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FlagshipKansas.Tech Celebrates Five Years, Announces 2024 Board

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WICHITA, Kan., Feb. 27, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — FlagshipKansas.Tech, a nonprofit organization focused on advancing Kansas as a hub for technology and innovation, is pleased to announce its 2024 board of directors and officers as it celebrates a milestone anniversary. February 27, 2024, marks five years since FlagshipKansas.Tech held its kickoff event at the Advanced Learning Library in Wichita, where hundreds of tech professionals and community leaders converged to learn about the organization and its mission.

“FlagshipKansas.Tech is a catalyst for innovation to propel the Kansas tech industry forward,” said Ben Sebree, Chair of the FlagshipKansas.Tech Board. “Through its critical role, Flagship is facilitating connections to support tech education, workforce, and economic development.”

The governing board will be led by Chair Ben Sebree, SVP of R&D at CivicPlus – an international software provider founded in Manhattan, Kan., and Vice Chair Megan Harper, Director of Marketing & Sales at Twin Valley – the state’s largest independent broadband and communications company. Amanda Duncan, Vice President & Chief Development Officer for Workforce Alliance of South Central Kansas, will serve as Treasurer along with Tonya Knipp, Senior VP & Information Technology Manager for Emprise Bank, as Secretary.

Additional members of the board include:

Callie Harris, Assistant Principal, Pray-Woodman Elementary – Maize, KSRobin Huber, VP and General Manager, NetApp WichitaThomas Papadatos, Venture Investment Manager, Entrepreneurial Growth VenturesJade Piros de Carvalho, Director, Kansas Office of Broadband DevelopmentDan Reisig, VP of Technology, UV&STroy Tabor, Director, WSU Center for EntrepreneurshipSteven Werner, CEO, Lawn BuddyJonathan Wiersma, VP of Product and Marketing, TrueRoll

Additionally, the advisory board was expanded significantly with 21 new members. A new committee focused on FlagshipKansas.Tech membership benefits and recruitment will be led by Steven Werner. Board member bios are available at flagshipkansas.tech/leadership.

“I was very pleased to see the level of interest in involvement for the Flagship board,” said Vice Chair Megan Harper. “Coming off the success of the second annual Ad Astra Technology Summit, we’re heading into 2024 with significant momentum and excitement around our mission. Our talented and diverse board will be an asset as we advocate on behalf of the Kansas tech industry.”

FlagshipKansas.Tech has had many successes in its five years, despite the pandemic hitting hard just a year after launching the organization. Some of the highlights include:

Helped recruit tech companies to Kansas, including Novacoast, Millenium and Knowmadics. Driving economic development, Flagship often partners with the Greater Wichita Partnership to help recruit tech companies to the area. Flagship was instrumental in the recruitment of Novacoast, hosting a tech industry event with its membership to allow Novacoast leaders to get a feel for the Kansas tech ecosystem. They later cited the event as a key influencer in their decision to move to Wichita. Flagship also helped secure Millenium and Knowmadics.Received $150,000 in grant funding from Microsoft. The funds supported Kansas tech education and workforce development initiatives.Lobbied for Computer Science Education, which led to the passing of HB2466, allowing CS to be a core graduation requirement in Kansas schools. Additionally, other funding was passed for current and aspiring teachers to receive training in computer science programs.Supported the application of the One Workforce Grant, a $10 million department of labor grant awarded to the Workforce Alliance. This grant funds training in advanced manufacturing and technology for a 10-county region in South Central Kansas. Many Flagship companies have received training funds to hire new employees or upskill existing staff. As one of just 17 grantees nationwide, One Workforce is the single largest grant award the public workforce system has received in Kansas.Helped members receive more than $400,000 in workforce development funding through the DRAW grant and apprenticeship programs.Exposed students to technology careers and skills through partnerships with the Workforce Center of South Central Kansas and its Youth Employment Project along with AT&T.Established the Ad Astra Technology Summit. Industry leaders, startups, government officials, and educators come together to explore current issues, attending informative sessions on digital skills development, industry panels, apprenticeship programs, and new/startup business enablement. The event won an Innovation Award following its first year.Established the state’s technology awards, highlighting leaders, innovators, educators and students in Kansas tech.Brought Steve Wozniak to Kansas. The STEM teacher, engineer and Apple co-founder participated in an exclusive fireside chat moderated by Kansas tech giant Luis Rodriguez.

Technology companies continue to find themselves accelerating to meet current market needs and position themselves for the future. According to CompTIA, the tech industry makes a 10-billion-dollar impact on the Kansas economy and employs over 65,000 individuals across the state.

This year, FlagshipKansas.Tech will gain even more momentum in its efforts to raise awareness, attract and retain technology talent, and support technology workforce training and education initiatives in the state. Additionally, developing a positive climate in support of startups is essential for the growth of Kansas tech.

“I am so excited to carry out the FlagshipKansas.Tech mission, serve our members and be wildly disruptive in 2024,” said Conner Hampton, Executive Director. “The work we do across Kansas is not possible without the leadership from such an impactful and powerful Board of Directors.”

Those interested in learning more about FlagshipKansas.Tech’s mission, membership, and/or collaboration opportunities can contact Executive Director Conner Hampton at flagshipkansas.tech/contact.

About FlagshipKansas.Tech

FlagshipKansas.Tech is a nonprofit organization that brings together Kansas technology companies to shine a light on the depth of skill, ingenuity, and innovation running through our cities and communities. Current goals include raising awareness, attracting and retaining technology talent, and supporting technology workforce training and education. Learn more at FlagshipKansas.Tech.

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SOURCE FlagshipKansas.Tech

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Tuya Smart Brings Full-Stack AI into Everyday Life at IFA 2026

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BERLIN, Sept. 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Tuya Smart (NYSE: TUYA; HKEX: 2391), a global AI cloud platform service provider, is showcasing its latest advances in physical AI at IFA 2026 under the theme “Hey Tuya.”

Headlining the exhibit is the global debut of the new AI companion robot Doova, alongside the European debut of Tuya’s AI Home, AI Energy, and AI Robot ecosystems, the Hey Tuya whole-space intelligent interaction experience, a full-stack Matter portfolio, and development tools designed to help turn AI hardware concepts into working products.

The showcase illustrates how Tuya is connecting cloud intelligence, devices, and developer tools to move AI beyond screens and into practical use across homes, energy systems, robotics, pet care, and personal assistance.

Doova Extends Physical AI to Home Companionship and Assistance

Following the debut of Aura, Tuya’s AI companion robot for pets, Tuya is expanding its robotics portfolio with Doova, a home companion robot designed for independently living seniors to combine emotional companionship, everyday assistance, health-related reminders, and home monitoring. Doova is equipped with LDS LiDAR, sound source localization, and AI vision-based posture recognition algorithms.

Doova can respond to a simple voice request for help and navigate to the user’s location, assess their posture, and, if necessary, place a video call to family members. Day to day, it can hold conversations, play audio and video, help users understand complex bills and letters, flag potential fraud risks, and guide them through the operation of smart appliances. It can also provide medication, weather, and schedule reminders, along with practical suggestions related to meals, gardening, and clothing. When users are away, Doova can patrol the home and generate a security report.

Together, these capabilities demonstrate how physical AI can combine contextual awareness with connected-device control to support more responsive and accessible living experiences.

AI Home, AI Robot, and AI Energy Make Their European Debut

At IFA 2026, Tuya is presenting its AI Home, AI Robot, and AI Energy application ecosystems together in Europe for the first time, combined with the Company’s full-stack Matter solutions.

AI Home brings together a range of AI-powered devices, including an AI radar sleep speaker, AI printer, baby monitor, AI flower pot, and AI learning companion, extending AI capabilities into everyday scenarios such as home care, pet care, and plant care.

For example, the AI radar sleep speaker integrates millimeter-wave radar technology to accurately detect user activity and trigger adaptive smart home functions—such as automatically turning off the lights once the user falls asleep. It can also monitor heart rate, breathing, and snoring in real time to generate daily sleep analysis reports. In addition, built-in white noise, natural soundscapes, and meditation music help users relax and drift into sleep more easily.

The smart pet collar uses sensitive audio capture and AI-based emotion analysis to interpret changes in a pet’s vocalizations and breathing. The AI radar speaker combines natural-language control of connected devices with contactless radar sensing for heart rate, breathing, snoring, and sleep quality, alongside functions such as alarms, focus timers, and white noise.

AI Robot products span pet care, interactive collectibles, and desktop tools, including Aura, Fuzozo, Walulu, an AI owl, and an AI robot dog. Aura combines behavioral analysis and sound recognition to interpret a pet’s emotional state, while features such as laser play, treat dispensing, and simulated pet sounds support interactive companionship.

Tuya AI Energy connects balcony solar and storage, smart metering and distribution, and EV charging into a household energy network spanning generation, storage, measurement, management, and consumption. By integrating real-time and dynamic tariff data from more than 800 electricity providers and more than 1,000 dynamic tariff service providers across Europe, the system intelligently shifts household loads to help reduce overall energy costs, improving energy efficiency and reshaping the value proposition of home energy storage. The exhibit demonstrates how Tuya’s energy management capabilities coordinate infrastructure and connected devices across the home.

A Full-Stack Matter Portfolio for Interoperable Products

Tuya is also showcasing an end-to-end Matter portfolio spanning chip modules and cloud services. The offering supports Matter over Wi-Fi, Matter over Thread, and Ethernet, as well as bridges from Zigbee, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi to Matter. It covers product categories including gateways, central control panels, lighting, plugs, sensors, curtain motors, thermostatic radiator valves, locks, and cameras.

Beyond standard Matter capabilities, Tuya layers on distinctive features — remote management, energy tracking, music-synced lighting — and integrates ecosystem tools like Amazon Frustration-Free Setup and the Google Matter API — allowing products to achieve cross-platform interoperability while preserving a differentiated user experience.

Hey Tuya Coordinates the Connected Home through Natural Language

Built on a multi-agent collaborative architecture, Hey Tuya is designed to coordinate services and devices across everyday scenarios rather than operate as a single-device assistant. Users can issue natural-language commands such as “Turn on the dining room lights” or “I’m leaving — activate monitoring,” allowing multiple devices and scenes to respond together.

The experience centers on four capabilities: round-the-clock home security monitoring; energy analysis and personalized efficiency recommendations; natural-language control and automation across multiple devices; and personalized services that adapt to household routines and preferences.

Tuya plans to continue improving the reliability, response speed, and task execution of Hey Tuya, while exploring subscription and value-added services in areas such as energy optimization, pet care, and video understanding.

Developer Tools Shorten the Path from Concept to Working Hardware

Tuya’s developer showcase presents a full technology stack for AI hardware development, where visitors can experience firsthand how ideas can be rapidly turned into functional AI applications that interact with and enhance daily life through the TuyaOpen open-source framework, Tuya Cobuilder, and Tuya AI Coding.

Tuya Cobuilder is an end-to-end Physical AI Builder designed for AI hardware developers. By simply describing an AI hardware concept in natural language, users can complete the entire development workflow in one place, ultimately enabling the application to run directly on real hardware. Tuya AI Coding, the Company’s AI-native no-code application development platform, lets users turn ideas into AI-powered applications with a single prompt—enabling non-technical creators to become builders of AI-powered experiences.

By bringing AI applications, interoperable device infrastructure, and development tools into one ecosystem, Tuya aims to help its global AIoT developer ecosystem create practical AI products more efficiently. The Company will continue advancing AI Home, AI Energy, and AI Robot applications and collaborating with developers and partners to make intelligent living safer, more convenient, and more responsive to individual needs.

About Tuya Smart

Tuya Inc. (NYSE: TUYA; HKEX: 2391) is a leading global AI cloud platform service provider dedicated to bringing AI into everyday life. Through its TuyaOpen open-source development framework and universal AI Agent engines, including the AI Agent development platform, Tuya integrates multimodal AI capabilities to lower barriers for AI development, efficiently advancing the realization of AI-driven lifestyles and accelerating AI integration with the physical world. Tuya offers innovative physical AI solutions for smart devices, commercial applications, and industry developers through its cloud computing and spatial intelligence capabilities. It also provides a complete, open, and neutral global AIoT ecosystem.

As of June 30, 2026, the Tuya AI Developer Platform had over 2,092,000 registered AI developers from more than 200 countries and regions.

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Changhong at IFA 2026: From Going Global to Going Local

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BERLIN, Sept. 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — At IFA 2026, Changhong unveiled a new lineup of AI-powered home appliances spanning TVs, refrigerators, air conditioners and laundry appliances. Centered on real-life scenarios, the company is bringing AI technologies designed to better understand everyday needs into the product experience, highlighting its transition from technological innovation toward more intuitive living experiences. The showcase also signals Changhong’s continued localization efforts.

The concept comes to life across Changhong’s latest AI products. The Q60S Pro TV features the Changhong LeDong AI sports platform, extending the TV beyond a traditional content screen into a space for family fitness and interaction. An AI human-sensing air conditioner can recognize users’ locations and habits and adjust airflow accordingly, while an AI refrigerator uses intelligent sensing to help users take a more proactive approach to food freshness. Rather than adding complexity, Changhong is making everyday life simpler.

This is at the heart of Changhong’s exploration of “seamless technology”—technology that works quietly in the background. The best technology does not always need to be seen; it simply helps people worry less.

A distinctive cultural element is also finding its way into Changhong’s smart product experience. The brand has incorporated the giant panda into AI assistant interactions, bringing greater warmth and approachability to AI-powered TVs and other home appliances. Closely associated with Changhong’s Sichuan heritage, the panda also provides a natural way to bring a recognizable element of Chinese culture into the technology experience.

Skiing offers another bridge to European lifestyles. In recent years, Changhong has continued to strengthen its presence in Europe with CHiQ as an important brand vehicle, building closer connections with local consumers through sports partnerships, including sponsorship of FIS Ski World Cup events in Germany, collaboration with the German Ski Association and its role as an official partner of the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup. More than a sporting platform, skiing allows CHiQ to connect the speed, passion and outdoor spirit of the sport with its product experience, bringing technology closer to the way European consumers live.

Behind these initiatives is a deeper commitment to localization. From product experience and brand expression to sports, culture and local lifestyles, Changhong is creating more diverse touchpoints with the European market. From “going global” to “going local,” the company is moving beyond products and channels toward a deeper integration of its brands, technology and the markets it serves.

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CoolFly to Showcase Personal Flight Portfolio and NA80 Flight-Control Technology at IFA Berlin 2026

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Dream ST will be on display as CoolFly highlights flagship Urban, high-performance Dream Pro and its expanding global dealer network

BERLIN, Sept. 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — CoolFly, a developer of personal electric aircraft and eVTOL technologies, is showcasing its Dream ST personal aircraft at IFA Berlin 2026, taking place September 4–8 at Messe Berlin.

Dream ST is on display at CityCube Hall B, Booth CCBB-143, in IFA’s Mobility area. While Dream ST is the aircraft physically presented at the show, CoolFly is also introducing its broader product portfolio, including high-performance Dream Pro and flagship Urban.

Dream ST is a lightweight, single-seat electric aircraft designed for personal and recreational flight, featuring a seated configuration and quick-fold design for easier transportation and storage.

Dream Pro extends the platform with greater payload, endurance and performance. It supports a maximum payload of 120 kg, reaches a maximum speed of 100 km/h, and can achieve up to 40 minutes of flight time with a 70 kg pilot onboard, depending on operating and environmental conditions.

Urban, CoolFly’s flagship personal aircraft, features a standing-position configuration and enclosed-propeller architecture, reflecting the company’s effort to create a more intuitive and distinctive personal flight experience.

All three aircraft share CoolFly’s self-developed NA80 flight control system. NA80 uses a dual-redundant architecture with two independent flight-control units, each integrating three aviation-grade inertial measurement units (IMUs). The system continuously monitors aircraft attitude and motion, supports millisecond-level fault detection and failover, and serves as a common technology foundation across CoolFly’s product portfolio.

Dream ST, Dream Pro and Urban have all obtained CE and FCC certifications for applicable product compliance requirements, supporting CoolFly’s continued international expansion.

CoolFly is also actively recruiting dealers, distributors and commercial partners worldwide, with a current focus on Europe, North America, Australia, the Middle East and other key markets.

Prospective partners and media are invited to visit CoolFly at IFA Berlin 2026, CityCube Hall B, Booth CCBB-143.

About CoolFly
CoolFly develops personal electric aircraft and eVTOL technologies, integrating aircraft design, propulsion and self-developed flight-control systems to make personal flight more accessible.

Media: press@coolflyaircraft.com
Business: support@coolflyaircraft.com

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