A faster commercial passenger plane | Good news for veggie haters

Getting there faster

LOUIS, MO—While we’re still holding out forteleportation, this might just be the next best thing for now. The Boeing Company has won a $2.6 million contract to develop tech for a commercial passenger planethat would travel at nearly five times the speed of sound. The research is overseen by NASA’s Advanced Air Vehicles Program, which will lead efforts to “develop an environmentally sustainable civilian high-speed aircraft,” according to Flying magazine.

Eat your vegetables!

DURHAM, NC—Could be the answer to those picky eaters! A startup in Durham, is gene-editing vegetables to make them taste better. Using the gene-edited tool CRISPR, Pairwise successfully edited mustard greens without their harsh bitterness, while retaining their nutritiousness. The company will release the altered greens across the company, starting in certain restaurants in St. Paul, Minnesota, Springfield, Massachusetts, and St. Louis. Now if they could only make Brussels Sprouts taste like chocolate.

EB Systems uses its Beacon Reader tech to help businesses

KANSAS CITY, MO—EB Systems uses mobile apps, wearable Bluetooth devices, and its proprietary Beacon Reader technology to create real-time location, reporting, and alerting systems for businesses. Company co-founder Jonathan Ruiz says his team is trying to be proactive in discovering ways to make the city more tourist friendly. In 2020, EB tracked the size and scope of victory rallies for the Kansas City Chiefs, revealing that some fans spent a total of 13 hours on Union Station grounds. Now the company is looking for sponsors to roll out its tech when the World Cup comes to Kansas City.

Knoxville company gets $192 million to help energy startups

KNOXVILLE, TN—There is a lot of innovation going on around clean tech, but companies have trouble hitting the open market. Woman-owned Management Solutions has just landed a contract from the government to help energy startups find success. Misty Mayes, the founder and president of Management Solutions, says that the five-year, $192 million contract is key to the U.S. achieving its goal of generating 100% clean electricity by 2035.

Purdue’s Institute for Artificial Intelligence

WEST LAFAYETTE, IN–Purdue University launched the nation’s first Institute for Physical Artificial Intelligence (IPAI), a pillar of Purdue Computes, which will develop AI at the intersection of the virtual and the physical. The goal is to leverage strengths in agricultural data, neuromorphic computing, deep-fake detection, smart transportation data and AI-based manufacturing.