Need for speed: Mozilla awards $101K to local gigabit projects
January 23, 2017 | Meghan LeVota
The Mozilla Gigabit Community Fund announced it will award a total of $101,000 to fund six local projects that use gigabit technology to impact learning.
The Gigabit Community Fund is a national partnership between the National Science Foundation, US Ignite and Mozilla. Locally, the fund partners with KC Digital Drive, whose goal is to leverage next generation internet technology that will spark innovation in Kansas City and nationally.
“Each of the organizations we’re working with are using an emerging technology to pioneer a new opportunity for learning, and that’s exciting,” said Janice Wait, managing director of Mozilla Gigabit Community fund, Kansas City chapter. “Through these projects, we’re able to support growing ecosystem of education innovation in Kansas City.”
In addition to Kansas City, Mozilla announced grant recipients in Austin and Chattanooga. The pilot period for these projects will begin Jan. 30 and will last for 16 weeks.
Here are the Kansas City grant recipients:
- Big Bang — This local Internet of Things company will bring real-time internet connectivity through “Gigabots,” educational robotics that will be implemented in Kansas City and Austin, Texas.
- The Urban Farming Guys – This nonprofit dedicated to elevating equal opportunity will build an IoT Smart Greenhouse and aquaponics, offering open source food production and education.
- Trinity Animation — This Lees Summit-based animation studio will use medical VR for anatomical education.
- ElevateEDU — This project will leverage science and volunteer computing to create learning and research opportunities for students.
- V Form Alliance — The V Form Alliance, which consists of 5 women of color, will use VR to teach black history via “virtual field trips” to landmarks in Kan. and Mo.
- University of Kansas, School of Architecture, Design & Planning — To deploy population health strategy in smart cities, students and professors will lead a project and design sustainable, affordable housing.
Featured Business
2017 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
SNAP cuts are ‘worse than they look on paper’: Food access advocates warn shelves could go bare overnight
Chef Shanita McAfee-Bryant doesn’t mince words about perceptions of the hungry Kansas Citians she serves daily through her award-winning culinary social venture. “These are the people who — if you listen to the rhetoric — are deemed ‘lazy,’” the founder of The Prospect KC’s NourishKC Community Kitchen told Startland News. “We know the narratives being…
LISTEN: Fermenting a clean future through products from meat alternatives to skin creams and baby formula
On this episode of Startland News’ Plug and Play Topeka founder podcast series, we chat with Francesca Gallucci of Natáur, a Baltimore-based biotech company that’s reimagining how essential nutrients are made. Combining synthetic biology, metabolic engineering, and eco-friendly fermentation, they’re producing bio-based taurine (and other naturally occurring sulfur compounds) without relying on petroleum. Gallucci takes…
KCMO slashes fees for outdoor dining permits, launches dining trail for grant winning projects
Kansas City has officially eliminated outdoor dining permit fees, reducing the cost from $850 to zero, thanks to the momentum created by a city-led initiative to encourage investment in outdoor dining experiences, city leaders announced this week, unveiling new plans to promote funded businesses and their projects. Launched in 2024, the Outdoor Dining Enhancement Program…
World Cup will produce KC small biz millionaires in just weeks, leaders say, but it’s only the start
Kansas City can’t look at the World Cup in 2026 as one big event where businesses are going to make good money for a while, and then everything goes back to normal, said Wes Rogers. “This has to be the beginning of the next chapter of our city,” the 2nd District Councilman for Kansas City,…