In case you didn’t hear the big announcement yesterday about BizSpark Plus, check it out here. The bigger announcement is that our very own Excelerate Labs will be participating in the BizSpark Plus program just in time for applicants to start applying.
Also, today, Excelerate graduate and BizSpark company Buzz Referrals just announced their series a funding with investors including the first investment from the Invest Illinois Venture Fund.
There are many perks of being a Microsoft employee – great health benefits ( 100% covered .. yeah, its awesome), flying everywhere to meet with fascinating startups, working with the smartest people in the world and with the most forward-thinking innovative company in the world. But most importantly to me, the best perk that comes with working at Microsoft is the opportunity to give back to our community on a consistent basis.
Yesterday myself and a few other Microsoft employees had the honor of meeting with eight of the brightest students the Midwest has to offer as a part of the ThinkChicago initiative. The program selected a handful of the regions brightest college seniors to come to Chicago during CIW, attend Tedx Midwest and learn about job opportunities at some of Chicago’s most esteemed businesses like Groupon, Google, Grubhub, and Microsoft.
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As all of Chicago focuses their attention on innovation, we thought we would turn our spotlight on some of our very own local BizSpark innovators.
Meet Innovative Exams – a Chicago-based startup revolutionizing assessment through their remote proctoring technology.
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There was one group of speakers at CIW’s Tech & Web MegaTalk that stood out a bit.
They weren’t media moguls, or designers, or founders of the next mobile marketplace.
But within two minutes of starting their speech, the soft-spoken and seemingly unknown speakers had the audience on the edge of their seats and their fellow speakers wide-eyed with amazement. Meet Lifelens, winners of Microsoft’s 2011 Imagine Cup challenge.
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There must have been something in the air yesterday because as I looked around at the buzzing crowd, networking and dreaming outloud, I saw that everyone, both old and young, looked so ready, so eager. For what, I can’t say definitively but I can guess that just like me Chicago Ideas Week had made them excited and almost frantically anxious to learn, build and create.
I am excited to be a part of a week long of amazing speakers and events kicking off today. Chicago Ideas Week is bringing together some of the most amazing speakers from all over the world and showcasing everything from entrepreneurs, innovation, art, technology… you name it, it’s got it.
if you are a student looking to participate in one of the coolest technology competitions in the world, the imagine cup is for you. Simply put, imagine cup is the world’s premier student technology competition. Beginning with local and regional competitions, Imagine Cup 2011 comes to an exciting finale at the Worldwide Finals held in New York City, United States from July 8-13, 2011. I have been talking to some universities and students who are still looking for more information on what exactly imagine cup is and how they can participate. since I knew I was not the guy with all the answers, I reached out to the guy that might. martin schray is heading up an effort to enlist quality US teams to participate and dominate the competitions. Here is what he sent me.
if you happened to be running through midway airport this weekend, make sure you get your picture taken with santa courtesy of windows and southwest. they are setup at gate b8 at midway. here are the other airports participating.
just in case you were one of those unlucky ones that did not get your pre-order in time to snatch up a kinect, if you live in the chicagoland area, then you can still pre-order one from the new oakbrook store and pick it up on the grand opening this thursday (11/4) that also is the day kinect launches. all you have to do is send an email to oakbrookreservations@microsoft.com and say “gorbett said to reserve me a kinect!” just make sure you make it to the store by 9pm this thursday to claim your reservation.
join us for a day of festivities beginning at 9:30 am. the weekend will be filled with fun events, give-aways, special in-store offers and free tickets to a special concert as we celebrate becoming a member of the chicagoland community. Play kinect, experience windows phone, explore our new computers and laptops, and find something fantastic for everyone on your gift list.
make sure you block the date for the microsoft store opening in chicago (actually oakbrook, but close enough) on 11/4. there will be opportunities to get your hands on all the new technology including that crazy camera that releases on the same day. I will be there. will you? check out the facebook event as more details are revealed.
