Talent’s moving to the heartland | Minority business success in St. Louis | Supporting agtech startups

New report shows Fast Future Cities gaining talent momentum

Fast Future COUNTRY—More signs are pointing to changes in Fast Future Country: Heartland Forward has released a new research report, “Heartland of Talent: How Heartland Metropolitans are Changing the Map of Talent in the U.S.,” in which it has identified a marked shift in the geography of talent over the past decade. While traditional tech hubs on the coasts continue to draw talent, heartland metros like Columbus, Missouri; Nashville, Tennessee; St. Louis; Cleveland and Cincinnati are gaining traction. College towns like Ann Arbor, Michigan; Madison, Wisconsin; and Iowa City, Iowa are also gaining talent.

St. Louis #1 for successful minority-owned businesses

LOUIS, MO—St. Louis was ranked No. 1 among the best cities where minority-owned businesses are successful. According to a study by JobSage, 25 percent of startups, or 2,279, in St. Louis are minority-owned with annual sales totaling $193,558,000. St. Louis also has programs to help diverse business owners grow and succeed, including the St. Louis Diverse Business Accelerator.

Food tech looks at global impact

DURHAM, NC—Food tech startup Pairwise uses gene editing to develop new varieties of fruits and vegetables. The company has made a deal with Tropic Biosciences, a U.K. agricultural tech company, that will grant access to base editing technologies in order to extend its game-changing potential to critically important crops with major global economic impact.

Supporting agtech startups

ST. LOUIS, MO—More agtech news from the Show Me State: The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center is the largest U.S. research institute and non-profit for plant science. Now they’ve established a new company called Danforth Technology Company, which aims to commercialize the Center’s research and technology by launching agtech startups from Danforth’s own campus.