Amazing Startup Events

Hi all!

Naah, summer is not over, at least not in New England! September is shaping up to be a fantastic month, with the best startup events of the year. I hope we see you there!

Massachusetts soars up nine spots in CNBC’s annual America’s Top States for Business rankings this summer. Mass. came in 15th place, improving nine spots from its 24th place in 2022. 

The Associated Industries of Massachusetts conducted a survey that shows that the confidence among the state business owners grew 2.8 points in July to 52.5%, moving from pessimistic territory to positive and reversing months of decline.

According to the index, businesses are feeling better about the pace of inflation, and workers have more money to spend due to growing wages, and the numbers are promising enough to temper fears of a recession.

The State of Manufacturing

The Manufacturing PMI Index registered 47.6 percent last month, 1.2 percentage points higher than in July.

Imports faced another contraction in August, while production stayed unchanged.

On the positive side, Backlog of Orders is increasing.

A game changer concept for the shipping industry: A cargo ship retrofitted with solid wing sails embarked on a trial voyage, chartered by food giant Cargill for a fuel-efficient journey from China to Brazil.

A UK company started by yacht racing pros, BAR Technologies, designed the so-called WindWings tech.

How it works:

Our newsletter sponsor IMS has some thoughts on looking for a CM that takes the extra step:

A mentor once told me the difference between excellence and mediocracy is: the extra step!

In most cases, an extra step is not required. No one would even know you didn't take it. You can stand back and say you did a good job, and everyone would agree. But take the extra step, and you become excellent!

Unfortunately, today, complacency, mediocracy, and a good enough attitude are the standard. Everybody is used to it. They expect not to get a callback, the e-mail returned, or a question answered. It's different when building first-time builds or prototypes, as things change by the minute, and what was wrong an hour ago is right now, and you must be quick to understand and clarify each change many times.

Many companies do not use revision control (or worse, they do and don't update it), and the new data is sent with the same revision, but different. The CM could process it, build the board, and send it to the customer, and although the board was wrong, technically, the CM was not at fault. They built with the same revision on the data as the PO.

How do you make sure this doesn't happen? By being excellent, by taking the extra step, and by understanding what the customer is asking for even when they don't know how to ask for it.

Mediocracy is not acceptable, and we strive every day to be excellent! When looking at CM's, make sure they're excellent or at least have a process and attitude that drives excellence, otherwise, you'll be stuck with mediocracy, and you can be sure that's exactly what you'll get.

See the 144 Boston-area companies featured in the 2023 Inc. 5000 list, which ranks the fastest-growing private companies in America.

Stratasys and Desktop Metal have received a request for additional information from the DOJ’s Antitrust Division. The acquisition may be in doubt as Stratasys also considers an option to be acquired itself.

Greentown Labs, the largest climate tech incubator in North America, names Kevin Knobloch as Chief Executive Officer.

Instylla Inc., a medical equipment manufacturing startup based in Bedford, announced the completion of a $30 million financing round.

Our friends at Massachusetts Innovation Network present THE 2023 EDDIES SHOWCASE on October 4th. It's a great event with innovative startups

Tickets are available here.

Come and meet us at the Manufacturing Mash-Up! Register now for the 2023 Massachusetts Manufacturing Mash-Up on Sept. 19th. Join the most innovative people to celebrate, learn, and connect!

More information and registration here.

Startup Boston Week is back on Sept. 11-15! Connect with founders, startup employees, mentors, advisors, investors, students, and curious startup folks.

Register here.

Secure your spot at the RoboBoston 6th Annual Robot Block Party. RoboBoston is a celebration showcasing universities, startups, companies and student teams with cutting-edge robotics, AI and technology.

Register to attend here.

For 2023, we decided to switch up our process and provide Startup Spotlights each month on the best Startups with Hardware content in Boston.

If you know an exciting Startup that deserves a Spotlight, please send a brief message to Hello@newpageassociates.com, and we will consider them.

NODAR is a dynamic and innovative company that has made a significant impact on the next generation of 3D sensor technology for autonomous vehicles.

At NODAR, they are committed to providing cutting-edge solutions that enhance road safety and revolutionize the driving experience.

NODAR’s patent-pending Hammerhead™ technology has stereo cameras mounted independently on the vehicle that are used to generate 3D views around the car in real-time and can detect potentially hazardous objects more than 1,000 meters away.

This new capability far surpasses current sensors on the market used for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems and fully autonomous vehicles.

NODAR has been awarded 'Startup of the Year' by Sensors Converge 2023 for their revolutionary Hammerhead 3D vision technology and the coveted Grand Prix ACF AutoTech at the Automobile Club de France! Their advanced stereo-vision technology impressed the jury and was selected from 75 candidates from 22 countries.

Click here to learn more about Nodar.

In our August survey, we asked how your company is preparing for a potential economic downturn and a worldwide decrease in venture capital funding.

We had a draw with 17% of respondents saying that they are investing in new technology, selling assets and minimizing new capital investments.

The debate around remote work and whether it's effective or not is still going strong. Flexible work options for employees and employers demand contemplation.

For some companies, enabling remote work is a tough challenge. So we'd like to know:

How Google is planning to beat OpenAI: new details emerge on Google's upcoming Gen-AI product Gemini. GoogleGPT

(Source: The Information)

Meet the world’s first humanoid robot pilot: PIBOT. As well as being able to slide easily into the pilot’s seat and use its hands to flip switches in the cockpit, the robot uses AI technology to memorize flight charts and emergency protocols. NoMorePilots?

Don’t worry about 10k steps. According to new research, four thousand per day is enough to keep you healthy. ChangeYourStepsGoals

Meet Scooter, the winner of this year's World's Ugliest Dog contest. He'sActuallyCute

Cheers,

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