Sunset and Moon Rising at Newport, Rhode Island (HDR). Photo Credit: shunyufan, Getty Images.
At the end of every month, we recap the biggest tech and startup happenings in Rhode Island. We have an archive of past roundups here. To get this info weekly (Tuesday afternoons, to be exact), sign up for the Rhode Island Inno Beat newsletter.
Let’s take a look.
- The University of Rhode Island has opened a new lab, the school announced. Launched at the end of September, the school’s Artificial Intelligence Lab is a “cross-disciplinary facility” housed in the Robert L. Carothers Library and Learning Commons. It utilizes an artificial intelligence supercomputer and boasts six specialized laptops for running open-source software and unwieldily data sets; a conference room, and a space with a viewing window are also a part of the new area. Additionally, it incorporates technology from the library that hosts it, such as 3D printers and other virtual reality tools.
- Innovate Newport (you know, the project that’s turning Sheffield School into a coworking spot) has partnered with WorkBar, a Boston-based company that will provide a host of resources, such as staff training and community building services. Read more about Innovate Newport here.
- Providence-based Textron, a $14 billion defense contractor, has purchased Waterboro, Maine-based Howe and Howe, a company that makes “futuristic off-road vehicles (if you’ve seen — nay, when you see — 2015’s “Mad Max: Fury Road,” you’ll peep a version of one of Howe and Howe’s creations).” While terms of the deal were not disclosed, H&H president and co-founder Michael Howe said the move will allow the company to expand and increase its research capabilities. The company will stay in Waterboro with the contact expected to clear in six months’ time. See also: ‘New England Roundup,’ below.
- Gov. Gina Raimondo has announced that Barrington, East Providence, New Shoreham, North Providence, Pawtucket, Providence, Warren, Westerly and Woonsocket are all recipients of more than $1 million in shared Main Street Improvement Grant funds. The towns will use the money for things like greenery, public art, wayfinding signs and more.
- Mighty Well has another award to add to its trophy room. The Newport- (and Boston) based startup won the WORLDZ conference’s startup pitch competition in the “social impact” category. What’s Mighty Well? CEO Emily Levy is looking to “transform the patient experience” by creating a line of accessories meant to stylishly conceal treatment apparatuses. Her startup Mighty Well has won a host of awards, like the Draper University Pitch Day, and Levy and her team participated in the MassChallenge last year.
- Providence-based Chewsi, a spinout of Delta Dental that helps patients both find dentists and save money on their dental care, is celebrating their first anniversary, the company announced. In its first year, the company had more than 2,500 dental locations in Rhode Island and Massachusetts join its service. Scale alert! Read more about Chewsi here.
- A seven-turbine onshore wind farm is coming to Johnson, with developer Green Development LLC stating the project mid-October. The 21-megawatt farm is expected to go live by EOY.
- Providence entrepreneur Nick Inglis’ Information Coalition has merged with ARMA International, an Overland Park, Kan.-based membership organization for professionals involved with managing information assets. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. More information here.
- Former Rhode Island Office of Innovation Director Kevin Parker has a new gig, StateScoop reports. Parker now serves as the chief information officer for the Illinois Department of Innovation and Technology, and has done so since July. Read the full story on Rhody Inno.
- Nearly a year after news broke that CVS and Aetna would merge for $69 billion, the Department of Justice officially approved the move on Oct. 10. The catch? That Hartford-based Aetna moves forward with its decision to sell prescription drug plan company Medicare Part D. The settlement will next require a judge’s approval, which will conclude the deal if received. Once sealed, the “game-changing” merger will be the largest health insurance deal in history. Other CVS news? CEOWORLD Magazine named Larry Merlo, president and CEO of CVS, as one of the top CEOs in the country (No. 60 out of 100, to be exact).
- Seven startups came together last week to pitch their startups at Cox Business’ #GetStartedRI event, a sixth-annual program that took place at the WaterFire Arts Center in PVD last week.
- Medley Genomics took home the top prize of $50,000 which includes $25,000 in cash. [Read more about Medley Genomics here]. ReliaBra also brought home a prize: $5K, for winning the Audience Choice award. [Read more about ReliaBra here]. “[The prize] will help us continue on with the work we’re doing here and making a difference,” Medley Genomics founder Patrice Milostold Rhode Island Inno.
- Salve Regina University and St. Louis, Mo.-based Washington University have debuted a new program for students: a five-year engineering opportunity that gives students a dual degree. It works like this: Graduates can earn a bachelor’s in either math or chemistry from Salve while obtaining a mechanical, electrical, systems, chemical or biomedical engineering degree from Washington University. PBN has the full story.
- Orsted, a Danish offshore wind company, will purchase Providence-based Deepwater Wind, the latter company announced today. The reported cost of the deal (which must receive approval from federal regulators) is $510 million. “This combination is the right one to take this industry from its infancy to a major player in the energy sector in the United States today,” said Deepwater Wind CEO Jeffrey Grybowski, who will serve as co-CEO of the newly minted Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind. Read the full story here.
- West Warwick-based Bradford Soap has received a $50,000 Innovation Voucher from the RI Commerce Corporation, while the Northeast Clean Energy Council Institute has received a $62,000 networking matching grant. Bradford will use the grant for the development of “a bar soap format for a benzoyl peroxide product which to date has eluded many major health and beauty company products.” NCECI, on the other hand, will use its fund to “connect RI entrepreneurs and Rhode Island’s emerging wind sector with the NECEC regional network of mentors, investors, customers, corporate strategic partners, incubators utilities, and other experts.”
Disclosure: Cox Business RI is a founding partner of Rhode Island Inno.
