions.
The Health Innovation Roundtable Continues
On June 4th, the second installment of the Health Innovation roundtable took place and was hosted by Capital Factory, Ascension Seton, and Genesis! The panel discussed the near term future of the Austin health innovation ecosystem with Tyler Drake, PhD of the ACC Bioscience Incubator, our very own Victoria O'Dell and Bobby Kurian, MD of Seton Heart Institute and RFMx.
Lightning pitches from Rocky Kelly of CardioVisual, Daniel Baldoni, MD of Baldoni Neuromodulation and Lamarque Polvado of CareStarter were also shared with a full room.
Miss out? Save the date! Wednesday, September 18th will be the next installment. If you’re interested in pitching at their events in the future you can fill out this form.
MedtoMarket Opens Their Doors in Austin
Image from MedtoMarket’s Facebook
On June 8th, MedtoMarket had the grand opening for their coworking and lab space! We are excited for this new resource in the community and look forward to the expertise and resources that their team and space bring to Austin.
WuXi Clinical, One of the Newest Global Names in Town
If you hadn’t heard, local clinical research organization, ResearchPoint Global (RPG) merged with WuXi Clinical Development Services and rebranded as WuXi Clinical in May. You can read all about the rebrand and learn how these two organizations will be “better together.”
And are you ready to start down the clinical regulatory pathway towards Investigational New Drug(IND) and beyond? WuXi recently shared their approach and future plans.
Farewell Tyler Drake Of ACC Bioscience Incubator
Many people know Tyler as the Director of ACC Bioscience Incubator. Tyler is leaving the incubator and Nancy Lyon will be the Interim Director of the incubator. We know the incubator is in good hands and wish Tyler well at his new endeavor in Chicago at Baxter International.
Tyler Drake and Nancy Lyon during our Affinity Network Partner photoshoot
Opportunities
From leadership development to funding, don’t miss these opportunities
Champion Community Health with Central Health
Interested in gaining a better understanding of Austin’s health care system and meeting key players? Passionate about community? Central Health will be accepting applications for the 2019 Community Health Champion Program until TODAY!
If you are committed to improving the health of your community, a resident of Travis County, and interested in learning and growing your knowledge and network in the health care field, you are encouraged to apply ASAP!
Join the Austin Chamber 2019 Intercity Visit
Join the Austin Chamber and meet with key leaders to discuss how Minneapolis-St. Paul addresses topics that affect the Austin Region on the 2019 intercity visit. Discussion topics include:
High capacity transit
Regional collaboration featuring Twin Cities Mayors
Workforce development
Affordability and land development
Addressing homelessness
Welcoming Major League Soccer
Learn more and register for the trip.
Conduct business abroad with #ATXBound
As previously mentioned, #ATXBound is a consortium consisting of five chambers: Greater Austin Black Chamber, Greater Austin Asian Chamber, Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber, Austin LGBTQ Chamber, and the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce. The group has upcoming outbound delegations to develop business in far away places.
These delegations provide a deep dive into foreign business ecosystems along with the opportunity to develop business and relationships.
The last visit was to Canada and there are other locations planned. All Upcoming trips have their target industries outlined online and anyone can apply to join the delegation. These trips provide the perfect opportunity to show the world how #AustinInnovates.
Apply for the CPRIT Product Development Program
CPRIT announces the release of three Requests for Applications available to oncology-focused startup companies.
Through Product Development grants, CPRIT invests in startup and early-stage companies in Texas (and those willing to relocate to Texas) to foster the development of novel cancer therapeutics, medical devices, diagnostics, tools, and other non-traditional oncology products.
To date, CPRIT has awarded >$400 million to 34 startup and early-stage companies developing novel products to address unmet clinical needs in cancer.
CPRIT’s Product Development Program offers three grant funding mechanisms:
SEED, for startups, up to $3 million
TXCO, for early-stage companies located in Texas, up to $20 million,
RELCO, for early-stage companies willing to relocate to Texas, up to $20 million.
Their next application cycle will begin on June 27, 2019 and awards will be announced in February 2020. For more information, please visit: cprit.texas.gov.
Join the Texas Health Catalyst
The University of Texas at Austin faculty members, graduate students and Dell Medical School clinicians are eligible to apply to Texas Health Catalyst @ Dell Medical School to receive consulting, commercialization support and seed funding for your health product idea or discovery. UT Austin faculty, Researchers, Dell Med clinicians and grad students are eligible to apply. Areas of interest include: Therapeutics, Devices, Diagnostics/Research Tools, Digital Health/Software.
The deadline is June 24th. Get more information and apply.
A cycle for Austin area startups will be launched this summer. Expect an announcement from them soon.
Receive NYC Support from Texas with Endless Frontier Labs
Endless Frontier Labs was founded at New York University-Stern School of Business. The program is completely free and does not take any equity in startups.
Endless Frontier Labs is open to early-stage science and technology-based startups. No NYU affiliation or relocation to NYC required. The program is ideal for founders from around the world seeking deep connections to the New York startup ecosystem or U.S. markets.
There are 2 tracks: Deep Tech & Life Science
Participating startups receive access to mentorship, venture capital, and business development over the course of the nine-month program. The deadline is 9 PM (ET), Friday, August 23, 2019. Get more info and apply.
Get 1:1 Regulatory Consulting with Emergo & Texas Health CoLab
WorkSpaces @ Texas Health CoLab has partnered with Emergo by UL to provide free 1:1 regulatory consulting opportunities for Startups. An Emergo representative will be on-site at WorkSpaces @ Texas Health CoLab on Tuesday, June 18th in the afternoon and on Friday, June 28th in the morning.
If you lead a startup and are interested in talking with Emergo, you may sign up for a 30 or 60-minute session (book two adjacent 30-minute sessions) here.
Accept the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality Challenge
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality invites you to participate in the Bringing Predictive Analytics to Healthcare Challenge which aims to develop predictive analytics and related methods which may be applied and contribute to understanding healthcare issues. Winners will receive up to $225,000 in cash prizes for prototypes.
The deadline is June 28, 2019, at 5:00 p.m. ET.
For more information, email them at ahrqchallenge@ahrq.hhs.gov.
Apply for Div Inc. ASAP
The last day to apply for the Div inc. 2019 cohort is TODAY. Previous alumni include Revealix. Learn more and apply now.
Check out the Sputnik ATX Program
Apply by June 28 to join the accelerator program with the potential for up to $350k per chosen team. Learn more and apply now.
Be an Open Leader with Mozilla
Mozilla is looking for participants passionate about internet health in areas like artificial intelligence, open campaigning, open science, and other areas for their 2019 Open Leaders cohort. Applications open July 2nd.
Submit your idea to Austin Design Week
There’s less than 2 weeks to get your proposal in for Austin Design Week. This is the 4th annual event celebrating all facets of design in Austin. If you need help with your submission idea feel free to contact Victoria O’Dell at vodell@capitalcityinnovation.org, she’s serving on the Advisory Board.
Resources
Discover the latest findings from our community and beyond
Explore Downtown Austin with the 2019 State of Downtown Report
Last month the State of Downtown 2019 Report was released by the Downtown Austin Alliance. Download it to explore a snapshot of the Austin market and our downtown’s role as an economic, governmental, and cultural center.
Along with the report the DAA announced a revamp of their website. Check it out.
Recap the First Texas Smart Cities Summit
The first Texas Smart Cities Summit was held here in Austin by Austin CityUp recently. Miss out? Check out some of the resources and learnings from the event.
What We’re Reading & Watching
A round-up of articles and videos to spark insight and innovation
FDA Takes Steps to Modernize Regulation of Dietary Supplements (Husch Blackwell)
Technology can (and should) change the practice of law (In Business Greater Madison)
Startups Drive Firm Innovation (Husch Blackwell)
Merck, IBM, Walmart and KPMG to pilot blockchain pharmaceutical supply chain system (MedCity News)
Austin among top cities to launch a business (Statesman)
Austin Revealed- Booting Up big Tech: Powering the Economy (PBS KLRU)
Upcoming Events
Opportunities to meet, learn, and celebrate with our network and the broader community
Texas Health CoLab Learning Series Continues
Texas Health CoLab is continuing to host its Learning Series. The next topic in the series will be on Constructive Disruption in the Health Care Sector on June 27th at Dell Medical School from 3:00 pm- 4:30 pm.
Guest David Muntz will talk about a confluence of events which are creating great new opportunities for IT professionals and their colleagues in the health care sector. He will identify forces affecting all industries with a specific focus on those impacting health care, discuss popular and emerging IT products and services and address some of the ethical issues accompanying the constructive disruption happening in health care. The speaker will also outline how to build relationships with key members of the C-suite in these turbulent times.
RSVP on Eventbrite and find previous recordings from the series here.
Find more events on our events page!
Victoria O'Dell, Program and Communications Manager, Capital City Innovation
As program and communications manager of Capital City Innovation, Victoria facilitates channels for collaborative work around Austin's emerging Innovation district in downtown Austin and beyond. Previously, she was a freelance designer working with non-profits, small businesses, and startups across Austin.
Follow Victoria on Twitter @victoria_odell
