INNOVATE® Phoenix

Volume 1

PHOENIX InnovationsoftheWorld.com

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The “INNOVATE® Phoenix” Team would like to give a special thanks to all the participants and the following companies for their support and assistance in making this project a reality.

Meet the people that are building a better Phoenix for tomorrow

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INNOVATE® PHOENIX: A MULTIMEDIA EXPERIENCE AND MORE.”

SVEN BOERMEESTER - FOUNDER/CEO, INTERNATIONAL GROUP PUBLISHER

Sven Boermeester - Founder/CEO, International Group Publisher with Callie Van Graan - COO, Global Village

INNOVATE® Phoenix showcases the best of Phoenix’s innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem. Embedded in its pages, you will find augmented reality videos that accompany nearly every feature, and when you use the free GLOBAL VILLAGE AR app, the world of the future will open up before your very eyes.

transpired in the Phoenix ecosystem, and who play or want to play an active role in its growth and development.

This inaugural edition of INNOVATE® Phoenix is part of a global series.

We are currently launching volumes in cities throughout the GlobalVillage.world publishing partnership network.

But “INNOVATE® Phoenix” is far more than a tech-enabled publication; it is a multimedia experience centered around the deluxe hardcover coffee-table book you are now holding, which includes AR videos and also an online web platform and multilevel social media networking.

Online, the full e-book will be viewed in the millions through the InnovationsoftheWorld.com online library.

By experiencing INNOVATE® Phoenix, you are part of our Global Village network, and we are happy to have you. I trust you will join us as we continue the journey of the INNOVATE® series.

Sven Boermeester Founder/CEO International Group Publisher

This publication aims to celebrate those involved in the Phoenix ecosystem, but it is also meant for all business leaders and decisionmakers who can effect change in their industries throughout the USA and the world. We publish INNOVATE® Phoenix for the open-minded folk who want to know more about the exciting changes that have recently

Belinda Van Graan CMO

Meghan Tear Percy Managing Editor

Sarah Nieman Production Manager

Peter Batistich Art & Design Director

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Fahmida Seitz Chief Digital Officer

JR Giggs Red Wall Marketing Web Development

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A CELEBRATION OF PHOENIX GILL WAGNER, ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER

INNOVATE® Phoenix is not just a celebration of the entrepreneurial spirit and innovative energy of the local ecosystem, it’s a testament to the resilience of the community itself. From companies being sold to changes in critical personnel to a global pandemic, every roadblock was thrown in our paths as we worked to bring this book to life. But the Phoenix business community, the leaders of the Arizona Technology Council, and the book’s sponsors, developers, and publishing partners persevered.

What you hold in your hands is, in no small part, a testament to their love for Phoenix. And I would like to personally thank them for their work.

Celebrations are about societies’ sharing their joys and passions, and their histories, ideals and experiences, and frequently become traditions in those societies. While there is immense pleasure in being part of such celebrations, there is also incredible value, because those experiences fuel the passions of future generations.

When I was asked to take over the project after one of those roadblocks stalled the book for months, my guess was that the momentum loss would dull enthusiasm for the book. But when Steve Zylstra and the team at the Arizona Technology Council threw their shoulders into the project, my guess was proven wrong.

Between these pages, you’ll find the spirit and energy of this community in the forms of thought leadership, innovative genius, and dedication to craft.

But you’ll also find inspiration at the turn of every page. And that is why we’re thrilled to share this book with you, and why we hope you’ll share the book–our book–with others.

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Gill Wagner is a true Renaissance man and sales expert, with 40-plus years of advocacy for the elimination of deceit and dishonesty from the profession he loves.

His peers have named him the “Father of Honest Selling,” the “Best Business Connector in St. Louis” and one of the “Top 100 St. Louisans to Know” to succeed in business. His passion is identifying the win-win connections others don’t see, and his preferred model of doing business is on straight commission.

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CHAPTER ONE

THOUGHT LEADERS

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CHAPTER SEVEN

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FUTURE CITIES & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

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CHAPTER EIGHT

EDUCATION & TRAINING

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AEROSPACE & DEFENSE

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CHAPTER NINE

MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS

Global Village CEO Sven Boermeester

Production Manager Belinda Van Graan

Global Village COO Callie Van Graan

Global Village CDO Fahmida Seitz

Global Village CMO Belinda Van Graan

Global Village CFO Kern Wilson

Managing Editor Meghan Tear Percy

InnovationsoftheWorld.com

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Publishing Partner Gill Wagner Project Manager Belinda Van Graan Art & Design Director Peter Batistich: Deep Fried Designs

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info@globalvillage.world www.InnovationsoftheWorld.com www.GlobalVillage.world Copyright © Global Village Ventures LLC ISBN: 978-1-949677-00-3

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SOFTWARE & APP DEVELOPMENT

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TECHNOLOGY & MANUFACTURING

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INNOVATION ENABLERS

PRODUCT & SERVICE INNOVATIONS

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CHAPTER ELEVEN

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HEALTHCARE

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CHAPTER T WELVE

INNOVATIONS OF THE WORLD

IT’S A KIND OF MAGIC...

DOWNLOAD THE GLOBAL VILLAGE AR APP TO VIEW 100 AUGMENTED REALITY VIDEOS IN THIS BOOK! To experience the future of print, download the Global Village AR App from the IOS or Android App stores. Open the App and hold it about 30cm above any page that contains an image with the “play” Icon.

Make sure your back camera is pointing at the page. Click the Play button that appears onscreen and immerse yourself in the latest updated content with reference to that page.

Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information in “INNOVATE® Phoenix Vol 1.” Neither “INNOVATE® Phoenix” nor Global Village assume any responsibility for errors or omissions. All rights reserved: No part of this publication shall be reproduced, copied, transmitted, adapted or modified in any form or by any means. This publication shall not be stored in whole or in part in any form in any retrieval system.

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STEVEN G. ZYLSTRA: PRESIDENT & CEO Arizona Technology Council

Once you have an innovation culture, even those who are not scientists or engineers embrace the meaning of what it is to be scientifically literate. —Neil deGrasse Tyson

Introduction

Perspective on Innovation

Technology and innovation have always been in my blood. At 15, I rebuilt a ’55 Chevy race car before I even had a driver’s license. The day I turned 18, I bought my first motorcycle and I’m still an avid motorcyclist today. My love of cars and motorcycles spurred my early career as an automotive and aerospace engineer.

This path eventually led me to become passionate about helping policymakers, corporate leaders, and educational institutions build an environment in which technology-based businesses could thrive. Economic prosperity is dependent on our ability as a culture to continually innovate.

To me, innovation means fostering a mentality of looking forward and never settling. I believe that the Phoenix technology community is an excellent representation of this mindset and it is something we have been working towards for a long time.

Creating a community that values technology and innovation has been a goal of mine since I started my career in engineering and eventually moved into managing technology associations. In 1985, I became one of the founders of the Arizona Innovation Network, which was a precursor to what is now the Arizona Technology Council. At that time, there was no central advocacy group for the technology community. There were clusters of sector groups for aerospace, optics, software, and more but no central entity to guide the growth of the industry as a whole. Our goal was to merge these groups to create a singular voice for the community.

Today, the Arizona Technology Council is the driving force in making our state one of the fastest-growing technology hubs in the nation by

Website: www.aztechcouncil.org Blog URL: www.aztechcouncil.org/blog/

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connecting and empowering local innovators. Almost every cluster that existed in the ’80s and ’90s has merged into the Council, with the most recent addition being the Optics Industry Association in 2016. The creation of a central voice for technology has allowed our organization to possess the resources to work with both the voters in our community and local politicians to support policies that are beneficial to the technology industry and Arizona’s economy.

In the past 10 years, the Council has helped create a more business-friendly environment that offers lower corporate taxes, the top research and development tax credit in the nation, and technology-friendly regulations that don’t restrict innovation and new ideas. These initiatives have spurred significant innovation and growth.

Phoenix has become a hotbed of activity for three of the fastest-growing technologies in the world: Internet of Things (IoT), autonomous vehicles, and fintech. We have opened our arms to new and somewhat controversial technology companies like Uber and Airbnb. Phoenix is also home to more than 85 incubators and co-working spaces that accelerate startups and fresh ideas. The economic impact we see from these new sectors and companies would not have been possible without a unified technology community that works towards the common goal of empowering innovators.

The culture that surrounds the Arizona technology community is also one that inspires innovation. While we have grown significantly over the past five years, almost every company—from startup to enterprise-level—and leader in the state has a young and hungry mentality. The giants of our community like Intel, Honeywell, IBM, Arizona State University, and more are also dedicated to helping grow the early innovators, which is a trait necessary for any successful technology community.

The reason for our dedication to growing technology is that when innovation thrives, the entire community thrives. Technology creates commerce, which leads to exports and wealth generation. This, in turn, creates high-paying jobs, which attracts talent. Eventually, more companies will leverage this talent by opening headquarters in Phoenix. The immense impact of technology on the economy is made clear when you look at the first trillion-dollar companies— Apple and Amazon—followed by analyst predictions of the next few trilliondollar companies—Alphabet (Google), Microsoft, and Facebook. In today’s economy, technology is the cornerstone to a healthy, happy and prosperous community.

Why Phoenix?

Phoenix’s low cost of living compared to other technology hubs has always been a key differentiator. We also enjoy a pro-technology government focused on increasing incentives, such as the top R&D tax credit in the nation, and reducing regulation, which has led to a growth in emerging technologies and high-paying jobs.

The Future of Innovation To maintain our success in technology, it is crucial that we continue supporting leadership that upholds Phoenix’s culture and doesn’t restrict innovation. The receptiveness we have to disruptive technologies such as Uber and Waymo, and the development of a fintech sandbox have been significant differentiators for Phoenix.

The key to taking the next step is pursuing programs that bolster STEM participation among our youth. The next generation of our workforce is critical to our success.

Advice & Best Practices The biggest piece of advice I can give entrepreneurs is to get involved with Phoenix’s startup community and participate as much as possible. This community is dedicated to helping entrepreneurs succeed but the only way to receive counsel from our experts is to get involved.

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PAUL JOHNSON: FOUNDER & CEO Redirect Health

Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers.... They’re not fond of rules and they have no respect for the status quo ... they push the human race forward. Because the people who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world are the ones who do.

—Steve Jobs

Introduction Imagine this ...

In 2010, 1.8 billion people were connected. Today, 3 billion, and by 2022–2025, that number will expand to include every human on the planet, approaching 8 billion humans.

Today Solar and renewable energy have became cheaper than coal. 25% of the World’s Power Comes From Renewables. Today Stem Cells grow new eyes, help stoke victims walk again, and gave paralyzed victims use their arms. Autonomous Vehicles will lower highway deaths, eliminate the DUI industry, change auto insurance, and kill car ownership.

We are nearing the end of Cancer & Disease, and the extension of human life. Using patients immune system studies produce unbelievable results fighting cancer. We are on the cusp of extending life significantly.. Artificial Intelligence will solve our greatest challenges. AIs can already read your lips, facial identification of millions of people in moments, predict elections and sporting events better than humans, and they have beat human pilots in air combat.

The world is on a exponential curve of constant improvement in literacy, poverty hunger and most every measurable for all mankind.

Website: www.redirecthealth.com

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Perspective on the Future Regardless of what you see on the news, you have good reason to be optimistic about the future. Just look back, and see how much better it is today than it was 10 years ago, 50 years ago, or 500 years ago. This is the greatest time in the history of the planet, to be alive. The only better time is the future.

Not to undermine the big problems today: Nearly 1.3 million people die in road crashes each year, on average 3,287 deaths a day. An additional 20-50 million are injured or disabled. 8.2 million die from cancer, 3 million die from vaccine preventable diseases, half are children under five. Nine million people die of hunger. Big problems like third world poverty, water scarcity, food production, incarceration rates, homelessness, climate change, unemployment, polluted local environments, carbon fuels, traffic congestion, cancer, premature death are all major problems.

Yet, we are on the verge of solving all of them.

Bet on this; the answer to all of our major problems will not come from government. They will come from innovators in the private sector who will create driverless cars, renewable fuels, cure cancer and other diseases, solve hunger, water scarcity and a host of other problems.

Most of this is being driven by the cost and the speed of processing data. The continuance of Moore’s law will change everything.

Today, entrepreneurs have access to more capital, greater technology, more information, greater talent then the CEO’s of the worlds biggest companies just a decade ago. We are only challenged because we think along linear lines, in a world where things are changing in an exponential way. Technology is the way to move from the world of scarcity to a world of abundance. And technology is creating abundance in healthcare, energy, transportation, education and every major industry. Those products are becoming more affordable or even free with a dramatically higher quality.

The biggest threat to this progress of mankind will come from our politics.

Government can assist its growth, or it can threaten it. Release the ability to create, innovate, and trade with one another and you will create a massive improvement to human progress. Restrict free markets, free trade, freedom of choices, you will effectively restrict human progress, and the bad guys will have an advantage.

The US has become the greatest power in the history of the world because we created environments that foster trade, incentivize innovation, creativity, forming and operating business, and providing outstanding educational and research capabilities that will dominate the world markets. This has given us revenue to provide exceptional quality of life for our citizens. Clearly free markets and social progress is tied together.

Phoenix is well positioned to be at the front of these innovations. ASU is one of the best research facilities in the US fostering creativity, innovation, and a educated workplace. We have one of the better regulatory and tax environments for business in the nation. Our workforce is younger than the national average.

And most of all, our citizens still believe we can fix these problems. They are pro business, pro growth, pro education, and believe in the future.

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CHRIS RONZIO: FOUNDER & CEO TRAINUAL

All men dream; but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible. ―T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom I’ve been an entrepreneur for 20 years now. All of my years of running businesses, including those spent on my operations consulting firm called Organize Chaos, led me to start Trainual. Trainual is a platform that helps business owners document their policies and procedures in one, centralized place. Essentially, it is a playbook for your business.

My vision is that every business in the industry will have a playbook. Historically, the only ones that had operation manuals were huge companies that had the time and bandwidth to make them. We want even a one-person company to be able to create one. So we are on a mission to make the playbook write itself.

Before Trainual policies and procedures were taught by word of mouth. And most businesses didn’t bother writing them down. Even today, if you ask most companies for their SOPs or operations manual, they simply don’t have one.

That’s what we want to change about the industry. We want playbooks to be so easy to assemble that there’s no excuse not to have one.

We’re working on how we can innovate with things like AI to collect information. Rather than an individual needing to sit down and write everything out, it would be like having a consultant come into your business to organize who does what. Chances are this changes week to week as the company evolves, and AI would make it easier to keep everything updated because nothing in the business would need to stop.

It’s really exciting to me, having your playbook automatically update based on how somebody’s role changes, or who you have on your team. Business owners will finally have an updated look at what’s going on without needing to spend their own time maintaining the updates.

That leaves more room to focus on pushing the company forward.

I love when business owners have a vision and get to make progress toward that vision—and having an automated playbook that keeps everything organized means that nothing stands in the way of that vision.

Being an Arizona startup ourselves, we’re not only supporting other businesses to fulfill their visions, but we relate to their visions too. Scottsdale and Phoenix have become known for verticals like real estate and healthcare in the last few decades, but the reputation is finally expanding to include startups and tech.

In the last few years, we’ve seen tons of companies establish their headquarters here. For them, Arizona is

Address: Scottsdale, AZ Website: trainual.com Twitter: @trainual, @chrisronzio Facebook: trainual

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enticing because, for one, it costs so much less than the Bay Area, and two, tech is not over-saturated here yet. There are a lot of opportunities to become one of the most well-known tech companies coming out of this state, and it’s driving funding from the coasts into our city.

Just last year, we closed our Series A funding round for $6.75m. I’m excited to be making progress toward my vision of being at the forefront of this movement, creating jobs in my community, and driving much overdue innovation.

What’s really exciting is that it’s not just the entrepreneurs that are getting heavily involved in driving innovation forward. It’s the Arizona talent pool, too.

Phoenix, specifically, is developing into a work culture with a ton of passionate, hard-working talent. At Trainual, almost all of the growth we’ve experienced in the last year has been from internal referrals. We have great people, and we know that they know other great people, too.

There is so much untapped potential in this market, from innovation to talent, and we’re only going to see that grow from here. I am so excited and proud that Trainual gets to be part of it.

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SANDRA WATSON: PRESIDENT & CEO Arizona Commerce Authority

You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete. —Buckminster Fuller

ACA President and CEO Sandra Watson, Sonora Department of Economic Development Secretary Jorge Vidal Ahumada, AZ Governor Doug Ducey and Sonora Governor Claudia Pavlovich – 6/2/17

ACA President and CEO Sandra Watson, AZ Governor Doug Ducey and AZ Governor’s former Chief of Staff Kirk Adams

Introduction Perspective on Innovation

My career in economic development has spanned more than 20 years, and I’ve been honored to serve under five different governors. While they varied in political party, all shared a common goal: advancing Arizona. Today, under Governor Ducey’s leadership, our state is recognized as a global leader in innovation and emerging technologies.

The Arizona Commerce Authority is focused on leveraging our strengths in these areas to maintain our competitive position and economic momentum.

When I started my career in economic development in the 1990s, traditional economic development practices focused solely on attracting new companies and doing some work to help grow existing businesses. It’s a fine foundation, and many places continue to benefit from pursuing that method. But I learned early on in my career staying on the same path and not being open to new approaches is not a good strategy for success. In fact, in some cases, taking the road less traveled is what makes all the difference, as Robert Frost reminds us.

Consider the industry giants of the 20th century. None of them can be accused of sitting still—they were building on their foundations by making incremental improvements to their products or services, rolling them out to consumers in a linear, predictable manner. It sounds sensible, even logical. But this traditional, tried-and-true approach became the downfall of many iconic brands.

In contrast, the innovative companies of today, many of which weren’t even

Website: www.azcommerce.com Blog: azcommerce.com/tech-connect

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in existence five or 10 years ago, were started by visionary thinkers. Because they weren’t incumbents, they didn’t have anything to lose. As a result, their founders came up with entirely new models that enabled them to blow past their competitors, the slower-moving established players. Preserving the existing order or attempting to emulate it didn’t interest them. Whether it was intentional or not, they have pushed industries in new, productive directions.

This is how I view Arizona’s position. Because our state is young compared to the rest of the nation, and made up of leaders who aren’t interested in maintaining the status quo, we have a real opportunity to create value through new approaches. By encouraging, embracing, and leveraging emerging technologies, we will not only grow Arizona’s economy, we will play a role in solving challenges the world will face.

Each of the five governors I’ve served under has played a key role in galvanizing our state’s culture of innovation.

Governor Symington advanced an industry cluster strategy that gained Arizona national recognition, particularly for our optics cluster. Under Governor Hull’s leadership, Prop. 301 was first passed in 2000 to provide increased education and research funding in Arizona. Governor Napolitano created the Governor’s Council on Innovation and Technology, with a vision to make Arizona a center of excellence in these areas as a means for driving economic growth. In 2011, the Arizona Commerce Authority was established under Governor Brewer’s leadership, creating a new, innovative model for economic development with a strong private-sector focus.

Now, under Governor Ducey’s leadership, we have rapidly advanced Arizona’s reputation as the number one place for new ideas and new business models. Arizona is consistently ahead of every other state in advancing policies and projects that support innovation, such as creating a sandbox for the testing of innovative new financial products and services and laying the foundation for 5G technology. As a result, we’re drawing companies from all over the world that are doing incredible work in next-gen trend areas such as automated mobility, blockchain, the internet of things, and artificial intelligence.

While others may be focused on being the “next Silicon Valley”—or beach, or forest, or desert—Arizona’s competitive advantage lies in the fact that we’re unconcerned with what’s already been done. This approach embodies Arizona’s unique, pioneering spirit. By taking our own path, we’re shaping our own future.

Why Phoenix?

connections and people who are willing to provide valuable feedback about your ideas. Collaboration and the exchange of ideas are critical to innovation. Related to that, I’d advise any entrepreneur—in Arizona or elsewhere—to seek mentorship, whether through a program or just by approaching someone you admire. Just be respectful of that person’s time and make sure you’re using it in a valuable way.

You should have a clear vision, but don’t be afraid to pivot—as you bring your idea to life, reach out often to people in the community for feedback. If you’re not going in the right direction, they’ll help you recalibrate. Arizona is also full of young, motivated talent—take advantage of that as your business grows to build a team that shares your passion. Doing so will not only help you achieve your goals more quickly, it will also ensure you establish the right organizational culture. Finally, be judicious with your resources to extend your runway as long as possible. Don’t raise money until you need to, and when you’re ready, come armed with a professional pitch deck. The investor community in our state is close-knit, so you want to make a good impression from the start. Arizona offers plentiful resources and assets to help you succeed as an entrepreneur, it’s just a matter of making sure you engage with them.

Seventy percent of Arizona’s adult population was born somewhere else, yet chose to make our state their home—that’s remarkable. People genuinely want to be here and have a vested interest in helping their communities. This has created a willingness to work together and support each other as a means of fostering success.

Arizona’s inclusiveness is a very different experience than you’ll have in other more established, exclusive and expensive markets.

The Future of Innovation The future doesn’t just happen—it is shaped through bold ingenuity. Technology has always changed and enhanced the way we live and work, yet the transformations we are living through today are unprecedented in their speed, scale, and complexity. This is perhaps the most exciting time in human history, and Arizona has an incredible opportunity to define and advance the technologies and policies of tomorrow. While change may be unsettling to some, we recognize that this is the way to shaping our future, and we intend to remain at the leading edge of innovation.

Advice & Best Practices Arizona is known for having a highly collaborative innovation ecosystem— people here encourage and support each other more than they compete. My first piece of advice would be to integrate yourself into the community—get to know what resources are available to help you. Don’t underestimate the power of good

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TOM CURZON Osborn Maledon & Startup AZ

I call it the paradox of success—that you can’t achieve success by pursuing it directly. Inspirational leaders understand that real, sustainable value can be achieved only when you pursue something greater than yourself that makes a difference in the lives of others.

The word I use for this is significance.

—Dov Seidman in his foreword to How: Why How We Do Anything Means Everything by Dov Seidman and Bill Clinton How Did We Get Here?

Introduction StartupAZ Foundation is driven to inspire connectivity and generosity among Arizona’s most innovative companies. StartupAZ’s inspiration is grounded in the desire to build our ecosystem on Arizona’s authentic spirit of generosity. Arizona’s startup ecosystem is a vibrant, blossoming seed-stage environment, marked with significant effort and investment.

Additional significant outcomes are on the horizon. Some notable areas of activity are ITSoftware, medical device/bio/life sciences, cleantech/renewable energy, IoT, Cybersecurity, Fintech, manufacturing, and autonomous vehicles (air and land). StartupAZ Collective, StartupAZ’s signature initiative, is designed to increase the success rate and growth of the region’s highest potential startups. It’s where entrepreneurs combine their talent, networks, and resources to help each other achieve success in growing their companies and creating a lasting impact on the community. It’s an exciting time in our ecosystem.

Website: www.omlaw.com www.startupaz.org OsbornMaledon StartupAZFoundation | startup-az-foundation |

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Through the 1990s until the Dotcom Bust in 2001, Arizona enjoyed an early but growing technology ecosystem that included notable successes like SalesLogix, Viasoft and JDA Software. Venture capital found us, though there was little angel activity. Some entrepreneurial ecosystem support existed, most notably the Enterprise Network, the AZ Software Association which became the AZ Tech Council, and the Arizona Venture Capital Conference (AVCC).

With the Dotcom Bust, however, venture capitalists fled upmarket (or their funds died) and we went through a significant slowdown. The AVCC became an angel and entrepreneur conference. But startups kept starting up. By 2006, the ecosystem was looking up, and the AVCC/Angel Capital Conference successfully morphed into Invest Southwest, targeting investors interested in investing in early stage tech companies, our bread and butter. Then the Great Recession pretty much destroyed the investor base for early stage companies.

By 2011 and 2012, angel investing became significant, with Desert Angels investing more than $12MM from 2009-2012, and Arizona Tech Investors following a similar, though not quite as active, path in Phoenix, investing almost $5MM in that period.

But there weren’t yet the institutional “seed funds” we see today. On the ground, the metaphor of many rowboats rowing in circles best described our scattered ecosystem. Then two significant things happened.

In 2012, the newly-born Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA) formally launched the twice-a-year AIC business plan competition offering $1.5 million in grants to six young tech companies in each of two cohorts, $3 million per year in total.

While the grants themselves were important, we discovered that the magic was the competition within our ecosystem and the light it cast upon undiscovered startups that began to glow.

That, in turn, gave the ecosystem’s investors, advisors and supporters the opportunity to discover, coach, help and invest in the brightest startups. While it seems simple, this was a profound change. AIC is now in its 13th cohort and has surfaced (to date) 1,092 unique startups—which is about 800 or 900 more than we might have otherwise discovered and helped. ACA data shows that these applicants have had more than 6,000 employees, total assets exceeding $800 million and have raised more than $1 billion in capital. While the ecosystem/ACA can’t claim credit for all that, I do believe that it has made a significant difference.

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The second significant series of events began with a simple email: a call to action from Bob La Loggia, founder/CEO of AppointmentsPlus, on January 31, 2015. “The Email” lead to an outburst of entrepreneur-lead ecosystem activity, including inauguration of Team AZ dinners, the launch of a Slack channel for ecosystem information exchange, the launch of #yesphx, and the launch of StartupAZ Foundation. Indeed, it was at the first Team AZ dinner where group brainstorming lead to the observation, since confirmed over and over, that generosity is an authentic, compelling attribute of our ecosystem’s DNA. Entrepreneur leaders Mario Martinez, Brad Jannenga, and Brandon Clarke grabbed on to that observation and ultimately founded StartupAZ Foundation as a nonprofit foundation to inspire and fund connectivity and generosity throughout the ecosystem. Similarly, entrepreneur Jonathan Cottrell, who had created #yesphx in 2014 as a communication hashtag for our ecosystem, began using #yesphx as a “unifying banner” for the “world’s most generous community for entrepreneurs.” For me, this second significant series of events represents the emergence, really for the first time, of strong leadership by entrepreneurs, such as Bob, Mario, Brad, Brandon and Jonathan, serving as role models—and doers-in the ecosystem, together with the recognition that our startup ecosystem DNA includes real, authentic generosity.

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to build enduring, valuable companies serving their communities. Arizona, and Phoenix in particular, is also a great place to work, live, and play.

The Future of Innovation A familiar lamentation--that Arizona doesn’t have enough Series A companies or enough Series A capital. So what to do? Our companies need to set higher goals, think bigger, seek out employees, advisors and investors who have done it before. Learn from them. By building something bigger than themselves, connecting with others, and aiming higher, the entrepreneurial oars will row the boats forward into a much brighter future than some folks could have ever imagined.

Advice & Best Practices • Build stronger better teams » Hire the best people possible, better than you » Engage the best possible advisers, subject matter experts and Board members • Execute, execute, execute, all with relentless focus on the few things that demonstrate you will win • Be generous and build community with your stakeholders

Why Phoenix? #yesphx has it right for not just Phoenix but all of Arizona: We are the world’s most generous community for entrepreneurs. There’s no better foundation on which

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TODD SANDERS: PRESIDENT & CEO Greater Phoenix Chamber

Do not be a afraid to fail, because we will always fail forward. Our Chamber takes risks to enhance our community, and when we make mistakes, we adjust quickly and move forward.

Introduction

Phoenix is different from other major metro areas. It’s easy to come here from anywhere in the world and be new. Where you’re from, which school you attended, or who you know are not a prerequisite for admission to our community.

There are no barriers to entry here, you can come from anywhere and carve your pathway to success. Phoenix attracts innovators, entrepreneurs, artists, and so many who are searching for a place to spread their wings.

I came to Arizona in 1983 and never looked back. When I landed at Phoenix Sky Harbor International airport, I knew this desert oasis would be home. The city was smaller then, but just as welcoming and stunning as it is today. We moved here from our home in Bogota, Colombia. My parents wanted to repatriate back to the United States so that my brothers and I could complete our education. I finished high school and while I worked my way through college, I worked as a Page at the Arizona Legislature. At the time, I had no idea that my humble start would lead me to the Greater Phoenix Chamber, or the work that I’m able to support in the community.

From my experience, I know that it can be done in Phoenix and that’s why I’m passionate about my efforts to the led the Chamber as the organization focused on regional prosperity. By concentrating on three distinct areas—economic development, public policy, and workforce development—the Chamber is focused on supporting a thriving economy. We know ensuring Phoenix has the resources businesses need to thrive including well-planned infrastructure, a multifaceted education system, forward-thinking research universities, and

Every morning, as the sun rises above the mountains and the early morning city lights glitter with flashes of orange, we all wake up with a new chance—a fresh opportunity. Each sunrise in Phoenix, Arizona is the start of a new day and a clean slate. The Greater Phoenix Chamber embraces the opportunities that our community offers to everyone— the opportunities to innovate, to grow, to pave your own path. We are the place to collaborate, to bring in multiple viewpoints, to continue to build the Arizona we want.

Website: www.phoenixchamber.com

Perspective on Innovation Every morning, as the sun rises above the mountains and the early morning city lights glitter with flashes of orange, we all wake up with a new chance—a fresh opportunity. Each sunrise in Phoenix, Arizona is the start of a new day and a clean slate. Phoenix is home to more than 1.6 million individuals and that number continues to soar. It’s a place where anyone can come for a first or new beginning.

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Why Phoenix?

informed regulatory structures, ultimatley ensure that innovators have the tools they need to start here and to grow here.

Every day the Chamber advocates for businesses. With an emphasis on a responsible public policy that fosters growth, our organization encourages elected leaders to focus on business support, education and workforce development, investments in our infrastructure that provide a strong platform for strong businesses.

Through our economic development efforts and business retention and expansion platform, I know that one of businesses’ largest pain points is their inability to find qualified talent. And so, the Chamber launched our Foundation and subsequent workforce development efforts to bridge the gap between business and education. Workforce is key to our future. Ensuring that Phoenix is a place that people want to live and work is one way that we’re helping businesses thrive and supporting daily innovation.

The future of innovation is here in Phoenix. It’s in our streets. It’s in our office buildings, co-working spaces, and coffee shops. It’s in our airport and evolving transportation and transit assets. Innovation is Phoenix—constantly evolving and rising to meet new challenges.

With a renewed focus on thoughtful public policy, a drive to move our economy forward, and the ability to take untapped talent and create new opportunities to strengthen our community’s ecosystem, I know that Phoenix will remain a hub for innovators, entrepreneurial experiments, and a magnet for those looking to rise from their ashes.

Phoenix is full of opportunity for everyone. It doesn’t matter your background, you can thrive in Phoenix, because we embrace diversity, new ideas, and innovation.

The Future of Innovation The future of innovation in Phoenix is bright, and we will continue to surge. From our state universities to our community and association leadership, innovation is encouraged and supported. As long as thought leaders in our community bring forth ideas, Phoenix will provide a welcoming space for individuals and companies to innovate.

Advice & Best Practices The key to success in Phoenix is the willingness to collaborate. Our community has made great strides simply by having our business work together to solve challenges and provide solutions for a more thriving economy. Engage in our community. There are endless leadership opportunities where you can make your voice and your ideas heard; find your passion and plug in.

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JOAN KOERBER-WALKER: PRESIDENT & CEO Arizona Bioindustry Association, Inc. (AZBio)

I had thought the destination was what was important, but it turned out it was the journey.

—Clayton M. Christensen

Perspective on Innovation Innovation is what we get when we are doing something in a new way to make life better.

Action and impact are the drivers of innovation. Action moves you forward. Impact drives adoption and greater momentum. Without them, you are left with nothing but what might have been a great idea.

Where we started Arizona’s Bioscience Cluster was formed by Governor Jane D. Hull in 1997. In 2000, the people of Arizona passed Prop. 301 to fund education with a .6¢ sales tax. This included the Technology Research Initiative Fund or TRIF to invest in innovative projects and talent at the universities. In 2018, TRIF investments passed the $1 billion mark. In 2002, the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) was founded and served as a catalyst for what is today Arizona’s strength in precision medicine and sits at the heart of the Phoenix Biomedical Campus.

In 2003, Arizona committed $500 million in investments into University Research Infrastructure. It would later double down in 2017 with an additional $1 billion commitment. The Arizona Bioindustry Association (AZBio) was also founded in 2003, to serve as the state-wide voice and advocate for Arizona’s healthcare and bioscience science industry and as the nexus that connects and supports Arizona life science innovators.

When we started, the Greater Phoenix region did not have a single medical school.

Today, there are four medical schools training tomorrow’s physicians.

Discover In addition to TGen, Greater Phoenix is home to the Barrow Neurological institute, the Banner Alzheimer’s Institute, the HonorHealth Research Institute, the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, Mayo Clinic’s rapidly expanding research campus, and more.

Over 3,700 patents in life science–related areas were issued to Arizona innovators from 2012–2017.

Develop

Introduction Arizona is home to one of the fastest-growing life-science sectors in the country. The Greater Phoenix Area is at the center of the action and holds the greatest concentration of life science and healthcare innovators in the state. Health innovations are born as discoveries, are shaped, tested, and proven during the development process, and ultimately must be delivered where they are needed. To innovate, we must be able to navigate and complete each phase of the innovator’s journey.

Website: www.AZBio.org / www.AZBio.TV Blog: www.azbio.org/category/azbio-news

The development stage takes these discoveries and creates the pathway to create a marketable product or service. Arizona innovators are developing new technologies to catch cancer early when we have better odds of beating it and a desperately needed diagnostic for ALS. One team is working on development of a vaccine to prevent all cancers and another on a drug to halt dysplastic cells before they become cancerous. Companies are developing devices to block pain so that addictive opioids can be avoided while another is developing better forms of drugs that can be used in the case of an overdose. New devices are in development to keep arteries clear, regulate heartbeats, manage diabetes, and more.

The community’s healthcare systems attract a wide range of clinical trials that leverage both our strong base of clinical researchers and our diverse patient population.

Deliver Leveraging our strengths in precision medicine, Arizona companies are helping physicians make better decisions based on a patient’s unique genomic profile. Arizona innovators are now delivering the world’s smallest pacemaker to help patients with cardiac disease, an artificial pancreas to help people with diabetes manage their health better, peripheral vascular devices that deliver lifesaving medications, and implantable devices that keep the blood flowing and the heart pumping.

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Working Collaboratively To Build a Top Tier Bioscience Industry In Arizona

ADVOCATES locally and nationally

SUPPORTS

Research, Corporate and Workforce Development

ATTRACTS

the right resources to the right companies at the right time

PROMOTES understanding of the value created by AZBio Members and Arizona’s Life Science Industry

Learn More at AZBio.org and AZBio.TV

The Future of Innovation

Supporting the Journey AZBio works to support these innovators by telling their story, connecting them to potential partners, working on programs to support individual companies and the overall ecosystem while advocating to ensure that when the products are ready to be delivered, that patients who need them can get them.

New advances in precision medicine, big data, artificial intelligence, our understanding of the human immune system, and a broad range of medical technologies have the potential to drive new paradigms in the way we detect, diagnose, treat and cure disease. Moving them forward faster will require new and innovative funding models. AZBio is working to develop and deliver these financial innovations, so that more Arizona companies can deliver the lifesaving ones.

Fueling the innovation engine While billions of dollars have been invested in fueling the discovery and delivery phases of life science innovation across the community, the region falls short in the availability of risk capital that is essential for accelerating discoveries through the development phase.

This is one of the areas of innovation that AZBio is working on today. Actions include building relationships with family offices and venture capitalists nationally and internationally, bringing them here to see what is happening in our life science innovation sectors, and connecting them with companies.

In addition, in partnership with the Opportunity Through Entrepreneurship Foundation, AZBio has launched a capital campaign to build a $200 million evergreen endowment that will have the capacity to invest $10 million or more per year into early-stage life science companies so that they can accelerate their innovation journey.

Advice & Best Practices Get Engaged: Few communities are more willing to help you get connected to the partners you need to move your project forward, but if you are not engaged and active in the community, people won’t know what you can offer or how they can help you get what you need.

Aim High: The life science innovator’s journey is not an easy one. If you are going to travel on this path, aim high for maximum impact. You never know what you may find along the way or how many lives you might change for the better when you do.

Why Phoenix?

Phoenix has what innovative life science companies need to grow and succeed.

Arizona is business friendly and lacks many of the expensive tax and regulatory burdens found in other states. Our operating cost structure is one of the lowest for a major metro and our excellent quality of life makes it easier to attract and retain the talent you need.

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NEIL G. GIULIANO: PRESIDENT & CEO Greater Phoenix Leadership

All men dream; but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible. —T.E. Lawrence

Photos: Hector Peñuñuri

Perspective on Innovation

Introduction In the late 1960s an ASU architecture class led by Dean James Elmore was charged with envisioning a transformation of the long-dry riverbed—the “Rio Salado”— that etched through the Valley of the Sun. It would remain a conversation and aspiration for decades, always a grand idea. The concept failed at the ballot box regionally in the late ’80s, yet visionary citizens in Tempe voted “yes,” and the dream of “a river once more” was kept alive. In 1994, a new young mayor was elected on a platform that called for Rio Salado to “become a reality for future generations.”

Website: wwwneil@gplinc.org +1-602-252-5667

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Making community dreams a reality was always the aspiration of Neil Giuliano when he became the youngest person ever elected mayor of Tempe, Arizona, in spring of 1994. The challenge was providing an innovative, visionary approach to public policy and major community initiatives in a way that didn’t get too far out ahead of what was already considered a somewhat progressive community of 165,000 residents within the Phoenix metropolitan region.

Giuliano’s vision, and his desire and willingness to champion significant long-term initiatives, required focus, talented staff, and regular interaction with the community.

It was that approach to mayoral leadership that would ensure clear articulation of the public value and strong community support over time for the heavy lifting ahead.

That heavy lifting, to Giuliano, was simply a “must-do” for the future of Tempe. The nearly 40-square-mile city was landlocked, surrounded by other cities, and could not grow further and further out into the desert. At the time, Tempe had more miles of regional freeway cutting through it and around its borders than any other city in the region, both an economic upside and a transportation challenge.

Nearly one-sixth of Tempe’s landmass was comprised of an abandoned and dry river bottom, the Salt River/Rio Salado and surrounding lands, entirely unproductive for the community both financially and from a quality of life standpoint.

Seizing the opportunity to link several community goals together, Giuliano aligned political and community capacity for three: a Tempe and then regional transportation plan that would include implementation of regional light rail, constructing Tempe Town Lake in the dry river bottom as an economic development and urban revitalization effort, and creation of substantial park and open space for community events, recreation, and a center for the arts on the shore of the new lake.

The voters were asked to fund the multimodal transportation program in September of 1996. A public-private partnership was designed to enable construction of the 2-mile-long Town Lake in the river bottom at the north end of downtown Tempe, commenced in the fall of 1997 and completed in 1999. And in May 2000 the voters approved funding a center for the arts which would be sited on the southwest end of the new lake.

It would take years, especially given the Great Recession, for the full vision of the initiatives Giuliano led to truly come

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to fruition. By the time regional light rail took its first trip connecting downtown Tempe to downtown Phoenix, before the Tempe Center for the Arts was opened, and before the successful scale of commercial development along Tempe Town Lake had been completed, Giuliano’s ten-year tenure (1994–2004) as mayor of Tempe had been completed. As he left office he was quoted as saying, “We did a lot of dreaming together, and then worked hard and long to create a better future of our community. We should feel good about what we accomplished for all those who will follow.”

The jobs of tomorrow will be vastly different than today; many not yet conceived.

In order for Phoenix to grow as a competitive economy, it is imperative leaders work together to ensure equitable access to quality education and identify an expanded pipeline for a workforce willing and prepared to tackle problems that are not yet foreseen.

Why Phoenix?

The greater Phoenix region was settled by people bold enough to dream beyond realities of the geography and environment of their time. That drive still propels Phoenicians to think big. The region has the right mix of public and private sector leaders willing to envision and create a sustainable reality that will unfold and shape the future.

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HEIDI JANNENGA: CHIEF CLINICAL OFFICER & CO-FOUNDER, WebPT

I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. ―Maya Angelou Perspective on Innovation In 2006, I was a sports physical therapist and director of a multi-site clinic in Tempe—and as such, I was responsible for managing operations, people, and bottom-line goals. Two of our practice’s biggest expenses were dictation and transcription, so I began looking for a more cost-effective solution. At the time, most physician practices were already using electronic medical records (EMRs), which minimize the need for these services altogether. But, there wasn’t anything on the market I felt would provide the same benefits for my physical therapy business.

Adopting a sub-par system—and developing Band-Aid fixes to make it function for us—didn’t seem like the right answer. So instead, my co-founder—a seasoned technologist and entrepreneur—and I chose to build our own. In the beginning, our goal was to simply solve the specific problem that I thought was somewhat unique to my clinics.

As it turns out, I wasn’t the only one in this technology quandary. After completing some market research, we found 80 percent of physical therapists were still documenting using pen and paper—and ever-increasing regulations meant that continuing to do so in the long term would be challenging (and risky).

That’s when we knew we’d stumbled onto something with big potential. Ten months later, we had a beta product, which some of my local colleagues quickly adopted—and they also quickly began providing positive feedback.

Shortly after that, in February 2008, we officially launched WebPT—the first web-based EMR designed specifically for PTs—and sold to five clinics that first month. Fast forward to today, and WebPT is now one of the fastest-growing software companies in Arizona and one of the fastest-growing EMR platforms in the country. A decade after launching, we’re serving more than 15,000 clinics and 85,000 customers nationwide—around 40 percent of the entire outpatient rehab therapy market.

WebPT has become a mission-critical technology that has disrupted the rehab therapy industry, changing the way tens of thousands of physical, occupational, and speech therapy providers are documenting, protecting, and sharing patient information. Our mission has always been to empower rehab therapists to achieve greatness in practice, and to fulfill that mission, we’ve remained steadfastly committed to innovation that benefits our customers directly.

To that end, we’ve expanded our platform to be more than a stand-alone EMR; we now offer integrated scheduling, billing, analytics, outcomes tracking, and patient relationship management—all of which enables rehab therapists to stay at the leading edge of interoperability, data collection and analysis, security, meaningful use, and patient experience.

While innovation will always be a cornerstone for WebPT, it’s our people who have made us what we are today. As an organization that adheres to the tenets of Conscious Capitalism, we’re committed to giving all of our stakeholders— customers, employees, partners, investors, and our community—a voice. Our team actively seeks feedback from our customers, and we regularly visit their clinics and shadow them to gain a better understanding of their workflows and challenges. That way, we know what we’re developing next will be exactly what they need.

Introduction • WebPT launched in February 2008.

• Our headquarters are in the historic Phoenix Warehouse District (we also have offices in Boston; Upland, CA; Denver; Atlanta; Minneapolis, MN; Virginia Beach, VA, and Saco, ME).

• We have 520 employees (300+ in Phoenix).

• We’re one of the fastest-growing software companies in Arizona and among the fastest-growing EMR companies in the country.

• We serve more than 15,000 clinics and 85,000 customers nationwide— around 40 percent of the outpatient rehab therapy market.

• We maintain a 99-percent customer rate.

• We’ve appeared on the Inc. 5000 list of the nation’s fastest-growing companies seven straight years.

Website: www.webpt.com Blog: www.webpt.com/blog

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As WebPT has grown, we’ve been fortunate to attract some of the brightest, most dedicated talent to our team. In fact, one of our most meaningful achievements has been creating more than 300 jobs in Phoenix’s historic Warehouse District, where WebPT first put down roots. When we moved WebPT to the Warehouse District, tech was nascent in the area, and the innovation ecosystem was largely localized elsewhere. But, we could feel this neighborhood evolving, and we knew we wanted to spur that on.

Through the collaborative effort of local entrepreneurs, business leaders, and city and government officials, this area has undergone a tremendous transformation, attracting even more top-tier organizations and people. We’re so proud to have been a part of that early groundswell.

Technology and science are part of the foundation in nearly any business, regardless of sector. There’s been a dramatic shift toward innovation over the past 10 years— even in Arizona. But to compete on a global scale—to attract tech companies and develop homegrown tech trailblazers—we need to start educating future generations of technologists by prioritizing early childhood STEM education and proving to our university graduates there are opportunities in Arizona.

Advice & Best Practices Embrace your community as one of your business’s most important stakeholders.

Get involved. Build relationships and give back, and opportunity will present itself— and your community will grow stronger and more supportive.

Know yourself—your strengths, passions, superpowers, and purpose. Harnessing these personal attributes will improve you as a leader and entrepreneur.

Why Phoenix?

One thing that sets Phoenix apart is our spirit of collaboration. In WebPT’s early days, Phoenix lacked cachet and capital for tech development, but a lot has changed.

Though we still need more talent development and an anchor on our brilliant university graduates, there’s been an uprising of collaboration among business and community leaders, spurring growth in Phoenix’s tech ecosystem.

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SETHURAMAN “PANCH” PANCHANATHAN: Executive VP & Chief Research and Innovation Officer Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination circles the world.

―Albert Einstein

Introduction

Perspective on Innovation

• ASU was recognized as the most innovative university in the nation five years in a row by U.S. News & World Report.

• ASU is one of the fastest-growing research universities in the U.S., more than quintupling its research volume since 2002.

• ASU was ranked No. 5 in the nation for producing the best-qualified graduates in a Wall Street Journal employer survey.

• In FY 2019, ASU innovators received 129 patents and launched 18 startup companies. ASU ranks 10th worldwide of all universities for U.S. patents awarded, according to the U.S. National Academy of Inventors.

• ASU ranks No. 2 in the U.S. for interdisciplinary science research volume (NSF HERD), ahead of MIT, Johns Hopkins University and Northwestern University.

Innovation is not limited to creating new products or starting new companies. It is a spirit and a mindset that permeates everything that we do. The most intractable challenges we face are not going to be solved by doing what we’ve always done. It is important to nurture and support out-of-the box ideas leading to creative solutions.

First, we have to engender an environment where new ideas and perspectives can thrive.

After all, we are inherently curiosity-driven explorers. We need to bring people from diverse backgrounds and disciplines into a collaborative environment to explore and realize the most promising ideas. We have to embrace risk and failure instead of just rewarding success.

The traditional thinking in universities is that it is difficult to achieve excellence at scale.

At ASU, we have challenged this notion and demonstrated that access and excellence at scale are in fact mutually reinforcing. We are constantly looking at what society needs—whether that is in the local community, across the nation or at a global level—and adapting our efforts to address those needs. This is largely due to the spirit of innovation that permeates all of ASU. As the Chief Research and Innovation Officer at Arizona State University, I am committed to infusing innovation in all aspects of the university. As a first step, we need to model the behavior we want to see. I often catch myself unconsciously doing the things I’ve seen my parents or my teachers do. The university should therefore exemplify what we want our

Website: www.knowledgeenterprise.asu.edu

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students to be. As a professor, a mentor and a researcher, I strive to always be curious, innovative and entrepreneurial.

We are not only committed to empowering our students with valuable skillsets, but more importantly, the mindsets that ensure their success all through their life. Many students take advantage of enrolling in multiple majors and minors, participating in teams across disciplines, engaging in entrepreneurial activities, and working in real-world projects to find solutions for challenging problems. For example, a visually-impaired student, David Hayden, a doublemajor in math and computer science, had difficulty seeing material on the blackboard in his classes. Instead of accepting the status quo, he decided to tackle the problem by designing a solution working with an interdisciplinary team of students. The Note-Taker device, built by him, not only allowed David to succeed in his courses, but also became a tool that was available to both his sighted and visually impaired counterparts. His prototype won the Microsoft Imagine World Cup. This is an example of the innovative spirit that permeates ASU. Transcending disciplinary boundaries, we need to reach across organizational divides and collaborate with universities, industry, nonprofits and government to find innovative solutions toward solving real world challenges. For example, we recently launched a concept called Practice Labs™ that embeds partners seeking solutions with ASU students and faculty. Whether in a company at one of our innovation campuses or at ASU, students are enriched by the experiential environment, while our partners garner creative solutions and benefit from a robust talent pipeline. Another example is ASU’s partnership with companies

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like Starbucks and Uber to provide access to world-class ideas and education opportunities for their employees. We are increasingly committed to ensuring lifelong learning opportunities for all citizens to be successful in their careers.

Why Phoenix?

Phoenix and ASU exemplify a “can do” attitude akin to the Wild West spirit. The symbiotic partnership between a vibrant metro and an innovative university is powerful. We do not look at the world as what happens to us, but instead by what happens because of us.

The Future of Innovation We have it within our power to influence, and even proactively shape, the future in which we — and future generations — can thrive. This will require us to constantly challenge the status quo with an entrepreneurial mindset and create the future we want to see. We should unleash the potential of our innovators by investing in their ideas. We need to incubate and advance innovation ecosystems that commit to solving regional, national and global socio-economic challenges.

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FRANK M. PLACENTI: PARTNER Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP

The leader must aim high, see big, judge widely and thus set himself apart from the ordinary people who operate in narrow confines.

—Charles deGaulle I have spent four decades supporting businessmen and women who have been seeking to make a difference, either in innovative start-up situations, or within larger corporate organizations. I recognized early on that entrepreneurs see the world differently and that the brick wall between them and their goal was something they will climb over, move around or simply knock down on their way to success. Telling an entrepreneur that a goal cannot be accomplished is career limiting if you want to be of service to those who are out trying to change the bustriess world in which we live.

Phoenix has changed dramatically during the forty years that I have lived in Arizona. It was tightly controlled by a small group of bankers, businessmen and real estate developers in the 1980’s. Leadership is now much less concentrated and Phoenix has become a place where technology innovation is just as important as real estate development activity. While we do not yet have a highly developed private equity or venture capital infrastructure, our entrepreneurs have found ways to attract the capital needed to grow and it has been my privilege to assist them in accessing capital from a variety of sources, on both coasts. The next stage in our infrastructure, however, will be to finally attract to Arizona the capital and finance infrastructure that small and innovative businesses need to grow and thrive.

Why Phoenix?

Arizona has always celebrated hard work and self-reliance. This attitude will continue to hold Arizona in good stead over the years.

The Future of Innovation The pace of change will continue to accelerate. Yesterda’y’s Kindle will give way to tomorrow’s iPad at a pace even greater than in the past. Artificial intelligence will replace many of the jobs now being done in the knowledge economy and our challenge will be to continue to keep bright and talented people in our state. We cannot afford it to be said about Arizona, as was once said about Ireland, that our best export is our youth. We need to have an educational system here that will sustain our growth.

Introduction

Advice & Best Practices

I moved to Arizona four decades ago because it seems to be a place where what you brought to the table and how hard you worked mattered more than in older, eastern cities.

My career has proven that that judgement was a correct one.

Website: www.squirepattonboggs.com

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Establish a network that includes thoughtful and successful entrepreneurs and innovators. Learn from their successes and from their mistakes.

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DISRUPTING THE GLOBAL BOOK BUSINESS

SVEN BOERMEESTER, FOUNDER, CEO, INTERNATIONAL GROUP PUBLISHER, GLOBALVILLAGE.WORLD “With personal contact at an all time low in the world our book gifting business model is growing, we are a conference in a book.

Books are the new business card that people do not throw away. They establish your expertise, credibility, and educate, which attracts clients and business opportunities.”

How is the commercial book publishing world being disrupted?

Some clients joke with us that we are bringing back a dying art form as books are cool again. The business model however has changed completely, gone are the days of pay to play by selling advertorials or advertising. A great book on an ecosystem or industry needs to be authentic and all encompassing of all the major players sharing their story, not just whoever paid to be in there. To finance that we moved to a crowd funded book buying model where the market and the participants buy the books in bulk to use as gifts to clients, visitors, investors and employees. You also need to add technology to the printed book by embedding augmented reality videos into its pages, we do that by hiding QR codes behind the images that a mobile phone can read to activate a video. The books also need to be available online as ebooks, a blog and ultimately a forum where all the participants can communicate with each other.

How do you set up your business in new cities and countries?

We look for skilled marketing professionals in each city that know their community well and form 50/50 partnerships with them where they collect the stories and we design and print book. We are a fast growing tribe of fun and energetic publishing entrepreneurs, partners and friends. We all share a passion for innovation, beautiful places and cultures that we want to embrace, share and showcase with the rest of the world. We are always looking for marketing entrepreneurs to join our team, please reach out to me on LinkedIn or info@globalvillage.world.

Sven Boermeester is a global publishing entrepreneur with a career that spans over 20 years with stops in more than 100 countries. He was born in Antwerp, Belgium and grew up in South Africa. After completing his business studies in Cape Town, he opened his first media company and started publishing the trade and industry directories for South Africa followed by the launch of the Best of the World publishing series in Dubai. Fast forward 20 years and 183 Best of editions across 60 countries, Sven now lives in Tampa, Florida, with his wife and two sons. He is working on disrupting the publishing business by mapping out the Innovation ecosystems of every major city, in the US and around the world, through his latest Innovation books and augmented reality video series.

info@globalvillage.world sven-boermeester-8605823 GlobalVillage.world InnovationsoftheWorld.com

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CHAPTER TWO

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Photo: Stephen Botel

CITY OF SCOTTSDALE

To learn more, visit www.ScottsdaleAZ.gov or www.ChooseScottsdale.com 3939 N. Drinkwater Blvd.

Scottsdale, AZ 85251 +1-480-312-3111 ScottsdaleAZGov

While much of the American West was settled over a century ago in the spirit of possibility and innovation, few cities have embraced that legacy into the 21st century with as much style and success as Scottsdale.

The city is internationally recognized as a premier destination for travelers and businesses alike. Over nine million people visit Scottsdale each year to enjoy the city’s world-class golf courses, resorts, and shopping destinations. Tourism has a $4 billion annual impact on Scottsdale’s economy and frequently brings global attention to the area’s cultural and sporting events.

As one of Arizona’s leading job centers, Scottsdale is home to nearly 18,000 businesses supplying more than 150,000 jobs. In addition to the tourism industry, the city’s diverse economy is built on medical research, high-tech innovation, and corporate headquarters. Last year, Scottsdale welcomed over $96.7 million in new capital investments, making it one of the most successful years for economic development since 2008.

The city’s reputation for innovation dates to the 1960s, when two major projects revolutionized their respective industries and put Scottsdale in the spotlight as a global leader in municipal technology.

In 1964, a Scottsdale city councilman proposed a solution to the area’s flood control problems that was both aesthetically pleasing and civically purposeful. Rather than build a concrete channel that would physically divide the community, Scottsdale created the Indian Bend Wash Greenbelt. It became the nation’s first flood control

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solution of its kind—an oasis of canals, parks, lakes, paths, and golf courses traversing 11 miles through the heart of the city.

Scottsdale also played a pivotal role in mechanizing the waste collection industry when, in 1964, a city employee designed the first mechanical bin grabber. The mechanism, known as “Godzilla,” was soon put to work around the city, setting a new industry standard that reduced on-the-job injuries and improved quality of service.

The McDowell Sonoran Preserve is another example of the community’s unparalleled commitment to sustaining a world-class quality of life. The preserve is a permanently protected, sustainable desert habitat that includes an interconnected network of non-motorized trails. It was dedicated in 1994 and is a textbook example of a grassroots political movement that changed the face and character of the city. Today, the preserve consists of more than 30,500 contiguous acres—nearly 47 square miles, roughly one-quarter of the city’s total land area.

Scottsdale’s historic Old Town boasts a growing list of hotels, restaurants, night clubs, retail shops and art galleries. The Scottsdale Airport and its surrounding Airpark is home to nearly 2,500 businesses with more than 48,000 jobs.

The high-tech innovation center, SkySong, located just a few miles from Old Town, is designed to help companies grow through a unique partnership with nearby Arizona State University. The 1.2 million-square-foot facility is home to startups and Fortune 500 companies alike.

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Its thriving economy has made Scottsdale one of only a handful of cities nationwide to enjoy a “AAA” bond rating from all major financial rating organizations. With low taxes and high levels of city services, Scottsdale consistently ranks among the best-run cities and top places to live in the nation.

With a 188% increase in its population since 1980, Scottsdale has become a study in contrasts. Where the pristine, natural beauty of the Arizona desert is preserved alongside contemporary architecture, bike-friendly cityscapes and state-of-the-art infrastructure.

Whether it’s in business or community development, Scottsdale’s unfailing commitment to innovation and its long-standing leacy of creativity-driven growth continue to usher in new eras of possibility in the West’s Most Western Town.

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GILBERT CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Kathy Tilque: President / CEO The best way to predict the future is to invent it.

—Alan Kay

Introduction

Perspective on Innovation

From a sleepy little farm town to one of the fast-growing communities in the nation, Gilbert continues to be a leader in innovation while maintaining that smalltown feel that draws citizens and businesses of all sizes.

It’s been a long journey built upon strong planning principals, commitment, and vision. The redevelopment of the Heritage District has turned our downtown lifestyle into the envy of the Valley; this didn’t happen overnight; in fact, it has been dubbed as “our 30-year overnight success story.”

It’s been such an honor to serve as the President/CEO of the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce for more than 23 years as I was able to partake in the visioning and planning of what Gilbert could become. The Chamber has actively helped to shape the high standards for development throughout our community yet ensured we had flexibility for businesses to prosper.

When asked what my favorite project has been and one I am most proud of, I don’t have to think twice, it would be saving and developing the Water Tower and Park in the Heritage District.

It is hard to believe we were just votes away from tearing the Water Tower down due to the money it would cost to remove the lead paint, and many within the community thought it was a waste of taxpayers’ dollars. It took the vision, commitment, and dedication to fight for this project and through it all, we knew it would be a catalyst for growth and prosperity within the Heritage District which wasn’t dying but was barely limping along. The Water Tower is now the icon representing community, families, and a lifestyle unique to our Town. Those of us who were brave enough to stand strong for what we believed in really made a difference. We were able to share our vision and paint the landscape for a beautiful backdrop for the vibrant business community that came to fruition. None of us can individually take the credit; it was a team effort of many,

Website: www.gilbertaz.com

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and I’m so proud to be part of that team. I smile every time I walk by the park and watch parents and grandparents with their children playing in the splash pad or just sitting in the grass together. It warms my heart when we take our grandchildren there and create memories for a lifetime.

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employees, and reduce regulation will continue to move Arizona forward. Like those who came before us, Arizona still has that wild west entrepreneurial spirit within us that leads to innovative thinking and action.

Advice/Best Practices

Why Gilbert?

Innovation isn’t always wrapped in a shiny new package; sometimes it takes years to see the rewards of your efforts. It starts with a vision, a well-thought-out plan, and then the dedication and commitment to be strong in the face of opposition. Be that person to make a difference.

Gilbert is in the southeastern portion of the Phoenix Metropolitan Region. With more than 250,000 residents, one of the highest academic achievement rankings, second-safest city in the nation, along with many other national rankings, we are the best community to start your business. Our family-oriented community is attractive for your employees and their families while providing all the amenities needed without having to leave Gilbert.

The Future of Innovation Arizona is coming into its own as we attract more and more innovative businesses because of the business-friendly environment. Efforts to reduce tax liabilities, train

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MARICOPA COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Innovations in Connected Vehicle Technology The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.

Faisal Saleem, the MCDOT SMARTDrive ProgramSM Manager, explaining how connected vehicle technology works

Jennifer Toth, MCDOT Director and County Engineer, speaking about the future of transportation with connected vehicle technology

Introduction

Innovation Story

The Maricopa County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) is helping to change the way the Phoenix Metropolitan area travels. We are continuously looking for ways to provide the connections that improve peoples’ lives. To accomplish that, MCDOT:

In Arizona, there is a vehicle collision every four minutes and roughly every four days one of those collisions involves a fire truck or ambulance.1 What if fire trucks and ambulances could talk to traffic signals to reduce vehicle collisions? And, what if cars could talk to traffic signals to get you home from work quicker? Today, we know that this technology is not only possible, but that it exists in the Phoenix metropolitan area. But a little more than 10 years ago, it was just an idea.

This idea is what brought the teams from the Maricopa County Department of Transportation (MCDOT), the University of Arizona (U of A), the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) together to form the Arizona Connected Vehicle Coalition. This coalition led the effort to develop, research, test and launch technology at the connected vehicle test bed in Anthem, Arizona. This test bed and the associated technology now form what is known as the MCDOT SMARTDrive ProgramSM. A program that leads the nation in the development of connected vehicle technology.

• • • • •

Plans for the future Designs a seamless transportation system Builds a connected community Maintains the county’s transportation assets Operates transportation systems to reduce your travel time

MCDOT uses intelligent transportation systems to reduce commutes and connect vehicles to traffic signals to improve safety. We also believe in innovative government by creating partnerships with other public and private entities to maximize our infrastructure investments.

Website: www.mcdot.maricopa.gov

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—Albert Einstein

“The opportunities for improved safety and mobility are endless using connected vehicle technology”, said Jennifer Toth, MCDOT’s Director and County Engineer. “Based upon the principles of vehicle prioritization, connected vehicle technology assigns a priority ranking to vehicles to improve safety and traffic flow.

This priority is communicated between vehicles and traffic signals via wireless radios. Imagine an ambulance and a fire truck arriving at an intersection at the same time. Who has the right of way? With connected vehicle technology, a priority is assigned to each vehicle and communicated to them reducing the possibility of a collision. As we enter a time when both automated and traditional vehicles will be sharing the same roads, connected vehicle technology provides a common language for all to communicate with the roadway infrastructure.”

“For example, we have tested a smart phone app to help pedestrians request more time at crosswalks and we have also developed a prototype application to provide in-vehicle construction zone information to freight trucks.”

This technology will also be incorporated into

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The MCDOT SMARTDrive ProgramSM Test Bed in Anthem, Arizona

Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) Radio Unit installed on an intersection luminaire

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Team members monitor traffic signal and connected vehicle data

Daisy Mountain Fire Department participates in a connected vehicle demonstration

Preliminary tests indicate bus travel times can be decreased by 15 percent while using connected vehicle technology

Why Phoenix?

an upcoming valley-wide project to improve traffic flow along Loop 101. The Loop 101 Mobility Project, led by ADOT and MCDOT, will be made possible by an FHWA grant aimed at developing technology to decrease congestion and improve safety in the Phoenix metro area.

MCDOT’s connected vehicle experts have shared how connected vehicle technology can transform traffic operations across the world. Additionally, transportation leaders have traveled to our test bed to experience this revolutionary technology in action. Recent visitors from the Universal Traffic Management Systems Society of Japan and the National Police Agency of Japan marveled at the capability of this technology and how it “has great potential to contribute to the future mobility (of all traffic).”

The MCDOT SMARTDrive ProgramSM provides an opportunity to test connected vehicle innovations in a real world microcosm, leading to fewer vehicle crashes. According to USDOT projections, connected vehicle technology has the potential to reduce crashes by 80 percent when drivers are not impaired.

Imagine a world disrupted by safety. With this innovation, it is possible.

Maricopa County, where Phoenix is located, is currently the fastest growing county in the nation and with good reason! The weather is fantastic, the transportation system is strong and the business environment is friendly. Additionally, government and businesses alike value collaboration and innovation making Maricopa County attractive for businesses.

Advice & Best Practices 1. Build partnerships to collaborate – more people can bring more ideas 2. Adopt a start-up mentality – Brainstorm, Research, Develop, Test, Evaluate, Launch, Repeat 3. Take risks – You miss 100 percent of the opportunities you do not take

Arizona Department of Transportation. Arizona Motor Vehicle Crash Facts 2017, https://www.azdot.gov/docs/default-source/mvd-services/2017-crash-facts.pdf

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1MISSION Jason Law, Founder & CEO

1MISSION is a community development organization giving people in poverty the opportunity to earn a house by serving their community. The nonprofit works to raise the “water line” for entire communities in Mexico, El Salvador, and Nicaragua through a holistic model that addresses housing as well as health, education, job skills, gardening, and more.

When Jason Law saw poverty up close in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico for the first time at age 14, it rocked his view of the world. He had no idea that so many people lived in these conditions, just a short drive from his comfortable suburban Phoenix home.

He knew he had to do something about it. So he did. Returning to this same community on service trips over and over for a decade, he helped build some 30 houses for families in need.

But eventually he started asking hard questions about the long-term impact of these projects. Was he really making a difference? Was this community actually being changed for the better, or did serving just make him feel good? Wrestling with these questions and searching for better solutions ultimately led Jason

To learn more about 1MISSION’s work, visit 1MISSION.org or contact info@1MISSION.org.

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to start 1MISSION in 2008 with headquarters in Phoenix. Traditional charity is about making a one-to-one impact. A donor gives $100 and it provides clean water, medicine, or schooling for one person for a certain amount of time. And those are wonderful things to provide.

But with 1MISSION’s model, every donation is leveraged for greater long-term impact. By helping to fund a house for a family that has earned it, donors are investing in so much more. 1MISSION purchases construction materials locally and hires local labor, which means local economies are strengthened.

And since every family that earns a house serves hundreds of hours in community initiatives – planting community gardens, doing health screenings, teaching job skills – the ripple effects go far and wide. While there would be ways

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to build more houses more quickly, 1MISSION is committed to building community one house at a time.

1MISSION’s work is supported by the generosity of faithful partners like you.

Best of all, with overhead costs covered by a private group of committed supporters, 100% of public donations go directly to projects and programs in the field. Every donation is tied to an actual family in need, and once a house is complete, donors receive a proof report.

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ARIZONA KACHINAS Generating and Embracing Girls’ Hockey Growth in Arizona

Arizona Kachinas’ immediate impact on the sport of hockey was driven by a focused objective that revolved around creating opportunities for every girl in the State of Arizona, to play hockey at their appropriate age and skill level with the hopes of helping them develop a genuine and life-long love of the game.

The Kachinas, recognized as the official girls’ hockey association of the Arizona Coyotes, originally began as a clinic-based program when launched in 2018. The founding members are Lyndsey Fry, Matt Shott, Natalie Rossi, Vanessa Maines, Erin Cain, Jennifer Triant, Katie McGovern.

The tremendous and rapid growth in one year compelled the program to expand into the full-fledged association that it is today. In total, there are over 150 registered girls playing in the Kachinas association.

There are currently five elite Kachinas teams that travel throughout the country to compete, and four development teams that practice and play games at local rinks in the Valley.

Prior to 2019, there have never been more than three girl teams in Arizona during any given year. Now there are nine. And that is only capturing about 27% of all youth girls playing hockey in Arizona, which indicates the enormous potential for growth in the association.

One unique aspect of the program—unlike anything girls in Arizona have experienced before—is that the Kachinas’ coaching staff features women who have experience playing at D1 and D3 NCAA and Club Collegiate levels, the

Website: www.azkachinashockey.com

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National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL), and for National Olympic teams. Whatever level the players in the program aspire to reach, there is a coach with such experience.

Two programs supplement the Kachinas: The Little Howler’s co-ed learn-to-play program and the Small Frys developmental program. Small Frys is designed for girls ages 6-12 as a steppingstone after graduating from Little Howler’s, serving as a model program for the NHL for keeping girls in hockey after learn-to-play. It also features an all-female staff that operates on the belief that the key to sustainable success is to focus on building the base of the girls’ hockey pyramid.

When USA Hockey announced its participation numbers throughout the country for the 2018-19 season, it showed that Arizona ranked first among all U.S. NHL girls’ markets with growth percentages in both the eight-and-under and 19-and-under age ranges.

Overall, and as a result of the Kachinas association expansion, Arizona ranked first in total percentage growth for female hockey players over the past five years.

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CHAPTER THREE

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AQST SPACE SYSTEMS GROUP, LLC Arnaldo Soto, Jr.: Chairman & CEO

’The future is bright’… Great industries are not built by single participants. They’re not built by one company. Great industries are built by a multitude of companies and that is what’s going to happen in space. —Jeff Bezos Introduction AQST integrates proprietary technologies and services to support companies to quickly and affordably begin doing business in space. Just as the internet lets anyone with a good idea start a business overnight, AQST helps any company with a good idea go right to work in space. We call it Space as a Service: SPASE. Website: www.aqstpr.com

Innovation Story Though created in 2018, AQST already possesses proven intellectual property and ready-to-build designs for spacecraft, including both launch vehicles and unmanned orbital spacecraft. AQST is led by CEO, Founder, and Chairman Arnaldo Soto, Jr., former chairman and founder of the America’s Aerospace Summit Forum. The senior management team includes executives with in-depth international experience in aerospace, logistics, security, and risk management.

AQST partners with organizations in aerospace and vertical industries. We have already partnered with some of Arizona’s leading aerospace programs with whom we share knowledge, projects and learning opportunities.

Our company is headquartered in Mesa, with manufacturing in Yuma, and a satellite office in Cape Canaveral, Florida, since 2019.

Although we plan to expand throughout the country, we chose Arizona as a “home state” because of its space resilience, including clear skies and infrequency of natural disasters.

The state also has a robust business ecosystem with 1,200 aerospace-related companies, several former military installations, ample space for manufacturing growth, excellent aerospace education, the biggest military equipment proving ground in the United States, and a strong talent pool of veterans, engineers, and PhDs. “If Arizona has been able to transform the desert into paradise, and it has, just imagine what we can do in space,” says Soto.

Space, however, will realize its promise only when the industry can evolve beyond this present early stage and make getting to work in space almost as easy as getting on the internet.

And just as with the internet, the important thing is not the technology infrastructure but the astonishing things we can do with it.

We serve companies, educators, and government agencies.

Whether you want to launch a payload, build a satellite, analyze

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Why Phoenix?

data from someone else’s satellite, build a new spacecraft, or undertake a confidential project, we can help you get it done. We have established advanced manufacturing facilities for making satellites and spacecraft as well as a global presence for integrating services from around the world. If you have a need, we have the solution. If you have a business idea that involves space in any way, we have the platform or know who does.

Just as the internet lets anyone with a good idea start a business overnight, AQST Space Systems helps anyone with a good idea go right to work in space.

Specifically, we offer launch services, orbital space systems, satellite constellation, reusable unmanned spacecraft, advanced manufacturing, engineering services, and special project execution.

AQST’s capabilities are surprisingly vast, including satellite integration, satellite propulsion systems, rocket engines, nontoxic propellants, earth observation, security, orbital manufacturing, orbital laboratories, and data science management, including big data, AI, and IoT. The company can also take on special projects in areas like systems testing, engineering, scientific research, mining, oil & energy, orbital debris removal, search and rescue, scientific research, and agro-space.

Although we plan to expand throughout the country, we chose Arizona as a “home state” because of its space resilience, including clear skies and infrequency of natural disasters. Our company is headquartered in Mesa with manufacturing in Yuma and satellite office in Cape Canaveral, Florida, since 2019.

This state has a robust business environment with 1,200 aerospace-related companies, several former military installations, ample space for manufacturing growth, excellent aerospace education, the biggest military equipment proving ground in the United States, and a strong talent pool of veterans, engineers, and PhDs.

Advice & Best Practices Phoenix is a highly progressive, motivated engaged ecosystem comprised of technical, universities, government, defense profit, government, and nonprofits working together towards a new diversified economy. Very open to new ideas, entrepreneurs and established leading-edge companies are working to grow quickly and affordably within a secure and resilient environment.

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SILENT SECTOR Securing the backbone of the American economy

Introduction Large companies don’t always have the most to lose from a cyberattack. Often mid-market and emerging companies do, because they are usually the easiest targets.

With limited budgets and few options in terms of comprehensive cybersecurity, attacks on their systems can result in sometimes irreparable damage—especially reputationally, which was recently revealed to be mid-market companies’ greatest fear in terms of cyberattacks.

It’s easy to take a Darwinian stance; 50% of American businesses will fail in their fifth year, after all, so why is cybersecurity (or lack thereof) any more dangerous than other factors that spell the death of a mid-market business?

“What we offer is the real boots-on-the-ground, necessary work that must be done in order to protect our clients against these cyberattacks,” Zach says.

A former Green Beret, Zach’s understanding of asymmetrical warfare is as deep as it is crucial to Silent Sector’s mission. As with terrorism as most would understand it, cyberattacks often come from a decentralized enemy—an enemy that doesn’t wear uniforms, operates from all over the world, and with whom it’s difficult to establish a clear hierarchy of leadership.

“We realized that we could put Special Forces strategies to work in combatting cybercrime,” Zach says.

Silent Sector has the perfect team to do so. While Zach’s background is in military operations and building companies, his partners, Mike Rotondo (Head of Compliance & Cybersecurity Operations) and Lauro Chavez (Head of Cybersecurity Strategy & Research) had both been in cybersecurity for about 25 years with organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies to NASA—“We were in it before it was called cybersecurity,” Mike says, when everything fell under the umbrella term “IT.”

“The vast majority of the American economy is comprised of mid-market and smaller organizations,” says Zach Fuller, Partner and Head of Business Operations & Strategy. “Even Fortune 500 companies rely on those mid-market companies to survive; that is their supply chain, and without those smaller companies, things fall apart. So we protect great organizations and their people in order to secure the backbone of the American economy and our way of life.”

While most companies in the cybersecurity industry are focused on selling cybersecurity products and tools, Silent Sector takes a technology-agnostic approach, providing world-class expertise and resources to the mid-market.

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“Technology is not difficult, people make it difficult,” says Lauro, describing why most companies struggle to build an effective security posture. He goes on to add that “corporate politics around implementing strong technology controls cause unnecessary complexity and risk to the business. There should be no need to discuss the politics for three months when the control takes minutes to implement and immediately provides a stronger security baseline and reduces exposure to risk.”

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companies because it matches its strategy to that of the enemy, running a lean organization in which team members have the autonomy to do what needs to be done at exactly the time it needs to happen.

“Our solutions are based on the principle of fighting with the army you have, not the one you want.” Mike says. “Silent Sector provides the necessary outside support while also teaching companies to get the most out of their existing internal resources, both people and tools.”

Silent Sector’s agility and unique model also means that it can scale quickly and effectively. It has expanded from the Southwest to other underserved markets throughout the Rocky Mountain region. Silent Sector’s team is supporting and equipping the next generation of cyber warriors through partnership with Grand Canyon University. Silent Sector was selected as one of the GCU’s valued ventures to be housed at its Canyon Ventures, an exclusive center for business innovation and acceleration.

“A hands-on approach is what fixes problems,” Zach says. “Our solutions provide our clients with peace of mind and empower them to focus on profitability and growth.”

When the team posed the question, What do mid-market companies really need? it could also provide the answer: expertise, guidance, and people to do the work.

“Working in small teams in extremely hostile environments, while understanding what the dynamic looks like for asymmetrical warfare—that was my area of expertise and our team brings the same level of thinking when we’re protecting clients from cybercriminals,” Zach says.

Today, Silent Sector functions as a full security department for companies that don’t have the budget for a complete internal security program, saving those companies about 60-80% of what it would cost to bring all the resources in-house.

The firm can afford to bring in capabilities generally reserved for enterprise Email: info@silentsector.com Website: www.silentsector.com

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TO NEW HEIGHTS – AEROSPACE ARIZONA LEADS THE INDUSTRY INTO THE NEXT GENERATION OF FLYING

Aerospace Arizona Board Members (Left to Right) Moses Koyabe, Mignonne Hollis, Lorie Graham, and Adam Hawkins

Aerospace Arizona promotes, advances, and supports the state’s aerospace industry. The organization represents its members and informs them on legislative, regulatory, safety and technical issues. It also educates federal, state, county, and local elected officials and their staff, as well as other key stakeholders, on the importance and necessity of policies that facilitate a thriving aerospace industry in Arizona. The association’s mission is to make Arizona the go-to destination for the industry. In line with that mission, Aerospace Arizona also operates an unmanned test site in Southeastern Arizona.

Aerospace Arizona 24 West Camelback Road – Suite A-421 Phoenix, AZ 85013 +1-602-265-9357 www.aerospacearizona.org

Introduction It all began in 2014 when, Mignonne Hollis—the Executive Director of Arizona Regional Economic Development Foundation—was tasked with creating a conduit to grow the state’s aerospace industry.

“Arizona had a lot of people working independently and in different sectors of the aerospace industry.

We saw an opportunity to bring them all together,” said Hollis, who has been a central figure in the economic development community for more than a decade.

The association recognized the industry’s growing global activity and how well positioned the United States was to grow at the same pace – they wanted Arizona to capture as much of that as possible. In 2018 alone, aerospace had an estimated annual revenue of $929 Billion. The US stood at the top of the business globally, with Arizona in the fifth position for employment and industry growth. During the rapid economic growth of the last uptick, the association helped the state become one of the largest and fastest-growing aerospace and defense centers in the US. Arizona comes in third for attractiveness with its ideal climate for aircraft testing and space observation, one of the best transportation infrastructures, and a tax policy congenial to business.

From there the association created a forum for big industry, small businesses, entrepreneurs, and academia to come together and exchange ideas about how to make Arizona the ideal space for all

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In the company of Space veterans Charles Walker and Buzz Aldrin

things aerospace. “One of the first ideas to come out of our early discussions, was a need for a quality unmanned test site. At that point in time, most of the test work needed to get the hours in for new technology was going out of state,” said Moses Koyabe, President of the association’s advisory board.

The association created private-public partnership with the City of Benson for use of the city’s airport, located 50 miles east of Tucson. Since the creation of the test site, Aerospace Arizona has helped large, medium, and small businesses test their unmanned equipment. “The location is perfect. We have almost perfect weather conditions, protected airspace, and the ability to give companies long test windows,” said Hollis.

“We have had monumental success in bringing the industry together, shaping policy, and helping spawn innovation. There is still so much more work to do.” —Mignonne Hollis, Executive Director, Aerospace Arizona The association took the next big step in 2016, launching Unmanned Arizona – a two-day annual trade show hosting guests from all over the world. The event featured technology demonstrations, site tours, and panel discussions with policymakers, regulators, and industry. “Our first event was a huge success, and each subsequent year we have been able to get even better the last one,” said Koyabe.

All that changed in late February with the global spread of Covd-19. “There are profound and unprecedented challenges ahead for the industry. Hollis said, “we are working around the clock to provide support to our members. On any given day, we are working with policymakers to provide economic aid to the industry, helping members find the resources they need to get by, and make sure that we are ready to weather the storm.” The association went overnight from a focus of capturing growth in the industry, to preservation and triage.

Asked about her perspective on where aerospace is going given the current set of circumstances, Hollis said, “It’s going to be tough. We will have to work harder than we ever have before. We will survive!”

The first responder project is an innovation challenge, in partnership with ASU’s Research Enterprise and a grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The purpose of this is to advance unmanned technologies by building and flying drones designed specifically to support first responders. One of the barriers for the public safety community is having access to drones that can fly for long periods of time, ninety minutes or greater, while carrying a heavy payload. Emergency responders can accomplish their mission more efficiently and effectively if the drone flight time is maximized. This is critical for first responders when increased flight endurance combined with flexibility is the difference between life and death.

On the medical testing side of things, Aerospace Arizona is working in partnership with industry and academic resources to shorten the amount of time it takes to get samples to the lab. Medical professionals need lab results as quickly as possible to make decisions about patient care. Getting those results when they are operating with an off-site lab can be challenging. Enter drone technology.

The association is looking into ways that they can help the unmanned industry solve this problem. “This is a huge issue and we are working to get field-tested technology to the marketplace fast,” said Hollis.

Innovation Story Two projects that were in the association’s queue turned out to be right in line with the aid needed under the circumstances: One to support first responders with unmanned technology and another to use drone technology for medical testing.

“These projects are turning out to be lifesavers. Literally.” —Moses Koyabe, President, Aerospace Arizona Advisory Board 49

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INDUSTRIAL AEROBOTICS John Wolcott: Owner

Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.

—Mike Tyson

Introduction

Innovation Story

Industrial Aerobotics, located in Glendale Arizona, has been on the forefront of the rapidly evolving commercial drone industry specializing in mapping and inspections for the Construction and Energy verticals.

We specifically specialize in fully autonomous data capture and its postproduction into highly accurate and actionable, maps, models, and inspection reports. Data captures occur with the highest resolution Optical, Infrared and Laser sensors available; mounted to the most advanced Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Drones) that navigate solely by computers and Global Positioning Systems (GPS).

Industrial Aerobotics was formed in 2007 under the original name of Aerial Photostore. In its original state the company utilized single and multi-engine manned aircraft to capture high resolution photographs for use in construction planning and commercial marketing. Although aerial imaging was possible using this method, it had many drawbacks and hurdles keeping the end product from being ideal. In addition to the obvious cost component of manned aircraft operations, the speed and altitude restrictions for such operations left much to be desired even with the most advanced imaging sensors onboard. Finally the extreme risk of manned flight and the safety implications of errors brought a welcome to the development of civil Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) hardware and the regulations necessary to allow their use in the National Airspace System (NAS).

Although many see this market opportunity as innovative, to us it was the obvious next step and opened the door for the company to pivot, change names to Industrial Aerobotics, and find methods through innovation to migrate our current operations into what it is today. With this innovation came many rewards not only for our company, but for our clients. The innovative use of UAS addressed every negative aspect of our previous operating model and improved our data deliverables tenfold.

Humans were removed from the air which drastically decreased our flight operations risk potential.

The ability to fly significantly lower, and slower allowed data to be captured at unheard of resolutions and quality. All of these improvements allowed for a much better end product for our clients and in the true definition of innovation it was all done at a lower cost with increased safety.

Even though the UAS technology and regulations allowed us to improve how aerial data is collected, its use in and of itself was not innovative enough to allow for improved operations from our traditional practices. This new technology needed many custom, internally developed innovations to create a complete

Website: www.industrialaerobotics.com

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Advice & Best Practices

operational package. New technology had to be developed and integrated to allow for image stabilization to counteract the sometimes erratic flight profile of small UAV’s. Technology innovations were needed to allow the data being captured by the UAV to be transmitted and viewed by ground operations.

Additional software innovations were needed to be able to process this new level of data quality into seamless products and reports our clients were used to expecting.

Partner with local organizations and state entities.

Although Phoenix is a large and progressive metropolitan city, local companies share a sense of camaraderie and love to help other local organizations succeed.

Phoenix state organizations also have a strong desire to work with local companies to help foster the local economy and drive innovation into the state. Use this valuable, seasoned resources to your advantage as much as you can.

Why Phoenix?

Find a way to take advantage of the climate.

If your company benefits from good weather, take advantage and use it to get a leg up on your competition who has to work around the weather. Even if weather is not a factor to your company’s success, use it for marketing, entertaining clients and in attracting quality employees looking to move to cities with better climates.

We feel the ability to run our company from the greater Phoenix area is the most innovative component of our journey to success. Having a home location for an aviation company in a metropolitan area that exceeds 330 days of flying weather a year is a true advantage over our competitors. The metropolitan Phoenix area is also home to the most innovative energy and construction companies in the world allowing us to work with and learn from the best of the best.

The Future of Innovation Phoenix currently has outstanding state government support for the UAS industry.

We are partnered with numerous state agencies that are collectively working to bring additional innovation to this market to ensure Phoenix stays ahead of the game and continues to be a city where aviation companies can migrate to and thrive.

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CHAPTER FOUR

SOFTWARE & APP DEVELOPMENT

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DIGITAL AIR STRIKE Alexi Venneri: Co-founder & CEO Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.

—Steve Jobs

Introduction

Innovation Story

Digital Air Strike, the leading social media, AI-powered lead response and consumer engagement technology company, considers innovation the heart of its success. The company creates new solutions and technology that help businesses better connect with consumers and generate revenue. Digital Air Strike’s relentless innovation is what differentiates it from competitors. The company’s proprietary and patented solutions have changed the way businesses nurture and convert leads on social media, review sites, and messaging platforms.

With these tools, businesses are better equipped to engage consumers on all channels and turn them into buyers.

Digital Air Strike began in 2010 at a time when the iPad was unveiled to the world, Facebook was exploding, and the economy was trying to find its footing after the largest recession since the Great Depression.

As a veteran marketer working with agencies and technology, Alexi Venneri recognized businesses were tasked with generating increased sales but with lower budgets than ever before—and this realization led to the genesis of Digital Air Strike. Rather than spending a great deal of money on traditional advertising, Alexi devised a revolutionary strategy for its time: marketing through social media. This strategy was a low-cost way for businesses to communicate with consumers, but there were no tools or technology to automate the process. So, in 2010 Alexi created her own solution and started Digital Air Strike at her kitchen table. The result: technology that automates the process of optimizing 300+ sites and business listings, manages social media and review sites, and ultimately helps businesses look better online and connect with consumers on social media.

Website: www.digitalairstrike.com Blog: www.digitalairstrike.com/blog

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As Digital Air Strike approaches a decade in business, the company is proud to reflect on its history and leading position in the industry. Its innovative technology, seen by consumers 100 million times annually, helps clients streamline their social media programs, manage their online reputation and strategically accelerate lead response, while improving the customer experience.

Digital Air Strike employs more than 176 people in four offices nationwide, and is one of the most prominent digital engagement organizations serving the retail automotive industry—the company’s largest vertical. Through its products, solutions, team and technology, Digital Air Strike influences more than 37% of all vehicle sales nationwide.

Over the years, the company has expanded to include many industries including education, healthcare and retail. The company has grown both organically and by completing three acquisitions that added AI-powered intelligent messaging, targeted advertising technology, and advanced credit analytics to its awardwinning consumer engagement solutions.

To stay on top of how consumers choose a dealership when making what is likely their second biggest purchase after a home, Digital Air Strike conducts an annual Social Media and Online Trends Study of 2,000 car buyers and 2,000 service customers. The results show how consumers use social media and review sites to engage with dealerships and how other factors, like response time, play a role in their dealership selection process.

Response Path combined with Video Logix video technology, which records, sends and tracks videos sent to consumers, have helped businesses remain open and profitable during the pandemic.

The company’s industry-leading market position is derived from its fundamental understanding of the market’s changing needs—an insight acquired by adopting a customer-centric mindset. Digital Air Strike’s mission is to consistently improve how consumers engage with businesses, and it has never lost sight of its guiding purpose. Since its founding, the company has been motivated by innovation, and it develops its technology solutions to meet the changing needs of today’s clients and consumers.

Digital Air Strike developed and launched its Virtual Retailing Program during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through video, AI, social media, and automation, Virtual Retailing allows businesses to engage and transact with consumers who want to do more from home.

Response Path Power Text messaging technology allows businesses to quickly and effectively deliver important, timely updates to customers via SMS messages.

Power Text is paired with Response Path AI chat which responds immediately to text conversations, engages consumers, asks and answers questions, and alerts employees who can jump into the conversation from any device, anywhere.

Why Phoenix?

Digital Air Strike was founded in Scottsdale, and the company enjoys Arizona’s probusiness climate that offers economic development incentives, prioritization of progrowth legislation, leading universities that foster innovation, and low cost of living.

Digital Air Strike decided to stay in Arizona even after merging with a larger, Silicon Valley–based company.

The Future of Innovation Consumers are increasingly looking to interact and transact with businesses online as conveniently as possible, and they want to engage with technology that’s intuitive and fits their needs. Any future offering that enhances this access and personalization will be incredibly compelling to Arizona’s innovation ecosystem.

Continued support for the local business community is also required to maintain the growth of innovation.

Advice & Best Practices 1. Be an option thinker and remain positive while looking for new solutions to challenges.

2. Create your own opportunities and don’t settle for what’s being offered.

3. Be curious and stay on top of industry trends.

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HOWND Brandon Willey: CEO

Introduction Hownd® is the first-of-its-kind, Effortless Foot Traffic™ generation platform for local business owners that drives sustainable growth by curating experiences for consumers that pair them with the right merchant at the right time. Through an elegant combination of web, social, email, and the MyHownd™ consumer mobile app, the proven platform has already helped thousands of merchants generate millions in new profitable revenue every month— effortlessly.

hownd.com

Hownd was founded in 2016 by CEO, Brandon Willey, and was known at the time as FetchRev. As FetchRev, the company helped local merchants get their existing customers back in the door and took the guesswork out of using the tool by building a team that could do the heavy lifting for them. A local business owner no longer needed to be a marketing expert to build a campaign that drove immediate revenue.

FetchRev generated millions of dollars monthly for its merchants and received a high level of acknowledgment from the industries it serves, including being a recipient of the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions’ prestigious Brass Ring Award for Best New Product. But it became apparent to Brandon and the rest of the team that there was a growing need for not only customer retention but for new customer acquisition as well.

Promotional and deal platforms require deep discounting of services and, on top of that, require an unsustainable revenue share that often leaves little to no profit for the business owner. These programs are unsustainable and bad for business which, ultimately, is bad for local communities.

Then came Hownd! It’s the world’s first Foot Traffic Generation Platform that pairs local merchants with the right customer at the right place and time by delivering promotions through an elegant combination of web, social media, email, and the free MyHownd consumer mobile app.

Because Hownd believes so strongly in its ability to generate more customers and revenue for merchants, they created an innovative, patent-pending Zero-Risk, Pay-Per-Visit™ pricing model. Now, merchants pay ONLY when a customer walks in their door with one of their promotions. This makes the results it produces fully quantifiable, attributable and affordable—a combination that was elusive to merchants before Hownd came along.

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With Hownd, a business owner can launch their first promotion in under five minutes and generate customer visits and revenue within 48 hours. All merchants gain access to thousands of future customers near them who are part of the ever-growing global Hownd Consumer Community of more than 40 million people. Consumers using the MyHownd app receive promotions from the businesses they’ve come to know and love in their community, while at the same time receive promos for other complementary and non-competitive local businesses.

No longer do local business owners have to spend their time, effort, and hardearned money on yet another marketing tool that doesn’t deliver the promised results of new customers. Hownd gives them what they want and need—a norisk, pay-for-results, effortless foot-traffic solution.

The future holds many new opportunities for the merchants Hownd serves as the number of MyHownd consumers increases, and as the Hownd platform becomes even smarter and more effective through its AI and machine learning– based technology. As more merchants use Hownd and more consumers use MyHownd, local communities thrive as a result!

The Hownd team is fiercely committed to helping local merchants grow their business. Its “Esprit de Corps” guides how every “Howler” works—both individually and collaboratively—to achieve the mission and “create and command the category of effortless foot traffic for business owners worldwide.”

Its core values include getting shit done, being efficient and innovative, doing the right thing at all costs, relentlessly pursuing excellence, earning the trust of others, staying devoted to everyone’s success, and with an overarching belief that achievement is fucking awesome. “We love to win for our customers!”

To learn more about how Hownd helps local merchants, visit hownd.com. And consumers can learn more and download the app at myhownd.com.

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LEVELHEAD Saundra Schrock: CEO & Founder

Live if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.

—Mahatma Gandhi

Introduction Saundra spent most of her career working for one of the largest and most respected financial services organizations in the world. This journey began as a teller soon after graduating from college and continued through one merger after another until she landed her dream job: managing 30,000 employees in 3,000 bank branches across the United States. However, after 35 years in financial services, Saundra left to pursue her current passion: helping organizations create a positive, healthy organization by creating a digital engagement platform that provides content and tools to help leaders at all levels engage with a geographically and culturally diverse workforce.

Innovation Story After leaving the financial services industry, Saundra became very interested in the practice of mindfulness as a means of personal development.

As her practice deepened, she began to wonder why these practices were not used in the workplace. Her “a-ha” moment came in 2013 when she had the opportunity to co-facilitate a mindful leadership program at ASU. By working with bright, eager students, she began to see the challenges of introducing mindfulness into the workplace. Practices needed to be practical, brief, and able to be integrated into the normal course of the day without adding any more time to an already overburdened schedule. Over the next couple of years, she had the opportunity to refine these practices by working with executives across the country. While it was rewarding

Website: www.getlevelhead.com Blog: www.getlevelhead.com/blog

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working with executives one-on-one, the program was not scalable and was limited to an executive level delivery. She realized that if her program was going to make a real difference, it needed to be available to everyone regardless of their role in an organization. That’s when she and her husband, Jeff, began working with Tallwave, a local organization who works with startups and larger organizations to help them develop and implement digital solutions. One of the first steps, before any design or development work began, was to conduct a market and competitive analysis. This analysis indicated that there was a large and growing market for a workplace-centered mindfulness program. The competitive analysis also revealed that if an organization was currently offering a program, it was in-person and was delivered in only one or two locations, limiting the number of people who could participate.

Armed with both industry and consumer research, Saundra and Jeff set out to create a digital engagement platform that was accessible to everyone 24/7.

Their design features included bite-sized content based on principles of mobile learning, utilization of gamification such as leaderboards, stickers, and badges to support behavioral change, and a robust administrative and communication portal to make it easy for organizations to manage and monitor use. While the platform was designed to be used for many types of bite-sized content, they believed that mindfulness-based content would be the ideal choice to help organizations begin the journey of creating a positive and healthy culture.

That choice seems to be on target. They have found that most organizations are struggling with the same concerns – a stressed-out, time-starved, distracted, and unhealthy employee base. This translates to issues of low engagement, high job turnover, inability to recruit top talent, and the need to develop leaders at all levels. Organizations are also looking for innovative ways to engage all of their employees regardless of location or position.

Levelhead provides organizations with a flexible, accessible, and affordable means to address many of the challenges of the 21st-century workplace.

Today, enlightened leaders and organizations understand that addressing the psychological and physical well-being of their employees is not a “nice to have” or an employee benefit, but may be the difference between thriving or possible extinction of their business. They understand that addressing the whole person will lead the organization to improve performance, be more innovative, and build strong leaders at all levels. To do this, programs like Levelhead, need to be

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incorporated into the fabric of the organization. It works best when it is part of an overall strategy and is supported and endorsed from the top. Because of that understanding, Levelhead works with organizations to develop a business plan and ongoing measures to assess progress. Levelhead is so much more than just an app and platform. They take the success of their clients seriously by helping them customize communications, deliver bite-sized educational materials, and provide ongoing consulting on a variety of topics. After all, Levelhead was built by business people whose purpose is to help other business people achieve new heights by addressing the unique needs of their organization.

Why Phoenix?

Phoenix has a wide variety of resources for a new company like ours. Within Phoenix, there is a large community of people who are willing to provide feedback, direction, and introductions to people who can be of help. What sets Phoenix apart is the richness of resources and an environment of openness and sharing of expertise and resources not available anywhere else.

Advice & Best Practices Clearly understand what problem you are solving and keep refining as you work with real customers and users. You are never done. There is always a better way to deliver on a client’s problem or need. Each step you take makes the next step even clearer. You will never know all the steps ahead. They are revealed one step at a time.

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SHELVSPACE

If you’re not swerving around and hitting the guard rails every now and then, you’re not going fast enough. Your biggest risk isn’t failing; it’s getting too comfortable. —Drew Houston

Dave Albertson, CEO & Founder

Shelvspace is an enterprise software company that is innovating new and better ways for Consumer Product Good (CPG) sales leaders to manage their products on retail shelves.

The big idea started with a small team and a simple belief that an industry as big as CPG/Retail deserved something better than clunky and fragmented data and tech. That idea over five years turned into a market-leading software and

approach called “Predictive Retail Execution” that has been adopted by over 50+ brands from companies such as Coke, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper/Snapple, and many more.

Shelvspace’s story of innovation is truly rooted in the Arizona community, with its breakthrough coming as a $250K award winner of the Arizona Commerce Authority Innovation Challenge. After winning this award, it went on to raise over $5M with the support of several local prominent accelerators, investment funds, business leaders, and SaaS CEOs. The company’s first line of code was in 2015, and its commercial launch in 2017.

Website: www.shelvspace.com Blog: www.shelvspace.com/blog/

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Through its years of pushing innovative solutions to a notorious slow and stodgy industry, three key principles became fortified into the culture of Shelvspace. The first is always strive, personally and collectively, to push through the discomfort zone or as Shelvpace named it, “BURN”. The second is to keep high INTENT at all times and focus with trust to declare what you are going to do and then do it.

The last was to make LOVE a core component of interactions. Externally with customers, internally as teammates, and with the passion put into designing simple and elegant software that users “Love” to use.

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With this spirit of innovation, Shelvspace, and its members, both past and present, continue to drive high impact solutions while maintaining a strong sense of family and community. The key to the future it believes is centered in a relentless and constant pursuit of both, with no better place in the world to do it than from Arizona.

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KEAP Clate Mask: Keap CEO, Co-Founder

Where performance is measured, performance improves. Where performance is measured and reported, performance improves dramatically. Where performance is measured and reported publicly it improves exponentially. — I even have this framed in my office.

Introduction

Perspective on The Future

Back when our software was just an idea, my cofounders Scott and Eric Martineau wanted me to join them, and I was really hesitant. I had a business and a law degree, along with a mountain of debt, and just wanted to have a paycheck I could rely on. But I ended up co-founding the company with them, and have had the most insane and rewarding entrepreneurial journey ever since. I’m so grateful for it. I also co-authored a New York Times bestseller, Conquer the Chaos.

When my co-founders and I first started the company, I had a different idea of what “innovation” is than I do today. Back then, I thought it was pretty much the same thing as invention, and the more disruptive the invention, the better. But I’ve learned along the way that real, sustainable innovation is actually far more about adaptation than it is about invention.

In fact, to create something that is enduring you have to frequently reinvent yourself. It’s one thing to create a disruptive product and build a company on that disruption. But it’s another thing to do it over multiple decades. That multiple decades kind of growth requires that you adjust to the market, time and time again. And for me with Infusionsoft, there was a learning curve to embracing that. The idea of pure invention tends to sound cooler, and adaptation just doesn’t. But being able to adapt and grow with your customer base over time is what keeps you relevant and keeps your market fit intact. So it’s incredibly necessary.

Here’s one example. After we had raised about $19M in our Series A and B rounds, we had to make a pretty huge adjustment to our business model. It ended up causing our customer churn to spike, and everything else just went completely out of whack. So we had to go back to the drawing board and figure out how we could adjust our business and offerings in order to make it work with these new conditions.

We also have had a partner-first strategy for quite some time, but have had to make changes to that

Website: www.keap.com Blog: keap.com/infusionsoft/resources

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Why Phoenix?

frequently in order to maintain its ability to be mutually rewarding for us and our partners.

And we have another very recent example that echoes this same concept, too. Almost two decades into the business, more than 200,000 users globally and $100 million/year in revenue, we decided to take a step back. We wanted to continue to innovate and expand to serve a new market in the small business community.

We spent a great deal of time and resources learning from our new customer base, and finding out what kind of product they actually needed. Then, we built it - and underwent a complete rebrand to reflect that we are ready to serve more of the small business community and to double down on our commitment to small businesses.

While we kept our existing product going strong, we rebranded from Infusionsoft to Keap in early 2019, and announced a new product that was shaped entirely based on feedback from the market and our customers. It was incredibly hard to make such a drastic change, and begin serving two distinct segments of small businesses, but it was time to evolve. We owed that to ourselves, and our customers.

The other observation I had is that this adaptation I’m talking about hasn’t been limited to our software. Sure, we’ve improved our product over time to better meet the needs of small businesses, but it’s not just about releasing new software versions or product lines. True innovation takes place from the top down and side to side in every single department within a company.

You always hear that the only constant in life is change, and I’d add that innovation is what must immediately follow that change. Nothing can stay stagnant in business, or else it will die.

First, it’s home. Second, we felt there were advantages from a talent acquisition and cost of labor standpoint. As we’ve grown, we’ve embraced talent from all over the country, but we still love and appreciate having our home base - and the bulk of our team - here in Arizona.

The Future of Innovation When I think of innovation, I believe you need a combination of a variety of talent, with entrepreneurs and engineers at the heart of it. From my perspective, Arizona is doing better with engineering training, but we have to improve our entrepreneurial training. We have great entrepreneurs who figure things out on their own, but we should improve the education they’re offered so we can better support them and further the innovation ecosystem.

Advice & Best Practices Feast on positivity, because you’re going to get pounded with negativity every step of the way while you build your business. My biggest advice for entrepreneurs is to master the ‘game between your ears,’ and that comes down to eating positivity for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

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CHAPTER FIVE

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BENCHMARK

The future of manufacturing is in technology. The next generation of manufacturing champions will come from those companies that use brain power, not labor, to drive their innovations. —Steven Moore

Introduction

delivers the highest level of market-focused services and solutions wherever customers need them. The company has strategically located design engineering centers in each key region and full precision mechanical manufacturing capabilities in the Americas and Asia. Benchmark currently has 27 locations worldwide.

Benchmark doesn’t sell products—it works with other companies and individuals looking to solve a unique challenge. The company partners with its customers to understand their problems and to guide the solution from design engineering, all the way through supply chain management. Benchmark sets itself apart from competitors because it’s one of the only companies that specifically seeks out highly complex, technical challenges and manages the process from start to finish.

What makes Benchmark’s approach particularly innovative is its ability to get customers to market faster. By working with Benchmark, customers don’t need to look for another provider at any point in the process, allowing them to save time and costs associated with delaying market readiness. Benchmark’s team of design, engineering, manufacturing, test, and supply chain experts work diligently with customers to produce robust solutions that can withstand the most stringent market requirements.

At the heart of Benchmark’s success is the company’s expanding list of innovation capabilities. Among the most noteworthy are Benchmark’s outstanding capabilities in connected devices, security and surveillance, defense and ruggedization, high-speed design, RF technology, and specialized medical technologies.

Connected devices are a major contributor to Benchmark’s innovation success.

The company is able to accelerate rapid prototypes of custom IoT solutions to

Benchmark redefines what’s possible with product design, engineering, technology and advanced manufacturing–from ideas to innovation. The company’s mission is to be their customers’ trusted partner; providing comprehensive solutions across the entire product life cycle; leading through their innovative technology and engineering design services; leveraging their optimized global supply chain; and delivering world-class manufacturing services. The company strives for a culture of innovation, operational excellence, and continuous improvement.

Website: www.bench.com Blog: www.bench.com/setting-the-benchmark

Innovation Story Benchmark was founded in Clute, Texas, in 1979 as a subsidiary to Intermedics.

Formerly known as Electronics Inc., the company solely operated in the medical technology space. However, Benchmark has since transformed from a small subsidiary into a global powerhouse that serves a range of diverse markets. At its core, Benchmark is a technology solutions provider for the medical, commercial aerospace and defense, computing and data center, next-gen telco, industrial, and test and instrumentation markets.

With locations across the Americas, Europe, and Asia, Benchmark consistently

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ensure successful manufacturing and production. It designs sensor networks and connected devices that enable regulatory compliance, risk reduction, precision asset tracking and loss prevention in highly specific and complex use cases. Benchmark has extensive experience working with a wide variety of sensor types that can be integrated in any way a customer needs for analytics that are impactful, detailed, and comprehensive.

With more than 25 years of experience providing military and security firms with powerful innovation and easily implemented solutions, Benchmark Secure Technology’s Mobile Video Surveillance Solution was selected by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to develop a “virtual wall” for the Southern border.

Its solution protects the border with the most advanced security technology in the CBP portfolio for a fraction of the cost of a physical wall. It achieves this by using thermal energy to inform border patrol when someone comes through.

This technology is currently deployed along the Texas border and in the San Diego sector to help fill in gaps for agents.

Because Benchmark’s customers regularly operate in hazardous environments, the ability to adapt products to meet ruggedization and compliance requirements is absolutely critical. To address this need, Benchmark has a fluid process that includes early analysis of thermal and vibration behavior, an extensive Design Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (DFMEA) and a highly accelerated life testing and a final qualification process to ensure absolute confidence. Benchmark can ruggedize anything at any point in the product life cycle, from initial concept to mass production.

Benchmark also remains a world-class leader in medical product development.

Some of Benchmark’s industry-leading medical capabilities include connected medical, fluid management, radiological imaging, optical imaging, medical robotics, energy delivery, and handheld devices.

Benchmark also has unique medical software expertise, with capabilities in embedded software, control systems, app development, lab information

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systems, and digital signal processing. For the past 40 years, Benchmark has demonstrated consistent leadership in innovation. The company is dedicated to providing customers with the highest quality, turnkey solutions on the market, no matter how complex those solutions may be.

Why Phoenix?

Sky Harbor Airport provides Benchmark with easy access to customers worldwide.

Arizona State University’s willingness to help Benchmark attract and retain talent was a big reason why the company ultimately chose to locate its headquarters in Phoenix. Other factors include the relatively low cost of living and recreational opportunities.

The Future of Innovation As technology continues to advance, the demand for electronic manufacturing services (EMS) has grown. With this growth, comes complex customer requirements.

Instead of just manufacturing boards for their customers, EMS companies need to build capabilities to help solve complex customer challenges at both the product and skill level required.

Advice & Best Practices Tap into ASU’s top-notch engineering school to seek talent.

The future belongs to those who evolve to solve their customers’ changing needs.

Reach out to others who help foster innovation for input.

Create volunteer programs that help your employees to experience the city through the outdoors.

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BENCHMARK LARK TECHNOLOGY Leading the Way in Electronics Innovation and 5G

If you look at history, innovation doesn’t come just from giving people incentives; it comes from creating environments where their ideas can connect. —Steven Johnson, American Popular Science Writer

Introduction

Innovation Story

Benchmark Lark Technology is a leader in RF and high-speed solutions for aerospace and defense, next-gen telco, medical, industrial and compute applications. With its newly designed RF and High-Speed Design Center of Innovation in Phoenix, Lark has established itself as a world-class innovator of product design, engineering services and advanced manufacturing for partners seeking to go to market faster with less risk.

The company’s most recent significant achievement is the development of a proprietary manufacturing method for printed circuit boards.

Established in 1986, Benchmark Lark Technology (Lark), has established a legacy as a leading designer and manufacturer of radio frequency (RF) solutions for the next-gen telco, medical, HPC, industrial and aerospace and defense markets. The company has established wireless design and test system development groups co-located with manufacturing in major geographical regions. Over Lark’s more than 25 years in business, it has become a trusted international supplier of RF and microwave filters, multiplexers and multi-function assemblies.

Lark’s products are used in major digital and analog wireless applications, ranging from communication systems and military electronics to test equipment.

During the past 40 years, RF, baseband and high-speed compute designs became stale and uninventive. There wasn’t a push for innovation, and conventional technology was no longer getting customers where they needed to be on their product roadmaps. In response to this stagnation in the industry, Lark decided to put all its advanced disciplines and capabilities together in one location to expand the limits of what is possible in electronics.

To redefine the RF and high-speed industry, Benchmark established its RF and High-Speed Design Center in Phoenix at Lark’s headquarters for integrated electronics solutions. These solutions include RF and high-speed system and circuit design, high-density interconnect circuit fabrication and mixed microelectronics assemblies, as well as manufacturing and

Website: www.bench.com/lark Blog: www.bench.com/setting-the-benchmark

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testing. The 35,000 square-foot design center is outfitted with top-of-the-line microelectronics equipment for its 10,000-class clean room.

Lark’s crowning achievement in the Phoenix facility has been the development of its proprietary, next-gen manufacturing methods for high density, high performance printed circuit boards. Using advanced substrates and Lark’s breakthrough high-speed processes, the company offers a revolutionary dimensional board space reduction average of 60 percent, a maximum board reduction of 1/10th the original size and performance up to 110 GHz. These methods also accomplish 10-plus layers of LCP (other manufacturers max out at five) and one mil lines and spaces in circuit traces, allowing Lark to support higher speeds and a significant reduction in size, weight and power (SWaP) while enabling new electronics designs in military, commercial and medical markets.

To Lark’s knowledge, no other company can compete with or attain the advanced LCP manufacturing milestones that have defined the company’s work in Phoenix. This innovation is allowing Lark to become the U.S. leader in the development and manufacturing of high speed circuits for the needs of a wide range of next-gen telco, 5G, IoT and edge device designs. Lark has already begun designing and building state-of-the-art printed circuit boards for several Fortune 500 international technology companies, as well as engaging with government research agencies on special next-gen electronics projects.

Lark’s innovation is especially significant because of its impact on the development of devices operating on 5G, the next generation wireless network.

Advanced 5G speeds in connected devices, smart city infrastructure and autonomous vehicles will change the technology landscape. According to National Geographic, the advent of 5G technology is unequivocally good news. As it develops and grows, 5G networks have the potential to create millions of jobs, drive growth and enable a host of new technologies, from smart appliances on “The Internet of Everything” to autonomous vehicles and nearly instantaneous downloads of even the most epic movies and games.

The push for SWaP reduction in electronic devices and 5G networks is the future of the technology industry, and Lark is leading the way as an enabler of next-generation electronics. The continued growth of its innovation in Phoenix will be a defining accomplishment of the state’s technology sector as a whole.

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Why Phoenix?

Phoenix provides an advantage to Benchmark Lark Technology (Lark) because engineering talent produced at Arizona State University tops the nation. The region’s minimal living expenses also make recruitment advantageous in comparison to markets like Silicon Valley. Lark also finds Arizona’s budding technology community provides a growing landscape to collaborate with others in design and electronics manufacturing.

The Future of Innovation The future of innovation in the electronics industry is miniaturization and 5G. From smartphones to industrial networks, the technology landscape is moving rapidly towards smaller devices and blazing fast network speeds. One of the obstacles the industry will need to overcome to make 5G a reality is installing the necessary infrastructure to accommodate these speeds.

Advice & Best Practices 1. Meet people face-to-face. Phoenix is an easy market to network in.

2. It’s often called the Silicon Desert for a reason. Phoenix is ripe with innovation.

Get connected to like-minded individuals.

3. Being a contributing, respected member of a community doesn’t happen overnight.

Give it some time and look for ways to be generous.

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INTERFACE, INC. Joel Strom: CEO

The heart of science is measurement.

—Erik Brynjolfsson

Introduction

Innovation Story

Interface was founded in 1968, the same year Apollo Mission flew its first crew, the year the Boeing 747 made its maiden voyage, and the year oil sold for $3.50 per barrel.

Founder Richard F. Caris located Interface headquarters at Scottsdale Airpark in 1972, where products are still manufactured and sold globally.

Interface was first to develop a one-million-pound automated calibration rig, expanding force measurement capabilities from grams to millions of pounds.

In 2014, Interface manufactured its one-millionth load cell.

Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2018, Interface is embarking on its 2nd 50 producing the highest quality precision load cells and torque transducers.

Interface’s founder, Richard F. Caris, was originally working in Detroit when he realized he had a better idea on how to create load cells, a critical force measurement device used in the scaling industry. Upon his realization, Caris decided to start his own company and moved to Arizona to make it happen.

Caris recognized the market opportunity to expand the use of load cells by focusing his talented force measurement engineers on creating the highest quality products with meticulous emphasis on accuracy. He received several patents to begin. Despite many copycats that emerged, Caris is credited with developing the first low profile load cell of its kind, a gold standard for accurate test and measurement today in more than 70 countries around the world.

More than 50 years later, Interface is still recognized as the world leader in force and torque measurement solutions. The company maintains its status as a global standard for quality and accuracy in force measurement by heavily prioritizing precision and innovation.

A primary example of its ongoing commitment to creating transformative and disruptive solutions is Interface’s AxialTQ® Torque Measurement System. Interface engaged top design and test engineers from the leading aerospace and automotive industries to identify requirements for a game-changing torque measuring system that would meet their advancing requirements for test and measurement.

Because of this critical customer feedback, Interface designed AxialTQ by spending a year and a half updating an older design and transforming it into an impressive technology that can meet nearly any application need across multiple industries.

AxialTQ now redefines the category of torque measurement systems in terms of function,

Website: www.interfaceforce.com Blog: www.interfaceforce.com/blog_type/ interfaceiq-blog/

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accuracy customization and compatibility. With a revolutionary rotor design and high-precision sensing element technology that’s combined with nextgeneration electronics, AxialTQ produces industry-leading accuracy.

AxialTQ is only one of Interface’s latest innovation, the company has long been manufacturing thousands of standard and custom designs, inventions and innovative measurement products through its dedication to its values and passion to make a difference. The Interface team focuses on “CBPI” principles, which stands for customers, brand, partners and innovation. Interface aligns with these guiding principles by focusing on its customers first, above all else.

Interface makes big things happen, whether providing solutions for engineers to measure the thrust of rocket engines, or creating sensors that can be used for breakthrough optical laser devices. By frequently engaging with customers, Interface can better develop precision-based solutions that fit the exact needs to test, measure and create world-changing inventions. As diverse as the possibilities of scientific measurement, Interface plays a role in multitudes of products and technologies. Whether it applies to testing wings on new aircraft, braking systems on off-road vehicles, or pressures in downhole drilling for new energy sources, prioritizing innovation to help others do amazing things is at the company’s core.

Interface has achieved immense success in exceeding expectations in its commitment to its brand and partners. This approach allows Interface to go above and beyond for its peers and customers while continuing to uphold its brand as the world leader in force measurement solutions.

As Interface begins its second 50 years in business, the company plans to grow in products and services that enable its customers to make great things happen.

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Interface will achieve its planned growth goals by continuing to offer industryleading innovations, improving existing products, developing customized force measurement solutions, and developing new and unique products that lead the industry in accuracy, consistency and durability. Safe in the knowledge that there’s no end to what they can accomplish together, Interface and its customers will continue to change and improve the world.

Why Phoenix?

Interface has a rich history in the Phoenix area. Founder, Richard F. Caris, chose Scottsdale as the location for Interface’s manufacturing headquarters due to its friendly business climate and warm weather. The company has been based in Scottsdale Industrial Airpark since 1972.

Advice & Best Practices 1. Look for opportunities to disrupt and make epic changes in the way people do things today.

2. Ask your customers how you can help them achieve their goals, then find the best solution to do just that.

3. Apply your learnings to ensure quality exceeds all expectations.

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BLUEMEDIA Jared Smith: CEO

Winning isn’t everything, but the will to win is everything.

—Vince Lombardi

Innovation Story With just two people and a $30,000 founder investment, bluemedia started in 1997 producing graphics for Arizona golf tournaments. From there, with relationshipbuilding and delivering quality printing top-of-mind, the business started to grow. 10 years later, a multimillion-dollar large format graphics company with 50 employees, bluemedia had secured relationships with major sports teams and partnerships with large companies such as HP and 3M. As true today as it was then, we succeed by consistently achieving two core business goals: over-deliver on every project and maintain a solid network of business relationships. To accomplish these goals, we provide the best service and highest quality in the industry. Now 150 employees strong, we have a staff of experts and we operate with integrity and passion. We believe in sharing our relationships when possible with clients and the community. And, we pass ownership of final artwork on to the customer. There are no games, no hidden costs or reproduction agendas; we make the design, fabrication, installation, setup and strike processes as easy and clear-cut as possible, whether for a $2,000 print job or a $450,000 immersive dome.

In order for bluemedia to continue to give this kind of service it is critical that we have exceptional technology and tools, and the talent to use them properly.

From our design department incorporating new software, to our management team streamlining new processes, to the fabrication tools and printing machines, to the vinyl on which we print, bluemedia is unlike any traditional graphic firm. bluemedia was a pioneer in vehicle wrapping, turning the Arizona market on to the concept as a marketing tool. Since then, we’ve won numerous awards for quality and innovation in our industry.

Introduction Established in 1997 as an event signage company focused solely on local golf tournaments, bluemedia now serves national agencies and firms such as GMR Marketing, IMG, Populous, MKTG and more, in addition to building lasting partnerships with the Miami Dolphins, the Kansas City Royals, and the Arizona Coyotes. Over the past 20 years, we’ve worked hard to gain the trust of our customers and their fans, producing innovative signage, custom objects and experiential activations for some of the most successful venues and events in the world, including Super Bowl XLIX, 50, LI, LII and LIII, Comic-Con International, the AT&T Byron Nelson Golf Classic, and more.

Website: www.bluemedia.com

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Why Phoenix?

We have added two segments to the company in the last five years: fabrication and technology. Armed with these capabilities, we are now able to fabricate custom objects and one-of-a-kind environments from wood, metal, foam, vinyl and LED lighting.

Our technology division includes projection mapping capabilities, immersive technology and experiential domes. We project images and video onto any surface – the side of a building, the floor of an arena – even water. We create 3D and 4D 360-degree dome experiences to immerse the visitor in whatever place or event our clients can dream up.

With continuous investment in research and development, bluemedia sets industry standards using rigorously tested methods and new technology. Our experts help marketers wow fans and create memorable, shareable experiences.

We are the premier décor, fabrication and technology execution company for venues and experiential activations. We’re a team of creatives and rule breakers.

Welders and engineers. Project managers, carpenters and list-checkers. And it’s our passion to work alongside the world’s top designers, architects and brands to bring their vision to life from concept to perfect execution.

Phoenix offers amazing opportunities for new businesses with its solid economy, beautiful weather, and space to grow. We have everything from technology to arts and entertainment to manufacturing and tourism, with a comparable tax bracket for business, affordable housing and good public schools.

Advice & Best Practices 1. Always put your customer first and listen to their feedback.

2. Make it your problem, not theirs. And deliver, deliver, deliver.

3. Find the opportunity in every failure.

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PADT

Whatever you are, be a good one.

—Abraham Lincoln

Introduction

Innovation Story

• PADT is a globally recognized provider of Numerical Simulation, Product Development, and 3D printing products and services.

• In 2019, PADT celebrated its 25-year anniversary selling and supporting the world’s best engineering software and hardware.

• PADT has offices in Arizona, Utah, California, Denver, New Mexico, and Texas.

• The only ANSYS Elite Channel Partner to serve the entire Southwest, PADT offers a full spectrum of simulation tools and services.

• PADT’s Product Development team is focused on helping companies turn their innovations into real products.

• From desktop protypes to factory floor production systems, PADT offers Stratasys 3D printers with support and maintenance.

PADT was founded by a group of aerospace engineers who worked together at Allied Signal (now Honeywell Aerospace). The group felt that the tools and skills they used to design, analyze, and prototype turbomachinery could also be applied to other industries to create innovative products. In the summer of 1994, they joined forces to form Phoenix Analysis and Design Technologies, Inc., now known as PADT. The first office was a one-person executive suite. They crammed four people and three computers into a tiny room and started calling potential customers. Slowly but surely, work started to come in and the company was off and running. With the purchase of a 3D Systems SLA250 rapid prototyping machine at the end of 1994, PADT became the first independent rapid prototyping service provider in Arizona.

Today, PADT inserts innovation into all that it does, whether that be for NASA, or a local hardware startup with a revolutionary idea. The company was founded on the idea of being the premier provider of “making innovation work,” and it has held that promise for 25 years. PADT focuses on

Website: www.padtinc.com

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helping customers who develop physical products by providing numerical simulation, product development, and 3D printing solutions. The company’s worldwide reputation for technical excellence and experienced staff is based on its proven record of building long-term win-win partnerships.

The following examples represent how PADT partners with others to advance the greater technology community: • In partnership with Stratasys and Lockheed Martin, PADT helped to develop next-generation 3D printed parts for NASA’s Orion deepspace spacecraft to Mars. The mission used more than 100 3D printed production parts on board – engineered in union with PADT, Stratasys and Lockheed Martin.

• Realizing the long-term promise of 3D printing replacing traditional manufacturing as a way to make production parts, PADT became a certified production partner of Carbon, a 3D printer manufacturer.

The partnership allowed PADT to develop the first 3D printing factory service in the Southwest.

• In additive manufacturing, parts coming off the 3D printers require the removal of support material to be finished. To automate this process, PADT developed and marketed “Support Removal Apparatus” equipment. The product line became the industry’s leading solution and was spun-off into its own company named Oryx Additive.

• $800,000 in matching funds were appointed to Arizona State University, PADT and other partners by America Makes for the advancement of 3D printing post-processing techniques. PADT has been awarded two federally funded projects since 2018, and two America Makes funded projects since 2017.

• The company’s body of work, award-winning customer service, and technical excellence has earned PADT the right to serve some of the largest products developers in the world in industries such as medical, aerospace and defense and automotive.

Why Phoenix?

Phoenix has a welcoming attitude towards people. You’re likely to find yourself chatting with an elected official or a top CEO in the Valley. It’s a place where what you bring to the table matters, not who your grandparents were. That’s why Phoenix is filled with smart entrepreneurs with a ‘can do’ attitude.

Advice & Best Practices Building new relationships is crucial to success. You never know where customers or investment opportunities may come from. Slight improvements in technology no longer push the needle, so take risks and make a splash. Stay focused on matters central to the health of your business. Don’t get distracted by shiny objects.

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ATOM INNOVATION + PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT Jodi Deros: CEO & Co-founder When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.

―Albert Einstein

Perspective on Innovation

Introduction INSPIRING INNOVATION. ATOM is a full service product development and innovation firm specializing in the commercialization of emerging products, technologies and markets. ATOM has achieved international acclaim and recognition with its advanced development process that continually delivers resounding innovative solutions into a wide range of markets stretching from medical devices, office technology, consumer electronics, kiosks, transportation, industrial equipment, IoT and wearable technologies.

Our mission is to capture customer insights with our proprietary STREAM Research® process, leverage the power of world-class Industrial Design, deliver Design for Manufacturing solutions and launch market altering innovations that have the potential to disrupt entire market segments.

Website: www.atom-inc.co

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Founded in 2003 by Yani and Jodi Deros, partners in business and in life, ATOM is an international full-service product development and innovation firm specializing in the commercialization of emerging technologies and markets.

Like its customers, ATOM is at the forefront of discovery and has become a champion of tomorrow’s breakthrough innovations.

ATOM is recognized globally for leading first to market solutions bound together by a team of visionaries who are researchers, strategists, product designers, engineers, as well as advertising and marketing veterans who collectively have developed hundreds of products over the years.

Fundamentally, we at ATOM are motivated by the unique challenges that each project presents to our team. We strive to deliver transformative solutions and inspiring creative strategies that can be culturally impactful and deliver better quality of life for end users. Our award-winning services are offered to both aspiring startups and global corporations who are searching for

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cutting-edge technologies and are ready to disrupt entire market segments with untapped technologies and ideas.

Every project has its unique challenges which requires Voice of the Customer Insights to inspire and build the foundation for the next great idea. Our process begins with a highly specialized team that applies extensive experience and abilities to each program. We utilize our proprietary STREAMResearch® method via a dynamic and engaging community of hundreds, if not thousands, of end users assembled to provide invaluable insight into the development of products, brands, or technologies.

We then follow a proven development process that captures compelling user and market insights, together with world-class industrial design, industryleading engineering solutions, hyper-prototyping services, and encompassing business strategies to launch those products/solutions with the aim of disrupting each market at the opportune time. We take a holistic perspective, recognizing no new product or service will be successful if it doesn’t support and reinforce the brand.

During our 16-year history, our team has had the privilege of developing 300+ products and technology solutions which have resulted in more than $2.8 billion in durable goods orders globally.

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west, which shows no sign of slowing down. Additionally, Arizona State University, recognized as being in the top 1% of the world’s most prestigious universities, offers one of the largest student bodies in the country with a large portion being from international destinations. All of these factors contribute to a proactive business climate that fosters collaboration, entrepreneurship, and innovation.

The Future of Innovation Society is on the brink of another technology transformation on multiple fronts.

First being Artificial Intelligence (AI) which will hyper-accelerate how society deals with all aspects of business, technology, communication, and finance that will occur at unprecedented levels. The Internet of Things (IoT) will be a major catalyst to this transformation where sensors and machines will become ubiquitous and embedded in and across all industry sectors fueling a new age of innovation that the world cannot even begin to comprehend.

Advice & Best Practices Great ideas can transform society and almost everyone has them at some point in their lives. But many people feel a small idea can create a large fortune, but in reality they don’t realize it may take a small fortune to realize that small idea.

Having a great idea does not necessarily translate into a great product or company.

Countless companies have been formed from great ideas, only to collapse due to unpredicted variables. We at ATOM understand this and can provide companies with the tools they need to have their idea and company succeed!

Why Phoenix?

One needs to be a risk-taker to live in the dessert. The allure of endless horizons, 330+ days of sunshine and a melting pot of individuals and corporations from around the world have allowed ATOM to grow by leaps and bounds to an internationally recognized product innovation firm. Over the years, ATOM has witnessed an influx of talent streaming in from the large metropolitan areas as part of an outward migration pattern, fueled by soaring home prices and cost of living especially on the

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IMAGRY Adham Ghazali: CEO & Co-founder

Few ideas work on the first try. Iteration is key to innovation.

—Sebastian Thurn (former vice president at Google) Innovation Story

Introduction With offices in both the U.S. and Israel, Imagry is an autonomous vehicle platform developer that is dedicated to pioneering the future of this technology. By pushing the limits of artificial intelligence and computer vision, Imagry’s mapless autonomous driving platform eliminates the need for the time-consuming HD mapping process. Imagry’s solution uses a highly intelligent, vision-based approach, allowing the deployment of autonomous vehicles in the market to scale and commercialize more rapidly.

Website: imagry.co Blog: imagry.co/imagry-blog/

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The idea for Imagry began when the company’s CEO, Adham Ghazali, was taking a product design course at Tel Aviv University. The course focused on how to make the right choices for creating successful products by using data and analytics. Although Ghazali was intrigued by the course, he wanted to advance from just learning theory into actually putting his knowledge to action. He knew he was interested in machine learning and computer vision, and his passions are what led him, to become an entrepreneur.

Ghazali co-founded Imagry with Majed Jubeh, a talented machine learning engineer with a vision of developing the first-of-its-kind mobile classification and detection platform. Imagry succeeded in creating this platform and released the product in 2017. The product received amazing feedback from customers in various verticals, from automotive, homeland security, agriculture, consumer electronics and more.

However, Ghazali felt the mobile classification and detection platform was not his desired strategy for the company. In 2018, after a great deal of research, he determined that existing developments in the autonomous vehicle market, which heavily rely on time-consuming HD mapping, were not sufficient for scaling. Ghazali believed a different approach was necessary, and he took it upon himself to solve the challenge of developing a mapless, vision-based autonomous driving platform that would eliminate the process of mapping altogether. Imagry’s technology would instead use computer vision to create maps on the fly.

That was the beginning of a new era for Imagry.

On top of continuously developing its first product for the autonomous driving perception layer, Imagry developed different layers of the mapless autonomous driving platform. Among them was a patented simulator designed especially for neural networks and a physics-based driving planning layer.

At the beginning of 2019, Imagry proudly debuted the first version of its mapless autonomous driving software which was tested successfully in Tempe, Arizona on complex, dense public roads around the Arizona State University campus. Imagry is continuing its journey toward developing a robust mapless vision-based autonomous driving platform that will be able to scale rapidly without the need to rely on heavy HD mapping.

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Why Phoenix?

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Advice & Best Practices

Phoenix has an advantage in autonomous vehicle technology due to its clear legislative guidelines, ease of interacting with regulatory authorities, well maintained and marked roads and limited traffic in comparison to other major cities. The city also offers a high quality of life, low cost of living and stunning landscape.

1. Leverage the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, the Arizona Commerce Authority and other community resources to get connected in the Phoenix area.

2. Work with other thought leaders in your industry to improve upon your ideas.

3. Give back to others by offering your insight and expertise.

The Future of Innovation The future of autonomous vehicles will include more hailing cars and less owning them due to the high level of maintenance autonomous vehicles require. A challenge that needs to be addressed is the public’s fear of this technology. Over time, it’ll become safer than traditional vehicles, and lost jobs will be replaced with new jobs. To continue to grow the development of autonomous vehicles in Phoenix, the industry needs continued support and opportunities for growth.

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CHAPTER SIX

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HEALTHCARE

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REDIRECT HEALTH Paul Johnson: Founder & CEO

The world’s biggest problems are the world’s biggest market opportunities. Solve hunger, literacy and energy problems, get the gratitude of the world and become a billionaire in the process. —Peter Diamandis

Introduction Consider this... 50% of Americans make less than $30k a year. 75% of bankruptcies are caused by a healthcare issue. 75% of those bankruptcies, had insurance. The deductible broke them. The average employer’s premium is $6,700 per employee with a $6k deductible. For these employees, healthcare is not affordable.

of bankruptcy; and increasingly more people are going without coverage or care. Until you reduce costs, healthcare affordability is an insurmountable problem. Obamacare, TrumpCare and single payer will all fall short unless you focus on lowering costs first.

A Harvard study pointed out that one third of the $3.5 trillion healthcare system is waste, fraud and abuse, and could be cut with no negative impact on consumers. Reduce costs by one third and the domino effect would be—more employers would provide healthcare, more people could afford individual plans, government would have more resources for those in need and access would improve dramatically.

To fix healthcare and lower costs, it needs to be completely rebuilt.

At Redirect Health, we have a secret sauce built into our platform, but the real solution are these 7 axioms that will change the healthcare experience, improve outcomes and lower costs: • Focus on the Underserved: According to the Social Security office, 50% of American workers make less than $15/hour. For employees making under $30k, the math doesn’t work. Coverage is $6,600/ year, plus a $6,000 deductible before getting meaningful healthcare.

Lower costs provide meaningful access for low-wage employees, and disrupt the entire market.

We spend $3.5 trillion annually on healthcare—$10,500 for every person and 17 percent of the GDP. Economists say projected growth isn’t sustainable without a 90% tax rate, ballooning debt or limiting access. A Harvard study shows healthcare costs could reduce by one third by eliminating waste, administration, and overcharging, and not lose any benefits.

Website: www.redirecthealth.com

Innovation Story Welcome to the Revolution!

At Redirect Health, we believe every person should have meaningful access to healthcare. The healthcare status quo is broken. Premiums are growing faster than wages; deductibles and healthcare costs are the largest cause

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• Use Data to Improve Outcomes, Experiences and Cost: The existing system has 85,000 CPT codes, and none that improve outcomes, patient experience or costs. These codes focus on billing issues. Data and technology should focus on benefits to the consumer.

• Change the Way Providers are Paid: The massive administrative waste collecting co-pays & deductibles includes 85,000 CPT codes, audit and recoup. All can be eliminated. Consumers deserve greater transparency in pricing, and providers need less administrative costs from payers.

• Place of Service Matters (a lot): Providing care through hospitals drives up cost, while harming the experience and the outcomes. As long as plans make hospitalization a priority, costs will rise.

• Meaningful Access: Make primary care, physical therapy, labs and other preventive testing services easy and inexpensive. Making this the priority of a plan lowers everyone’s costs.

• Identify and Care for the 7%: 7% of the patients, spend 90% of the money.

Identify the 7%, create a care plan, and provide constant feedback to the patient. Having a relationship with the patient avoids very expensive hospital costs and provides the most benefits to the patient.

• Competition Counts: Hospitals are buying doctor’s offices at a record pace— even though hospitals lose between $150,000 and $300,000 each year for every doctor they hire. The desired result is referrals are made without

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taking price into consideration. Pricing between differing hospitals can be significant with no real benefit in outcome. And pricing between hospitals and clinics can be 10-30 times more. 84% of all hospital visits are nonemergency and give time to compare costs.

Why Phoenix?

Phoenix is a place where everything is possible. Phoenix has a great workforce, low cost of living, access to capital, and a very pro-growth government. We have a great research university with ASU. And, most importantly, Phoenix is filled with citizens who love the city and embrace entrepreneurs.

Advice & Best Practices Fear above all, your fear to fail. Never lose a penny for your ego. Business is about solving problems for customers. Solve the biggest problems and you leave the biggest legacy.

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EQUALITY HEALTH Hugh Lytle: Founder & CEO

Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.

—Vincent Van Gogh

Introduction Equality Health is the nation’s leading healthcare delivery system focused on improving access to high quality care for diverse populations and ending health disparities by facilitating integrated, personalized, whole-person care through the lens of culture. It’s one of the fastest-growing healthcare companies in Arizona.

Website: www.equalityhealth.com Blog: www.equalityhealth.com/equality-health-blog/

Innovation Story Equality Health—The Healthcare Trailblazers Hugh Lytle is a self-described healthcare rebel with more than 25 years of executive healthcare leadership experience. His passion for advocating for the people left behind in the current U.S. one-size-fits-all healthcare system and his keen insight into today’s most pressing healthcare challenges are what drove him to develop groundbreaking solutions as the founder and CEO of Equality Health.

Previously, Hugh founded two nationally recognized healthcare companies—Axia Health Management, the nation’s leading population health management company, and Univita, a home-based care management business.

While working at Univita Health, Hugh provided healthcare services

for his predominantly Cuban population base. He saw how effective and efficient healthcare delivery could be when the Cuban culture pervaded every aspect of care— from doctors to pharmacists to front-desk staff at doctors’ offices—and the enormous impact this had on cost and outcomes.

It was this light-bulb moment in 2013 that sent Hugh looking for someone to help Univita Health with the delivery of culturally competent care. But it didn’t exist. Instead, Hugh set out to build it himself.

With a team of fellow trailblazers comprised of physicians and experienced executives in healthcare management, Hugh spent the next few years researching the impact of health disparities among the Latino population and the continual struggle to achieve health equity within a fragmented healthcare ecosystem and untapped community resources. That research led to the creation of Equality Health.

Combating Health Disparities Among Underserved Populations In the United States, racial and ethnic minority individuals and communities suffer disproportionately from chronic conditions such as mental illness, diabetes, cancer, and heart disease. Such chronic conditions often lead to a shortened life expectancy and prevalence of comorbid conditions that impact quality of life. In Maricopa County, lowincome, Latino residents of south Phoenix have a life expectancy of 71 years—14 years less than the 85 years of life expectancy enjoyed by residents of affluent north Scottsdale.

Hugh and the leadership team at Equality Health began the pursuit of better healthcare for all by exploring community-based data from Maricopa County’s most underserved areas. These disparities drove Equality Health to develop its proprietary, evidence-based Cultural Care Model that is scalable, adaptable, and replicable in any community.

Looking at factors like population trends, food insecurities, transportation, education, employment and access to care allowed Equality Health to target key hotspots for

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community interventions, provider network design and comprehensive care centers that house primary care, behavioral health and social support services— all specifically tailored to better serve the community.

“When it comes to accessing healthcare, your zip code can say more about you than your genetic code,” Hugh says.

Equality Health’s holistic, technology-enabled approach removes cultural barriers, increases health literacy, integrates physical and behavioral health within primary care, and creates an alignment with community resources to close the gaps and solve for social determinants of health. The solution benefits payers, providers, and members alike.

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and Fresh Start Women’s Foundation are a critical aspect of Equality Health’s holistic approach to care.

More than simple referrals, Equality Health and its partners utilize a proprietary collaboration technology platform and sociocultural risk assessment to track referrals, services and outcomes. Social determinant data such as access to transportation and healthy foods is incorporated into the patient’s medical record, allowing for gaps in care to be cataloged and shared in real time, making it easily accessible to care teams to coordinate care.

“It’s a holistic approach to improving the health of the individuals we serve,” Hugh says. “And it’s how we’re delivering ‘The New Culture of Care.’”

Why Phoenix?

The Equality Health Network A key component of Equality Health’s approach is the deployment of its Cultural Care Model to a network of physical, behavioral, and community-based providers via in-person and online training.

Along with education, industry-leading technology and hands-on practice transformation support, providers, and their ancillary staff learn about culturally effective practices that influence prescription adherence, reduce unnecessary healthcare costs and improve chronic disease self-management.

Today, more than 2,000 providers in Arizona have joined the Equality Health Network to complete provider training and dedicate themselves to culturally specific, holistic care that improves the health of members.

“We were attracted to Phoenix for a number of reasons—it has a vibrant and enterprising Latino community; an innovative entrepreneurial ethos; a strong knowledge enterprise through its excellent university system; and it offers it all in a large and dynamic metropolitan area.” —Hugh Lytle, Founder & CEO

Advice & Best Practices “The best advice I can give to innovators is to dream big. Look for opportunities where trends converge versus chasing a single trend. Innovate to bring systemic change. Don’t fall in love with your ideas without proper vetting from experts, and be ready to iterate and adjust.” —Hugh Lytle, Founder & CEO

Community Partners Excellent medical care alone will not bring about change. Partnerships formed with community resource agencies like St. Mary’s Food Bank, United Food Bank,

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CATALYTIC HEALTH PARTNERS Susan Cordts: CEO & Founder

Catalytic Health Partners (CHP) is passionate about reshaping healthcare. The Arizona-based population health management company, founded in 2014, is changing healthcare delivery by empowering members served with essential tools and unyielding advocacy for the care they desire and need.

CHP uses a transformational approach to healthcare by addressing the entire healthcare triangle: social, behavioral, and physical health to improve, change, and save lives. Every person that Catalytic Health Partners consults is considered a member. It is personal.

The CHP integrated care delivery model emphasizes social needs first. By applying focus on social determinants first, one of the early lessons learned in

reshaping healthcare was identifying the consistent lack of food resources. This finding resulted in training team members on how to quickly evaluate social needs and then find solutions.

The second imperative in transforming healthcare addresses behavioral health. Early on, CHP expanded its behavioral health team due to the high prominence of mental health matters.

CHP’s integrated healthcare is patient-directed in-home services provided by an interdisciplinary team for social needs analysis and support, clinical health assessments, and outcome management. The CHP team offers behavioral and mental health support, care coordination, and case management for high-risk, longitudinal, and post-acute care coordination.

One of CHP’s younger members was disconnected from his family and his health. They worked with him on his goals at home, addressing his depression. As a result, he gained more independence and returned to school. After evaluating his social and behavioral needs, the physical needs were not as severe.

A serial tech entrepreneur, RN, and healthcare executive, CEO and founder

Website: www.catalytichealthpartners.com

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Susan Cordts created a member care model built on the foundation of people, technology, and data. This enables caring, personalized in-home member engagement with convenient digital connectivity and advanced analytics. With lofty growth goals, Cordts readdressed “smart” growth over fast growth, by bootstrapping the company to expand without degradation of services or impact.

CHP turns data into information, information into insight, and insight into timely, exceptional, and compassionate member care. Every person under CHP’s care is provided an internet-connected tablet with proprietary SaaS to engage members with active learning, telemonitoring, telemedicine, electronic health records, scheduling, and health goal management.

The team members at CHP are passionate and persistent in improving member outcomes by adapting quickly to changes to meet the needs of every member.

They often state how rewarding it is to go into the community and build trust with members by merely providing vital support and letting them know they can count on others when many have given up on the healthcare system.

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Catalytic Health Partners is contracted by health plans for governmentfunded, high-risk health populations under Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, VA, and dual eligibility programs. The results speak for themselves. In one year, CHP helped reduce costs for their assigned population by 51%, which included reducing ER utilization by 30%, inpatient days by 35%, and readmissions by 38%.

The mission for Catalytic Health Partners is designed to help transform lives through their health services and social impact initiatives. This happens by being the standard for healthcare delivery, demonstrating excellent outcomes with lower costs.

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HEALTH TECH

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REXPAY Rachel Mertensmeyer: CEO & Co-founder The best problems to work on are the ones no one else is trying to solve.

—Peter Thiel

Introduction

The RexPay Founding Story

Rachel Mertensmeyer, CEO, and Harlow Burgess, CTO, are co-founders of a Phoenix-based tech startup called RexPay. RexPay is a mobile app that helps patients understand, track, and pay all medical bills in one place. The RexPay team is on a mission to rescue patients from medical bill mayhem.

In 2016, Rachel experienced a severe injury, which led to 38 medical bills across 11 providers and $10,000 dollars in medical debt. Nearly a year after her accident, Rachel was still sorting through her medical bills. She sat at her kitchen table with three stacks of medical bills in front of her labeled “paid”, “unpaid”, and “?.” She sat back in frustration and thought, “There must be a better way!” She then searched for a mobile app that could help her manage and pay her medical bills but couldn’t find one. This was the moment RexPay was born.

A few months later, Rachel applied to Launchpad Digital Health, an accelerator in San Francisco and was accepted into the 2018 Winter class. On her flight out of San Francisco, she sat next to Al Castino, now RexPay’s founding investor. He was

Email: info@rexpay.com Website: www.rexpay.com

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moved by Rachel’s story as he had experienced the medical bill struggle firsthand.

Al told Rachel on the flight that he believed in the RexPay concept and wanted to stay in touch. Later, after Rachel completed the accelerator program, it was Al’s initial investment that enabled RexPay to move ahead with momentum.

Shortly after founding the company in February 2018, Rachel met Harlow Burgess through a mutual friend. Harlow also immediately understood the mission of RexPay. His family had experienced medical bill trauma when his daughter was born prematurely. Rachel and Harlow felt an immediate synergy of values and vision; and shortly after meeting, Harlow joined Rachel as cofounder and CTO of RexPay.

About the Product RexPay is the only mobile app for patients that consolidates all medical bills and payments in one place. Patients can pay all of their doctors with just a few taps in the RexPay app. Rex is the trusted medical bill rescue dog, who guides patients through every step of their medical bill pay experience. First, Rex helps patients understand their bill. Next, he guides patients through the payment process.

Finally, Rex keeps track of all healthcare finances such as pending payments, remaining deductible, and health savings account balance. Patients can also ask Rex questions throughout the medical bill pay process via an in-app chat bot.

Advice & Best Practices 1. Choose a problem that is personal to you and for which you are willing to commit all of your energy and resources to solving.

2. Keep the “true north” guiding values of your company front and center and don’t allow yourself to get pulled in a different direction.

3. Surround yourself with people smarter than you to point out your blind spots, such as a local incubator or accelerator and a connected local attorney who will be your advocate.

Why Phoenix?

Compared to startup hubs like San Francisco, Phoenix offers a more sustainable and low-stress lifestyle for our team members with lower living costs, shorter commutes, daily sunshine, delicious eats, and immediate access to nature. It’s also energizing to be part of the burgeoning tech startup scene, which has been encouraged by local government in Phoenix.

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SONORA QUEST LABORATORIES

This is the most exciting and challenging time in healthcare, perhaps ever. Leaders have the power to reshape and significantly improve the industry. —David A. Dexter, president and CEO of Sonora Quest Laboratories

Introduction

provides healthcare providers with near real-time data and insights to identify risks within their patient populations and track individual patients facing chronic conditions, including those with diabetes and chronic kidney disease; ultimately, improving health outcomes.

Sonora Quest is also leading the way to empower our patients with Direct Access Testing (DAT) through our My Lab ReQuest™ service that allows consumers to order laboratory tests without a doctor’s order or insurance. Consumers can select from a menu of approximately 70 affordably priced lab tests to monitor personal wellness goals and chronic conditions, or simply prefer the confidentiality that this service provides.

Since its launch, My Lab ReQuest has enabled consumers in Arizona to take control of their health.

Another way Sonora Quest Laboratories is offering access, convenience, and engagement to our customers is by collaborating with Safeway to open Patient Service Centers (PSCs) at 16 Safeway locations throughout Arizona with plans to continue expanding. Sonora Quest’s step into the retail landscape reflects the company’s vision to provide services that align with the changes in the consumer-driven healthcare landscape.

New in 2019, Sonora Quest launched mobile sample collection services, currently operating in Maricopa County only. The service provides consumers with the option to schedule an appointment with a Sonora

Sonora Quest Laboratories, an independently run joint venture formed in 1997 between Banner Health and Quest Diagnostics, is the nation’s largest integrated laboratory system with approximately 3,200 employees serving more than 22,000 patients every day throughout Arizona. As the market share leader in clinical laboratory testing in Arizona, we serve the entire continuum of care. Our laboratories in Tempe, Tucson, Flagstaff, Prescott, and Yuma serve all Arizonans.

Website: www.SonoraQuest.com Phone: +1-602-685-5000

SonoraQuest

sonora-quest-laboratories-laboratory-sciences-of-arizona sonoraquest

Innovation Story Sonora Quest Laboratories is proud to be a leader in the laboratory industry by offering innovative and convenient solutions to improve the health of our communities.

One such solution is our technology-based analytics product called Actionable Insights Management™ (AIM). This software-based solution

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Quest phlebotomist to come to their home or place of business to perform blood collection for lab testing. This service exemplifies Sonora Quest’s commitment to providing easier access to high-quality lab services.

Milestones Sonora Quest Laboratories adheres to the highest standards of clinical laboratory operations, quality assurance, and control. All of our laboratories are fully accredited by the College of American Pathologists, and certified by federal and state agencies. We were the first laboratory in Arizona to introduce Six Sigma quality to the healthcare services field in 2000.

We have been recognized for our hard work and commitment to patient care.

We are the only healthcare company ever to receive our state’s highest quality award, the Arizona Governor’s Award for Quality (no healthcare organization has attained this award since). Other recent awards include a 2017 IMPACT Award for Exceptional Innovator from the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce; nine consecutive #1 Bioscience Company in Arizona by Ranking Arizona/AZ Big Media, most recently in 2020; and ten consecutive Top 40 Most Admired Companies in Arizona recognitions by AZ Business magazine/ BestCompaniesAZ, most recently in 2019.

The Future of Innovation As a full-service laboratory and leader in the Arizona market, Sonora Quest Laboratories exclusively offers the RestoreU METHOD program for memory loss and cognitive decline, BeScreened CRC blood test for colorectal cancer screening, and mobile phlebotomy services for home collections. Furthermore, our investment in tools like AIM and partnership with BaseHealth, pave the way in transforming lab data into actionable information to help healthcare providers with population health and disease state management.

Advice & Best Practices Healthcare is going through transformational and disruptive change. Whenever you are faced with this level of dynamic change, you have to find the new business opportunities that manifest themselves and seize those opportunities to differentiate yourself in the marketplace.

Why Phoenix?

As a relatively affordable destination for living and working, Phoenix continues to be one of the largest growing cities. Because of this, Phoenix has developed a large, diverse group of healthcare organizations and demographics, including a significant retiree population, where our innovative services are critical to serving the continuum of care.

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IMNA SOLUTIONS

Technology is an augmentation to healing tools, not a replacement for human kindness.

—Bernard Tyson, CEO of Kaiser Permanente

Introduction

management that improves the quality of care and reduces hospital visits and the cost of care through its IMNA Health platform.

One of the primary ways the company achieves this is by filling the treatment gap for chronic illness patients. It’s typical for these patients to go weeks or months without seeing their physician, and a lot can go wrong during that time. Because of this, IMNA Solutions provides automated decision support to keep track of patient conditions and combat issues as they arise.

IMNA Solutions was founded by Israel Haikin in 2014 to fill the need for secure communication. With an extensive background in cybersecurity, including serving as the former head of the communications organization of the Israeli Security Agency, he saw firsthand what can happen when communication isn’t secure. His co-founder, Meirav Naor-Weinstock, joined the company in 2016 to transition the company to serve the healthcare space.

Website: Imnasol.com

IMNA Solutions is a healthcare software company dedicated to improving the lives of chronically ill patients by facilitating secure communication between patients, providers, and care teams. Its software collects key patient data between doctor’s visits and allows physicians to update treatment plans in real-time.

Innovation Story IMNA Solutions is a healthcare software company with its US headquarters in Scottsdale. The company is focused on providing real-time monitoring and interventions between clinic visits to support ongoing relationships between patients and care teams. IMNA Solutions optimizes recommendations for patient

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The company tracks everything from sleep patterns, dehydration, perspiration, and more while patients are at home, and the software alerts physicians and care teams of any potential concerns. Treatment can then be updated in real-time to ensure optimal patient outcomes without having to wait until the next visit.

IMNA Solutions’ software is innovative because it’s one of the only software platforms that provides a personalized health record of each patient. It uses a combination of biometrics, wearable IoT devices, and patient questionnaires to monitor critical patient data while patients are at home. This data includes dehydration levels, sleep patterns, perspiration, and more—all of which can provide eye-opening insights to a patient’s overall health. It also gives physicians the ability to change the patient’s treatment pathway at any moment without the need for an in-person visit.

The company’s solution also helps reduce patient dropout rates in clinical trials—something that’s essential for FDA approval of potentially life-saving drugs. When too many participants choose to leave the trial, the FDA doesn’t have sufficient data for drug approval, leading companies to spend millions more dollars redoing the trial. Dropouts also negatively affect patients that were helped by the drug being studied, as the drug can’t go to market otherwise.

Milestones In 2019, IMNA Solutions opened its US headquarters in Scottsdale. Founded in Israel, its new headquarters represents a major step for the company’s international expansion.

The company also earned a Silver Stevie Award in the Software Category of the Year in the 2019 International Business Awards and has been featured extensively by Phoenix Business Journal, InBusiness Magazine, and other healthcare-specific publications.

Additionally, IMNA Solutions was one of four companies selected to take part in the Investor Track of the prestigious BioPreneur Conference in October 2019.

The company delivered a 25-minute presentation to industry-leading investors seeking to learn more about the latest innovations in the healthcare sector.

Lastly, the company recently partnered with an independent researcher at Arizona State University to complete a clinical trial for an autism medication.

The medication aims to reduce symptoms of severe autism by altering the flora in patients’ digestive systems.

The Future of Innovation The future of innovation in chronic illness care is becoming more patient-centric.

Innovators are beginning to realize that patients are at the core of everything, and without patient satisfaction, most technological advancements are lost.

Advice & Best Practices When things become challenging, your passion is what will motivate you to continue developing breakthrough technologies for the people you’re serving. Also, never lose sight of your purpose as an organization.

Why Phoenix?

We chose Phoenix due to our close partnerships with local organizations like the Arizona Israel Technology Alliance, Arizona Technology Council, and Perimeter83.

We also enjoy Phoenix’s low traffic congestion, beautiful weather, breathtaking scenery, and friendly people.

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TOUCHPOINT SOLUTION Vicki Mayo: CEO & Co-founder

There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.

—Paulo Coelho

Innovation Story

Introduction I live in Paradise Valley, Arizona, and began my first business at 14. As a serial entrepreneur, I’ve experienced the stress of being an entrepreneur firsthand. Together with neuropsychologist Dr. Amy Serin I developed the TouchPoints, the first ever wearable devices that provide stress relief in as few as 30 seconds.

I am first-generation; my parents emigrated from India before I was born, and I grew up in Georgia.

When I was 20, I adopted two boys (aged 12 and 13 at the time) that had been abandoned by their parents. This life-changing event set the course for me to create TouchPoints and fulfill my greatest obligation and joy in life, which is to help people.

Website: ilovetouchpoint.com

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My daughter had been experiencing vivid night terrors for years, and I felt like I couldn’t do anything about it. It was horrible. I felt helpless.

The whole family was suffering because she would wake up nightly and we’d all be awake. The following mornings we would be exhausted—we were caught in spiral I couldn’t get out of. I felt like I had tried everything, and we were at our wits’ end.

After spending endless nights watching her suffer in her sleep, I reached out to my friend, Dr. Amy Serin, a neuropsychologist. In Dr. Serin’s research looking for a solution to deal with the trauma after the global ebola crisis, she isolated a successful component of PTSD treatment and was using it to research the impact of stress-reduction using a handheld device. She suggested that my daughter try her neuro-technology product during her next episode.

I was intrigued, but the idea of a noninvasive, fast-acting fix almost sounded too good to be true.

I took Dr. Serin’s advice, and placed the devices in my daughter’s hands during her next night terror.

I was so surprised—the gadgets worked, and they worked well. For the first time in years, she slept peacefully through the night.

There’s nothing more difficult for a parent than watching your child struggle. That night, my daughter held them before bed, and got a full night of restful sleep for the first time in weeks. It was like this weight had instantly been lifted off our family—my daughter was smiling again! I’ll never forget that feeling. From that day on, it became my mission share this stress relief with as many people as possible.

Dr. Serin and I chatted about what she was doing to bring these life changing devices to everyone.

She told me that she was trying to develop it, but that progress was slow. I knew from experience that this technology had the potential to profoundly change millions of lives. We didn’t have time to move slowly. People needed this in their lives now!

Together we created TouchPoint Solution to create an instant stress-reduction solution that could be used by a broad range of individuals with different needs. Our suite of products called TouchPoints reduce stress at the press of a button while also improving sleep, focus, and performance.

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Why Phoenix?

Sunshine. Smiles. Opportunity. Phoenix is all of these! No other city can boast 350+ days of gorgeous weather, friendly people, and a pro-business atmosphere.

Advice & Best Practices Don’t be too busy working IN your business that you don’t work ON your business.

A/B test EVERYTHING. Business is like a science experiment. Formulate a hypothesis and then test it, observe, modify and test again.

If you are stuck between making a decision too quickly or slowly, make a decision quickly. In the world of business time is precious and sometimes speed is your only asset.

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THE CENTER FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL INNOVATION Tom Schumann: Executive Director

We entrepreneurs are loners, vagabonds, troublemakers. Success is simply a matter of finding and surrounding ourselves with those open-minded and clever souls who can take our insanity and put it to good use. —Anita Roddick

Introduction

Perspective on Innovation

Located in Central Phoenix, the Center for Entrepreneurial Innovation (CEI) at GateWay Community College is a full-service business incubator that houses a vibrant community of bioscience, medical device, and high tech entrepreneurs who are working on industry-changing technologies.

Since 2012, CEI has spurred economic growth in the greater Phoenix area.

With 34 graduates and 20 current clients, the Center is focused on helping startups build sustainable businesses in Arizona. In six years, clients have created 567 jobs, generated $154.5 million in sales revenue and raised over $83.4 million in private equity capital, grant funding, and awards.

The Center for Entrepreneurial Innovation (CEI) was created on the GateWay Community College Campus to address two problems that were holding Phoenix back. First, there were no affordable commercial lab spaces for scientists and engineers to complete their research and develop new products in Central Arizona. Second, the region lacked high-quality, well-paying jobs.

Leaders at the Maricopa County Community College District saw a connection between these two deficiencies and knew that developing a business incubator tailored to biotech and life science startups could lead to the job growth needed in our state. With support from the City of Phoenix and a grant from the Economic Development Administration, CEI was built to provide space for entrepreneurs to launch their startup.

After opening, it became clear that many innovators in our community wanted to save lives and had the technology to back it up, but they lacked the business acumen to commercialize their products. Fortunately, many of them have been willing to take on the challenge of starting a business, often with no

Website: www.ceigateway.com Blog: www.ceigateway.com/blog/

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Why Phoenix?

prior experience doing so. That’s why CEI specializes in supporting entrepreneurs as they enter competitive markets for the first time. We strive to give our clients the skills necessary to make the leap from researcher to CEO, so they’re ready to lead scalable companies upon graduation.

CEI’s incubation program is rooted in long-term, integrated business counseling. When new clients join us, they get far more than an office or lab; they become a part of the CEI family. That means working down the hall from other entrepreneurs who want to lend a hand. That means access to industry experts who can provide clarity in a sea of overwhelm. And most of all, that means gaining our team of on-staff advisors who are ready to pull them through a crisis or cheer them onto victory at a moment’s notice.

We ask our clients the difficult questions, help them anticipate future roadblocks, coach them toward their next big milestones, and remind them to get some rest when stress is high. Everything we do is in service to our clients because we believe they have the potential to make an impact in Arizona and beyond.

Over the last six years, we’ve learned that innovation takes time and it’s tough to build a successful company alone. CEI is a place for founders to learn, grow, and refine their ideas without ever losing sight of the big picture: to get their life-saving products to market. Not only do we help them commercialize and scale, we offer a community that fosters their passion for entrepreneurship so that they can weather the ups and downs of launching a business. Ultimately, we help our clients achieve their mission so we can achieve ours, which is to create meaningful jobs in our community.

Phoenix is more than just a supportive environment for entrepreneurs — it’s a nurturing one. Everyone, from our leaders in local government to our educators at community colleges, goes the extra mile to make sure Phoenix Area businesses of all shapes and sizes have the opportunity to succeed here.

The Future of Innovation To achieve rapid innovation, we must build a critical mass of top-tier research and entrepreneurship in bioscience — both of which our local leaders have made significant commitments to. However, this momentum can only be sustained if Arizona’s workforce is prepared to fill the jobs that come with this industry. To make sure our community is ready, CEI will launch Arizona’s first workforce training and certification center for biotech and life science in the near future.

Advice & Best Practices First, there are strong entrepreneurial communities all over the Phoenix Valley, so don’t be afraid to cross municipality lines to attend events and meet new people.

Second, share what you know honestly and openly, because you’ll quickly realize that everyone here is willing to do the same for you.

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HEALTH INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS (HIMS) Khalid Al-Maskari: CEO You can’t solve a problem on the same level it was created, you have to rise above it to the next level.

—Albert Einstein

Introduction Health Information Management Systems (HiMS) is harnessing the power of technology to create value-based care tools for integrated healthcare providers. The company creates innovative solutions that lead to better outcomes, lower costs, and higher-quality care. One of its primary offerings is its user-friendly and mobile-optimized Axiom Electronic Health Records (EHR) software platform that helps clinics navigate key patient information without having to sift through the clutter. Unlike many legacy EHR offerings, Axiom was designed with the end-user in mind, with a focus on workflow and efficiency, and is uniquely customizable.

EHR software. It didn’t take him long to realize how behind the company’s technology was. He was confident that he could create a better solution. It took a great deal of trial and error, but he succeeded in his endeavors. In 2014, AlMaskari founded HiMS to provide an efficient and customizable EHR platform built specifically for the integrated healthcare industry.

HiMS’ primary purpose is to enhance the overall user experience to fit the exact needs of behavioral health clinicians. It does this by looking at the big picture of healthcare innovation and releasing bi-monthly software additions and updates that customers can access at no extra cost. By using a subscription model rather than a pay per service model, HiMS can make its technology more seamless for its users. The company is also hyper-focused on generating consistent feedback from its customers to improve its products continuously.

Additionally, HiMS sets itself apart from its competition through its unique focus on the behavioral health market and Axiom’s easily customizable interface. Axiom can meet the needs of each clinic without the need for coding— something that most other EHR software platforms lack. Although all EHR software solutions are customizable to a degree, HiMS delivers superior value by greatly simplifying the process.

HiMS is also the only known EHR software company that includes a custom form-builder feature that’s core to the product, helping to eliminate the need for paper records. Proper forms are critical for higher patient engagement,

Website: www.hmsfirst.com www.hmsfirst.com/blog

Innovation Story Khalid-Al Maskari founded HiMS after serving as an IT consultant for a Behavioral Health Organization. What was meant to be three weeks looking at the company’s software quickly turned into a full-time position, where he learned the complexities, clinical requirements, and regulations surrounding

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operational excellence, and compliance, and HiMS is determined to continue leading the market in this area. Because clinics require a variety of forms to treat and manage patients appropriately, HiMS developed an intuitive solution within its platform. With other EHR software, building custom forms is extremely costly and can take months to be completed.

To be an innovation leader, HiMS understands the importance of putting employees first. The company is incredibly focused on its employees. Of everything HiMS has accomplished, the company is most proud of its company culture and the contributions of its employees. HiMS understands that when employees are well taken care of and when an ownership mentality is encouraged, the possibilities are endless. The company’s employees see HiMS as part of their long-term future and are excited to see HiMS continue to grow.

As the needs of the behavioral health EHR market change, HiMS will be at the forefront of innovation and a rising star to watch in the next decade. The company’s potential for innovation is near limitless, with new advancements continuously on the horizon.

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entire state has to offer, including in Tucson, where we have an additional Arizona office.

The Future of Innovation In terms of EHR software technology, the future will consist of more advanced AI to help healthcare professionals continue reducing administrative costs while providing more intuitive services. By consistently improving AI technology, healthcare experts will have more time to focus on treating patients without diverting their attention.

This increase in clinical decision support will make healthcare operations more efficient, allowing providers to treat more patients per day.

Advice & Best Practices 1. Never stop thinking of new ways to improve and innovate. There’s always something that can be done better, faster, and more efficiently.

2. Collaboration is king. Always listen to the customer’s needs and incorporate their feedback into your product or service offering.

Why Phoenix?

Phoenix offers a friendly environment in which to do business and great opportunities for economic growth—especially in the healthcare technology industry. We also enjoy all the sunshine and natural wonders that the

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GLOBALMED Joel E. Barthelemy: Founder & CEO

People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

—Maya Angelou

Introduction

Innovation Story

• 120 employees • GlobalMed designs, manufactures and deploys fully integrated telehealth software and hardware and cloud solutions • Major customers: Department of Veterans Affairs, Defense Health Agency (DoD), the White House Medical Unit and Insurance Payers • Over 15 million consults delivered in 55 countries.

• Founded in 2002 by a Marine Corps Reserve Veteran still serving as CEO, GlobalMed is proud to be a Veteran Owned Small Business (VOSB).

Minnesota is the backdrop for one reason I founded GlobalMed, a company whose mission is to improve the delivery of healthcare through innovation.

My dad was a U.S. Army veteran of both World War II and the Korean War, to which he lost much of his hearing. His retirement years in St. Cloud included monthly visits to audiology specialists at the Veterans Health Administration (VA) hospital at Fort Snelling near Minneapolis. Dad would wake up at 5:30 a.m., drive to the VA bus stop in St. Cloud, and ride two hours to his appointment. He’d wait to see his audiologist. Once seen, he’d wait around the rest of the day for his 85-mile bus ride north. It was usually a 13-hour day.

Mind you, dad lived less than a mile from the most beautiful VA hospital in Minnesota. But it had no audiology specialist. He took an entire day out of his month to fine tune his hearing, so he could communicate with his grandkids. That bothered me.

Website: www.globalmed.com

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After the dotcom bubble burst around 2001, I thought about the potential opportunities within medicine, and about my dad trudging halfway across Minnesota for routine care. I also looked at our country’s outdated healthcare system and decided I didn’t want to be stuck in that same system in 20 years.

How could my technology experience help provide affordable, available, reliable healthcare?

Remote Arizona became my inspiration. In the Native American reservations spread across the state’s desolate landscape, the need was clear: people required healthcare no matter where they lived, and technology was the way to bring providers to their patients.

The Havasupai Native American tribe lives at the bottom of a canyon within Grand Canyon National Park, with little or no modern technology or electronic communication with the outside world. The only way in or out of the canyon is by pack mule or helicopter—a big problem when someone needs medical attention. But my company has solved that problem with a portable “clinic in a box” that enables Havasupai patients to be seen via telehealth, either at Flagstaff Medical Center in Flagstaff (FMC), or by a specialist located in Phoenix or Tucson.

This “clinic in a box” is an example of real-world innovation. Known as the Transportable Exam Station™ (TES), it can be solar-powered with a battery that lasts for up to a day. TES uses 3G, 4G and soon 5G or satellite communications to reach remote providers. It can measure vital signs, aid in primary care, ENT, dermatology, urology, cardiology, behavioral consults and even to help place a PICC line.

This virtual care technology has made healthcare potentially accessible everywhere. With the right equipment, software and connectivity for each healthcare setting, care can be delivered to patients in the most difficult-to-reach

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spots and the most challenging environments. Innovative healthcare delivery systems can be a great equalizer. Military service members, veterans, Native Americans, isolated tribes around the globe, oil-rig workers, the President of the United States—maybe even you—are all my most important patients.

My own life has changed in ways I never anticipated upon moving to Phoenix nearly 30 years ago. I enjoy meeting providers and patients whose stories of struggle often go untold, and leaving their lives healthier, more supported and more connected.

Why Phoenix?

There’s space to build something here, physically and temperamentally. The wealth of new graduates, new residents, and new ideas are really an entrepreneur’s dream.

We leverage Phoenix’s highly-skilled workforce and ecosystem. And I would be remiss to not mention the stunning natural beauty as a continual source of inspiration, no matter what line of work one is in.

Advice & Best Practices Cast a wide net. There’s opportunity and inspiration in unexpected places here, so make time to truly explore the greater Phoenix area. Second, take advantage of what’s around us to keep yourself grounded during the difficult times. There’s something healing in the quiet isolation of wild places.

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VIRTUAL CARE PLATFORM

Life365 provides an innovative Virtual Care Platform that brings a range of care management solutions and services to patients at home and outside traditional points of care.

Life365 streamlines integration and deployment of solutions, enabling healthcare payers and providers to implement and maintain remote care management programs efficiently and economically.

The Life365 founding team, led by CEO Kent Dicks, has brought innovative remote care technology to market since 2006. Kent’s previous start up, MedApps, helped shape the mobile health landscape, creating one of the first affordable IoT solutions in healthcare.

Now, Life365 is dedicated to connecting more people and care providers with a new generation of digital health tools on an integrated platform. From technology to clinical support provided by one of the nation’s largest medical services providers, the Life365 platform facilitates alignment and distribution of healthcare goods 104

and services for remote care management, enabling providers and payers to benefit from new reimbursement opportunities available as of 2020.

Today’s digital health companies are creating a wide range of sensor-based products for diagnostics, and software solutions for user engagement. Unfortunately, these companies are approaching the market disparately. Physicians don’t have the resources to vet what works, how to get the best solutions in patients’ hands, and then integrate them into their clinical workflow.

With a single integration point, the Life365 platform increases interoperability and improves effectiveness among disparate digital health solutions, facilitating significant cost savings and enabling clinicians to make informed treatment decisions from biometric and engagement data gathered wherever patients are located.

ENABLING CONSUMER EM POWERED HEALTHCARE – ANYWHERE. ANYTIME.

Life365’s integrated solutions arm clinicians and patients with the tools needed to drive better outcomes, while fulfilling the need to deliver a broader, more diverse range of health and care products to consumers who make up payer populations.

Integrated solutions include connected health devices, software platforms, remote monitoring services, education, coaching and nurse navigation. The spectrum of services offered enables alignment of the right solutions with the right users, to drive better engagement that helps keep healthcare consumers connected to their care teams—every day.

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EPIFINDER I could either watch it happen or be a part of it.

—Elon Musk (Founder of SpaceX and Tesla)

Innovation Story

Introduction EpiFinder is a software development company on a mission to help people find their epiphany. As a healthcare company, EpiFinder’s goal is to help patients and their doctors track and collect their symptoms towards reducing misdiagnosis. The EpiFinder Patient app helps people with health and wellness tracking as well as a sign and symptom diary. On the healthcare professional side, EpiFinder’s Tool uses an evidence-based algorithm to guide the clinician to ask the right questions, organize a patient’s signs and symptoms, and provide a differential. Coincidentally, epilepsy found us. Epilepsy experts have asked us to help improve the 60% accuracy rate of epilepsy syndrome diagnosis in the primary care setting. Many patients complain that they typically suffer for 7-10 years before they can find the expert that correctly identifies their epilepsy. In a recent Mayo Clinic study, EpiFinder’s tool was tested on epilepsy patients and found to be 86.8% accurate, on par with epilepsy experts that are typically 87% accurate. Our current objective is to put this tool into the hands of every primary care doctor and their patients so that epilepsy can be diagnosed more accurately from the start. Our ultimate goal is to end misdiagnosis of all disease.

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When EpiFinder’s founder was in medical school, he was bedridden with an autoimmune-looking condition. Going from doctor to doctor at his own medical school, he soon came to the realization that he was alone and that no one could help him. Instead of learning to live with the debilitating condition and accepting the inevitable, he utilized his medical training and talent with computers to create an algorithmic model of medicine. The model helped him to organize the scattered medical information into a single computable map.

Using this, he was able to diagnose his condition, map out the pathophysiology of and root cause, and this enabled him to work with his doctors to find the most appropriate treatment for his condition. Fully recovered and in the process of returning to medical school, his system identified patients suffering from rare and chronic conditions that were misdiagnosed.

With the ability to diagnose over 3000 medical conditions, epilepsy experts found and asked our founder to focus the system’s attention on epilepsy. Epilepsy is actually a spectrum of over 60 rare medical syndromes with different causes that have seizures as their common sign or symptom. In the U.S., there are over 3.4 million individuals diagnosed with epilepsy. Within the 150,000 new cases every year, 40% are misdiagnosed, suffering from uncontrollable seizures, and incurring significant healthcare costs due to misdiagnosis and mismanagement. Patients suffer anywhere from 7 to 10 years before doctors properly diagnose the epilepsy syndrome type.

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When epilepsy is not correctly identified and quickly treated properly, patients can experience poor health outcomes, including sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP). EpiFinder’s tool has been shown to improve the accuracy and time of diagnosis, using an evidence-based algorithm. It does this by guiding the doctors to thoroughly and quickly gather the best sign and symptom data from the patient, summarizing the information in a clinically relevant way, and then providing a transparent differential.

EpiFinder has received numerous local, national, and international awards including Changemaker Entrepreneurial Team of the Year, the Spirit of Enterprise award, the BioAccel Award, the Flinn Foundation Award, the National Stevie Award (twice), and the Global IT award.

Dr. Joseph Sirven, former Chair of Neurology at Mayo Clinic and former Editor-In-Chief of Epilepsy.com, stated, “EpiFinder helps doctors get to the right epilepsy diagnosis.

This is a powerful application to help doctors and other healthcare professionals (NPs, PAs) to get to the diagnosis and help improve the lives of the people.” EpiFinder’s tool proved its efficacy through a recent Mayo Clinic study, which showed that the tool accurately screened for epilepsy 87% of the time.

Why Phoenix?

Phoenix is rising as a technology hotspot. This is due in large part to Arizona State University’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation initiatives at SkySong. ASU has been #1 in Innovation over Stanford and MIT for 4 years running, and it is no coincidence that EpiFinder has been affiliated with them during that period. Scottsdale and the metropolitan Phoenix area offer economic stability, connections, events like #yesphx, and mentors and advisors who are willing to give their expertise to your company.

Advice & Best Practices To be a successful innovator, it is important to focus on the 3 P’s: 1. Passion: be interested in and excited about what you do 2. Perseverance: stay focused on your goal and keep at it 3. Patience: push through the obstacles and difficult circumstances Website: www.epifinder.com Blog: www.epifinder.com/blog/

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COLLEGE OF HEALTH SOLUTIONS, ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY Deborah Helitzer: Dean & Professor A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader, a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves.

—Eleanor Roosevelt

Deborah Helitzer, Dean of the College of Health Solutions at ASU.

Helitzer and students share their College of Health Solutions pride.

Introduction

Innovation Story

The College of Health Solutions at Arizona State University was formed in 2012 to offer students an education in ten health disciplines. In 2017, the college launched a major effort to achieve its mission to address the nation’s most pressing health challenges, eliminating disciplinary divisions and better positioning itself to improve health through interdisciplinary research, education and service. The College of Health Solutions prepares students to reimagine health and help people achieve a better quality of life. The college is dedicated to translating scientific health research and discovery into practice to improve health outcomes for people and communities.

In 2018, $3.6 trillion was spent nationally on health care, which is nearly 18% of the country’s GDP. Yet, the United States has some of the worst health outcomes among industrialized nations. The largest portion of health spending in the United States is for chronic conditions, many of which can be prevented and managed with lifestyle changes. And while preventable health conditions account for 60 percent of premature deaths, insufficient public funding goes toward addressing the societal and environmental factors that inhibit good health.

ASU leaders recognized that change is needed to tackle the nation’s pressing health challenges — that’s why the College of Health Solutions began a total transformation.

When the college formed, it was a collection of disparate academic units on three campuses with faculty working in isolation. In 2017, Deborah Helitzer was recruited as the college’s new dean. A proven change agent, she began a large-scale effort to better align the college’s mission with the ASU charter, which says, in part, that it must take responsibility for health outcomes in the communities it serves. The college had great strengths, but was not organized in a way that delivered on this aspect of the charter’s promise.

Website: www.chs.asu.edu

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Community members engage with the College of Health Solutions for hearing screenings.

Helitzer led more than 300 internal and external stakeholders — including ASU leaders, faculty, staff, students, community members and health system representatives — to reimagine what the college could be to make a difference in health. A team was formed to analyze data and create a vision for the college.

Traditionally, colleges do not design themselves from the ground up. This was a unique experience for faculty, staff and external stakeholders to work together to design the future of their college. Participants were encouraged to express their hopes and ideas for what the college could be and not feel bound by what it was. After numerous sessions, a new vision and structure for the college emerged. The result is a college reinvented from every angle, by the people who know it best.

Stakeholders agreed that collaboration, integrated education programs and community engagement would enable the college to impact population health.

Incorporating this into a college structure wasn’t easy. To realize the vision, primary functions were centralized and all schools and departments within the college were disestablished.

The college is now poised to improve health outcomes. This is happening in multiple ways: by creating opportunities for students to apply entrepreneurial strategies to health problems, through research on chronic disease prevention, and with collaboration on policies and practices that directly address social determinants of health. New networks are emerging. Translational teams test interventions to positively impact significant health problems, while affinity networks explore a methodology or an opportunity for improvement in research and education. All students get experiential learning opportunities that broaden their skills and better position them for employment. Faculty now come together from all areas of expertise.

Given the opportunity to dream big, stakeholders developed one of the most creative college models in the nation. Helitzer credits ASU’s culture of innovation

that encourages risk-taking as the linchpin in the success of the redesign, as well as the ASU charter with its directives of inclusion, economic development and responsibility for community health.

“I’m excited for the possibility this gives ASU to make a significant and lasting impact on the health outcomes of our communities,” Helitzer said. “I look forward to all that we will accomplish together.”

Why Phoenix?

Phoenix is ideal for innovation because of its growth, talented workforce and unmatched quality of life. The state has a highly diverse population that is underserved, lacks access to health care and is at higher risk for chronic illnesses like obesity and diabetes. Our solutions can make a real difference.

Advice & Best Practices • Get many people involved in reimagining how your organization can help the community.

• Encourage and appreciate diversity. Our Phoenix location gives us the opportunity to bring together many different backgrounds and points of view.

• Facilitate collaboration and build alliances. Phoenix is home to ASU, number one in innovation according to U.S. News & World Report, making it the ideal incubator for new ideas.

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MARICOPA CORPORATE COLLEGE (MCOR)

Working with Maricopa Corporate College exceeded our expectations and this program made a tangible difference to our staff.

—Diane Fox, Corporate Director of Training for GroupeSTAHL

Introduction

Innovation Story

Maricopa Corporate College (MCOR) was established by the Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD) in 2013 to serve as a single point of contact for employers interested in partnering with MCCCD to educate and empower Arizona’s workforce. The creation of the corporate college, in and of itself, was an innovation, as the District sought to generate additional revenue, following a nearly $40 million decrease in state funding to the system in 2012 and a complete funding cut in 2016.

When it comes to workforce development and corporate engagement, collaboration between education and business is key. Collaboration, open communication, and a commitment to listening to employers’ needs create an opportunity for partnerships to form and innovation to thrive. It is this willingness to listen to the needs of an insurance employer with a large presence in the Valley that led to the development of our Corporate Education Concierge service.

Through our conversations, we heard a few major pain points from this organization that was seeking to provide up-front employee tuition assistance:

Since its inception, MCOR has generated more than $4.5 million, developed several unique products, and bridged access to education for job seekers and incumbent employees alike. As an entity of MCCCD, MCOR has been referred to as a national leader with its innovative and responsive corporate college model.

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Maricopa Corporate College 2323 West 14th Street, Tempe, AZ 85281 Email: info@maricopacorporate.com Phone: +1-480-377-2700 Website: www.maricopacorporate.com

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Only a small percentage of employees were utilizing this benefit Those who were utilizing it were finding it difficult to navigate the college experience and often did not have time to visit or attend a physical college campus Employees reported confusion with tuition benefit guidelines and requirements Students utilizing tuition benefits needed advising and coaching to map education pathways for career advancement more accurately Handling billing for several hundred employees at multiple colleges was difficult

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After hearing these concerns, we worked together to develop a solution that addressed all of the major challenges of the current system. Our Corporate Education Concierge service has three main components: onsite student support, onsite college classes, and customized third-party billing.

be customized to support organizational goals and employee needs. Through our 10 colleges we have hundreds of academic programs to offer, starting with general education courses and ranging into certificates of completion in Organizational Leadership or Insurance Studies, for example.

Onsite Student Support

Customized Third-Party Billing

To assist employees in navigating the college experience, a member of our staff is onsite at our clients’ locations, or available virtually for remote work, throughout the week to provide advising and enrollment assistance. This allows employees to save time, avoid excess credits, and achieve their educational goals. Our staff is also well versed in our participating employers’ tuition assistance requirements and often uses these appointments to help students navigate that process as well.

As the semester progresses, advisors continue to meet with employees to check in and encourage course completion.

Through this personalized and dedicated approach, we have seen an 88% successful course completion rate, significantly higher than both the industry average and the average within our community college system. The convenience of these services has also led to a higher rate of persistence and a larger percentage of employees utilizing the benefit each semester.

Imagine the strain that handling separate billing for hundreds of employees’ tuition, books, and fees could put on an organization’s finance department. We take the hassle out of billing, too, by combining all employees’ bills from our 10 colleges and their bookstores into one convenient, monthly bill for our employer partners. By offering this billing component, our clients have continued to scale their tuition programs without having to worry about the capacity of their finance departments.

Since our initial conversations with one employer more than five years ago, we have expanded this service to multiple employers and hundreds of employees per semester. With employers offering more than $20 billion in tuition assistance per year, we plan to continue to grow and evolve this product, allowing more Arizona employees to seamlessly and conveniently access the quality education provided by the Maricopa Community Colleges.

Onsite College Classes For even greater convenience for employees, we may offer college courses onsite at the employer’s location. These courses often satisfy general education requirements that apply to most associate degrees; however, course options can

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TRAINUAL Chris Ronzio: Founder & CEO

We believe business should be easy. And we’re passionate about process.

—Chris Ronzio

Introduction Trainual is the modern training manual for businesses, making it easy for business owners to grow and scale their teams faster than ever. Our platform helps companies build a centralized operations and training manual to automate and simplify onboarding, training, and knowledge transfer. As companies grow, the policies and processes that drive the business can get chaotic, scattered, and misinterpreted. We believe every company should have a business playbook, and our mission is to make small business easier by automating training manuals for companies around the world.

The entrepreneurial spirit began young for Trainual founder and CEO, Chris Ronzio. Before the age of 25, Chris built and sold a nationwide video production company, where he managed a team of 300+ camera operators. The dire need for standard operating procedures within that company inspired his next venture, an operations consulting firm called Organize Chaos. After helping hundreds of entrepreneurs create scalable systems and processes, Chris developed a passion for helping business leaders find the time to do more of what they love by providing a way to document and delegate what they do. Trainual was born out of that passion in combination with the many business playbooks he created for his consulting clients.

Although Trainual serves every size business, our passion for small business is what sets us apart from other learning management systems that cater to enterprise companies. Creating a formal playbook has long been a best practice for large enterprises, but small businesses usually lack the time and expertise

Website: www.trainual.com

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to effectively systematize what they do so well. Our easy-to-use and affordable platform makes it easy for any business owner to start documenting what they do and create interactive training manuals to train, grow, and scale their teams.

Trainual plans to help 25,000 companies grow and scale by the end of 2022.

Since the platform launched to the public in 2018, Trainual’s success includes winning the esteemed Arizona Innovation Challenge, as well as the inaugural DesTechAZ 2019 Most Promising Startup award. Trainual has been named in the top four Frontrunners of Learning Management by SoftwareAdvice.com, as a market leader by G2Crowd.com, and No. 1 for Training, Onboarding, and Business Process Management by Capterra.com. Trainual also won the Phoenix Entrepreneurial Opportunity Contest hosted by Phoenix Business Journal and BBVA. Find us at trainual.com or find us on any social media platform under our handle @trainual.

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PROMINEO TECH

Promineo Tech, founded by Nick Suwyn in June of 2018, is a technology school with a social mission–to make education in software development and related technologies affordable, accessible, and low-risk. Their unique, Outcome Based Agreements (OBAs) allows students to pay for their education only after acquiring gainful employment.

Promineo means to stand out, which is exactly what Promineo Tech does.

The rise of coding boot camps in 2012-2013 looked to lessen the technical skills gap prevalent in the industry and provide students a quicker, handson opportunity, as an alternative to traditional degrees, to break into tech careers. This model skyrocketed over the next half-decade; however, the results were mixed. Some students experienced success and landed great jobs in software development, while many students found themselves making payments on high-interest loans and being no closer to finding tech careers. Nick set out to solve this problem.

As a software engineer and educator, Nick realized that the current, service-based model of higher education needed to be shifted to an

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outcome-based model to ensure a school’s primary focus was their student’s success. While Income Share Agreements (ISAs) came into existence a couple of years ago, these were only a step in the right direction. ISAs allowed students to pay no tuition upfront in return for agreeing to pay a percentage of their salary for a few years after landing a job. These agreements helped lower the financial risk to attend school but ended up with students paying significantly more than the average boot camp’s tuition in the long run. After a lot of research and deliberating, Nick came up with something called an Outcome-Based Agreement (OBA), which, like an ISA, allowed students to repay their tuition only once they found employment. However, the tuition repayment for an OBA was the same, flat rate for all students, and they knew exactly how much they’d pay once they landed a job.

With this model, Promineo Tech launched its first cohort in June of 2018 and has been helping students become software developers since. Their original OBAs have driven unique, internal quality, and student focus that has led to the success of many students landing jobs as software developers they couldn’t have dreamed up 18 weeks earlier (the length of their programs). Because of their students’ success, they’ve been able to white label their content and offer their programs, in partnership with other institutes, across a rapidly growing, national market. Giving many more students access to the high-demand technology education they need to enter the industry, without crippling financial burdens accumulated through traditional education pathways.

Address: 12211 W Bell Rd #107-E, Surprise, AZ 85378 Phone: +1-480-744-7842 Website: www.promineotech.com PromineoTech

promineo-tech

promineotech

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CRADL Brad Snyder & Brandon Clarke: Co-founders

The key question to keep asking is, Are you spending your time on the right things? Because time is all you have.

—Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

Introduction

Innovation Story

Formed in 2016, CRADL is a partnership between Brad Snyder and Brandon Clarke focused on putting Phoenix at the forefront of exploration and innovation in technologies, media, products, and services that help delight, and even save children and families. CRADL’s mission is to help professionals and entrepreneurs recognize that children are students and athletes and brothers and sisters and gamers and much more—at the same time. Programming, educating and creating with the whole child in mind will result in better products and services that will move society from reaction and symptom-treating towards solutions, more supportive communities, and a stronger economy.

As proud fathers, our children are at the center of our worlds and, along with our wives, we are incredibly grateful to have the means to provide them a life of comfort and adventure. As entrepreneurs with several ventures between us, we’ve aligned our passion for what inspires the life and learning of kids with our individual skill sets. Brad as a child-life specialist, author, researcher, and founder of New Amsterdam Consulting, and Brandon as an avid youth sports coach, startup mentor, and co-founder of the StartupAZ Foundation.

CRADL is poised to tackle big challenges facing today’s youth. Starting with mental health therapy in schools and the factors that affect school climate, we are in the early stages of developing WEXLER; a platform that will help millions of troubled students that lack access to resources to help cope with incidents of bullying, abuse, neglect, and other childhood traumas. Only 4.2% of school districts in the U.S. provide adequate access to counselors, yet nearly 45 million children have survived an Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE). WEXLER is designed to triage and de-escalate common and even notso-common situations which in turn, will help make classrooms more productive, campuses safer, and improve the overall learning environment. The goal is to provide students with actionable tools and situational-relevant resources based on their needs while beginning to develop a circle-of-care with parents/guardians, teachers, and mental health professionals. Where possible, CRADL leverages the talent within the local startup community, partnering with innovative entrepreneurs who have the market-defining technologies that help move WEXLER forward.

CRADL is also evaluating a connectivity platform designed to reduce the unacceptably high turnover

Website: cradl.co

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Why Phoenix?

rate of foster parents and the multiple placements that plague children in the foster care system. The objective is to create a community which centers on better resourcing caregivers and providing actionable techniques and trainings based on the needs of the youth in their care. In partnership with Foster Arizona—a young and ambitious non-profit that works tirelessly in the foster care community—we aim to reduce the current 80% turnover rate of foster care parents by 30% in two years. Better resourced caregivers create a more sustainable environment and less disruption for our nearly 18,000 displaced youth in the state of Arizona.

And finally, CRADL’s signature event, the Cross-Border Youth Summit, was our way of reacting and responding to the increasingly louder and more vitriolic rhetoric, targeting the heritage of children and youth ins the Southwest. CBYS was designed to be an opportunity to convene middle school students from Mexico and the United States to share experiences and propose solutions on topics ranging from prejudice and bullying to commerce, education, and media.

CBYS 2018 hosted over 250 students from both countries who collectively made impactful statements about how they wish to be portrayed in the media, educated in their schools, engage positively with their peers in person and over social media, and generally treated by the companies making the products they consume. The plan for CBYS 2019 is nearly 800 students with an expanded agenda, a higher-level of engagement, and even higher quality connectivity.

Greater Phoenix is well positioned to become the place to develop products and services for a more culturally diverse population. The demographics of Arizona now match what the demographics of the overall U.S. population are predicted to be in the coming decades, making this region the perfect lab to develop and test products, strategies, and business models in education, healthcare, transportation, and media.

Advice & Best Practices Find a big problem that you’re passionate about that needs solving in a large enough market to make a sustainable and growing business out of it. If you lack experience in the industry or sector, find a job that allows you to build your expertise and become the most qualified person to solve the problem. 90% of startups fail. Avoid being in the majority by overpreparing. Ideas are easy, execution is hard. Find your tribe! “Surround yourself with people that push you to do and be better. No drama or negativity. Just higher goals and higher motivation. Good times and positive energy.

No jealousy or hate. Simply bringing out the absolute best in each other.” - Warren Buffett

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SCITECH INSTITUTE

Chance favors the prepared mind.

Introduction

—Louis Pasteur

in nature since Dr. Tsien had started multiple companies. Dr. Babendure and his lab partner decided start their own company based on technology developed in the lab. They actually landed venture capital funds until competitive intellectual property emerged and the venture capitalists favored it over ours.

Despite that setback, it turned out to be a fantastic opportunity, since Dr. Tsien decided to fund Dr. Babendure to develop and implement outreach programs for schools. Dr. Babendure subsequently raised $12M to build an operation in San Diego that included professional development for teachers. It ultimately led him to launching the San Diego Science Festival in order to inspire today’s students to become tomorrow’s science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) innovators. The Festival was a huge success by all measures.

With San Diego solidly on the track to improving STEM education and awareness, Dr. Babendure began to think about replicating the model in Arizona.

He grew up in Phoenix and wanted to come back home. He was fortunate to find an incredible supporter in Dr. Michael Crow, president of Arizona State University (ASU), who provided the seed capital in 2010. Steve Zylstra, president & CEO of the Arizona Technology Council began opening many doors and Flinn Foundation provided the first investment beyond ASU. It felt like it was all coming back fullcircle since Dr. Babendure was named a Flinn Scholar as an undergraduate at ASU. Since 2012, the Arizona SciTech Festival hosts a series of expo and exhibitions held in diverse neighborhoods informs Arizonans from ages 3 to 103 about how STEM will drive our state for the next 100 years. Spearheaded by the Arizona Commerce Authority, Arizona Science Center, the Arizona Technology Council, Arizona Board of Regents, the University of Arizona and ASU, the Arizona SciTech Festival is a wildly successful grass roots collaboration.

SciTech Institute is dedicated to supporting STEM education by developing and implementing projects, programs, STEM bowls and festivals that focus on STEM. The purpose of this support is to motivate students to seek educational and career paths in STEM-related fields. Established as a conduit for collaboration among science & technology-oriented nonprofits, industry and academia, SciTech Institute serves to productively align science & technology-oriented assets, grants, resources and support by promoting and connecting Arizona’s industries, leaders and successes and building a world-class community of technology sophisticated workers.

Dr. Jeremy Babendure Executive Director, SciTech Institute +1-480-250-7764 Email: jbabendure@scitechinstitute.org Website: www.scitechinstitute.org

Innovation Story The genesis for the SciTech Institute can be attributed to Dr. Jeremy Babendure’s days working as a scientist in a lab in San Diego for Nobel Laurette Dr. Roger Tsien.

They were developing molecular sensors to better understand the nature of RNA and DNA molecular and biochemical mechanisms. The lab was entrepreneurial

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As it turned out, the Festival was just the first stepping stone to today’s SciTech Institute with a goal to build Arizona’s STEM ecosystem by connecting the dots of the talent pathways to the workforce. By creating a collective vision of STEM success for students of all ages and then cultivating cross-sector partnerships, the SciTech Institute inspires collaboration and highly engaged organization commitment.

The Chief Science Officer (CSO) program is another important pillar of the SciTech Institute. Imagine building tomorrow’s global leaders by empowering students today. Imagine these students represent peers from their community and work directly with industry leaders to envision the future workforce. Then, imagine the results of these students collaboratively addressing some of Phoenix’s toughest challenges with STEM. The CSO initiative is making this a reality! 6-12 grade students are elected by their peers as STEM leaders in their schools. CSOs undergo extensive workforce skills training to prepare them for their roles as the on-campus student voice for STEM and off-campus advocate.

What’s increasingly clear to Dr. Babendure is that the SciTech Institute’s programs are catalysts for broader community conversations such as rethinking economic development strategies and reassessing K-12 priorities. This catalytic role could be the most important long-term contribution of the SciTech Institute. Dr. Babendure will continue to focus on the needs of Arizona’s dynamic, transformative network of STEM advocates and look forward to growing this network with education, business, community and government partners throughout Phoenix and the entire state of Arizona.

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in many ways. Within a year of returning to Arizona from San Diego, Dr. Babendure was able to meet with key leaders and have them buy-in to a state-wide science festival.

The Future of Innovation Arizona boosts its economic prosperity when it connects a diverse group of next generation inventors and entrepreneurs with the businesses, educators and community members who can help them grow and succeed. Diversity must come from a perspective of race, gender and age so that we can continue to evolve.

Broader community dialogue is needed, such as rethinking economic development strategies and reassessing K-12 priorities. It’s critical to engage the public, build employees’ morale and influence students’ academic and career choices. Perhaps most importantly, the voice of the student must be included in conversations about STEM and innovation.

Advice & Best Practices The motto of the Chief Science Officer program is “don’t hope it happens, make it happen.” If you think of an idea but don’t begin having conversations, it only remains an idea. There are enablers like The SciTech Institute that can help not just believe in an idea but help make connections with others who will also see and believe in ideas to help move concepts to reality.

Why Phoenix?

Dr. Babendure’s ASU Flinn Foundation scholarship is a testimonial to Arizona’s excellent education opportunities. Phoenix also still operates as a small community

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BRODEUR PARTNERS Create relevance, not awareness.

—Steve Jobs

Introduction

Innovation Story

In a noisy world that bombards audiences with more messages than they can digest, Brodeur Partners is a branding, communications, and PR agency committed to helping clients in a wide range of sectors achieve and sustain relevance. When an organization is relevant, it can not only change minds, but behavior.

Brodeur differentiates itself by focusing on relevance, behavioral change, and the ability to bring a discipline-agnostic approach to its clients. Insights from the agency’s deep market and behavioral research have allowed it to develop powerful and effective campaigns that break through the noise in a crowded marketplace.

Despite opportunities to grow by acquiring larger firms, Brodeur has remained committed to serving the market as a mid-size global agency. Brodeur believes its current size allows the agency to remain agile and responsive to client needs, while also having the breadth and depth of resources and talent to deliver award-winning, full-service marketing, and communications campaigns.

Brodeur has also built a rock-solid culture based on prioritizing employee needs. By creating an atmosphere of respect, kindness, and inclusion, Brodeur understands that employees will remain committed to doing the best work possible, build stronger relationships with clients, and become an ambassador of the agency. The leadership team and senior staff at Brodeur also make it a point to ensure that every voice within the company is heard. A strong agency is built on the knowledge and expertise gained through experience, mixed with forward-thinking and innovative ideas developed through the cultivation of young and hungry talent.

Brodeur has applied these strategies and an award-winning culture to gain

Phone: +1-480-308-0300 Website: www.brodeur.com

Brodeur Partners was founded in 1985 by John Brodeur in Boston and he was later joined by Andrea Coville, who is now the CEO of Brodeur. It became one of the first global agencies to gain a foothold in Phoenix, where it has thrived for nearly 30 years. Today, Brodeur has a diverse portfolio consisting of key global markets, including education, energy, nonprofit, industrial, and healthcare.

Brodeur’s local clients range from large multinational mining operations and major electronic distributors and manufacturers to post-secondary educational institutions. Brodeur is also proud to represent key local nonprofit organizations such as the Arizona Technology Council and the Arizona Israel Technology Alliance.

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success on the East Coast, building a portfolio of some of the largest and most reputable companies in the world. This success is what prompted the agency to begin its journey in the Southwest. The company opened an office in Phoenix in 1996, positioning it to serve the region’s growth.

To continue its growth in the Phoenix region, Brodeur acquired TechTHiNQ in 2020, a boutique marketing communications and public relations firm focused on the technology sector. The acquisition allowed the agency to expand upon another guiding principle for the company: developing deep connections within the communities they serve. Clients added through the acquisition range from innovative startups in medtech to a multibillion-dollar electronics manufacturing technology company.

Today, Brodeur has more than 100 employees, with four offices in the US and 20 international offices, including Seoul, Rio de Janeiro, and London. The agency offers branding, messaging, content, social, media, websites, research, measurement, speaking opportunities, and event services, plus the strategy that brings it all together. Coville is especially proud of the fact that despite the agency’s growth and success, it has remained innovative—not complacent.

They have not sold out, and most importantly, they have remained true to their commitment to an outstanding culture for employees and clients alike.

Brodeur continues to set the standard for creating successful campaigns that can be applied to any market, focused on bolstering its private, public, and nonprofit clients’ relevance in the marketplace. That expertise, combined with the agency’s commitment to improving communities and workplaces through the development of dedicated programs and practices, has established Brodeur as the standout partner for marketing and communications innovation.

Andera Coville, CEO, Brodeur Partners

Milestones • Andy Coville, CEO Brodeur Partners, named one of PR News’ Top Women in PR, 2019 • Brodeur Partners named one of PRWeek’s Best Places to Work, 2017 • Benchmark Electronics (NYSE: BHE) named Large Company Innovator of the Year by the Arizona Technology Council and Arizona Commerce Authority at the 2018 Governor’s Celebration of Innovation (GCOI).

Customer Testimonials: “From crafting the right messages for our new website to making sure we’re included in the publications that matter most to our audiences, Brodeur Partners has been an outstanding communications partner.” —Teresa Lamberger, VP of Marketing and Strategic Solutions, Benchmark

Future of Innovation Successful marketing and communications are no longer about creating awareness or changing minds and opinions; it’s about finding insights that create meaning, which leads to behavioral change. It’s about becoming relevant. Brodeur’s innovative relevance methodology, and the future of its industry, is all about helping clients become more relevant by conducting thorough research and then developing campaigns that incite emotion and cause a sensory reaction.

Advice & Best Practices Improving relevance stems from deep insight into your brand’s target market, and then creating innovative campaigns to connect emotionally with the audience.

Brodeur CEO Andy Coville recommends starting with research, which is essential to developing the insight necessary to reach customers and create behavioral change.

Why Phoenix?

Brodeur opened its Phoenix office in the early ’90s because its leaders saw the potential growth of the innovation ecosystem here and haven’t been disappointed.

Over the past 30 years, Phoenix has become one of the top technology hubs in the nation and has grown into a leader in additional markets critical to Brodeur, such as healthcare, education, defense, and industrial.

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PRISM GLOBAL MARKETING SOLUTIONS

Do not go where the path may lead. Go instead, where there is no path and leave a trail.

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Innovation Story Elyse Flynn Meyer founded Prism Global Marketing Solutions in 2013. As an in-house leader of marketing and sales teams, she had experience building marketing and sales programs that drove revenue. From her experience with start-ups to Fortune 500 organizations to non-profits, the theme of utilizing an approach to marketing through content and connections with consumers always drove results, no matter what size company or industry.

However, a common issue she would hear from business owners is that marketing was always considered an expense, but not a revenue driver. That had to change. Elyse saw the growing need for organizations to scale their businesses using the inbound methodology. The inbound methodology is a process in which companies attract their target audience to their digital channels, convert them into qualified prospects, close them into customers and continue to engage with them to become longterm advocates for their brand. This gives companies significant benefits from their marketing dollars.

Elyse has worked with companies around the globe on their inbound programs that drive substantial results. The following are a few examples of the results: • $2.4 million in revenue generation in 2 months with marketing automation • 1407% increase in blog views over 2 months • 457% increase in new leads over 3 months • 1274% return on investment over 9 months The above metrics are driven from an integrated digital approach, including: search engine optimization, content, email, automation, lead generation, social media, conversion rate optimization, analytics, and more. It is through these inbound tactics working together that Elyse and her team are able to drive results for their clients in the short-term and long-term.

Elyse and her team continue to monitor the marketing landscape. There are always new technologies and techniques to test how they may better serve their clients. They continue to make sure they are at the forefront of innovative marketing and sales strategies.

Milestones

Introduction Prism Global Marketing Solutions is an award-winning inbound marketing agency and HubSpot Diamond Partner. They work with organizations around the globe to strategize, develop, and implement multi-faceted inbound marketing programs that drive business growth.

Phone: +1-480-720-8552 Website: www.prismglobalmarketing.com

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• • • •

2020 Women to Know & Do Business With In Phoenix HubSpot Impact Award for Integrations Innovation HubSpot Impact Award for Growth Marketing American Marketing Association Award for Marketing Automation • Top 10 HubSpot Solutions Provider in the United States (2 years in a row) • American Marketing Association 4 Under 40 Emerging Leaders • Top 10 Most Inspiring Women in Tech in 2019

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Elyse is featured on Forbes.com as a contributor on digital marketing. In addition, Elyse has co-authored 3 books including, “Brand YOU, Brand NEW,” a book dedicated to professional development and personal branding.

“Finding Prism Global Marketing has been instrumental in taking our marketing program to an entirely new level using a range of digital inbound tools.” – Peter Ruzicka, Agricen

Innovation Innovation is recognizing a challenge in the marketplace and turning that into a solution that adds value to the customer, enhances people’s lives and jobs, and adds positive value back to the community.

Advice Never stop learning. Continuing to seek opportunities to improve your skill set, broaden your knowledge base, and maximize your value is absolutely critical to your success in today’s marketplace.

Phoenix Phoenix is a true hub for innovation and entrepreneurship in the United States. As the 5th largest city in the country, Phoenix has an exceptional talent pool of individuals for business growth, and has comprehensive resources for entrepreneurs and technology companies to grow and thrive.

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WIRED PR Beth Cochran – Founder/CEO

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.

– Dr. Seuss

Introduction

Perspective on Innovation

Wired PR launched in Phoenix in June 2008 with a vision to blend traditional PR with new media –– podcasts, blogs, video –– to share the unique stories of companies doing great things and the impassioned people behind them making it happen. The goal was to use alternative media to make impactful connections.

In 2010: Co-created FoodiesLive, a live-streamed cooking show featuring Arizona chefs.

In November 2013: Founded SuccessLab, a mastermind group for Phoenix entrepreneurs.

In 2017: In partnership with AKOS, co-created the TechTalent Awards, a program dedicated to honoring Arizona’s top emerging tech talent Today, we’re a lean, mean team of tech and marketing geeks serving some of the largest, most innovative tech companies in Phoenix

In 2008, the concept of “new media” was just beginning to take root. Coming from a background in journalism and PR, I saw this as an opportunity to reshape the way stories were told. In June of that year, I started Wired PR with a focus on leveraging new media and content marketing to provide impassioned business leaders and brands new ways to share their stories without being bound by media gatekeepers.

We’ve since grown to a small, but mighty team (some know us as the Golden Girls), plus the four dogs who head our HR (humor relations) department. Over the years, we’ve launched numerous podcasts, co-created and produced a live-streamed, interactive culinary show called FoodiesLive, launched several web series, and co-created the TechTalent Awards in partnership with agile digital agency AKOS – all of which have highlighted some of the coolest happenings and people in Arizona.

Throughout our 10-year history, we’ve served clients all over the world and in a mix of industries, but truly found

Website: https://wiredprgroup.com/ Blog URL: https://wiredprgroup.com/blog/

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our niche with B2B technology and innovation companies. The teams behind these organizations are among the most passionate, smart, driven, and inspiring individuals, and we’ve been so proud to be able to help support their growth goals by sharing their amazing stories. Naturally, we love when we get to do this for local-grown companies – not only because it supports in their growth, it also helps shed some of the misconceptions about Arizona’s technology economy and the opportunity here.

We’re excited for what’s to come for the local tech and innovation community... it’s growing in leaps and bounds.

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innovative businesses and attracting several others away from the “unicorn” hubs.

We continually hear about a lack of tech talent, but hiring is truly a challenge across all business sectors. One challenge that is antecedent to the talent shortage, is reframing the misperceptions about Arizona. We have to demonstrate we’ve got hustle, resources, capital, and innovative thinkers here.

Advice & Best Practices Don’t be afraid to share your ideas. Be smart and protect them, but holding them too close to the vest makes it hard to get them off the ground.

Why Phoenix?

Go explore! The more you experience new things – places, cultures, local groups and events – the more you will be filled with inspiration and ideas.

There is so much opportunity to create here. Because we have a relatively young tech and innovation scene in Arizona, in many ways it feels like we have a clean slate to build whatever we can dream up. There is so much potential right now to make this community what we want.

The Future of Innovation We’ve come so far in just a few years time – incubating countless amazing

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LEADMD Justin Gray: CEO

The best way to predict the future is to invent it.

Introduction

—Alan Kay

I think innovation doesn’t have to be completely revolutionary; it just needs to be an area you’re leading with intentionality in a refreshing and productive way.

For example, we invested heavily in the look and feel of our building. This is something most companies of our size don’t spend money—or time—on. But we wanted to create an environment where collaboration and an entrepreneurial mindset are rewarded.

In our business, that means taking ownership based on business results. Yes, we all want to make profits, but really when you boil that down, it requires that you activate your team and clearly articulate how they’re going to contribute to the success of the organization. And it means empowering them to innovate and move obstacles out of their way to achieve that ultimate goal.

So we did all we could in how we structured the building in order to reflect and foster this. For instance, our conference room is a big glass fishbowl that’s literally in the center of our space. We did that because it’s where we all come together and collaborate and come up with ideas. Then we break out into group areas and work

Justin Gray is a serial entrepreneur, who has launched four multi-milliondollar companies, become a recognized speaker and been published over 350 times throughout his career. Justin is the CEO and founder of LeadMD, a role he’s held for the past ten years. He also co-founded PaidSuite, a SaaS payment technology provider, and led the company through a successful acquisition in 2017. He is the co-founder of Greyson Organics, an organic farm in rural Missouri he co-owns and operates with his father, as well.

Justin and his wife, Jennifer, met over marketing in 2013. They welcomed their first child in 2018 and their second child in 2019.

Website: www.leadmd.com

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on client projects and solving predominant market problems, which is the way we bring money in the door.

That’s innovative, and I also see innovation in how we’re fighting huge market trends of businesses buying technology and not having a clear roadmap on how to leverage it. We could take the easier road and just get people to buy tech, but instead we invest in educating and empowering our employees. We’re trying to make executives out of them; individuals who can coach and empower their own teams and our clients.

And then we challenge our clients. They come in the door looking for a price: “How much is it to implement this software?” But we approach it differently. We ask really fundamental questions like, “Why do you need the software? What do you want to accomplish with it? How are you going to train in it and empower your teams?” So, again, all of that within a small organization is not the default path. It’s harder, but it’s so worthwhile.

Also, we’re innovative in that everyone in our organization has a connection to revenue. They get a variable comp structure, which helps them feel connected monetarily, as well as culturally. So we activate our team and our clients. And those are the two primary modes that we work through in order to innovate. I’d like to note that it shouldn’t be innovative to put quality first, and do the hard stuff, but unfortunately it is.

We also focus on gender equality. We’re a 50/50 organization, and intentionally so because we believe in the power of diversity. And we show how much we value our employees through benefits like our maternity leave, which is up to three months of paid leave. We couldn’t do this when I first started the business, but now we can.

So, as the business grows and our revenues and profitability go up, we can now reward and give back to our employee base. This is what I’d call ground level innovation. If we start doing it, people next to us are going to start doing it because they’re going to have to, in order to compete. I want to part of that catalytic area that is saying, “We’re going to do something differently and everyone else is going to have to fall in line if they want to compete.” Hopefully these innovations will then become the norm.

Perspective on Innovation The future of innovation is gaining mastery over technology. Technology doesn’t replace people; it replaces inefficient people and operations, and creates the need for professionals who have new skill sets, certifications and areas of expertise. Even when we use data science and tech, we still need people who can set the strategies and make the systems work together. The technology was the first part of the innovation wave, and now mastering that technology is next.

Why Phoenix?

It doesn’t make sense to go where things have already been done. I’ve lived in San Francisco and Boston, and traveled extensively. But Phoenix has a wave building, with endless opportunity. It’s unbeatable with cost of living, and we can get any talent we want, thanks to a remote workforce.

The Future of Innovation When I think of innovation, I believe you need a combination of a variety of talent, with entrepreneurs and engineers at the heart of it. From my perspective, Arizona is doing better with engineering training, but we have to improve our entrepreneurial training. We have great entrepreneurs who figure things out on their own, but we should improve the education they’re offered so we can better support them and further the innovation ecosystem.

Advice & Best Practices Feast on positivity, because you’re going to get pounded with negativity every step of the way while you build your business. My biggest advice for entrepreneurs is to master the ‘game between your ears,’ and that comes down to eating positivity for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

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MESA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

There’s been a saying at the Chamber for many, many years, and it still holds true:

The World Belongs to Those Who Show Up!

Innovation Story The Mesa Chamber of Commerce, founded in the late 1890s, exists to improve, promote, and advocate for businesses in Mesa.

With innovative programs such as the Mesa Industry and Defense Council, Mesa Morning Live, Green Flag Mesa, Mesa Veterans Program, and many others, the Chamber works to improve both the business climate and the health of the business community.

As a unique program in the country, the Mesa Industry and Defense Council brings together a diverse set of aerospace, defense, and manufacturing businesses to collaborate with each other and others in the state. With one voice, Arizona is able to represent its business and military interests at state, regional, and national levels.

Why Phoenix?

With a strong transportation system coupled with both a fantastic history and wise investment in infrastructure by the city government, Mesa is uniquely positioned as the centerpiece of 21st-century business.

Introduction

The Future of Innovation

Mesa is the 35 largest city in the country. Within Mesa’s 140 square miles lies approximately 17,000 businesses. The business spectrum is comprised of small to large businesses with a heavy focus on aerospace, manufacturing, and technology.

The future has a diverse mix of high-wage employers contributing to an educated community that creates an enhanced quality of life for those living in Mesa.

th

Advice & Best Practices

Address: 165 N. Centennial Way, #208, Mesa AZ 85201 Phone: +1-480-969-1307 Website: www.mesachamber.org

Identify and build relationships with individuals and businesses that emulate the practices and behaviors that you feel are important.

Take the time to research and fully understand the community, your competition, and the regulations in your industry before getting started.

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CONVEY COMMUNICATIONS Kristin Hege: Founder & CEO

Introduction Convey Communications is a boutique, full-service public relations firm known for its expertise in serving B2B technology and service-based businesses. The agency is uniquely built on a deep understanding of technology and strategy, and offers clients an on-demand team of strictly senior-level practitioners.

Email: kristin@conveycommsagency.com Website: www.conveycommsagency.com

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Kristin Hege spent much of her career as a successful public relations (PR) professional, working in the agency world and for numerous esteemed clients throughout her career. But in 2013, she was driven to create her own firm, knowing she could upend the status quo and do things differently on her own terms.

Kristin had a vision to manage a remote team that is both lean and highly proficient. She wanted clients to have access to the strategy and expertise they needed, without any of the extraneous services and costs that so many agencies unnecessarily add on. She saw her PR team operating as an

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extension of clients’ teams, known for delivering the highest quality work in the most efficient ways.

Kristin loved the remote workforce model from the beginning, because of how much she personally valued freedom with her time and flexibility. She knew that people perform best and are most committed when their time is respected, so she wanted to offer the same to her team members. After hand-selecting a team of qualified professionals to round out key PR strengths, experience, and insight, Convey Communications was launched.

Over the seven years it’s been in business, Convey Communications has become the Valley tech community’s go-to agency for: • Traditional PR (Media Relations, PR Strategy, Analyst Relations, Book Promotion) • Content & Thought Leadership (Contributed Content, Podcasting, Blogging, Speaking, Awards Programs) • Workshops & Training (Persona Workshops, PR Messaging Workshop, Media Training, Social Media Training) Convey has come to be viewed as a valued part of clients’ internal teams, and as an agency dedicated to helping other businesses further their growth in Phoenix—and beyond.

In addition to serving many clients on an ongoing basis for numerous years (including clients that have been with Convey for six years), Kristin and the team have also done their part to contribute to the Phoenix business community. For example, Convey has worked with Invest Southwest and Venture Madness to provide PR support and help spur entrepreneurial growth in the state. She also volunteers her firm’s services to Phoenix Startup Week.

Founder & CEO Kristin Hege was deservedly recognized as one of Phoenix Business Journal’s Most Outstanding Women in Business in 2020. Team members have also filled board positions in the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Phoenix Chapter, served as adjunct professors at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, and held board seats of local nonprofits.

Individually and collectively, the Convey team is committed to providing impact in PR—and the world outside of it.

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CHAPTER TEN

INNOVATION ENABLERS 137

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LEESHANOK NETWORK SOLUTIONS

Introduction

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Website: www.leeshanok.com

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Arizona companies need to protect their networks and sensitive data and equip their “human firewall” against threats. As a regional provider of IT Managed Security Services and hosted private-cloud solutions, LeeShanok Network Solutions achieves success when our clients’ technology is secure, runs like a well-oiled machine, and supports their business operations without interruption.

Every company is unique, and innovation comes into play when we design solutions using industry best practices and a layered security model to cover all potential vulnerabilities. Our focus starts with training the users with best security practices, then providing reliable support necessary to keep all devices updated, and emerging vulnerabilities patched.

Phish-prone Percentage for Users First Phishing Test by Month

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Documenting security policies and procedures helps an organization ensure all security layers are covered and guides staff on how to respond to security incidents. This documentation is often a requirement of compliance audits. At one of Arizona’s school districts, we assisted with formal documentation of their IT security policies and procedures and satisfied the auditor’s requirements.

Phishing attacks continue to be the top method for hackers to gain unauthorized access to company domains and valuable data. End-user security awareness training leads the pack in effective preparation and defense. A powerful feature of the training is to perform human verification when there is a request for confidential company information received in an email. Many compliance and regulatory organizations require evidence of user training and testing for auditors to review. This data is collected from realistic phishing simulations and end-user training and documented with a Certificate of Completion. This meets the organization’s Continued Professional Education (CPE) requirements.

The average phish-prone percentage rate is a high 37.7% in the construction industry. LeeShanok has assisted many businesses achieve a near 0% phishing rate, as shown in the timeline graph.

Networks consist of multiple devices in several categories. All network devices run firmware and software, and patches released by manufacturers need to be identified and installed to continue their reliable operation and to protect

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against new exploits and vulnerabilities. We perform proactive routine tasks to investigate categories of our clients’ network devices and apply security patches.

Gateways and firewalls need configurations according to industry best practices to reliably protect against malicious traffic and risky content.

LeeShanok’s team recommends geo-fencing that blocks traffic originating from specific high-risk geographical regions.

A well-oiled machine requires routine maintenance by specialized and experienced professionals to keep humming. LeeShanok’s innovation provides the repeatable processes and industry security best practices that we live by every day as a team. This promotes proficiency and efficiency that provides our clients’ peace of mind with secure and reliable technology to operate their businesses.

For a confidential discussion of your cybersecurity strategy, the LeeShanok team is ready to assist!

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BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU

Introduction Better Business Bureau Serving the Pacific Southwest is disrupting the way people view this 100-year-old nonprofit organization. To fulfill its mission and vision of creating an ethical marketplace and being the leader in advancing marketplace trust, BBB understands that it must assist by providing the necessary tools and resources needed by the business community. BBB provides impactful resources such as a Business and Community Center, ignite sparked by BBB—a co-working and community space—and educational programs.

1020 E. Missouri Avenue Phoenix, AZ 85014 +1-602-344-9830 www.ignite@bbbcommunity.org

BBB’s Business and Community Center is Arizona’s multi-use, affordable meeting destination available to all businesses. In 2019 they welcomed over 12,000 visitors to the campus at 610 meetings held by local businesses and nonprofits. As they strive for innovation in 2020, they’ve hosted signature events that directly impact entrepreneurs such as Phoenix Startup Week, Conscious Capitalism, Business Power Summits, and more. ignite sparked by BBB, a new venture for BBB, is a modern, inclusive, and affordable co-working space located in the heart of Phoenix. They aspire

to be a one-stop-shop for small business owners and entrepreneurs who share meaningful work, collaboration, and a sense of community. The ignite community, or “igniters,” are a diverse group of professionals aligned around a common goal: building better businesses and nonprofit organizations.

They seek to provide resources, connections, and knowledge to help entrepreneurs and business owners grow their businesses legally and ethically. As one of the only nonprofit co-working spaces in Arizona, they understand how important it is to invest and give back to the local

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communities. For every drop-in day pass that is sold, BBB will donate one to a nonprofit organization so they can have equal access to their resources and amenities.

A partnership with Empower by GoDaddy helped ignite sparked by BBB to launch a 16-week business incubator program geared toward main street entrepreneurs and startups. Cohort participants learn strategies to help them grow and scale their company through in-person training, business development, mentorship, and networking opportunities. The program aims to boost small businesses and nonprofits by giving them economic opportunity. In addition to supporting main street entrepreneurs, the incubator will partner with local nonprofit organizations to offer specialty track programming to refugees, minorities, veterans, and women entrepreneurs.

In another effort to offer inclusivity of all businesses, BBB created a pre-incubator bootcamp called Business Blueprint. The two-day intensive bootcamp guided entrepreneurs through the Business Model Canvas to help them refine their business strategies and identify areas of improvement.

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Valerie Bertrand, a participant of this program, reflected that her most valuable takeaway was “a better definition of who I am within my service.

This workshop is essential for entrepreneurs, and the value came from the total cumulative experience. BBB personalizes the human experience within business.�

As the largest trade association in Arizona, BBB Serving the Pacific Southwest has a unique and storied history serving consumers and businesses in the community. Visit the beautiful campus in Central Phoenix to learn more about how they are innovating to build a community of trustworthy businesses.

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TALLWAVE Jeffrey Pruitt: CEO & Chairman

People who run ball clubs, they think in terms of buying players. Your goal shouldn’t be to buy players, your goal should be to buy wins.

—Billy Beane, Moneyball

Introduction

Perspective on Innovation

Traveling to 35+ countries, both professionally and personally, has given me a very unique worldview. I love experiencing new cultures, and embracing diversity, which plays a big role in my career and has broadened my perspectives. In recent years I was fortunate to be asked to join five other leaders in a “quasi” combat training program that focused on working in teams of six where everyone’s role was of equal importance, and we each learned how to perform the others’ functions. This interplay and reliance upon one another further shaped my thoughts on what leadership means and that everyone on a team has a leader role. You can’t go further together if each team member is not personally accountable for themselves and each other. In my opinion, teamwork is behind every successful innovation.

Innovators and entrepreneurs are the backbone of the economy, and have to be willing to take risks in order to lead it. But in any ecosystem, there are other elements that must be in play to support the entrepreneurs success.

That connective tissue that drives real sustainable innovation includes; capital, operators and marketplace strategy.

Any innovation can be a great idea, but having capital meets the stage of company and ready to fund an idea at the right time is key to turning an idea into a viable business. The next piece that holds innovation together is operating partners. Innovators on their own can be brilliant and very savvy, but you need operators who know how to handle operations and the nuts and bolts of a business in order to get traction. Finally, every innovation must have someone (or a group) in place that can drive the overall assessment of the business, its position in the marketplace and create corresponding strategies. Your go-to-market plan, sales and marketing plan and operational go-to-market must be thoughtfully crafted by an experienced person or team if you want the innovation to make it in the long term.

Website: www.tallwave.com

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Why Phoenix?

I recognized the lack of capacity and connectivity in most markets, including Arizona for these areas and simultaneously was energized by my own excitement and interest in the entire ecosystem. So when we founded Tallwave, we created answers to two of the three areas, plus a network for operators. The first business was Tallwave itself, which was built to offer services that transform companies and help them get innovations to market. We currently focus on five core areas to help support our clients’ innovations and grow their businesses: 1) Business strategy, 2) Digital marketing, 3) Product & brand exploration, 4) Product design & development and 5) Brand design & development. Since the founding of Tallwave in 2009, we’ve worked with hundreds of companies and helped them achieve really incredible results. Some of our most notable clients include PayPal, Shutterfly, Natural Grocers, Mobile Mini, Dime, DUFL, and beyond.

The second business we launched was Cobre Capital (formerly known as Tallwave Capital), in order to fuel innovation in the southwest region and provide an anchor for promising companies. Since we launched, our first investment fund was $13.2 million and we invested in over 20 B2B SaaS companies and have been named the most active VC from CB insights in 2016 and 2017.

As we’ve evolved ourselves through the years, the heart of our company (and my personal mission) has always been about innovation.

The labor pool in Phoenix has exceptional talent, ASU was named No. 1 most innovative in the country for four years and there’s a growing market around innovation and culture here. Sky Harbor makes business travel convenient, and you can’t beat Phoenix’s weather. I love being part of the whole ecosystem.

The Future of Innovation Innovative disruptors are constantly working to find better ways to create connected customer experiences, and big brands are either acquiring those companies or trying to catch up with them. I believe startups have the advantage over those big brands in terms of innovation because they’re moving faster and more nimbly.

Advice & Best Practices Understand the marketplace you’re disrupting, and your customer. Talk to them and test with them early to create the right MVP. Know your strength as the founder, and quickly bring in talent that makes you complete. It’s better to be focused and excellent at one thing, than average at 10.

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Coplex Helps Entrepreneurs and Corporate Enterprises Turn Ideas Into Digital Business Models

Zach Ferres is a lifelong entrepreneur who began his entrepreneurial journey as a teenager. He sold his first tech company at the age of 24 and was recognized as one of the top student entrepreneurs in the world in 2010. His passion for entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial communities has followed him throughout his career.

This passion led Ferres to Coplex, where he became the CEO in 2012, which was a design and innovation firm at the time. In 2016 he bought out the existing partners. He became the sole owner of the business—just in time to lead Coplex through a pivot to a Venture Builder business model.

Coplex offers structured Venture Builder programs with a proven process and

team to shape business models, quickly test, and validate critical assumptions, assemble an operating team, build technology, bring concepts to market, and support in fundraising. To date, Coplex has helped build more than 350 tech companies with an aggregate market value of more than $41.5 billion.

Innovation is the foundation of the Coplex venture building model. For Ferres, the mission isn’t just to build tech companies; it’s to build thriving entrepreneurial ecosystems around the world that spark economies, create jobs, and change lives. Rapid-growth tech companies with digital business models are the medium through which Coplex accomplishes this mission. Through its venture building programs, Coplex has helped industry experts and corporate enterprises turn their best internal innovation ideas into thriving technology businesses.

Smile Virtual is a case in point. This SMB spin-out, founded by a cosmetic dentist, provides free online consultations for people interested in changing their smile, but who don’t have time for an in-person visit. Through Smile Virtual, the

Zach Ferres, CEO Website: www.hello@coplex.com

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cosmetic dentist gained 100 new patients within the first six months, and within one year, reached over $100k in monthly recurring revenue—valuing the SaaS company at over $20 million.

Coplex was also critically successful with companies like Qwick and Insurmi.

Ferres and the Coplex team helped Qwick go from concept to revenue in 90-days, to a successful $1.3 million seed round in less than 12 months, and $1 million in monthly revenue in just two years. Coplex also supported Insurmi in going from an insurance chatbot concept to a successful $1 million seed round in 12 months.

In 2019 Coplex raised $2.5 million in Q2 of 2019 to continue spinning out high-growth tech ventures and expand into new markets. Ferres also led the company’s expansion into Tulsa—its third market in addition to Phoenix and Los Angeles. As part of this expansion, Coplex inked a partnership with SENTIR Research Labs with the mandate to bring five new ventures to market.

On the strength of its successful venture building programs, Coplex is expanding its focus to helping corporate enterprises innovate faster by unlocking

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stuck ideas and turning them into digital business models. Many established corporations are faced with the reality that they must innovate; unfortunately, innovation ideas often get stuck in the red tape of operational excellence.

This is exactly where Coplex comes in: to help extract those ideas from the bureaucracy of traditional organizations and turn them into thriving tech startups. The ideas may come from established businesses, but for every idea Coplex turns into a business, there is an entrepreneurial founder, a founding team, and another opportunity to solve big industry problems.

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ARIZONA ISRAEL TECHNOLOGY ALLIANCE Leib Bolel: President & CEO Rather a little with purpose than a lot without.

—Shulchan Arukh

Introduction

Perspective on Innovation

Innovation Story: The Arizona Israel Technology Alliance was founded out of a need for a vehicle to drive strong business relations in Arizona with the “startup nation” of the world – Israel.

Elevator Pitch: Two global locations with an aligned innovation mission and a vision to execute.

Mission: To increase bilateral trade, investment, and business between the state of Arizona and Israel.

Partners: Private sector, government sector and academia Verticals of primary focus that align Israel and Arizona: Medical, Bioscience, Cybersecurity, Aerospace and Defense, Smart Cities, Financial Technologies, Autonomous Vehicles, Artificial Intelligence, Agriculture and Water technologies.

Executive Committee: Cross section of Arizona and Israeli leaders

The Arizona Israel Technology Alliance is a nonprofit entity whose mission is to increase bilateral trade, investment, and business between the state of Arizona and Israel. The organization was founded in February 2018 when a need arose where such an organization would have been of great assistance. Unlike most major US metropolises, Arizona did not have such a resource, hence the establishment of one.

The Alliance’s areas of focus are facilitation of business attraction, joint ventures, business-to-business opportunities, company scouting, and education on Israel’s ecosystem and its opportunities. In the short time since the Alliance’s founding, all of these focuses have substantially increased, with Israeli companies establishing their offices and HQs in Arizona at record pace. Since 2018, there has been a 60% increase of Israeli companies in Arizona.

The key to success between these two regions is the

www.arizonaisrael.com

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understanding of synergies that specifically align Arizona and Israel, be it on an industry level or through the focus of pushing the boundaries of innovation.

Success transpires through good teams and partners. With the support and collaborative efforts between governments, organizations, corporations, and individuals that see the unending opportunities and successes, the horizon of innovative opportunities continues to broaden.

Phoenix’s history outlines what makes the Arizona Israel Technology Alliance an integral part of the progression of innovation. In 1950, the greater Phoenix metro population was a mere 250,000 people or so. Today that number is over 6 million. Without this growth, the milestones and successes that Phoenix boasts could never have been achieved. The growth continues and more milestones and successes will be achieved—but with a focus on partnering with Israeli technology companies, the opportunities grow by leaps and bounds. Israel, known as the “startup nation,” maintains that label due to some of the statistics it can boast.

With the State of Israel established in 1948, the last 40 years in particular have seen it pioneer across several areas. Boasting the most venture capital per capita in the world, home to more than 300 Research and Development multinational corporations, second in the world on an innovation front per the World Economic Forum, over 600 venture-backed startups each year—for a country smaller than the size of New Jersey, partnering and attracting on Israeli initiatives is an opportunity to be capitalized on.

draws the majority of collaborative efforts between Arizona and Israel. Resources, customer base, invested public and lay-leaders, talent and access to three of the world’s global economies all make Phoenix a safe and investable place for a company to move to.

The Future of Innovation Phoenix is in its formative years and is already synonymous with innovation. Its foundations—which have been built by its pioneers and visionaries, with some notable successes from home-grown talent—are continuing to strengthen. Both the public and private sectors in recent years have honed in on specific “futuristic technologies” that have raised Phoenix’s innovation profile.

For its innovation ecosystem to continue on its upward trajectory, local talent and infrastructure need to continue to grow together, while such growth attracts talent from out-of-state.

Advice & Best Practices • • •

Why Phoenix?

The Arizona Israel Technology Alliance is a statewide organization. The greater Phoenix metro, with its population size and cluster of large cities and towns,

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Capitalize on the openness of industry leaders whom are open to assist and meet with you.

Be proactive and smart in the events you attend.

Understand the value that Phoenix can truly provide.

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SIEBE VANDERZEE: PRESIDENT Vanderzee & Associates – Executive Search & Coaching Don’t judge until you understand. —Attributed to Dr. Robert Moran (my former professor).

A lesson in life and in business. Keep an open mind and treat people fairly.

Introduction Siebe Vanderzee is a global executive search consultant and performance coach. His clientele includes large multinational corporations as well as medium sized companies, covering multiple industries. Siebe is a graduate of Thunderbird School of Global Management. During his career, he has lived and worked in 4 countries on 3 continents.

Siebe has served as Honorary Consul for the Netherlands in Arizona from 1992 until 2020.

He was instrumental in bringing the famous World Press Photo Exhibition to Phoenix in 2020.

Finding the best possible talent for key roles in your company. Therein lies the challenge… and the opportunity! With over 20 years of experience in executive search and performance coaching, Vanderzee & Associates offers a dedicated, client focused search process to assist companies attracting the best talent for key positions. Vanderzee also offers a performance coaching program based on The Attentional and Interpersonal Style (TAIS) assessment.

Website: www.vanderzee.net Twitter: @VandrZeeConsult LinkedIn: siebevanderzee

Perspective on the Future We are so fortunate to live in Arizona. I have been here now for over 40 years and I still get excited when I merely drive around. In my view, Arizona is the best-looking state in the country (sure, ocean views would be nice). We have a rapidly growing population consisting of families who have made a conscious decision to move here. We have highly ranked universities and a healthy and expanding economy.

As Arizona continues to grow and our population (formerly known as “transient”) settles in, I expect people will obtain a deeper interest in our history. We live on ancient grounds. They have found shark teeth in Flagstaff and sea shells in Sedona, we are directly connected to historic locations dating back millions of years. There is a wealth of cultural history derived from the more than 20 Native American tribes. Some of them have lived here for thousands of years. Their belief systems and history are part of who we are today in Arizona. We have to include and respect them.

Looking into the future, Arizona has the opportunity to become an important player in the global economy as well. A (relatively) young state with a growing population, located next to California and Mexico, our gateway to Latin America. This can make Arizona attractive as a landing spot for foreign companies.

We have several major employers already operating in Arizona. Intel, Honeywell, Boeing, Raytheon, ON Semiconductor, Microchip, Avnet are just a few of them.

Interesting fact is that for most of these companies more than 50% of their revenues comes from outside the United States.

Attracting foreign companies to Arizona and serving our existing employers with their global needs becomes a challenge however when the domestic economy is driving

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most of the growth in Arizona. It is perhaps one of the reasons why over the last 30 years surrounding cities like San Diego, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and Denver have been successful in establishing direct international flights and Phoenix Sky Harbor has fallen behind on its international objectives. Establishing non-stop direct international flights is the single most important element in conducting successful international business.

We still have an opportunity in Arizona to determine how we want to be known to the rest of the world.

What is the brand Arizona will carry forward? Because of our desert climate with very high temperatures there is a certain toughness to Arizonans. We are different than the rest. We are innovative. We are advanced in aerospace and aviation, semiconductors and electronics, healthcare and life sciences, software and cybersecurity, photonics and sensor technology, agri-tech and water management. And let’s not forget international tourism! Add to all of this our beautiful and ancient history and the tremendous opportunity to connect with more countries around the world.

What I expect to see develop over time is a genuine Arizona attitude. A winning attitude. We are different than California, Texas and all these other states. We are Arizona. We will no longer accept finishing second when it comes to new business opportunities. As a rapidly growing state we will set our own standards on how our future will be shaped. We are Arizona. We will cherish our past and our native cultures. We are Arizona. And we will determine how we connect to the rest of the world. We are Arizona and Arizona’s future looks bright (and sunny)!

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AMERICA’S SBDC ARIZONA NETWORK Janice Washington: State Director

There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.

—Colin Powell

Introduction Perspective on Innovation

America’s SBDC Arizona is the state’s largest most comprehensive source of assistance for small businesses. Our Network: • Is an accredited member of America’s SBDC, a network of nearly 1,000 SBDCs covering rural, urban, and suburban communities nationwide.

• Is hosted by Maricopa Community Colleges and has an innovative partnership between 10 community college districts, the U.S. Small Business Administration, and the Department of Defense.

• Since 1988, we have counseled more than 50,000 clients, helped create nearly 4,000 small businesses, facilitated nearly $910 million in capital formation and $1 billion in sales increases, and created/ retained more than 26,000 jobs in Arizona.

America’s SBDC Arizona Network’s (AZSBDC) mission is to provide high quality, high-impact, one-on-one counseling, resource assistance, and training to preserve and create small business jobs and revenue, and to facilitate capital formation throughout Arizona.

A leader in facilitating innovation throughout Phoenix metro, in smaller cities and rural areas, AZSBDC works with businesses in sectors that are fueling Arizona forward, including technology, biosciences, and manufacturing. We play a pivotal support role to incubators and startups across Arizona and our clients span every stage of development: Pre-Venture, Startup, Growth, and Transitioning.

Network Innovation thrives when it is supported by sound business fundamentals, reliable financing, and strategic marketing. Our statewide Network is a catalyst in assisting emerging and small businesses, whose innovation and economic growth play a significant role in Arizona’s economic impact and job creation. We are a primary driver of the small business innovation ecosystem in Arizona. With the help of SBDC business analysts–many of whom are former business owners–Arizona companies are identifying new market

Phone: +1-480-731-8931 Website: www.azsbdc.net

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opportunities and transforming innovation into sales performance.

The Phoenix metro area is a magnet for innovators, entrepreneurs, and expanding companies. Optimism and opportunity thrive here.

The purest form of ‘economic gardening’ exists in Arizona, where an ingrained ‘can-do’ culture is supported by ready access to the resources and technical assistance it takes to create, grow, and sustain a business.

America’s SBDC Arizona exists to foster and support that environment and to assure its future. The Arizona economy–where 99.4% of all businesses are small businesses–depends on it.

An entrepreneurial engine of that size is driven by investment. At some point, most companies need assistance in finding and qualifying for funding to fuel innovation, whether through venture capital, commercial loans, SBA loans, or alternative lending sources. America’s SBDC Arizona provides financial analysis and recommendations that are specific to each company’s funding needs and designed to maximize their chances to obtain funding.

In 2019 alone, we counseled or trained 6,118 clients, helped start 382 new businesses, and created/retained 1,525 jobs, facilitated over $79 million in sales increases, and $74 million in capital formation.

Our partnerships with the U.S. Small Business Administration and 10 Arizona community college districts provide us with reach and resources that no other small business assistance network can offer in Arizona.

We are proud to help small businesses develop innovative technology, products, and services that fuel the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Phoenix and drive economic impact throughout the state of Arizona.

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Why Phoenix?

Phoenix has essential elements that attract businesses and an educated well-trained workforce. Phoenix provides a balanced work-life environment that is a creative launching pad for small businesses, entrepreneurs, and emerging businesses.

The Future of Innovation Innovation is often born and nurtured in a small business environment, where flexibility, size, and a solid grasp of business fundamentals can enable entrepreneurs to pivot quickly and take calculated risks when needed. Their success fuels further growth–not just for the original innovator–but also for the businesses that are created to support or build on their momentum.

Advice & Best Practices • Preparation is key to succeeding in a competitive marketplace. There are no shortcuts to success.

• Invest time in reading to gain an advantage over your competitors. Knowledge is power.

• Innovation cannot succeed in a vacuum. Understanding business fundamentals is essential and partnering with others, like the AZSBDC.

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MST SOLUTIONS Thiru Thangarthinam: CEO & Founder

Accept the present moment and find the perfection that is deeper than any form and untouched by time.

—Eckart Tolle

Introduction

Innovation Story

MST Solutions launched October 2012. Our headquarters are in Chandler, Ariz., and we have two additional offices in India (Chennai and Trichy). We have 275 employees (75 in Chandler, and 200 in India). We’re the largest Salesforce partner in Arizona. From 2017 to 2018, we achieved 286% growth, and ranked on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies in America. Our employee retention rate has held strong at 95% and customer retention rate is at 80%. We’ve been named a “Best Places to Work” two years in a row

Like many entrepreneurial-run endeavors, MST Solutions started from humble beginnings. I began the company in my home office in 2012. Back then, being new to entrepreneurship, I didn’t know what was in store, but I wanted to be able to control my own destiny, and build something that would leave a legacy. I also saw great potential in what, at the time, was considered a risky platform to build a business around— Salesforce.

Within a month, MST Solutions expanded to a team of two and a 150-square-foot office. And just six short years later, we’ve grown to become the largest Salesforce partner in Arizona. We now have a team of 295, with 95 employees operating from our 20,000-square-foot headquarters in Chandler and 200 split between our two offices in India.

While innovation is at the bedrock of what we do, I believe our growth is directly attributable to our commitment to our “Three Cs”: customers, colleagues, community. These are keystones to our culture and form the basis of our core values. From our inception, we’ve maintained the goal of balancing purpose and profit—and we’ve achieved this through the “Three Cs” and our people- and purpose-first approach to business.

Our team strives to make a difference and grow together—personally and professionally—towards a shared goal. As such, we created, and have refined over the years, a formal employee development program —giving those who demonstrate the desire and drive, the opportunity to undergo leadership training. It’s because of our commitment to our colleagues that we’ve been able to attract top talent and have maintained a 95% employee retention rate.

Website: www.mstsolutions.com Blog: www.mstsolutions.com/learn/

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I believe what truly sets the MST team apart, however, is our dedication to the community. Everyone on our team across our three offices donates time and resources to local-area organizations. In Arizona, we support Phoenix Children’s Hospital, Southwest Autism Research and Resource Center (SARRC), Feed My Starving Children, and the Helping Hands for Freedom. We’ve also empowered the team to develop their own community outreach initiatives. As a result, in 2017, one of our employees launched KIND Project, a program that partners with several local nonprofits to help underserved women earn and retain sustainable employment.

As part of our commitment to colleagues and community, we’ve also developed strong relationships with local tech organizations, and government and economic councils to support initiatives to highlight and strengthen our local technology economy.

Of course, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do without our third “C”— customers. We believe success with our customers is only achieved through creating meaningful relationships with them and committing to continuous innovation. Over the years, we’ve helped numerous homegrown organizations who are making a big impact in our community, as well as national brands, digitally transform key areas of their business, which has enabled them to streamline operations and achieve growth goals.

Over our six-year history, we’ve also completed more than 126 Salesforce Implementations for our clients, achieved more than 200 technical certifications, and recently became a Mulesoft Partner, which enables us to design and deploy end-to-end customer centric solutions.

It’s our commitment to these “Three Cs” that keep us focused on innovation, and that has underpinned our 200% year-over-year employee growth and average 30% annual revenue growth. We’re looking forward to expanding our

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footprint threefold in the Phoenix in the next few years and further contributing to the growth of the local tech economy.

Why Phoenix?

The community in the Valley is unique. There’s truly a sense of community—one that favors collaboration over competition, and that strives for connection despite how geographically spread out our innovation ecosystem is. There is tremendous support here with everyone striving to build a sustainable innovation hub in Phoenix—from government officials to economic councils to intrepid entrepreneurs.

The Future of Innovation The future of innovation in the Valley is bright and the drive to grow it is palpable.

For the momentum to continue, we’ll need to continue to attract talent to the area, shed some of the misnomers about the climate (I’m not talking weather) of our State, and continue to support our government leaders who believe in the future of innovation as a key economic driver for Arizona.

Advice & Best Practices Be committed to your community, colleagues and customers. Treat them as true stakeholders in your company. I believe this forms the basis of a sustainable, strong company. I’d also say practice unbiased decision making based on core values, stay focused on the big picture, and adopt a growth mindset.

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ISAGENIX INTERNATIONAL

Jim Coover: Co-founder & Chairman

Knowledge is the spark, action is the fire.

Jim and Kathy Coover came out of retirement to co-found Isagenix, a global health and wellness company, with John Anderson.

—Eileen Feather, mentor and pioneer in women’s health and fitness

Scientists on the company’s research and development team include nutritionists, dietitians, food scientists, chemists, microbiologists, and biologists.

Introduction

Anderson, a private-label formulator and manufacturer who had created more than 2,300 nutritional supplements and weight-loss products, contacted us with a business opportunity. His vision was to offer high-quality, no-compromise products that would have a significant impact on world health, and he believed Kathy and I had the direct-selling expertise necessary to share his products with a global audience.

We resisted at first, but after meeting with John, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to help make a difference in people’s lives as well as establish a lasting legacy for our family. In 2002, we came out of retirement and joined forces with John to co-found Isagenix, which has generated over $7 billion in cumulative global sales since inception and now has customers in 14 markets internationally.

One of the keys to our success has been our innovative and scientifically supported approach to weight loss using a cleansing and fat-burning system that Isagenix created. Customers use a combination of “Shake Days” and “Cleanse Days” to help achieve their desired results. On Shake Days, individuals replace two meals with our high-quality, protein-rich meal replacement shakes, IsaLean® Shake and IsaLean® PRO Shake, which support efforts to burn calories and lose unwanted fat.

On weekly Cleanse Days, customers engage in nutritional cleansing, a nutritionally supported program designed to help them feel nourished and energized. Scientists refer to the basic concept behind Cleanse Days as intermittent fasting, a practice that has recently gained considerable popularity. With the Isagenix approach to intermittent fasting, individuals consume 200 to 400 calories per day using a product specifically developed to support detoxification, Cleanse for Life®, a dietary supplement whose blend of bioactive herbs and antioxidant botanicals helps nourish the body’s natural detoxification systems.

Our combination of overall calorie restriction and intermittent fasting through Shake Days and Cleanse Days has been the focus of two independent

Established in 2002, Isagenix International is a global health and wellness company that provides more than 100 life-changing nutrition and lifestyle products, packs, and systems worldwide. Our privately owned business headquartered in Gilbert, Arizona, has more than 400,000 customers.

Since inception, we have generated over $7 billion in cumulative global sales through independent distributors in 14 markets internationally.

According to our most recent economic impact data for Arizona, in 2018, Isagenix generated $30.3 million in revenue in Arizona, paid an estimated $1.4 million in sales tax, and paid Arizona companies $105.2 million for goods and services. In 2019, Isagenix contributed $6 million in monetary and product donations worldwide, and our ISA Foundation awarded grants totaling over $1.8 million to 51 U.S.-based nonprofits who align with the foundation’s focus on healthy nutrition and support for underserved children, wellness education for all, and aid for those affected by natural disasters. www.isagenix.com

Innovation Story My wife, Kathy, and I were fortunate to retire early after achieving our career and financial goals. I had led several direct sales companies in the health club and nutrition arenas, and Kathy had been a top earner in three separate direct sales companies. We were ready to step away so we could travel and spend time with our son, Erik, before he went to college. As we were enjoying retirement, John

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Isagenix opened its 166,000-square-foot world headquarters in 2016. The building has laboratories dedicated to developing new health and wellness products and solutions.

The company’s high-quality, protein-rich meal replacement shakes come in a variety of flavors including seasonal options such as Pumpkin Spice and Mocha.

clinical studies that highlight the benefits of our system. In the first study, which focused on women, University of Illinois at Chicago researchers compared eight weeks of following the Isagenix System to eight weeks following a physicianrecommended heart-healthy diet and observed significantly greater weight loss and improvements in measures of cardiovascular health with Isagenix. In the second study, which included men and women, Skidmore College researchers found that in a 12-week intervention with the Isagenix System followed by a 52-week weight maintenance program, subjects who continued to use Isagenix products had greater, more sustained weight and fat – both total and abdominal – loss. The study also found that the system led to better maintenance of muscle mass and metabolic rate when compared to the physician-recommended lowcalorie, heart-healthy whole foods-based plan.

The value of our innovative approach to weight loss can also be seen from an economic standpoint. According to a study by Arizona State University’s Seidman Research Institute, body mass index reductions among a sample group of 12,561 Isagenix customers could save the U.S. economy $461 million over 20 years due to avoided medical treatment costs and retained workforce productivity gains linked to 20 diseases.1 Kathy and I are excited not only about what our company has achieved, but also about what it will achieve in the future as Isagenix continues to focus on being an innovator within our industry.

On weekly Cleanse Days, Isagenix customers enjoy Cleanse for Life®, a dietary supplement that helps nourish the body’s natural detoxification systems.

Why Phoenix?

The climate, culture, access to talent, universities, infrastructure, and overall quality of life in greater Phoenix make it the ideal place to raise families, attract talent, and grow a dynamic business. Our mild winters alone are often a big selling point for residents and entrepreneurs, especially those who enjoy golfing.

Advice & Best Practices My advice is applicable not only in Phoenix, but anywhere you choose to innovate.

Have a big vision, surround yourself with talented people, and execute with integrity.

Asthma, Alzheimer’s, breast cancer, chronic back pain, colorectal cancer, congestive heart failure, coronary heart disease, diabetes, end stage renal disease, endometrial cancer, esophageal adenocarcinoma, gallbladder cancer, gallbladder disease, gastric cardia adenocarcinoma, hypertension, osteoarthritis, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, renal cancer, and stroke.

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SMARTRENT Lucas Haldeman: Founder & CEO

You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.

—Maya Angelou

Innovation Story The SmartRent leadership team has spent over four decades building property management software and/or managing, leasing, and servicing properties and portfolios, so we were keenly aware that there was a RentTech void within the property management industry and a lack of technology utilization.

With popularity growing in voice activated systems, smart thermostats, smart lock, and other home automation devices, multifamily communities lacked a way to appeal to renters that demanded smart device connectivity in their homes. They needed a solution that combined an enterprise and consumer approach, but most IoT platforms and products found this to be too complex to properly implement. That’s where SmartRent saw an opportunity.

Prior to launching in the multifamily apartment space, we built a home automation platform for single-family rentals. From 2014–16, we successfully launched in 25,000 homes spanning 15 different states. We were able to test the performance of many different smart door locks, thermostats, lighting, and sensors as well as tweak and perfect the platform to properly handle the concept of dual ownership; where a resident directly controls the smart devices within their home, but the property manager can monitor system health and administer access credentials.

After three years of iteration and product innovation, we relaunched our platform in early 2017 with a heightened focus on multifamily communities.

As of early 2020, SmartRent has installed over 85,000 units in over 300 different communities across the US and is looking to expand into over 150,000 units by the end of the year.

In order to be disruptive in the multifamily rental market, properties need to be innovative and offer residents something different. We are revolutionizing the way rental properties manage their assets and market to their residents. In the past, this has been accomplished by offering varying levels of amenities or luxury upgrades. With technology trends focusing on saving consumers money through connectivity and automation, SmartRent makes it easy for multifamily communities to offer their residents these benefits that previously only applied to single family homeowners.

Residents enjoy the advantage of having smart devices in their rental home with full control over them, while property managers and owners have peace of mind in knowing their assets are protected and are notified of issues (like a leak) before they become a catastrophic, costly event.

Our platform has also solved a lot of problems property managers face today. Properties no longer have to worry about using (or losing) physical keys and instead have the ability to assign digital access codes for things like maintenance work orders, vendor access, prospective resident selfshowings and more. They can remotely control the temperature in vacant units so money is not wasted on heating or cooling a unit with no one in it. They can market their communities as smart homes to attract more residents. Moving a resident in or out is done with the click of a button, and resident information is automatically synced from property management software. Simply put, our platform saves time and money.

Introduction SmartRent is an enterprise smart home automation company developing software and hardware to help owners, property managers, and renters in multifamily communities. We provide property owners and managers with a platform to monitor and protect their assets, and create operating efficiencies while driving ancillary revenue. Residents use our mobile app to enjoy the benefits of controlling their devices from anywhere in the world.

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Launched in 2017 Company size: 175 and growing!

Headquartered in Scottsdale, AZ Installations in 20 states and Canada Unit installations: 85,000+ Community installations: 300+ Website: smartrent.com

@smartrentdotcom smartrent.com

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Community-Wide Connectivity

Utility Monitoring

Fire Protection

Energy Management

Anti-Theft

Leak Detection

Temperature Control

Access Control

What is a Smart Apartment?

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Resident Control

Property Management Control

Why Phoenix?

We think of ourselves as real estate professionals first and technologists second and to that end there is no better epicenter for commercial real estate than the great Phoenix valley. We’ve learned Phoenix is one of the top markets for quality software and hardware engineers, and while it doesn’t get as much buzz as other markets, we would put the Phoenix engineering talent up against anyone! Finally, the cost of living creates the perfect harmony allowing us to recruit and retain top caliber talent at significantly less cost than other markets.

Advice & Best Practices We’ll keep this simple and straight to the point.

1. Stay positive.

2. Culture is everything.

3. Success won’t happen overnight.

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INSIGHT ENTERPRISES Steve Dodenhoff: President, North America Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.

—John F. Kennedy

Innovation Story Insight has come a long way from the early days of being a hardware and software reseller. While still part of our core business, we have since evolved our value proposition, teams and services to help clients solve for their biggest business challenge: The need to balance day-today efficiency and cost effectiveness while transforming the business through technology and innovation.

Our 2018 Insight Intelligent Technology Index showed that 87% of IT decision-makers across businesses of all sizes felt the department struggles to adapt to an expanding role that includes both adopting innovation initiatives while keeping core systems running optimally.

These ambidextrous demands don’t always fit within the same business model—companies have historically either been cost effective or innovative. But technology’s relatively short history—starting with the first mainframes in the 1950s through a rapid evolution into today’s emergence of autonomous things, quantum computing, etc.—suggests businesses also need to quickly evolve digitally or face disruption.

Most companies that are trying to drive efficiency and innovate are going two different places to get those activities, and generally they’re missing what’s in the middle. To help them with this problem, Insight devised its Insight Intelligent Technology Solutions™ under four solution areas that are designed to simplify the working relationship and drive savings in one area to fund innovation in other areas.

The four solution areas include:

Introduction Founders Tim and Eric Crown started Hard Drives International—the company that would become Insight—in 1988 from their Tempe garage with a business plan born from a college assignment and a cash advance from a credit card. Today Insight is a publicly traded, Fortune 500 global IT systems integrator helping clients globally manage and transform their business.

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No. 417 on Fortune 500 $7.1 billion in revenues in 2018 7,400+ teammates worldwide 1,800+ developers, architects, engineers and technical consultants 5,300+ partners Locations in 19 countries

Supply Chain Optimization—To reduce the amount of time IT departments spend on maintaining infrastructure, our supply chain experts work with clients to create processes to streamline procuring, maintaining and replacing technology solutions. By optimizing the organization’s IT supply chain, we help them reduce the time and costs it takes to run their businesses.

Connected Workforce—The digital native workforce, the proliferation of mobile devices and advancements in cloud technology are changing the working landscape. To help clients attract, develop and retain talent, we work with them to build modern IT environments that create more collaborative and productive workplaces resembling the technology experiences people have in their private lives.

Cloud and Data Center Transformation—The Insight-commissioned 2018 IDG survey, “IT in Transition: How IT Leaders are Faring,” revealed that 64% cite legacy IT infrastructure, processes and/or tools in their list of the top five barriers to transformation. To help businesses over the hurdle and become future-ready, we work with them to optimize and modernize their virtual environments by choosing the right platforms for their workloads.

Website: www.insight.com

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Why Phoenix?

Digital Innovation—Increased competitive pressures, evolving customer behaviors, employee demands for smarter work spaces, and emerging technologies like the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, machine learning and cloud require organizations to innovate. This new normal has put a premium on datadriven insights and transforming customer and workplace experiences through modern applications, and our 825 application-development experts are on the frontlines with clients bringing these cutting-edge possibilities to life.

There has been a specific focus on creating a favorable environment for tech companies to thrive thanks to increasing public-private collaboration. With government leaders who understand how to attract the right talent and an economic climate to support companies coming here, we have built a solid reputation as a probusiness and innovation technology hub with a high-quality talent pool.

Advice & Best Practices

What’s creating all this change? It’s not the technology but increasingly demanding customer and employee expectations along with new entrant disruptors. It’s also competition—more often from untraditional places—challenging organizations to meet new needs. Because of these pressures, business leaders have taken the lead in innovation for the workforce through customer-facing technologies.

We understand the incredible change that the IT function is undergoing and, in response, continue to evolve our vision of what intelligent technology should be not only to help alleviate the daily pressure points for IT, but to truly help organizations along a transformational journey that advances as quickly as the technology that powers it.

• Successful innovators start with the problem first to explore the underlying challenges before working on a solution.

• Test and learn, fail fast, bring things to market rapidly.

• Be adaptable. When you fail, be open to approaching the problem from a different angle.

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KARCSAY CONSULTING GROUP, LLC (KCG)

+1-800-845-9333 info@KarcsayGroup.com www.karcsaygroup.com

Karcsay Consulting Group, LLC (KCG), leverages a unique methodology to assess an organization’s capacity to evolve and grow and helps to identify business solutions that align with the organization’s life cycle to stay ahead of the competition and to remain relevant in an environment that is in a constant state of change.

KCG has evolved over the last 20 years, starting as PDX Telecom, a telecom agency in Oregon. In 2014, Robb Karcsay moved to Arizona and met his wife, Ellen Owens, and they reorganized as Karcsay Consulting Group, LLC. With experience in organizational transformation, change management, mergers, and acquisitions integration, KCG provides an expanded range of consulting services in addition to telecom and technology solutions.

When Ellen became a part of KCG, she brought with her a rich and diverse career that allows her to provide a truly customer-centric approach. Ellen reflects on her professional experiences: “My professional career has been quite a journey that sometimes seems illogical, but the cumulative experience is invaluable.” After spending 20 years in a career focused on nutrition, health, and wellness, Ellen had an opportunity to work for a global technology company, managing large-scale programs as well as mergers and acquisition integrations. After spending seven years with the company, Ellen decided to turn her focus back to purpose-driven work. “I needed work that fed my soul,” said Ellen after realizing that the experience gained working for a publicly-traded company could be leveraged in a way to help strengthen the organizations that support people who are vulnerable or underserved.

Ellen, a Lifecycles Capacity Consultant, has been trained to leverage the Nonprofit Lifecycles approach to assessing organizations using a stage-based method. This approach, developed by Dr. Susan Kenny Stevens, founder of the Nonprofit Lifecycles Institute, is unique in that it meets the organization where they are at today to help them get to where they need to go tomorrow. Nonprofits must make money to run the programs and services

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Why Phoenix?

that meet the needs of their clients and fulfill their missions. To accomplish this, an organization must have the capacity to deliver quality programs and services that have an impact on the people they serve.

Capacity is defined in four dimensions: management, governance, business model, and administrative systems. KCG focuses on systems which include technology, process, policies, and procedures.

Although the methodology is designed to meet the needs of building capacity in nonprofit organizations, KCG uses the framework with small and mediumsized businesses that are looking to grow and further develop their business. Ellen believes that “nonprofits and growing for-profit businesses operate with similar business models and face similar challenges. Before doing strategic planning, it makes sense that the organization conducts a strategic assessment first. The Lifecycles approach can accomplish that.”

Plain and simple—opportunity! The growth of healthtech startups, Arizona State University, and the University of Arizona with collaborative programs that focus on sustainability, public health, and health innovations.

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KCG believes that this approach will help businesses and organizations experience sustainable change. Also, the process gives funders and investors the confidence that growth and capacity building initiatives have been thought about and are appropriate for the current stage of the organization’s development.

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Begin with the end in mind. What is it you or your business wants to be? What need does it fulfill, and how will the community be different if you are successful? With that vision, gather your team and collaborate to build a plan to get there.

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ACCOUNTABILIT Customer Driven IT Solutions Introduction AccountabilIT provides broad-spectrum managed services—from traditional infrastructure services to 24x7 end-user service desk to cybersecurity services—with an emphasis on moving businesses from legacy environments to the cloud.

Website: www.accountabilit.com

AccountabilIT’s name comes from the quality its founders most value in their business: “We recognize that issues are not always our fault, but they’re always our problem,” says CEO Chuck Vermillion.

Focused on small and mid-sized businesses, AccountabilIT provides everything from 24/7 end-user service desk to securing an organization’s entire IT environment with their security services.

“Not many managed services providers our size can do that,” says Brian Lamberger, VP of Sales. “It’s an impressively broad spectrum of services.”

AccountabilIT aims to make IT more of a utility, so that when a client comes to work, they don’t have to wrestle with their IT. Instead, they can focus on their business and its productivity. AccountabilIT manages these systems—and the resultant peace of mind—at a fraction of what it would cost for companies to manage them inhouse. By aggregating demand, leveraging tool sets, and by working from their own offices, AccountabilIT can concentrate its expertise and deliver excellent value from its efficiency and scale.

The company’s satisfaction rates speak for themselves. A recent NetPromoter rating, which measures customer satisfaction where 70 is considered world class, awarded AccountabilIT a score of 74.

“That’s on par with companies best known for their customer services, like Starbucks and Costco,” says CEO Chuck Vermillion.

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In addition to their own combined decades of experience, the founders of AccountabilIT credit their location with their success. The metro Phoenix area is the one of the fastest-growing metro areas in the U.S., and whether they are established businesses looking to leave their legacy systems behind, or startups who must outsource their IT needs to focus on the core of their business, Phoenix companies need the variety of the services AccountabilIT offers.

Another mark of AccountabilIT’s quality of work is that it was chosen to manage the Arizona Technology Council’s IT systems. ATC is the leading aggregator organization of its kind, with over 800 technology businesses in the Phoenix area as members—many of whom have brought on AccountabilIT to manage their services as well.

AccountabilIT’s clients know they can trust the company to manage their IT needs today, and as time passes and their demand for cybersecurity increases,

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AccountabilIT will be able to say it’s already got them covered. By the team’s estimation, only 5–10% of all small and midsize companies have any kind of cybersecurity protection, which is one of AccountabilIT’s specialties. Like its other services, AccountabilIT provides 24/7 cybersecurity services for a fraction of what it would cost a company to employ a single full-time employee to do the same.

“If cybersecurity isn’t top of mind for almost any business already,” Brian says, “it soon will be, because that company, sooner or later, could get breached.”

But with AccountabilIT’s expertise, affordability, and world-class customer service, cybersecurity—or any IT need—no longer has to be a source of anxiety for businesses. Applications and implications of technology and the cloud are growing fast, but AccountabilIT is keeping pace.

To get in touch with the team, go to accountabilit.com.

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CIRQ+ Yani Deros: CEO & Co-founder

The only way you survive is if you continuously transform into something else. It’s this idea of ongoing transformation that makes you an innovative company. —Ginni Rometty

Introduction

Innovation Story

As President and Co-founder of ATOM, a full-service product innovation firm that develops first to market solutions, Yani Deros traveled extensively to meet with clients and business associates from around the world. As a result, he spent a large portion of his time in hotels that ranged from independent to boutiques to global brands. He began to note the different hotel experiences and services at these properties. During many stays, he would have to dig under a desk or move a mattress to find an outlet to charge and connect his laptop and multiple mobile devices. During one trip, he discovered he forgot some cables, connectors and other peripheral devices. That led to a moment of inspiration where he saw the need for a convenient and compact powered bedside outlet to charge all of one’s devices. That idea quickly evolved to include more features and functions.

The lack of modern technology in hotels was just the starting point. Yani and CIRQ+ partner and co-founder, Jodi Deros along with their team leveraged ATOM’s proprietary STREAMResearch® to conduct global B2B research with 1000s of top-level decision makers in hospitality (managers, CEO, Manager IT and Finance) to harvest insights as to the unmet needs and challenges facing properties daily. This in-depth research methodology also engaged more than 700+ properties and industry professionals globally as well as 1,000+ of guests. These valuable insights formed the foundation for CIRQ+ and shaped this disruptive technology platform.

Today, CIRQ+ is the only patented modular Smart Room System in hospitality. With its ultra-modern design, the first multimodal interfaces with voice and touch combinations, CIRQ+ has now elevated the standard for Smart Room controls by continuing to consolidate numerous products into a unified IoT solution that sets itself apart from the competition.

Hotels striving to keep pace with changing guest technology now have an even more powerful solution to modernize their rooms without extensive remodeling or room down time.

CIRQ+ offers Modular Voice Platforms ranging from Alexa, Google and other leading providers to align with hotel properties and brand standards. CIRQ+ also has a patentpending opt-in interface that provides an unprecedented way to protect guests’ security and privacy in the hotel room. This finally addresses the industry’s growing concern about protecting guests’ security and privacy since the introduction of voice into hotel rooms.

Website: https://cirqplus.com

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These capabilities provide guests’ confidence that their hotel experience is on their terms and not the technology’s.

The platform also offers a gorgeous, round, HD display and touchscreen interface as well as a downloadable APP for mobile devices. The combination of HD touch, voice and mobile APP allows guests’ to create an ideal room environment including temperature, lighting and TV controls, as well as stream content from their mobile devices. Additionally, guests can quickly learn more about the hotel and its amenities and then contact the hotel front desk, book spa services; request housekeeping; call or locate local entertainment; and more–all from the CIRQ+ platform. Guests can also migrate their preferences to and from CIRQ+ enabled properties to build loyalty and add value.

CIRQ+ includes a cloud-based state-of-the-art autonomous energy management system with advanced occupancy sensors and IoT controls that allow hoteliers to adjust temperatures, lighting and environmental settings when rooms are unoccupied, and return them to the guests’ last settings upon their return. Hotels can reduce energy consumption from 23 to 50% (depending on the property and location) and reduce property operating costs to finally gain control of their bottom line.

The future-proof technology has been commercialized to evolve with the ever-shifting demands brought on by time, technology changes, and tech savvy guests for years to come. CIRQ+ is ideal for new builds, property expansion

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or retrofits, installation on cruise ships as well as for condos and apartment buildings.

Why Phoenix?

In terms of hospitality, the area’s ideal weather with 330 days of sunshine a year makes it a popular destination–dense with resorts and properties–driving a strong economy. Last year, there were 44 million domestic overnight visitors resulting in just over $14.1 billion in business sales (considering indirect and induced impacts).

Advice & Best Practices Arizona is an amazing melting pot of seasoned business leaders from all over the world that migrate to experience the wonders of the state and idyllic lifestyle coupled with world renowned Universities that are buzzing with future innovators aspiring to change the world and deliver culturally impactful solutions.

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INNOVATIONS OF THE WORLD

“We are a global marketplace for ideas, creativity, and collaboration.”

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www.InnovationsoftheWorld.com Connecting Minds - Building Communities

“The secret to innovation is the collective mind.”

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With a shortage of trained and certified IT talent, CompTIA Tech is unlocking the potential for students around the country to gain the skills needed to launch and grow a career in technology.

Technology is woven into the fabric of our everyday lives. It impacts nearly all facets of our day to day existence—from the way we communicate to our work, transportation, education, entertainment, healthcare and beyond.

Businesses rely on technology as the cornerstone of their operations. Cloud computing and database services are streamlining procedures; cybersecurity is a top priority for companies, and automation and AI solutions are revolutionizing efficiencies.

Regardless of industry, whether it’s agriculture, manufacturing, automotive, retail, tourism, or banking, today every company is a tech company.

strong. Reports from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate that in the first three quarters of 2019, hiring in the tech sector was up by nearly 100,000 jobs.

Careers in IT provide sustainable wages and advancement opportunities. In fact, according to CompTIA’s CyberstatesTM data, tech jobs have a median wage of nearly $82,000—that’s almost double the median national wage across all occupations. More than a quarter of a million people are employed in the tech industry in Minnesota alone.

And yet, there continues to be a significant shortage of skilled IT professionals in the US workforce.

But while thousands of IT jobs are available, employers are struggling to find qualified, trained workers. For many, beginning a career in IT can be overwhelming. Obtaining the education, training and certifications seems like an uphill battle and many simply don’t know where to start.

Despite the uncertainty of our global economy, the tech job market remains robust. According to CompTIA’s analysis, while recent federal jobs reports show some slowing in hiring, employment within the IT sector remains

At Creating IT Futures, we believe tech careers should be accessible to anyone with a dream and passion to pursue them. As the charitable arm of CompTIA, we are dedicated to providing cutting-edge educational training, certifications

Classes are taught at Creating IT Futures’ office in Edina.

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As a nonprofit, CompTIA Tech’s sole motivation is to help its students land and succeed in IT jobs in order to grow the tech workforce.

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About Charles Eaton As CEO of Creating IT Futures, Charles Eaton helps those populations under-represented in IT and individuals lacking in opportunity to prepare for, secure and be successful in IT careers.

and career preparedness to those seeking employment in IT. Our signature effort, the ITReady Technical Support Program, has trained and prepared adults for careers in technology since 2012. In fact, IT-Ready Technical Support, currently operating in the Twin Cities, won the 2019 Tekne Award for Workforce Development. We work with more than 60 local employers to connect graduates with potential job opportunities.

We aim to diversify the tech industry and open career doors to a wider demographic, particularly those who have been underrepresented in the IT workforce, such as women and people of color.

In 2020, we’re taking our educational offerings to the next level with the launch of the CompTIA Tech Career Academy.

Built on the foundation of IT-Ready, CompTIA Tech Career Academy enables us to deliver our IT-Ready Technical Support program to more people across the US. This new academy reinforces the outstanding IT-Ready curriculum, offering a combination of practical knowledge, technical expertise, soft skills development, CompTIA A+ certification and career services.

Above: CompTIA Tech has a proven model for training and educating students with no IT experience in the full range of technical and soft skills needed for entry-level IT jobs.

CompTIA Tech Career Academy offers classes in brick-and-mortar locations, including Edina, MN, as well as online. We are committed to providing tuition support and grants for our students, as we want to reduce barriers to entry for those looking to begin a career in tech.

With a shortage of trained and certified IT talent, our national online program unlocks the potential for students around the country to gain the skills needed to launch and grow a career in technology.

Left: Workers need more than technical training, which is why CompTIA Tech students also learn the other soft skills such as teamwork, customer service, and communication skills.

Our focus is to bridge the IT workforce gap to provide individuals with the tools needed to succeed and companies with qualified employees. Because career opportunities should be available to anyone with a drive to succeed.

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DELIVERING REAL-WORLD SOLUTIONS TO AMERICA’S FARMERS

Teddy Bekele, Chief Technology Officer

Teddy Bekele

Raised on a farm in Ethiopia, Land O’Lakes, Inc. SVP and Chief Technology Officer Teddy Bekele grew up with firsthand knowledge of farming, working side-by-side with his agronomist father. But after the turbulent 1980s, he was encouraged not to go into agriculture.

crop protection products from Europe into eastern Africa. Ten years later, Teddy’s family moved again, this time to North Carolina.

At first, it looked as if Teddy was following his father’s advice. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from North Carolina State University. After college, he worked in a variety of positions at Ingersoll Rand, including Global Director of Engineering Systems and Director of IT Program Management.

“[My dad] loved farming, but he always told me, ‘Go be an engineer, go be a lawyer, do something else that’s outside of the agriculture industry,’” says Teddy.

When he was two years old, a dictator came into power and nationalized the country’s land. In the blink of an eye, Teddy’s family lost everything.

After five years of dealing with a corrupt government and determined to make a fresh start, his family moved to Italy, where Teddy’s father sold

Teddy would soon realize that his future did lie in farming—and that it would be different from his father’s path, thanks to the advancement of ag technology.

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A NEW DIGITAL AGE OF AGRICULTURE Teddy’s team actively reaches out to farmer-customers and ag retailers directly to get real-time input on how the tools and technology are performing. With Land O’Lakes’ strong nationwide network of more than 300,000 producers—representing approximately half of US harvest acres—the team understands the value and impact of the data and insights they gather.

THE ROLE OF TECH IN AG

“The scope and scale of the Land O’Lakes network is truly incredible, and it’s why we’re able to work directly with real farmers and solve real problems for them,” he says. “As a farmer-owned cooperative, we recognize we’re in a new digital age of agriculture because we’re living it every day.”

When a friend mentioned a job opportunity at Land O’Lakes, Teddy was initially hesitant. But learning more about the farmer-owned cooperative and its view of agriculture brought him around.

Happy to be “back home” in the agricultural space, Teddy understands how important his team’s work and the co-op’s mission are for the future of agriculture.

“It was super exciting to me to see how agriculture technology—ag tech— was not just going to transform Land O’Lakes but the whole industry and how we will be farming in the future,” he says. “Like a lot of people, I thought of Land O’Lakes as a butter company—but of course it’s so much more.”

“Land O’Lakes has surprising technology and extraordinary talent,” he says. “We’re on the front lines of advancing agriculture, every day.”

Teddy on 60 Minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHj82oR1hSU&feature=youtu. be&t=12

Teddy and his Ag Tech team develop, refine, and deploy technology applications that help farmers make decisions such as which product(s) to use for pest control or the best corn seeds to plant. The team works closely with WinField United, the crop inputs and agronomy business of Land O’Lakes. Tools such as WinField United’s R7® Tool and the Answer Tech® portal compile data from the field and use it to deliver the information farmers need to get the most out of their fields in the form of reliable crop outcomes, productivity and profit potential.

Teddy as a guest on our Something Greater podcast: https://www.landolakesinc.com/Members/Member-News/ March-2019/something-greater-podcast-episode-four-ag-tech

While WinField United has been a core focus of the Ag Tech team, their work spans the Land O’Lakes enterprise.

Land O’Lakes, Inc. 4001 Lexington Ave N. | Arden Hills, MN 55126 +1-800 328 9680 | +1-651 375 2222 TeddyBekele landolakesinc LandOLakesinc

“Ag tech touches all of Land O’Lakes and it’s central to how we do business,” says Teddy. “For example, we are doing some exciting work in the feed business, Purina Animal Nutrition, asking how we can support dairy and livestock farmers through nutritional insights. It’s really about using data in support of what we call ‘intelligent nutrition.’”

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ELEVATOR PITCH LockerDome is an ad platform with a brain, designed specifically for performance-based advertising. The brain behind the platform is Neo, an in-house AI, which uses machine learning to process billions of data points and make intelligent decisions.

LockerDome’s audience (on-site and distributed) surged to more than 100 million people per month.

Seed and Series A funding had carried them this far, but LockerDome’s leadership knew they needed more to do more.

OUR STORY Originally launched as a social media platform for sports, LockerDome garnered national attention when it began partnering with professional athletes, influencers, and media companies; TechCrunch dubbed it the “LinkedIn for Athletes.”

“Operating from St. Louis, we acknowledged that venture capital is less accessible here than on the coasts,” says Mark Lewis, LockerDome’s CFO. “With this in mind, touching a massive audience while not generating any revenue kept us awake at night. With eyes on creating staying power, we decided to raise enough money to extend the runway, and then went to work on building a serious revenue engine.”

Big names like Floyd Mayweather and Larry Fitzgerald started regularly using LockerDome’s poll, quiz, and contest widgets on lockerdome.com to engage and grow their fanbases. Publishers, on the other hand, were more interested in driving traffic back to their own websites than in increasing engagement on lockerdome.com. This led to a light-bulb moment for LockerDome, which began making its interactive widgets embeddable on third-party websites, and expanded its focus from solely sports to entertainment, news, health, and beyond. These moves paid off.

Following a successful Series B raise, LockerDome’s team began exploring ways to monetize their audience. They recognized that much of the same tooling they built for professional athletes and publishers naturally aligned with a segment of digital advertising known as performance-based marketing. While professional athletes and media companies measured success by quantifiably growing their social reach and building up their email lists, performance-based advertisers measure success by quantifiable outcomes, such as generating a lead or driving a product sale.

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That revelation was the first step in building the advertising platform that exists today, and a path to revenue began to unfold.

Even then, LockerDome’s co-founder and CEO Gabe Lozano was able to define the core beliefs that still drive the direction of the company’s ad platform today. First among them is the strong conviction that the age of brand awareness in digital advertising is coming to an end.

These days, LockerDome’s ad platform touches 97% of the US internet audience. Advertiser value and all decisions can be measured with the granularity of a single impression, and nearly all decisions are automated

by LockerDome’s homegrown AI, Neo. Neo processes billions of data points, making intelligent decisions much faster and with markedly better precision than is possible with most ad spends on other platforms.

“Modern tooling already makes it possible to optimize spends for something more responsible than a click—ideally, an action that a computer has a hard time faking, such as a qualified lead or sale. And we can quantify ROI with the granularity of a single impression,” he says. “Building a platform with this approach means that when the math is backwards, you get fired. But when it works, an advertiser is willing to spend almost limitlessly.”

The company is coming off back-to-back years of being profitable and cashflow positive.

Through this evolution, St. Louis continued to provide the right environment for LockerDome to thrive and mature.

“We were very intentional in turning LockerDome into a sustainable business, and are ecstatic St. Louis has played a big part in making that happen,” says Lewis. “We look forward to being an anchor in the St. Louis ecosystem for many years to come.”

“St. Louis has a deep pool of technical talent,” says Perrin Westrich, LockerDome’s CTO. “We don’t care if someone had previous experience in advertising. We simply hire the smartest technical and mathematical minds we can find and go from there.”

And perhaps unexpectedly, St. Louis’ lack of ad tech industry became a secret weapon. Rather than fighting preconceived notions of what an ad platform should look like, LockerDome was free to build towards where it believed the market was (and still is) headed.

LockerDome LockerDome thelockerdome lockerdome.com

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THIS WAS THE BEST MEETING I’VE EVER BEEN TO.”

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ABOUT PURINA Nestlé Purina PetCare promotes responsible pet care, community involvement, and the positive bond between people and their pets. A premier global manufacturer of pet products, Nestlé Purina PetCare is part of Swiss-based Nestlé S.A., a global leader in nutrition, health, and wellness.

OUR STORY The Retail Innovation Center (RIC) is where Purina demonstrates our Pet category thought leadership and builds stronger partnerships with our retailers.

Since 2001, the RIC has been used as a meeting space to help our Sales team(s) communicate key brand/ product innovations within the Purina portfolio using a mock grocery store environment. However, driven by our commitment to continuous improvement, there was a need to reimagine the RIC beyond a meeting facility into a unique innovation experience.

Stephen Wurth – Senior Manager, Category Experience Design

FROM STORE TO STORIES The most significant transformation of the RIC was removing the store environment and replacing it with flexible stations that bring the pet-owner experience to life. Each station highlights a way to enable category growth backed by Purina’s proprietary insights while showcasing emerging retail technology and/or Purina-designed solutions that solve petowner pain points or transform behavior to drive business. The RIC is an immersive and experimental learning lab that constantly evolves and adapts to reflect the rapidly changing dynamics of the Pet category. Every element in the space is custom designed and unique to our lab, making it unlike any other innovation space in the world.

Po Box 2530, Largo, FL 33779 instagram.com/purina

FROM PLACE TO EXPERIENCE What’s truly revolutionary is the way we are engaging our guests. We’ve developed a new way of working in the facility called “RICx” that is transforming how we interact with retailers. Rooted in principles of design thinking, RICx helps build deeper empathy for pet owners through immersive learning, activates new opportunities through collaborative exercises, and builds clear action plans that enable new business. This approach positions the broader Purina organization beyond thought leadership and into a thought partnership that keeps retailers excited to come back and continue working alongside our team.

facebook.com/purina twitter.com/purina

Purina purina.com

Since the redesign, we’ve seen repeat visits, engaged new audiences from both current and emerging retailers, and used the experience to drive new business opportunities with some of our most strategic retail partners.

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Cory Steven Tholl CEO

ELEVATOR PITCH Klymit makes ultra-lightweight sleep gear for when you’re away from your bed, focusing on solutions that are comfortable, reliable, and affordable. With a range of products designed and precision-engineered in-house, Klymit has been operating out of Utah for over 10 years, and is now based in Kaysville.

OUR STORY “We’ve chosen to solve what we view as the one main problem to being outside—sleeping,” says Cory Tholl, CEO of Klymit, who describes himself as an avid problem-solver who loves the outdoors.

“People love to go camping, but many people hate to sleep away from their bed,” says Tholl. “And we recognize that, so we’re trying to solve this one obstacle that’s restricting people from enjoying the outdoors more.”

Klymit specializes in portable mattresses for sleeping outside or away from your bed. “Many people carry a big bulky pad that’s not even comfortable,” says Tholl.

“No wonder they don’t love sleeping outdoors. We saw that as an opportunity.”

So Klymit set out to produce something that’s ultralightweight. “Something that can fit in your back pocket,” says Tholl, “while not sacrificing comfort.”

Why focus on this problem? Tholl says it feels good to assist others in enjoying the outdoors. “Being outdoors is good for the soul,” he says. “It gets you away from the world of electronics, from the hustle and bustle of life.”

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Klymit works with all facets of the outdoor experience—boating, camping, hiking, hunting, and more, and aims to solve the problem of outdoor sleeping for everyone. Tholl cites first time campers as a group he particularly wants to help. “It pains me when first time campers go out and take really poor equipment, hate camping because their equipment was poor, and then never want to go camping again.”

“It’s such a missed opportunity.”

Klymit wants to change the mindsets of as many people as they can, so they make every effort to set their products at price points that make that possible. “A family with five kids can now actually afford to go out camping with real equipment and have a good experience outdoors.”

Though sleeping mats are where Klymit first found success, they now offer a wide range of

other outdoor products, from sleeping bags, pillows, and tents, to backpacks, dinghies, blankets, and beds for your dog.

What all these products have in common is that they’re custom designed and precisionmade using a CNC welding machine invented by the engineers at Klymit itself.

“We needed a process that allowed us to prototype inflatable products with accuracy and quality,” says Tholl. They now use this CNC welding machine to create computerdesigned prototypes “really quickly, inhouse.” According to Tholl, this allows Klymit to think outside the box in terms of the products they can imagine.

they’ve operated out of, from Ogden to Clearfield, and now Kaysville.

“Utah is just a really great place to do business,” says Tholl. “So many organizations and local governments have tools in place to help you be successful, and it feels like—on an individual level—people want to see you succeed.”

Utah, says Tholl, has also been instrumental in Klymit’s success. Fifteen minutes away from the mountains and with outdoor venues for skiing, camping, boating, hiking and hunting literally in their back yard, Tholl says at Klymit they’re inspired by their surroundings. Utah natives started the company, and most employees grew up there as well. “The outdoors are in our blood,” says Tholl.

But it’s not just the physical climate that has aided Klymit. Especially in the early days, they received much-appreciated support from the angel investing network in Utah, and have been welcomed by every city 179

For more information on Klymit, visit klymit.com 457 Deseret Dr., Kaysville, UT 84037 +1-801-310-7235

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SEEK ELEVATOR PITCH Seek enables consumers to see products in their life before they buy them. In working directly with businesses, Seek offers its technology to be installed directly on these businesses’ websites, allowing their consumers to test out products before they buy them. Seek’s AR increases customer satisfaction by increasing the chances they will purchase something they do not end up returning.

OUR STORY In-app AR is more available than most consumers know—but that’s just the problem; they don’t know. While people browse products online every day, the truth is that they’re mostly just looking at them through the web; they balk at having to download a brand-specific app in order to access the AR capability.

Seek knew of this problem from its early days as a B2C platform, when its biggest struggle was getting users to download its app. Brands contributed rewards, which appeared as augmented-reality treasure chests all over the world. Imagine Pokemon Go, but with tangible, real-life value.

Seek was ahead of its time—too far ahead of its time. And so it pivoted. It rebuilt its technology so that AR could be available on any website on any device—iOS or Android—no app required. It also became a B2B company.

“When we made our end product more accessible, that’s when things started to get better,” says Jon Cheney, Seek’s founder and CEO. “We took it out of the app and onto the web, and that’s when things started to get really exciting.”

One of Seek’s customers is Walmart, and because Walmart is itself enormous and serves an enormous amount of people, whatever tech it brings on has to work for the masses and must be easily accessible. That standard became a sort of “accessibility thermometer” for Seek.

“The consumer clicks on the product, and it just works. Done. No downloading, not 10 steps to download, figure out how to use and register on an app. It’s just there right on the product page,” Jon says.

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Growing Seek in Utah has saved them. By avoiding high startup costs in places like Silicon Valley (where they were told they had to be or they would never succeed), Seek has been able to compete on the world stage with far less investment and dilution than other similar B2B SAAS startups.

“There’s a unique business environment here,” says Jon Cheney, Seek’s founder and CEO. “People are very creative and entrepreneurial. Utah actually has the second-highest number of “YouTubers”—London is first—and the talent pool is as strong as, say, Silicon Valley, but living costs are drastically lower, so we can pay our employees a great salary that is rewarding for them.”

Part of the reason Utah’s talent pool is so strong, especially in terms of sales, Jon says, is the presence of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, whose congregants have experience traveling the world over and speaking with people about their religion. That’s not to say that their religion is a sales pitch—rather, it teaches its congregants to listen, to identify with another’s problem, and to help

with a solution. Whatever its origin, that customer-focused set of skills has helped companies in Utah better serve their clients and to grow much more quickly than they might elsewhere.

The future for Seek looks awesome—literally.

Jon describes a consumer of the not-so-distant future. They are in their home, wearing something similar to Google Glass, and considering the state of their living room. They can ask a website to show them a brown leather couch—no, a red one. They can browse art that will pair nicely with the couch. They can see all of these things thanks to AR. “I’m excited for the whole world to get deeper into AR,” Jon says.

“There are so many different things that are going to happen when people can access AR through a lens or screen that is literally before their eyes. It’s going to feel realer than it ever has. This is the experience of the future—the consumer experience of the future—and Seek wants to be the glue that brings it all together.”

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ELEVATOR PITCH Open Bionics was founded in 2014 by Joel Gibbard and Samantha Payne with the goal of developing affordable, assistive devices that enhance the human body. In other words, Open Bionics turns disabilities into superpowers. The Bristol-based bionics company is known globally for using 3D printing and 3D scanning, along with some clever software and design, to make advanced, affordable and accessible bionic limbs.

OUR STORY In May 2018, following four years of research and development, the company released its first product, the Hero Arm. The Hero Arm is the world’s first medically certified 3D-printed bionic arm, and the very first multi-grip bionic arm for children as young as eight years old. Engineered and manufactured in Bristol, the Hero Arm is a lightweight and affordable myoelectric prosthesis, available now through prosthetics clinics in the UK, USA, France, Spain and Ireland. The company have ambitious plans to launch the prosthesis in new international regions throughout 2019 and 2020.

The Hero Arm has market-leading functionality, weighs less than 1kg, has a breathable and adjustable socket, and can be fitted with customised covers; including Star Wars and Marvel superhero designs. Each Hero Arm is custom-built to ensure a perfect fit. The Hero Arm works by picking up signals from a user’s muscles. When an amputee puts on their bionic arm and flexes muscles in their residual limb just below their elbow; special sensors detect tiny naturally generated electric signals and convert these into intuitive and proportional bionic hand movement. The bionic hand is 182

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controlled by tensing the same muscles which are used to open and close a biological hand. Wearers of the Hero Arm can choose between different finger speeds and grips to allow them to pick up objects ranging from a small marble, to an entire shopping basket.

Other multi-grip bionic hands, such as the bebionic and ilimb, are prohibitively expensive and too large or heavy for children (and some adults, too). The Hero Arm is less than half the price of these competitors, and because it’s manufactured using 3D printing, it is also the lightest bionic hand on the market. 3D printing is an extremely efficient and suitable manufacturing method for prostheses which are always “one-offs”. Almost all of the 3D printed parts are manufactured using an additive technique called Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), which uses a laser as the power source to sinter powdered nylon.

Open Bionics believes that the most advanced prosthetic and orthopaedic technology should be available for everyone that needs it. Open Bionics have a development contract with NHS England, with the aim of offering the Hero Arm on the NHS in the UK. In June 2017, they worked with NHS England and the Bristol Centre for Enablement on a world-first clinical trial 183

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of a 3D-printed multi-grip bionic arm. Following a successful first stage of the trial, the company have now begun a second stage of the trial with multiple NHS clinics around the UK. Open Bionics also have royalty-free licensing agreements with Disney, Marvel, Lucasfilm, Eidos Montreal and Twentieth Century Fox, to offer superhero cover designs such as BB-8, Iron Man and Alita: Battle Angel.

They are making science fiction a reality. Their work has received praise from the likes of Mark Hamill and the Dalai Lama, they’ve won a whole host of coveted awards, and their users have featured in media all around the world.

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Open Bionics’ lab space is currently located next to the Bristol Robotics Lab, but the rapidly expanding company will soon move to a custom-built production space in the centre of Bristol following a £4.6 million investment round in January 2019 from high profile firms such as F1’s Williams Advanced Engineering. Open Bionics are proud of their Bristol roots, and it’s easy to see Bristol’s punk creativity pumping through the veins of this innovate bionics company. In the near future, Open Bionics look forward to offering the Hero Arm in multiple international markets and continuing the development of great products that solve challenges within mobility and independence.

OpenBionics OpenBionics openbionicsltd openbionics.com

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WE MAKE NUTRIENT-DENSE BARS AND PROTEIN POWDERS WITH THE WORLD’S MOST POWERFUL SUPERFOODS TO HELP YOU “FILL THE NUTRIENT VOID” IN YOUR HECTIC DAY.

The Problem

boosting them with the world’s most powerful superfoods. Many brands use the word “superfoods”—Landish really means it.

As a big believer in the importance of healthy eating, Daniel had one frustration while working in banking in Montreal : the lack of nutrient-dense, low-sugar snacks that could keep him sustained and focused during some long work hours.

The Superfoods CRICKET POWDER For the same weight crickets contain twice the protein in beef and chicken, over fives times the vitamin B12 in salmon and they’re also full of iron, calcium, potassium and a prebiotic fibre called chitin beneficial to gut health.

What’s wrong with protein or energy bars? One or often many of the following: • Too much sugar • Not nearly enough nutrient density • Don’t satisfy your hunger • Don’t taste good (sweet and fake or just chalky and bland) • Offer no functional benefits

SPIRULINA Spirulina is a blue-green spiral-shaped microalgae and a form of a cyanobacteria.

It’s extremely nutrient-rich with up to 70% protein, lots of beta-carotene, iron, calcium, phosphorus, iodine, chlorophyll, and phycocyanin, a powerful antioxidant. It also contains prebiotic polysaccharides responsible for probiotic growth.

Daniel felt that more and more nutrition-focused consumers like him would continue to demand better.

The Solution This led to the kick-off of Crickstart in 2016, which became Landish in the spring of 2019.

The Landish team made it its mission to create the most nutrient-dense natural bars EVER for people experiencing what they call “the daily grind”.

FUNCTIONAL MUSHROOMS Among other benefits, functional mushrooms such as reishi and turkey tail, contain high levels of beta-glucans, which are proven to contribute to probiotic growth, reduce LDL cholesterol levels, and boost the body’s immune system.

How? By creating healthy, macronutrient-balanced plant-based bars and then

And there’s more to come…

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How Landish Thinks About Nutrition The Landish team doesn’t believe in fad diets. The brand is all about macronutrient balance, micronutrient density and gut health, which are understood to be the fundamentals of good nutrition.

How Landish Thinks About Life Commit to your health so that you can commit to something greater than yourself.

How Landish Thinks About Work Don’t sacrifice happiness today to pursue it in the long term. Work hard, but remember what matters most now and always: health and happiness.

3 of Landish’s Sustainability Initiatives 1. Sourcing sustainable ingredients.

2. Reducing the impact of its bar packaging by implementing its own private recycling program with TerraCycle.

3. Planting a tree in an area of BC or California devastated by wildfires for every online order received.

The Landish team (from left to right): Adrian Loffredo, Director of Operations; Erin Little, Community Manager; Daniel Novak, CEO; Gabrielle Faraggi, VP Sales and Michael Badea, COO

hello@landish.ca | 1-888-997-3629

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MAKING ACCESS TO SPACE AFFORDABLE “I believe that Space is a great enabler that transforms our lives back on Earth. In a few years, we will see planets being colonised and asteroids being mined. Space travel will become as common and as affordable as air travel.”

Rohan M Ganapathy, Director & CEO, Bellatrix Aerospace

When humans make Space their habitat in the not-so-distant future, a Bengaluru company would have been part of conquering the final frontier.

A new Space company incubated at Indian Institute of Science, Bellatrix Aerospace is developing advanced in-Space propulsion systems that can bring down the cost of access to Space, and aims to be the first private company to launch a rocket from Indian soil.

systems. The major disadvantage with chemical propulsion is that they require a large mass of propellant.”

Electric propulsion is an emerging technology that is quickly replacing chemical propulsion technology. Using an electric propulsion system, a satellite can carry 3 times more payload compared to a satellite that uses chemical propulsion. This results in reduced mission costs and increased Return on Investment (RoI) per satellite. Bellatrix aims to be a global leader in the field of propulsion by offering advanced technology at competitive prices.

Bellatrix Aerospace is led by a team of engineers with Rohan M Ganapathy (CEO), Yashas Karanam (COO) and Narendra Narayanan (MD) for whom creating technologies through internal R&D is an exciting challenge. This is due to the fact that propulsion technology is a restricted technology; technical information is not easily available and is constricted by export control/tech transfer into India.

“Our proprietary electric thrusters can also accommodate water as propellant. This is a scalable technology and offers a high thrust-to-power ratio compared to competitors in this segment. Bellatrix is working towards becoming a provider of combined solutions for all propulsion requirements and is currently developing different varieties of chemical and electric propulsion systems for satellites ranging from nano satellites to heavy satellites.”

Talking about the unique features of Bellatrix’s work, Ganapathy explains, “Just as cars need engines to move, satellites need propulsion systems for orbit raising and station keeping (maintaining proper orientation) applications. Most of the current satellites today use chemical propulsion

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Given the high cost of sending satellites to Space, the proposition of reducing the satellite mass even by a small amount is very attractive.

Traditional satellites employ chemical propulsion systems which considerably reduce the on-board space available for payload. This makes the satellites very inefficient and expensive to launch. Electric propulsion systems negate this as they require much less fuel in comparison with traditional systems. This results in a dramatic downsizing of the propulsion system allowing for a satellite to carry much greater payload and enhance the orbital endurance. This allows for greater profitability and a competitive advantage among satellite operators adopting electric propulsion systems.

Bengaluru is also the hub for Space companies in India. With ISRO, HAL and BEL headquartered in Bengaluru, a complete ecosystem for aerospace manufacturing has come up in the city. The Public Private Partnership model is the key to building a better world with affordable access to Space based services.

Bellatrix is aiming to also diversify into ground to Space propulsion (rocket propulsion) after getting a good foothold in the in-Space propulsion area. It is working on newer ways of making access to Space more affordable through ‘Chetak’, a reusable micro launch vehicle that can carry a 200 kg payload to Low Earth Orbit. When this happens, Bellatrix would be the first private company to launch a rocket from Indian soil.

The highs for Bellatrix have been getting a developmental contract from ISRO, receiving the TDB National Award 2017 from the President of India for development of technology with potential for commercialisation. Ganapathy was also featured on Forbes India and Forbes Asia’s ‘30 under 30’ list for the year 2018.

 Bellatrix team receiving Technology Development Board National Award – 2017 from President of India.

bellatrixaerospace.com

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ELEVATOR PITCH Caribu helps children age 0-7 to read and draw with their parents and grandparents through a video-call when they’re not in the same location.

Caribu is a game-changer for the hundreds of millions of global families that are separated by distance and need to make memories together with their (grand)children through mobile and tablet devices.

OUR STORY We saw a picture of a soldier trying to read a children’s book to his daughter through a webcam and realized we could build something better. Today, many families are separated by distance because a parent travels for work, a grandparent lives in a different state or country, a parent is deployed, or the family is part of the 50% of couples who are divorced. Caribu’s platform opens up opportunities for children to connect with adults who can engage with them in real-time as they read and draw together.

Milestones

Caribu is using tech to rapidly scale and innovate a solution for the hundreds of millions of families, across the globe, that are separated by distance and want to make memories together with their (grand)children through mobile and tablet devices. Caribu allows you to call the toddler in your life, pick out a book, and read or draw together in real-time through a shared-screen video call. An in-app library has hundreds of books from leading children’s publishers (including Highlights, Sesame Street, Mattel, Usborne, and many others) in seven languages, and interactive educational workbooks and activities that you can draw on together. The result is an engaging experience in a carefully designed, curated, and secure platform. As our users say, “It’s FaceTime that kids don’t run away from.” Today, Caribu has customers in 164 countries.

We have been the finalist or winner in over 30 pitch competitions, winning over $100K in cash and prizes from organizations such as the 1776 Global Pitch Competition (with an investment from Steve Case), SXSW EDU, InterAmerican Development Bank, The Pitch Podcast on Gimlet Media, Teach For America, and Babson College. We have also been selected for many prestigious awards such Caribu being listed as a World Changing Idea

by Fast Company and our CEO being named a Toyota Mother of Invention and one of the Top 100 Female Founders by Inc. Magazine. Caribu has been featured in Forbes for three years in a row, and has had over 90 international and national earned media mentions. We are also partnered with Blue Star Families to donate free subscriptions to all currently serving military.

Human connection has become a luxury good. Caribu’s mission is to bring families together, and our future vision is to be the world’s premier communications tool for people to collaboratively learn, be entertained, and connect. We want to change the world by creating the best and most engaging alternative for people to learn and bond with their families even when they can’t all be there in person.

“Caribu has a novel solution to a global parenting problem,” says Ryan Gunnigle, co-founder of Be Curious Partners and CEO of Kids II, whose brands include Bright Starts, InGenuity, Oball, Disney and Baby Einstein . “I believe this technology will redefine how families communicate and we’re excited to invest in this strategic partnership.”

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Maxeme Tuchman, Caribu’s CEO and co-founder, is eager to bring about the company’s future—and to do it in Miami.

“The ecosystem in Miami is still young so we can be a big dolphin in a small pond,” Tuchman says. “In the past 3 years, we’ve invested as much in the Miami ecosystem as they’ve invested in us, and I’m honored to be building and growing our company in my hometown. There is an incredibly supportive and collaborative group of women in our ecosystem who will do everything in their power to lift each other up, celebrate each other, and help each other succeed. The future IS Miami.”

Her advice for future CEOs?

Maxeme Tuchman CEO & CoFounder with Team

“Get a CTO as your co-founder. Make sure they can explain things to you like a six year old, that they have patience to do that, and that they realize the value of having you understand their world,” she says. “Also, have a BHAV (Big Hairy Audacious Vision) and keep your eyes on the prize. If you’re building something with an inspiring vision that’s going to change the world or create solutions to real-world challenges, that will keep you motivated. Finally, keep track of the small wins. You will have them. Lots of them. Remind yourself that those will add up to big wins one day.”

111 NE 1st Street, 8th Flr, #112, Miami, FL 33132 415-952-3974 Caribu Caribu IG- @Caribu caribu.com 191

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LUXURY TRAVEL PILLOWS TO BEAT ALL OTHERS

THE STORY Creator Dr. Micheal Majette tells the story of why he decided to combine his wants and needs as a traveling consumer with his knowledge and experience as a physician to create the perfect allin-one pillow: “Since I was a child I have had a spirit of serving others. I have always been concerned with the comfort of those around me and have found that helping a person in need brings me great joy. That same spirit has benefited me well as a physician. Like many of my colleagues, I often find myself treating the same conditions of chronic neck and back pain repeatedly. My goal is always to help each patient achieve a better quality of life through a combination of in-office care, suggestions for at-home care and products that aid in expedited recovery.

“A common complaint I am presented with by many patients is pain associated with travel. As an avid traveler myself, I was always on the pursuit to find products, especially travel neck pillows, that enhance the “getting there” part of the travel experience. I have tested hundreds of different travel pillows hoping to find one I could not only use

myself but also recommend to patients. This goal seemed simple, but after over a decade of searching, I learned nothing like that existed.

“What I found through my research is that there are endless amounts of neck pillows on the market, but none were exactly what I wanted. Most are made of cheap materials and don’t offer the structural integrity and design required for long-term use. I greatly value the artisanal skills and passion that go into creating a product by hand. That one of a kind quality you can only achieve with non-mechanized production. This lack of focus in design quality is a common theme among most travel pillows on the market today.

“This is where my story begins. My search for the perfect all-in-one pillow has led me to the creation of MyJet Luxury Travel Pillow. Hand-made of quality materials with a patented inner skeletal system for ultimate support, the MyJet Luxury Travel Pillow stands the test of time and has been thoughtfully designed with the same level of care that I show all my patients.

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I love this product because its uses have become unlimited. It has revolutionized the way we think of the common travel pillow. Whether it’s used for flying across the country, watching TV in the comfort of your own home, or to relieve neck tension after a long day at work, I truly hope this product enhances your life as much as it has mine.”

Each pillow will be shipped with: • Extra foam blocks for adding or subtracting additional padding/support to create the perfect fit for you.

• One elastic 3-button strap, allowing for connection to any headrest or existing pillow.

• Lifetime warranty against manufacturing defects.

Pillow types: • Coach class: Will consist of 2 color schemes, all breathable, lightweight, durable cloth material. You can always upgrade your pillow to a higher level cover at any time.

• Business class (the most popular): Will consist of 4 different leather and cloth combinations. Also features a black suede inner-lined pocket on the top half to add temperature control packs for heat or cold and LED light.

• First class: Coming soon. This version creates a user experience unlike any other. Includes all the above items, custom leather cover, superior Bluetooth remote phone and speakers and first of its kind surround sound.

What makes the MyJet Travel Pillow Unique: • Customizable to all body shapes and any seat position using adjustable foam levels.

• Adjustable patented internal frame and elastic strap not only hold the neck and head in perfect position, but also help to decompress nerves in the neck and shoulder to relieve pain.

• The high-quality materials used in creating the handmade covers improve with time and use.

• The ability to make the pillow warm or cold without the use of batteries or power provides an unmatched level of comfort.

TESTIMONIALS “I can’t say enough about this pillow! Last year I took it on a mission’s trip to Africa. After 16 hours in my economy seat, I was so thankful to have this pillow with me. My favorite feature is the strap that connects it to the back of your headrest. Anyone who’s been on an airplane knows it’s impossible to get comfortable in an economy airline seat and the typical travel pillow doesn’t prevent you from falling over onto your neighbor’s shoulder. With this pillow, I was able to comfortably fall asleep without worrying about my head shifting to the side. Definitely one of my best travel purchases!!”

—Patsy C. “I have had issues with my neck for over 20 years. Even after surgery, I still suffer from pain. I don’t travel that often, but my doctor recommended the MyJet pillow for when I’m at home relaxing and watching TV. It really helps relieve the pressure and tension on my neck.” —Tom B. +1-813-463-3401 info@myjetpillow.com

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ELEVATOR PITCH Urban SDK streamlines government and IoT data to automate performance measures and discover insights in real-time, helping to transform cities’ mobility, transportation, and safety operations.

THE STORY

Urban SDK additionally provides a data exchange to connect transportation systems with a collaborative data platform of 140+ real-time datasets for end-to-end integration and advanced analytics.

Established in 2018 by Justin Dennis and Drew Messer, Urban SDK is a digital government intelligence platform combining real-time location data with predictive analytics. It provides software-as-a-service (SaaS) to combine real-time location data, predictive analytics, and a data marketplace to automate performance indicator dashboards to track performance, predict needs, and visualize big data at the street level to increase productivity and decision-making. Transportation, transit, law enforcement, and government organizations gain intelligence and data management to predict mobility and safety patterns such as traffic, parking, pedestrian movement, and safety incidents.

“Public officials and transportation engineers struggle with manual research, data requests, and inconsistent data to measure and plan their mobility system,” Partner Justin Dennis said in a statement. “Urban SDK provides data management and predictive intelligence software for transportation engineers and transit engineers much like navigation apps for drivers of connected vehicles. ” By collecting disparate data, connecting devices and systems, and then analyzing and interpreting that data, Urban SDK can automate responses 194

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and also predict outcomes, making an asset of IoT data. Streamlining data streams in this way gives cities the tools they need to improve all facets of transportation.

In Jacksonville, Urban SDK’s platform is being used to develop a Congestion and Transportation Data Dashboard, enabling the North Florida TPO to manage congestion and transportation planning more effectively and to report on its commitment to improving the region’s services.

Finally, their solutions help cities to track and ultimately meet their climate goals by predicting impacts on emissions, fuel consumption, and air quality.

“Urban SDK provides us visibility, analytics, and predictive intelligence on our local and regional roadways through sensors, traffic systems, and vendor technology deployments,” says Jeff Sheffield, Executive Director of North Florida TPO. “This allows us to configure and analyze disparate data for road safety and better transportation services.”

Urban SDK’s systems help reduce congestion by going beyond data gathered from sensors and cameras and incorporating emerging mobility technology and data from connected vehicles. They improve safety by using location intelligence to analyze traffic incidents and response times, in addition to pedestrian walking patterns, in order to enable better routing and safety technology deployment. And by connecting public and third-party consumer transportation data, Urban SDK can analyze and plan equitable access to sustainable transportation.

Urban SDK’s efforts and solutions have garnered significant and muchdeserved support and attention. The company was a finalist in the California Technology Council “Smart Cities Week” Pitch Fest and helped North Florida to be named a finalist in an exclusive Smart Regions competition.

Urban SDK is also part of the 2019 Startup in Residence (STIR) cohort, which pairs startups with cities across the country to solve civic challenges.

Urban SDK collaborated with other innovators to foster innovation in IoT and smart city Technologies, and the company has partnered with the City of Memphis and MATA to build a data management platform for transit planners.

“We believe the future city is connected digitally and physically,” Justin Dennis said. “Our mission is to connect community assets, services, and systems with digital intelligence to impact quality of life.”

25 North Market St. Jacksonville, FL 32202 | +1-904 859 7896 | Urban SDK | UrbanSDK.com @UrbanSDK

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message to everyone else in an organization that they don’t have to innovate.

Option 3. Create a series of accelerator programs that can indeed help drive products and services to market much quicker than established processes.

ELEVATOR PITCH Having worked for the Walt Disney Company for 25+ years, most recently as Head of Innovation & Creativity, I have just created a startup, iD8 & innov8, to help organizations embed innovation into everyone’s DNA, by making creativity tangible, innovation easy, and the process fun.

From experience, however, I have learned that the challenge with all of these approaches is that they don’t really help organizations truly change their culture to be more innovative and creative. And that is where I believe there is a huge gap in the market. The traditional ways of doing business are getting completely upended, and no one is giving businesses a tangible toolkit that they can utilize throughout their organization to embed innovation into everyone’s DNA.

OUR STORY The next decade will be the most disruptive of our lives. Artificial Intelligence estimated to think thousands of times faster than a human—in under a decade. 3D printing that will disrupt every single industry. Legacy brands trying to move from a product-centric, we-build-it-they-will-come culture, to a consumer-centric one, and Generation Z, who believe more in purpose than profit who will re-write all the rules of doing business.

So I decided to create my own startup, iD8 & innov8, and create a very unique Innovation toolkit that is both simple and straightforward for absolutely everyone in every industry to use. It includes both a set of Creative Behaviors to drive motivation and inspiration to innovate, and a series of tangible, actionable Design Thinking, Innovation Tools, that people can use to Think Different, and disrupt their established business practices and truly innovate.

So how will we survive if we just keep iterating in order to make quarterly results, versus actually innovating to not only survive but to thrive in this brave new world?

I am very excited to leverage all my experience as Head of Innovation & Creativity at Disney, to now support other organizations around the globe to harness the inspiration that their own teams have, and to give them the practical tools they so desperately need to compete in a time of unprecedented disruption.

Option 1. Invite a leading innovation consultant to come in and run an innovation project for you. Option 2. Establish an Innovation department, which while it acts as a catalyst for change, also subliminally sends the 196

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Email: duncanwardle@gmail.com @duncanjwardle id8innov8.com

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PENPAL SCHOOLS

HELPING TEACHERS CONNECT THEIR STUDENTS TO LEARN WITH PENPALS AROUND THE WORLD AND FROM DIFFERENT BACKGROUNDS.

PenPal Schools is the world’s largest project-based learning community, with over a quarter million students in 150 countries. Students collaborate through online projects ranging from human rights and the environment to fake news and robotics, all while practicing literacy, technology and socialemotional skills. PenPal Schools was recognized by President Obama and selected by Common Sense Education for the Best Edtech of 2017.

PenPal Schools projects are designed for students ages 8-18 and are aligned to a wide variety of academic standards. All projects are inquiry-based and are offered at multiple difficulty levels, which can be differentiated based on student ability. Some projects are designed specifically to accommodate English-language learners.

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Students work in groups with classmates to create original videos, presentations, service projects, art, poems, and more. Students then share their creations with peers, teachers, and parents from around the world in the PenPal Schools Showcase.

As students collaborate with their classmates to create projects they practice a variety of social and emotional skills. Students must work together to combine their various talents, accommodate multiple opinions, and combine their efforts into one cohesive project.

To help students create their projects, they log in to complete a series of lessons. Each lesson includes a video, non-fiction text, and discussion question.

Once students answer the discussion question they gain access to a forum of thousands of students from around the world who have answered the same question. Students must then interact with peers from around the world to gather diverse perspectives to include in their projects. Students must develop empathy and respect for other cultures and perspectives, while learning how to collaborate productively with peers with different working and communication styles.

PenPal Schools makes global project-based learning easy for teachers by providing pre-made, selfguided projects. However, teachers still play an active role. Teachers can review student projects in the Showcase, and can review every message that students send and receive in the lesson forums.

Teachers can provide students with private written feedback and can grade student work across a wide variety of reading comprehension,

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writing, digital citizenship, and social & emotional skills. Assessment criteria are customizable and are aligned to Common Core standards. In addition to teacher assessment, students must reflect on their own performance and learning, and are encouraged to provide feedback to classmates and peers around the world.

In addition to reviewing and grading student work, teachers can access supplemental offline class activities as well as a wide variety of professional development resources related to social-emotional learning, project-based and inquiry-based learning.

Teachers can also connect with teachers worldwide through educator forums, and can invite teachers from the PenPal Schools community to join them in projects. Teachers can search by country, subject, student age, and other factors to find classrooms around the world to invite to projects.

As part of our professional development opportunities, PenPal Schools provides educators with opportunities to discuss concepts related to project-based learning with colleagues around the world. Our teacher forums are very active with educators and experts who share tips, resources, and examples of success from their classrooms.

Parents are able to log in to review their students’ work in the Showcase and there is also a parent mobile app. Since spring 2019, parents and administrators have been able to analyze extremely detailed and holistic student learning data and access recommendations to address learning gaps.

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Joe Troyen Founder of PenPal Schools

Join the world’s largest collaborative learning community—PenPals Schools makes project-based learning easy, loved by students and teachers in 150 countries!

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SHOPIFY

Building world-changing products from Ottawa Shopify is a commerce platform built for independent business owners of all sizes to start, sell, market, and manage their businesses online, in-store, and everywhere in between. From small merchants to massive brands including Gymshark, PepsiCo, Allbirds, and many more, Shopify is powering a global economic movement of more than one million entrepreneurs in 175 countries.

The company is democratizing commerce by providing ambitious entrepreneurs with powerful tools to be successful and connect directly with customers.

When Tobi Lütke immigrated to Canada from Germany in 2002, he brought with him a cat named Homie, his coding skills, and a desire to become an entrepreneur.

Snowboarding was a hobby of his, so he decided to launch an online snowboard store from his new home in Ottawa.

He called it Snowdevil.

At the time, the internet was new and online stores were few. The software of the day was clunky, expensive, and hard to use. Instead of relying on an existing solution, Tobi decided to build his own e-commerce software from scratch. The resulting product made it so easy to start an online store that Tobi realized the software was far more valuable than the snowboards could ever be. He called up some friends in Ottawa to join the company, and together they turned his modest snowboard shop into a softwareas-a-service company called Shopify—a combination of the words “shop” and “simplify.”

Despite multiple requests from venture capitalists for Shopify to relocate to Silicon Valley, there’s never been any doubt in Tobi’s mind that Ottawa is the right spot to build a world-beating software company. The city’s highly educated workforce and history of tech innovation makes it a natural home for the company’s headquarters. Shopify is proudly Canadian, and has built

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the country’s multicultural values into its own company culture by hiring a diverse range of tech talent from Canada and all over the world, and enabling entrepreneurs of all types and sizes in more than 175 countries.

Shopify has built multiple world-class products ranging from Shopify Capital, which provides funding to businesses just getting started, to the Shopify Fulfillment Network that offers business owners fulfillment solutions that used to only be available to the largest companies in the world.

Shopify has invested so much into its home country that in 2018, the company contributed 9% of Canada’s total research and development (R&D) spending.

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This is more than a Canadian success story, however. Since the early days, Shopify’s team has grown to more than 4,000 employees internationally, and the company’s global reputation has earned high-profile merchants.

But even though Shopify has stretched upmarket with its enterprise product Shopify Plus, the company has never lost sight of its goal: to allow small, independent business owners the opportunity to compete with giants.

Shopify is driven by its mission to make commerce better for everyone, and that means providing tools and resources that level the playing field so anyone can start and grow their business. When faced with two choices, Shopify takes the path that leads to more entrepreneurs, to enable more voices rather than fewer.

Today, one million businesses use Shopify to sell online, in retail stores, and at pop-up events.

Simply put, Shopify makes enterprise-level technology available to businesses of all sizes, whether they want to grow big or stay small.

And there’s no better place to build that company than in Canada’s capital city.

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O T T A W A

Shopify is a leading global commerce company, providing trusted tools to start, grow, market, and manage a retail business of any size.

Shopify makes commerce better for everyone with a platform and services that are engineered for reliability, while delivering a better shopping experience for consumers everywhere. Headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, Shopify powers over one million businesses in more than 175 countries and is trusted by brands such as Allbirds, Gymshark, PepsiCo, Staples, and many more.

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1Mission 38 AccountabilIT 164 Aerospace Arizona 48 America’s SBDC Arizona Network 150 AQST Space Systems Group 44 Arizona Israel Technology Alliance 146 Arizona Kachinas 40 Arizona State University College of Health Solutions 110 ATOM 76 Bellatrix Aerospace 188 Benchmark 66 Benchmark Lark Technology 68 Better Business Bureau 140 bluemedia 72 Brodeur Partners 124 Caribu 190 Catalytic Health Partners 86 Center for Entrepreneurial Innovation (CEI) 98 Chris Ronzio (Trainual) 12 CIRQ+ 166 City of Scottsdale 32 CompTIA 170 Convey Communications 134 Coplex 144 CRADL 118 Digital Air Strike 54 Epifinder 106 Equality Health 84 Frank M. Placenti (Squire Patton Boggs) 28 Gilbert Chamber of Commerce 34 GlobalMed 102 Health Information Management System (HIMS) 100 Heidi Jannenga (WebPT) 24 Hownd 56 iD8 & innov8 196 Imagry 78 IMNA Solutions 94 Industrial Aerobotics 50 Insight Enterprises 160 Interface 70 Isagenix International 156 Joan Koerber-Walker (Arizona Bioindustry Association) 20 Karcsay Consulting Group 162

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Keap 62 Klymit 178 Land O’Lakes 172 Landish 186 LeadMD 130 LeeShanok Network Solutions 138 Levelhead 58 Life365 104 Lockerdome 174 Maricopa Corporate College (MCOR) 112 Maricopa County Department of Transportation 36 Mesa Chamber of Commerce 132 MST Solutions 154 MyJet 192 Neil G. Giuliano (Greater Phoenix Leadership) 22 Nestlé Purina 176 Open Bionics 182 PADT 74 Paul Johnson (Redirect Health) 10 PenPal Schools 198 Prism Global Marketing Solutions 126 Promineo Tech 116 Redirect Health 10, 82 RexPay 90 Sandra Watson (Arizona Commerce Authority) 14 SciTech Institute 120 Seek 180 Sethuraman “Panch” Panchanathan (ASU Knowledge Enterprise) 26 Shelvspace 60 Shopify 200 Silent Sector 46 SmartRent 158 Sonora Quest Laboratories 92 Steven G. Zylstra (Arizona Technology Council) 8 Sven Boermeester (GlobalVillage.World) 29 Tallwave 142 Todd Sanders (Greater Phoenix Chamber) 18 Tom Curzon (Osborn Maledon & Startup AZ) 16 Touchpoint Solution 96 Trainual 12, 114 Urban SDK 194 Vanderzee & Associates 148 Wired PR 128

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P H O E N I X

InnovationsoftheWorld.com

SHOWCASING THE BEST OF THE WORLD - CONNECTING MINDS - BUILDING COMMUNITIES

The Innovate series is a 300-page in-depth study and AR video series that showcases the people and companies that are leading the race within the innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystems of each city and industry. A book with augmented reality video, an online platform and a global network with a common goal of ensuring the brightest minds of the world connect and succeed.

IT’S A KIND OF MAGIC...

DOWNLOAD THE GLOBAL VILLAGE AR APP TO VIEW 100 AUGMENTED REALITY VIDEOS IN THIS BOOK! To experience the future of print, download the Global Village AR App from the IOS or Android App stores. Open the App and hold it about 30cm above any page that contains an image with the “play” Icon.

Make sure your back camera is pointing at the page. Click the Play button that appears onscreen and immerse yourself in the latest updated content with reference to that page.

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© GlobalVillage Partnerships ISBN: 978-1-949677-00-3