Weekly Rewind: Ann Arbor’s Business News Recap

Entrepreneurial Ecosystem News

• a2Tech360 is in two weeks!
  • More than 50 Ann Arbor Tech Companies to Virtually Open Doors to Community, Job Seekers
  • Virtually Connect with Hiring Companies during A2 Tech Trek
  • Michigan Angel Summit to Deliver Incredible Speaker Line Up, Valuable Content for New and Existing Angels Alike

• From our partners at U-M’s Office of Tech Transfer: U-M launches record number of startups, inventions in FY2020, during period marked by pandemic. Full report here. Celebrate Invention is part of a2Tech360!

• A2 BioSocial is back next week, September 15. SPARK is sponsoring with MichBio and miLEAD. Register here. 

• Crain’s 40 under 40: Michael Ambrose of DocNetwork and Matthew Johnson-Roberson of Refraction AI included. 

Mobility Updates

• Yandex spins out self-driving car unit from its Uber JV, invests $150M into new company. Yandex does some of its testing in Ann Arbor. 

Recognition and Honors

• Congrats to SPARK alum Shamar Herron who was named director of Michigan Works! Southeast this week. Bill Sleight will be retiring at the end of October after leading workforce development for many years in the region. Thanks to Bill for all his work throughout his tenure!

• The Great Lakes Women’s Business Council awards the Greater Washtenaw Region of the Small Business Development Center its 2020 Ambassador Award 
  Deserving recognition for the SBDC team. They have been great partners for SPARK for many years and have been a big part of our small business grant review process this year.

• SPARK Alum Donna Doleman honored as a 2020 Michigan Chronicle Women of Excellence Digital

Around the Mitten

• Governor Whitmer’s administration is launching Futures for Frontliners, which provides free tuition for essential workers.

• Startup Alerje profiled by MEDC. They’ve worked with SPARK and other SmartZone providers to ramp up. A successful app developer suffering from severe allergies developed a high-tech health management platform to help patients with similar conditions.

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