We’re hosting a Zoom webinar on Thursday, August 27, at 10 a.m. CT. During the virtual event, we’ll walk you through the Accelerating Concept to Commercialization, or ACCEL-KS, proof of concept grant program in partnership with the Kansas Department of Commerce.

Grace Heritage Farms, run by Sarah Easdon in East Central Kansas, is building virtual fencing for regenerative goat grazing. Rotational grazing keeps land and livestock healthy, but today it means physically dragging fence, which is slow and labor-intensive. Sarah's system puts a GPS collar on each goat that beeps near a set boundary and corrects it if the goat crosses.

We’re opening applications for the second year of Accelerating Concept to Commercialization in Kansas, or ACCEL-KS, our proof-of-concept grant program in partnership with the Kansas Department of Commerce. If you’re a Kansas founder, and you’re building novel technologies, whether hardware or software, we want to hear from you.

GO ACADEMIX, founded by Jocelyn Powell, is an all-in-one platform for allied health training programs, the schools that train CNAs, CMAs, phlebotomists, and licensed nurses. These programs usually juggle disconnected tools for enrollment, learning management, and certification tracking. GO ACADEMIX combines all of that, plus scheduling and compliance, in one connected system.

Planetary Talent, co-founded by Jacob Schlittenhardt, is reimagining the hiring process. Instead of a job posting, an employer shares its raw thinking about the hire they need; the platform builds a model of the ideal candidate and runs targeted ads to find them. Applicants get a model too, built around their story, and the two compare notes before a human sees a shortlist.

Ask Lucille, a product of the Lucille Group founded by Andrea Amaro, solves this by using AI image recognition to quickly inventory a whole home, capturing and valuing belongings before a claim ever happens. After a catastrophe, many homeowners and renters can lose out on tens of thousands of dollars from lacking documentation on household items.

Tacit Technologies, founded by Rye Kennedy, makes Jitterbug, a device that helps wind farm owners decrease maintenance costs by up to 30 percent. Jitterbug identifies the early signs that a wind turbine is failing, so operators can plan repairs before a breakdown.

Founded by Logan Schraeder, Toadworx develops night vision accessories and hardware for civilians and law enforcement. Their first product, the BATL (formerly the LAM Mk1A), began as a notebook page drawing during a team brainstorming session around a kitchen table. Now, they’re shipping to customers.

On June 11, we gathered at Groover Labs to mark the conclusion of the inaugural Accelerating Concept to Commercialization in Kansas (ACCEL-KS) proof-of-concept grant program, and to celebrate the 25 founders who spent the past year turning their ideas into working hardware and software prototypes.

Congratulations to Groover Labs member and ACCEL-KS grant recipient Planetary Talent, which was named Kansas Tech Startup of the Year at FlagshipKansas.Tech’s Ad Astra Technology Summit on June 4.