New WeWork Program Provides Free Access to 20+ Seattle-Vancouver-Portland Offices, Seattle is the best bike city in America, and more in this week’s Seattle in the Spotlight.

New WeWork Program Provides Free Access to 20+ Seattle-Vancouver-Portland Offices for ‘Cascadia Innovation Corridor’ Proponents

GeekWire | Nat Levy | October 10
https://www.geekwire.com/2018/new-wework-program-provides-free-access-20-pacific-northwest-offices-cascadia-innovation-corridor-proponents/

“WeWork is giving free access to the co-working giant’s more than 20 Seattle, Portland and Vancouver B.C. offices for select businesses and organizations that aim to further ties between regions in the so-called “Cascadia Innovation Corridor.” Under the new “Cascadia Passport” program, WeWork will grant a limited number of passports to local leaders — such as elected officials, economic development organizations, universities entrepreneurs and more — to distribute to local businesses, foreign delegations or others interested in strengthening bonds in the region. WeWork is also offering the option to directly apply for a Cascadia Passport. The program includes a free “hot desk” membership for six months, access to all of the Seattle-Portland-Vancouver locations and credits for conference room bookings.”

The Best Bike City in America? That’s Seattle, Apparently

Seattle Times | David Gutman | October 10
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/the-best-bike-city-in-america-thats-seattle-apparently/

“Bicycling magazine recently named Seattle the best bike city in America, lauding us for building protected bike lanes, lowering vehicle speed limits and opening up the streets to private, stationless bike-share companies. San Francisco comes in second, according to the magazine, and Fort Collins, Colorado is third. Seattle ranked fifth on the same list in 2016…“Very few bike lanes in the country are being built with the attention to detail that engineers in Seattle are using,” Bicycling magazine wrote, citing the new Second Avenue bike lane and the Westlake Avenue bike path.”

Univ. of Washington Researchers Unveil Prescience, an AI System that Predicts Problems During Surgery

GeekWire | Clare McGrane | October 10
https://www.geekwire.com/2018/univ-washington-researchers-unveil-prescience-ai-system-predicts-problems-surgery/

“A team led by UW Associate Professor Su-In Lee has developed an AI system called Prescience that uses patient data to predict which patients are at risk of hypoxemia, or abnormally low blood oxygen. Beyond that prediction, the system also gives its users real-world explanations to back up and explain its predictions. The researchers published their initial work on the program in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering on Wednesday. One figure from the study: They found Prescience could help anesthesiologists prevent 2.4 million cases of hypoxemia every year.”

Here are the Top 10 Highest-Valued Startups in the Seattle Area

GeekWire | Taylor Soper | October 9
https://www.geekwire.com/2018/top-10-highest-valued-startups-seattle-area/

“Seattle-area companies continued raising cash at a record clip during the third quarter, raking in $855 million across 88 deals, according to the latest PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor. Total venture capital raised was up nearly 80 percent from the year-ago quarter, but total deal count only increased by 11 deals for Seattle startups, following a national trend of more dollars going to fewer companies. The third quarter ranked as one of the highest capital raised in history, and follows the $826 million and $824 million raised in the first and second quarter, respectively. In the first quarter of 2000, $1.1 billion was invested into Washington state companies, according to a separate MoneyTree report.”