Corporate

Kansas City Developers Conference cultivates community among techies

Hundreds of hardcore techies are gearing up for one of Kansas City’s largest gatherings of developers. The eighth-annual Kansas City Developers Conference is expecting more than 1,300 attendees from regional corporations, startups and universities on June 22. With a focus on building the Kansas City community, the conference features loads of workshops, panel discussions and…

Black & Veatch constructs ideation platform with new accelerator

A new program at area construction giant Black & Veatch hopes to hatch and accelerate innovative ideas by adopting a concept common among startups. The Overland Park-based corporation recently created the B&V Growth Accelerator, which hopes to challenge the global firm’s traditional methods of generating and launching ideas. The internal program is led by nine…

Meet the new ambassador of area techies: The KC Tech Council

The organization formerly known as KCnext has announced a rebrand that will make it a fully-independent organization focused on tech workforce development, advocacy and industry access. The newly-formed KC Tech Council announced its name change Friday, marking its departure from the Kansas City Area Development Council. While still partnering with the regional economic development group, the…

Kansas City streetcar kickoff syncs with Smart City launch

It’s poised to be a momentous week for Kansas City infrastructure. In addition to the Friday launch of the much-anticipated Kansas City streetcar line, the City of Fountains has officially kicked off operations of its smart city framework. The $15.7 million public-private project aims to transform Kansas City’s downtown into a living lab of Wi-Fi…

corporate innovation

Byrd: What we can learn from 5 corporate innovation blunders

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. Most corporations don’t want innovation, they just say they do. Corporate leaders talk about radical and disruptive ideas, but is that truly all that innovation is? In it’s purest form, innovation creates more effective processes, products and ideas that will in turn increase…