Listen to Peduto's Roundtable with Pittsburgh's Tech Leaders

Photo by Clara Michelle

Pittsburgh's Mayor Peduto is holding a series of roundtable discussions with area technology and innovation leaders. The series focuses on the tech and maker culture that is part of the region. If you are interested in listening in on the conversation, check out the details below.

The events are being held in conjunction with the White House Business Council, according to Peduto's office.

The series kicked off June 9 with a roundtable on the maker movement. A discussion on co-working and accelerator spaces is set for Aug. 6 and another on startups is slated for Aug. 13.

Thursday's event will not be open to the public due to space constrains, but will be broadcast live at 2 p.m. on the City Cable Channel. 

Read more  

Registration is Now Open for the 3 Rivers Venture Fair

Photo by The Editor

The 3 Rivers Venture Fair is taking place on October 7th and 8th at Heinz Field! If you aren't familiar with the event yet, it showcases the region's hottest and up-and-coming technology startups to investors. A selected group of entrepreneurs pitch their innovations with the chance to attract funding. 

Registration to attend the event is now open. If your company would like the chance to present your idea to investors, you can find the free application here.

Since its debut in 2002, the mission of the 3 Rivers Venture Fair has remained steadfast; to foster the commercialization of promising technology innovations through investment.\

In the twelve years since, the 3RVF has grown both in size and stature and is, today, heralded as one of the largest, most respected technology investment showcases in the U.S and a must-see for influential investors seeking lucrative ground-floor opportunities. 

Companies featured at the 3RVF have gone on to raise over $500 million, a testament to the caliber of our presenters and the potential of their innovations to transform business and industry, from manufacturing to marketing and every sector in between. 

Read more at the 3 Rivers Venture Fair website.

11 Pittsburgh Startups Receive Investments from CMU's Open Field Entrepreneurs Fund

Photo by Joey Gannon

Eleven Pittsburgh-based startups were awarded investments from CMU's Open Field Entrepreneurs Fund. Investments were given to a total of 16 startups, 37 since the fund began in 2012. Recipients of the award are Carnegie Mellon alum and entrepreneurs that have graduated in the last five years. More information about the fund and the list of this round's recipients are below.

Each OFEF recipient received a $50,000 investment, along with personalized mentoring from CMU faculty and alumni. Peter Stern, Kaplan’s classmate and co-founder of Datek Online, provides advisory support for the fund and serves as a mentor to one of the OFEF award recipients.

The local recipients and a brief description of what each does are listed alphabetically below:

• BandPass provides bands with direct assets to the shows they want to play and gives venues the information they need to book shows.
• Bistrobot uses robotics technology to create fresh food in a timely manner.
• Collected allows users to uncover and reuse existing work by providing related content from the user’s cloud accounts as they type.
• Digital Dream Labs teaches children how to build programs as they guide characters in a video game through puzzles, learning the fundamentals of computer sciences along the way.
• Greenovation designs, builds and develops affordable and sustainable housing.
• Innovesca develops processing technologies to provide users with a detailed account of food’s nutritional benefits.

Read more

Young Entrepreneur of the Year Celebration and Symposium

Congratulations to ActivAided Orthotics CEO, Kelly Collier, on being named the Young Entrepreneur of the Year! The award is given by the Western Pennsylvania Small Business Administration (SBA) to a rising entrepreneur that is making a significant impact to the local community with his or her innovation and business savvy. 

Kelly's company, ActivAided Orthotics, is dedicated to supporting active lifestyles through the development of innovative products that work to retrain proper posture and biomechanics. In celebration, ActivAided and the Western Pennsylvania SBA are holding a "Celebration and Symposium on Evolving Physical Medicine After the ACA" at RCI on August 4! To attend, please RSVP by July 28. For more details, view the flyer below.

Fourth of July 2014 Pittsburgh Events

Photo by Chris Collins

The Fourth of July is this Friday and Pittsburgh is booming with various events and activities to celebrate the entire weekend. From fireworks to the Three Rivers Regatta, there is something for the whole family to enjoy. Here are a few of the affordable or free events happening around the city: 

• Three Rivers Regatta (July 2nd-4th): Pittsburgh’s Official 4th of July Celebration! All FREE Family Fun… July 2, 3 & 4. Inflatables, face painting, caricatures—just a few of the activities kids can venture into at Regatta’s Colcom “Cool Off” Kids Zone. [more info]
• 4th at Fort Pitt (July 4th): the Fort Pitt Museum will fire its new replica 18th century cannon to kick off the annual fireworks display at Point State Park [more info].
• Heinz Field 4th of July Celebration (July 4th): Stadium gates open at 2 p.m. and admission is free. FREE concerts on Heinz Field Stage all day! The Steelers Merchandise Store WILL BE OPEN and Steelers memorabilia in the FedEx Great Hall WILL BE OPEN for fan viewing [more info].
• Gateway Clipper July 4th Dinner Cruise (July 4th): Ticket includes sightseeing cruise, live music, a buffet dinner and Best view of the colorful sky!  [more info]
• Y108 Freedom Fest @ Butler County Fair (July 4th & 5th): Carnival rides, fair food, petting zoos, farm animals and more (every day during the fair)! Fireworks on the 4th and Freedom Fest on Saturday the 5th. [more info]
• Kennywood Celebrate America! (July 1st – 6th): Featuring patriotic music, special daily entertainment and, of course, FIREWORKS nightly (weather permitting). Plus, save $10 off gate admissions with coupons from participating Giant Eagle locations. [more info]

Read more

Cut KIZ and R&D Tax Credit Programs Could Hurt Pittsburgh Startups-What You Can Do About It

Photo by Kevin Myers

A number of tax credit programs that help grow startups and other businesses and provide jobs and other economic resources in western Pennsylvania could be in a two-year long hiatus starting July 1st. Two of the programs to be cut are the Keystone Innovation Zone (KIZ) and Research & Development (R&D) Tax Credit programs. Although, it may seem like a quick fix for the budget deficit to lawmakers, it could do long-term damage to the region's economic development, taking millions of necessary incentives away from Pittsburgh startups.

The credit provides small businesses a 20 percent tax credit and large businesses a 10 percent tax credit for increased expenditures on R&D in Pennsylvania. What's important, Russo said, is that small businesses have the ability to sell unused credits to other Pennsylvania businesses, which is "enormously" helpful for cash-strapped startups. 

She [Pittsburgh Tech Council President, Audrey Russo] said the credit is equally essential to the state's traditional manufacturing economy, which faces constantly changing markets where innovation is essential to survival and job retention. 

"For all of these reasons, the Pittsburgh Technology Council is urging legislators to explore other options to balance this year’s budget that will have less of an affect on the states advanced manufacturing, life sciences and information technology-related industries," Russo writes.

The Tech Council has set up an online tool to send a note to legislators.

Read more

Steve Case's Rise of the Rest Road Trip Coming to Pittsburgh Startups

AOL co-founder Steve Case will be visiting Pittsburgh next week, June 25 as part of his "Rise of the Rest Road Trip". The event will be held at AlphaLab Gear at 2:30 PM and is open to the public. The trip is showcasing 4 cities in America that have promising startup ecosystems in development-Pittsburgh, Detroit, Cincinnati, and Nashville. For each city Case visits he is investing $100,000 to the winning startup in a pitch competition. 

Case is currently chairman and CEO of Revolution, an investment firm that has backed the likes of Zipcar, LivingSocial and AddThis. Sponsors of the tour include UP Global, Google for Entrepreneurs, Engine and Seed Here Studio.

“It’s important to remember that America itself was once a startup, and became the greatest economy in the world thanks to the efforts of entrepreneurs who built not just companies, but entire industries in the heart of the country,” said Case in a statement issued by his Washington, D.C.-based investment firm.

The point is not to just celebrate entrepreneurship, but advance it, Case adds.

He intends to do that. In Pittsburgh, Case will hold a fireside-style chat at AlphaLab Gear in East Liberty on Wednesday afternoon, June 25, at 2:30 p.m. The event is open to the public.

The pitch competition will be held shortly thereafter. Pittsburgh startups are encouraged to apply to pitch before the June 15th deadline. The winners in each city will earn a $100,000 investment from Steve Case.

Read more