Technology

SCORE Announces Winners of its Small Business Pitch Competition in Los Angeles

Published

2 years ago

September 27, 2024

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 27, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — SCORE, the nation’s largest network of volunteer, expert business mentors, announced the three winning small business owners of its 60th Anniversary Pitch Competition held on Sept. 26 at The Kimpton Everly Hotel in Los Angeles, one of the host cities of the nationwide event. The competition is an avenue for small business owners to showcase their presentation and selling skills to industry experts, win funding and gain valuable knowledge and mentorship, all at no cost. More than 2,200 small business owners applied to participate.

The three winning businesses in the Los Angeles pitch event are:

First Place:
Diana Jarrar – Magic Dates (Los Angeles, CA)
Magic Dates, LLC offers innovative snack bites made from dates and other nutritious ingredients, such as walnuts and cacao. Inspired by Diana’s Syrian heritage, the products are designed to be healthy alternatives to traditional snacks, being plant-based, paleo, gluten-free and grain-free, with no added sugars. Popular flavors include Triple Choco Crunch and Salted Walnut Brownie. Diana earned the top prize of $20,000 for her pitch. She plans to use her prize to enhance inventory and production, establish affiliate influencer partnerships, fund pay-per-click campaigns on Amazon, and refresh the website with new imagery.

Second Place:
Jon Mowl – Play With ASL (Riverside, CA)
Play With ASL is an innovative mobile application designed to make learning American Sign Language (ASL) engaging and accessible through gamification. Founded by a Deaf entrepreneur, the platform addresses gaps in existing ASL education by combining fun gaming elements with structured language learning, catering to diverse learning needs. Jon earned $10,000 for his pitch, which he plans to use to enhance the app’s capabilities by developing additional educational games, integrating Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) standards for use in educational institutions, and improving user experience. Funds will also support marketing efforts and expand the app’s availability to Android devices, broadening its user base.

Third Place:
Brice Sokolowski – Vaucluse Gear LLC (Scottsdale, AZ)
Vaucluse Gear LLC specializes in innovative backpack ventilation solutions, including attachable ventilation frames, mesh sleeves and ultralight framed backpacks. The company aims to enhance comfort for backpackers by reducing sweating and increasing airflow, all while ensuring quality through American-made products. Brice received $5,000 for his pitch. He will use the prize to support the company’s research and development to advance the next version of their ventilation frames, helping accelerate the design process by six months. The funding will also aid in building brand awareness.

“Congratulations to the winners of our 60th Anniversary Pitch Competition event in Los Angeles,” said SCORE CEO Bridget Weston. “It takes ingenuity, passion and dedication for small business owners to succeed. SCORE is honored to provide mentorship and resources to our pitch contestants, just as we have for more than 17 million entrepreneurs over the past 60 years.”

As part of the pitch competition, contestants were matched with one of SCORE’s free, expert business mentors to guide them to prepare and deliver a compelling pitch.

Judging criteria included the effectiveness of the presentation, brand identification, uniqueness and viability of the product or service, the thoroughness of the business plan, scalability and any sustainability or social impact. Financials were also assessed on overall potential.

Shellie Peters, Head of Benefits and Charitable Giving at Global Atlantic, said “Global Atlantic is thrilled to support SCORE’s pitch competition and is committed to fostering the growth of small businesses that contribute to the economic landscape of this dynamic city. We applaud all participants for their creativity and determination and look forward to seeing their positive impact on the Los Angeles community.”

The 10 finalists from the Los Angeles event also included:

Donna Lee – R-YOLO (Harvard, MA)Max Goldberg – Shuki (Los Angeles, CA)Alejandra Garcia – Moon & Milk (Los Angeles, CA)Melody Brown – L&M Hair Company (Portland, OR)Chris Sward – LA Cleaning LLC (Lawndale, CA)Danika Frandsen – Baby Steps Concierge Nursing (Camarillo, CA)Anastasia Miles – The City Loo (Kirkland, WA)

In addition to Los Angeles, regional contests were held in Philadelphia on Aug. 28 and in Des Moines on Sept. 12. A nationwide virtual competition took place Sept. 17-19. The final event in the series will be held on Oct. 3 in Houston. In total, SCORE’s 60th Anniversary Pitch Competition will award $175,000 to 15 winning small businesses.

For more information or to download photos of the Los Angeles event, click here for the press kit.

To schedule interviews with winners of SCORE’s 60th Anniversary Pitch Competition, finalists, mentors, or representatives from SCORE, please contact teamscore@redbanyan.com.

To learn more about SCORE, request a mentor or volunteer to be one, visit score.org.

About SCORE

Since 1964, SCORE has helped more than 17 million entrepreneurs start, grow or successfully exit a business. SCORE’s 10,000 volunteers provide free, expert mentoring, resources and education in all 50 U.S. states and territories. Visit SCORE at score.org.

Funded [in part] through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Media Contact
Maria Coder, SCORE, 954-379-2115, teamscore@redbanyan.com

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Technology

Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair Students Win Big at the 75th California Science and Engineering Fair

Published

4 hours ago

April 26, 2026

SAN DIEGO, April 26, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The 75th California Science and Engineering Fair (CSEF) took place April 11–12 at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, bringing together 900 of the best of 1st place winners from regional competitions covering 58 counties across the state, including the Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair (GSDSEF). GSDSEF students earned 40 awards at the event, including two of only six highly coveted spots to the prestigious Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). Seven students earned 1st Place awards in the categories of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Chemistry, Cognitive Science, Microbiology, Physics and Astronomy, and Zoology. In addition, one student won the Saban Family Foundation Scholar Prize, while another won the South Coast AQMD Air Quality Award and A&WMA Environmental Leadership Award. CSEF is the oldest science fair west of the Mississippi River and the highest level competition in the state.

Top winners were:

Arya Bhatt, Grade 7, Oak Valley Middle School, South Coast AQMD Air Quality Award, A&WMA Environmental Leadership Award, “Context Aware Real Time Air Quality Prediction Using Machine Learning”.

Joie Green, Grade 8, Muirlands Middle School, 1st Place, “Soon I will be Invisible: How to Direct Energy with Topological Metamaterials”.

Maggie Hao, Grade 10, The Bishop’s School, 1st Place, “Harnessing Tardigrade Genes to Enhance Bacterial Biosensors for Heavy Metal Pollutant Detection”.

Uma Kattamuri, Grade 7, Oak Valley Middle School, 1st Place, “Elevated CO2 During Kalanchoe pinnata Growth Reveals Enhanced Antiproliferative and Synergistic Therapies”.

Sonika Dhenuva Konda, Grade 11, Del Norte High School, Saban Family Foundation Scholar Prize, “Adaptive Swarm Coordination for Wildfire Control via Q-Learning Tuned PSO with Quantum-Inspired Coupling”.

Emma Liu, Grade 11, The Bishop’s School, ISEF Finalist, 1st Place, “Defining 3D Phenotypic Cell States of Polymorphonuclear Neutrophils via Novel Computational Pipeline”.

Sharvi Mahajan, Grade 8, Bernardo Heights Middle School, 1st Place, “Evaluating Predictive EEG Theta/Beta Features in Adult ADHD via Machine Learning”.

Sydney O’Donnell, Grade 8, The Rhoades School, 1st Place, TFJIC, “Effects of Marigold Versus Chlorella Supplementation on Yolk Lutein Content”.

Ihan Sung, Grade 11, Eastlake High School, ISEF Finalist, 1st Place, “Renewable Ammonia Electrochemical Synthesis by Glow Discharge with an Iron Based Catalyst”.

Full results and project showcase available online.

About the GSDSEF

Since 1955, the Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair (GSDSEF) has provided an inspiring experience in science and engineering for tens of thousands of San Diego and Imperial County students, motivating them to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. This regional competition challenges students to go beyond classroom studies to do independent research – to ask compelling questions, to design and implement innovative solutions, and to present and defend results to judges who are professionals in their fields. The GSDSEF brings together 800 of the best middle and high school students, 400+ judges who are professionals in their fields and over 60 professional societies and organizations, with $40k in prizes awarded.

The GSDSEF fosters creativity and innovation through inquiry, celebrates students’ STEM achievements, and showcases how young minds can make an impact in the present and future. Many of these student scientists are conducting world-class research and conducting groundbreaking experiments in fields ranging from Astronomy to Zoology, such as the discovery of cures for diseases, formulations of new vaccines, cancer research, applying AI to enhance medical diagnoses, using biomimicry for water conservation, novel drone technology, advances in micro robotics and autonomous driving technology. The GSDSEF is the highest-level STEM competition in the region and one of the oldest, most respected and competitive in the world. The GSDSEF is a 501(c)(3) organization. Learn more at gsdsef.org and follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram.

Media Contact:
Sany Zakharia
sany.zakharia@gsdsef.org

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SOURCE Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair

Technology

Innowise Named to 2026 CRN Tech Elite 250 List By The Channel Company

Published

7 hours ago

April 26, 2026

WARSAW, Poland, April 26, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Innowise has officially secured a position on CRN’s 2026 Tech Elite 250. This annual ranking identifies IT solution providers across the US and Canada that have achieved top-tier status within the partner programs of the industry’s leading technology vendors. The inclusion follows a period of verified growth in technical proficiency and a focus on high-impact engineering.

“Innowise concentrates on creating scalable, resilient architectures that produce measurable benefits for our clients. The honor of being recognized by CRN highlights the commitment of our experts to maintain high standards in highly competitive markets,” said Dmitry Nazarevich, CTO at Innowise.

About the Tech Elite 250

The Tech Elite 250 is a directory of companies recognized as having the highest level of partnership and certifications within the global IT ecosystem. In order to reach the final list, the provider must hold the most advanced technical credentials from vendors like AWS, Cisco, Dell, HPE, IBM, Intel, Nutanix, and Nvidia.

This directory serves as a verified ledger for enterprise clients who need to orchestrate complex hardware and software stacks without letting legacy environments rot. Holding these certifications is mandatory to stop the cash bleed caused by inefficient infrastructure and unoptimized cloud usage.

About Innowise

Founded in 2007, Innowise is a global software engineering and IT consulting center. The company is focused on developing high-value technologies, including artificial intelligence, data engineering, and cloud computing. Innowise crafts technological solutions for companies across 40+ domains in order to assist them in updating, creating, and modernizing their digital ecosystems.

Innowise specializes in using established technologies and modular approaches to enable organizations to expand or shift their operations while retaining complete control over all their physical and intangible assets.

Media Contact

Lizaveta Piaskova, Innowise, 48 48 787 027 706, lizaveta.piaskova@innowise.com, innowise.com

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Technology

Neusoft Showcases Full-Stack & Global Innovations at Auto China 2026

Published

10 hours ago

April 26, 2026

BEIJING, April 26, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — At Auto China 2026, Neusoft Corporation hosted a press conference on April 25th and announced three key strategic moves: the iteration of Neusoft OneCoreGo® Global In-Vehicle Intelligent Mobility Solution 7.0, the launch of Neusoft NAGIC.AI Cockpit Software Platform, and the strategic upgrade of its subsidiary, Neusoft Smart Go. By leveraging full-stack technology and a global ecosystem to drive innovation and empowerment, Neusoft is transforming vehicles into proactive, connected and collaborative mobile intelligent spaces.

OneCoreGo® Global In-Vehicle Intelligent Mobility Solution 7.0: An Evolved AI Companion for Global Intelligent Mobility

Intelligent mobility requires proactive perception, scenario integration, and global connectivity to meet personalized user needs and complex driving scenarios. Neusoft, whose products cover over 130 countries and regions worldwide, addresses these challenges with its OneCoreGo® Global In-Vehicle Intelligent Mobility Solution 7.0 through AI-driven innovation and global ecosystem collaboration. Powered by One Mate’s cross-agent collaboration and a sub-product matrix including One Map, One Sight, One Cloud, One Pay, One Store, One Link, and One Guard, the solution delivers full-link global mobility services spanning navigation, in-cabin AR, payment, app ecosystem services, connectivity and security. By breaking down functional silos, it streamlines multi-step operations into a single “depart” command, leveraging full-stack AI technology across perception, decision-making, interaction, and execution processes.

Guan Xin, Vice President of Neusoft and General Manager of Neusoft Automotive Innovative Solutions Division, said, “Adhering to the core principles of AI and globalization, OneCoreGo® 7.0 keeps innovating, evolving into a globally intelligent mobility companion that truly understands user needs.”

To enhance driving safety and mobility efficiency, OneCoreGo® 7.0 has also comprehensively upgraded its sub-products: One Map Global Navigation newly introduces 3D city effects, 3D lane-level maps, and traffic light guidance, offering dedicated solutions for two-wheelers and commercial vehicles as well. One Sight AR For Car improves navigation display effects, reducing instances of taking wrong routes. One Pay In-Vehicle Payment achieves over 90% payment coverage for parking services across core European cities. Combined with One Cloud’s global compliance cloud monitoring platform and One Guard’s full-stack vehicle networking security services, it creates a truly comprehensive OneCoreGo® Global In-Vehicle Intelligent Mobility Solution.

Neusoft NAGIC.AI Cockpit Software Platform: Dual-track Architecture for AI Integration in Every Vehicle

Amid the AI-driven transformation of the automotive industry, the market faces two challenges: limited computing power in legacy vehicles and high adaptation difficulties for next-gen models. Neusoft’s NAGIC.AI Cockpit Software Platform adopts a flexible “distributed + centralized” dual-track architecture approach. For existing vehicle models, it introduces the AI BOX solution, rapidly boosting computing power via external AI computing units, significantly reducing upgrade costs and timelines. For new vehicle models built on next-gen central computing platforms, Neusoft provides a full-stack AI cockpit software product suite, meeting automakers’ stringent requirements for system stability, reliability, and full-domain control.

Pang Hongyan, Vice President of Neusoft and General Manager of the Automotive Intelligent Software Division, said, “Our dual-track architecture enables every vehicle to embrace AI and enjoy an intelligent future. Both existing models and new-generation vehicles can find the most suitable path to intelligentization.”

Moreover, Neusoft’s NAGIC.AI Cockpit Software Platform features scenario-based, human-centric AI Agents seamlessly integrating driving safety, occupant care services, intelligent assisted driving and in-cabin entertainment. Neusoft also collaborates with global ecosystem partners to drive intelligent upgrades of in-cabin interaction products, fostering a more open and dynamic intelligent cockpit ecosystem.

Strategic Upgrade of Neusoft Smart Go: A World-leading Provider of Full-Domain Upper-Body Electronics Solutions for Intelligent Vehicles

Aligning with the trend of E/E architecture evolution from distributed control to “central computing + zonal control”, Neusoft Smart Go, a subsidiary of Neusoft in the field of intelligent vehicle connectivity, has completed a strategic upgrade, aiming to become a global leader in full-domain upper-body electronics solutions for intelligent vehicles.

This strategic upgrade positions Neusoft Smart Go to focus on full-domain scenarios in upper-body electronics, building a product matrix covering full-category in-vehicle electronics solutions, including central computing platforms, cockpit-driving-parking integration, intelligent cockpits, intelligent communications, intelligent audio systems, and zonal control units, and pioneering the integration of large model algorithms.

Jian Guodong, Senior Vice President of Neusoft and CEO of Neusoft Smart Go, said, “This strategic upgrade represents a significant leap from partial focus to comprehensive layout. Through our dual-track strategy of high-end cutting-edge solutions and mature standardized products, we can flexibly meet the mass production needs of vehicle models across different regions and price segments worldwide.” Neusoft Smart Go will provide mass-producible, adaptable hardware-software integrated solutions, empowering global automakers in achieving intelligent transformation.

Neusoft’s President, Mr.Gai Longjia stated, “In the future, Neusoft Smart Go will create stronger synergy with Neusoft Corporation by sharing internal technologies and capabilities while responding jointly to external demands. This specialized yet collaborative model will preserve business unit’s agility and expertise while enhancing Neusoft’s full-stack technological advantages.”

As a trusted partner in a smarter world, Neusoft is committed to collaborating with global automakers and ecosystem partners to build an open and inclusive intelligent automotive community together for the future of global mobility.

For more information about Neusoft, please visit www.neusoft.com.

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SOURCE Neusoft Corporation