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3 things to know in #MiamiTech – the holiday edition

Nancy Dahlberg
Nancy Dahlberg
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1 Take a Magic Leap: Opportunity knocks but deadline is approaching
Money, money, money. Want to develop applications for Magic Leap’s first device, Magic Leap One? Magic Leap is offering grants of between $20,000 and $500,000, as well as marketing support, to fund the development of applications; developers hold onto the IP. But hurry, the deadline to apply for the Magic Leap Independent Creator Program is Dec. 15. Find out more here.
In other ML news, earlier this month Magic Leap formed the company’s first academic partnership with the University of Miami. Magic Leap is asking the university’s community to help build out a virtual computing world called Magicverse. In the South Florida Business Journal, CEO Rony Abovitz called it a digital version of UM that can “extend the campus to anywhere in the world.” ML is looking for applications in everything from theater to medicine to architecture. To that end, Magic Leap recently held talks and demos on campus (University of Miami video). 

 Read more here.
 
2 The Ford City of Tomorrow Challenge: And the winners are …
A startup spawned at MIT and another hailing from Tampa took home the prize money at Miami-Dade County’s Ford City of Tomorrow Challenge, a crowdsourcing platform for residents, businesses and community groups to propose and pilot solutions that improve mobility in Miami-Dade County. The winners were announced this week, the culmination of a nine-month process of listening to resident issues, accepting pilot proposals and ultimately choosing a winner, Ford said.
Soofa and PikMyKid will each receive $50,000 in funding to test their solution in Miami-Dade. Soofa, a woman-led team out of MIT, makes solar-powered digital bulletin boards that are already found in Atlanta, Las Vegas, Boston and it proposes to display real-time public and alternative transit options, as well as other local content, in up to three Miami-Dade neighborhoods. PikMyKid, based in Tampa, is a mobile app and platform that supports parents and children by making school transportation more efficient, timely and comfortable. PikMyKid plans to pilot with 8-10 Miami-Dade schools. Read more about the winners and finalists here.
3 Happy Thanksgiving Day to all!
From Refresh Miami to all of you, Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy your holiday (take the day off, will ya?) and give thanks for your family and friends and all of life’s blessings. What’s your turkey hack this year?

Nancy Dahlberg
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