News Stories
Smart City update: Living Lab set to launch, TV show may highlight KC innovation
Bob Bennett, chief innovation officer at the City of Kansas City, Mo., said Kansas City has championed itself as a leader in big data and smart city tech for years now. But now the city is reaching an inflection point to leverage the data at a significant scale, he said. “The bottom line is that…
From homelessness to national TV, Fishing Caddy founder to appear on ABC
The Fishing Caddy has reeled in a big opportunity with a national television show that will feature its device making anglers’ pursuits a bit easier. On July 16, Fishing Caddy founder Joe Pippins will hop on Steve Harvey’s Funderdome, an ABC show in which inventors compete for cash to help accelerate their businesses. The Fishing Caddy…
Events Preview: Summer in the Sand, Second Fridays
There are a plethora of entrepreneurial events hosted in Kansas City on a weekly basis. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, investor, supporter, or curious community member — we recommend these upcoming events for you. Are you hosting a relevant community event? Feel free to add it to the FWD/KC calendar for increased exposure. Once your event…
Eyeing area talent gap, Code the Block to teach tech skills to underserved KC youth
A new organization seeks to strengthen Kansas City’s tech talent pipeline by bringing computer science education to underserved youth. Co-founded by David Persley and Joe Wilkinson in 2016, Code the Block is an after-school program targeting high school students in Kansas City. Persley, a Teach for America alum, and Wilkinson, a former business analyst with…
Kansas Citians help break TEDx world record for fastest sellout of tickets
In the time it takes to walk from Kansas City’s streetcar line to the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, TEDxKC sold out. In record time — only four minutes — Kansas Citians devoured hundreds of tickets for the TEDxKC live event on Aug. 18 at the Kauffman Center. Mike Lundgren, curator and founder…
