Let’s get caught up with the latest innovation news from Xconomy Texas.
—Sam’s Club, the bulk retailer owned by Walmart (NYSE: [[ticker:WMT]]), has brought on about 100 tech employees to work at a new office in Dallas, according to The Dallas Morning News. The newspaper reported that the new office is working on a new concept store—one that will have a “technology-driven shopping experience”—the retailing giant plans to open this fall. The Bentonville, AR-based company has taken a number of steps in the last year to use technology to better reach customers, whether they shop in the store, online, or a combination of both. Walmart’s tech incubator, called Store No 8, has purchased startups developing technologies such as virtual reality that might have applications in retail. The store chain is also working with Bossa Nova Robotics to use robots to help maintain more accurate inventory, and it’s working on an “intelligent food” system to keep produce fresh.
—Officials with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) were in Houston Friday at the Texas Medical Center’s (TMC) Innovation Institute to speak about a partnership between the two organizations seeking innovative uses of technology to deal with emerging security threats related to healthcare. The collaboration is focused on two challenges: the “pre-symptomatic” detection of illness and addressing sepsis, a life-threatening reaction to infection that kills 150,000 to 300,000 people a year, according to the National Institutes of General Medical Sciences. The effort is led by a new HHS unit called DRIVe, which is part of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA. The TMC, which received a $96,000 grant from the federal agency, is one of eight accelerator programs in the partnership.
—MassChallenge announced the top 16 startups in its first Texas-based venture accelerator program, which began with 84 companies in the cohort. The finalists will now compete for shares of $500,000 in equity-free cash prizes to be awarded Aug. 15. Click here for a full list of MassChallenge Texas
