Seattle Ranks 11th in U.S. for Entrepreneurship, Innovation

Puget Sound Business Journal | Rachel Nielsen | May 11

“Seattle came in 11th in a new ranking of 25 U.S. urban areas by how much they foster entrepreneurship and innovation. In a report published by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and Washington, D.C.-based company incubator 1776, Seattle ranked behind the Bay Area, which took the No. 2 spot, as well as Denver, Raleigh-Durham and Philadelphia…Seattle ranked higher in some subcategories…Seattle has been attracting talent from the Bay Area with its quality of life and lower rents and housing costs as tech companies ranging from Facebook to Google expand their offices here.” Read more.

 

How Seattle is Poised to be an Epicenter for Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence

GeekWire | Taylor Soper | May 11

“Seattle is poised to be an epicenter for machine learning and artificial intelligence. That’s one takeaway from the inaugural Machine Learning / Artificial Intelligence Summit hosted by Madrona Venture Group on Wednesday in downtown Seattle. Thanks to Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and a wide range of startups, the Emerald City is already known as a hub for cloud computing technology development, with Madrona Managing Director Matt McIllwain calling Seattle the “cloud capital of the world” more than two years ago…But looking beyond the infrastructure and services side of cloud computing, there is also momentum building from both tech giants and small startups in Seattle that are developing technologies related to machine learning, artificial intelligence, natural language processing, algorithms, data analytics, and more.” Read more.

 

Delta Expands Delta Shuttle Service to Seattle

USA Today | Ben Mutzabaugh | May 9

“Delta Air Lines is expanding its “Delta Shuttle” brand to Seattle, where it will operate the service on routes to Los Angeles and San Francisco. Beginning Wednesday, Delta will unveil a dedicated Delta Shuttle check-in area at Seattle-Tacoma International for its schedule of eight weekday round-trip flights to the two California cities. Delta says it will add two additional flights on the Seattle-L.A. route on May 23…The Shuttle frequencies are marketed toward business fliers, who can easily make same-day return trips or catch earlier or later flights if their schedules change.” Read more.

Seattle’s Alaskan Way Viaduct Reopening a Week Early as Roadway and Ground Stand Up to Bertha

GeekWire | Kurt Schlosser | May 8

“Seattle-area drivers will regain access to the Alaskan Way Viaduct in time for the Monday morning commute as Bertha the tunneling machine has made significant — and safe — progress in a critical phase of mining that took it directly beneath the elevated roadway. The Washington State Department of Transportation announced on Sunday that structural engineers had completed a thorough inspection of the Viaduct and determined that the 63-year-old structure and the ground around it had maintained stability. The Viaduct was closed to traffic on April 29 for what was intended to be approximately two weeks. The roughly 90,000 vehicles that rely on the road daily moved to other area highways and surface streets, and for 10 days Seattle’s commute times have been more painful than normal.” Read more.

Voyager Capital: Seattle and Portland Entrepreneurs are More Competitive than Ever

Puget Sound Business Journal | Ashley Stewart | May 6

“When Bill McAleer and Erik Benson started Seattle-based Voyager Capital near the tail end of the dot-com boom, there were very few venture firms in town…The city has changed a lot since then. “People now starting companies in Seattle and Portland are much more competitive than they were when we started 20 years ago,” McAleer, the Voyager partner who founded the firm in 1998, said…Seattle has become a hot-spot for talented technology professionals, particularly those fleeing the rising cost of living in the Bay Area and Silicon Valley.” Read more.