Aging2.0 Cedar Rapids Winner, Wrapping Up the Innovation Summit Series

Media Contact
Jessalyn Holdcraft, NewBoCo Director of Marketing
jessalyn@newbo.co

Cedar Rapids, IA, May 9, 2016 — Last Thursday, Iowa Startup Accelerator powered by NewBoCo launched the Aging2.0 Cedar Rapids chapter with a pitch competition and Aging Innovation Summit sponsored by Physicians’ Clinic of Iowa. iTR Diagnostics, a company focused on testing for early diagnosis and monitoring of Parkinson’s disease, won the competition.

“This win has a tremendous impact by starting the global launch of our company,” iTR Diagnostics Co-founder and Chief Research Officer Bill Harwood said. “Until the Aging2.0 Summit, we had been working on developing our technology and preparing for a launch in fall, but the secret is out now! We are excited about the opportunity to talk with leaders in the medical community on both the research and business sides about our system for detecting and monitoring Parkinson’s disease. We particularly look forward to finding and working with strategic partners in Iowa and worldwide.”

iTR Diagnostics moves on to the Aging2.0 Global Startup Search competition and will:

• Be featured on the Aging2.0 website during the voting round
• Receive ONE free ticket to Aging2.0 OPTIMIZE (Oct 12-14) valued at ~$800
• Be featured at the Global Reception during Aging2.0 OPTIMIZE

Summit Series ends with Education Innovation Summit this Friday

Iowa Startup Accelerator’s seventh and final Innovation Summit this Spring is Friday, May 13. The event brings together education-related startups, investors, corporate leaders in standardized testing and publishing and textbooks, and industry experts from secondary and higher education. 

“We’ve made a huge impact already, with hundreds of industry experts and dozens of startups having converged at the six summits so far,” NewBoCo Executive Director Eric Engelmann said. “Ending the series with education technology is fitting for our area since many of the highest-profile startups around here like Pear Deck and Higher Learning Technologies are in this sector, we’re leveraging the strengths of Eastern Iowa.”

The summit features startup pitches, a reverse pitch from corporate innovators, and discussion topics such as cutting-edge education technology and challenges facing the industry today. (See the full schedule and registration information).

The organization is especially looking forward to this summit because five out of the six featured startups are led by female founders. These women are examples of who should be leading the way in increasing the number of female entrepreneurs in Iowa.

“Programming for female entrepreneurs has been a focus for NewBoCo since I started in September, and as a female working in the startup world, seeing the traditional gender ratio flipped for this particular event is very exciting,” NewBoCo Director of Development Kaitlin Oswood said. “We are energized about the progress being made to even out the balance of males and females in business, and we are eager to provide these talented females with a platform to promote their amazing ideas.”

Also, this summit will be co-hosted by Adam Ingersoll of Built By Iowa, an early stage fund created to help talented entrepreneurs bridge the funding gap between angels and a series, and Co-founder and Principal of Compass Education Group, California’s leading provider of tutoring for high school students aspiring to attend competitive colleges.

“Education has always been a focus of Iowa Startup Accelerator. Industry experts like Adam Ingersoll are the reason we believe Iowa is the best place to launch an education-focused startup,” NewBoCo Director of Programs David Tominsky said. “As a mentor and an investor, he has always been hands-on and is a great example of what makes ISA’s mentor network stand out among other accelerators.”

Startups and Industry Experts

Here’s a preview of the startup teams and industry experts who will be in attendance on Friday:

Startups, including:

• Western Wise
• Girls With Ideas
• Finn Prep
• Minnow Tank
• Voweletics
• Spectator Sports

Industry experts, from organizations such as:

• ACT
• Pear Deck
• TaxAct
• Iowa Innovation Corporation
• Built By Iowa
• Pearson, Inc.
• Converge Consulting
• RJ McElroy Trust
• Mount Mercy University
• Kirkwood Community College
• Higher Learning Technologies

About NewBoCo

The New Bohemian Innovation Collaborative is a nonprofit with the mission to accelerate world-changing ideas, from Iowa. The organization aims to create impactful startup businesses that grow here through its Iowa Startup Accelerator program and more; to foster world-class technical and creative talent via innovative educational programs for kids and adults; to assist thriving, innovative companies in developing new products and attracting the best talent through corporate innovation programs; and to make an outstanding social impact and make the world a better place. Since 2014, the program has grown dramatically, helping hundreds of startups get off the ground and grow, and thousands of children learn to code.

About The Blackstone Charitable Foundation

The Innovation Summit Series would not have been possible without the support from the Innovation Grant awarded to NewBoCo by the Blackstone Charitable Foundation.

The Blackstone Charitable Foundation was founded at the time of Blackstone’s IPO in 2007 with substantial commitments from the Firm’s employees. Influenced by the enterprising heritage of the firm and its founders, The Blackstone Charitable Foundation is directing its resources and applying the intellectual capital of the firm to foster entrepreneurship in areas nationwide and globally. Through its investment expertise across several asset classes and geographies, Blackstone has a unique perspective on the global economy and a heightened understanding of how entrepreneurial activity is often the crucial catalyst in the growth of successful businesses, industries and communities. For more information, see http://www.blackstone.com/foundation.

About Aging2.0

Aging2.0 (http://www.aging2.com) is a global innovation platform focused on aging and long-term care. Aging2.0 connects, educates and supports innovators through a variety of programs including the Academy, annual Global Innovation Summit, the Leaders Circle corporate partners program, local chapter events, a consumer research panel and the CoverAGE newsletter. Over the past two years, Aging2.0 has hosted more than 60 events in 15 cities across four countries and ran its first startup program (The Generator) from Nov 2013 – May 2014.

About Physicians’ Clinic of Iowa