Innovative fabric enables digital communication between wearers, nearby devices[Assistant Professor Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Peter Tseng and Amir Hossein Haji Aghajani Memar Doctoral Student photo: Steve Zylius/UCI]Imagine your car starting the moment you get in because it recognizes the jacket you’re wearing. Consider the value of a hospital gown that continuously measures...

As the pandemic hammered economies worldwide, these tech-enabled companies outperformed the market handily. What does their success reveal about future sources of growth and innovation?The pandemic’s destructive impact on global stock markets was hardly surprising—if not by its measure, certainly in speed and scale. In the five months following the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the US,...

Sierra Space, the subsidiary of private aerospace contractor Sierra Nevada Corporation, raised $1.4 billion in new capital.The company’s valuation jumped to $4.5 billion following the raise, with investors including General Atlantic, Coatue, and Moore Strategic Ventures, as well as the funds of private equity firms BlackRock and AE Industrial Partners.Sierra Space has two major projects in dev...

Despite Peloton's recent losses, the company still boasts the most popular piece of smart fitness equipment among US adults, with 32% owning Peloton devices. Mirror came in a close second (31%), while NordicTrack sprinted into third (29%).[emarketer]

The Pallet LOOP's distinctive green pallets are different by design and engineered to be used again and again . A new scheme helps avoid construction waste with a system that gives a financial incentive to each part of the pallet supply chain.Most people are now well aware that the construction industry is a major contributor to CO2 emissions. But while concrete use is getting a lot of press,...

Titaa is a dual-purpose, electric vehicle that can transform from a two-wheel e-bike into a self-balancing unicycle.Unicycles have a reputation for only being used in circuses and carnivals. While unicycle aficionados and hobbyists are surely out there, pedaling away, and without any circus credentials to their name, the one-wheeled bicycle isn’t typically the vehicle of choice for getting aro...

The creator economy has produced thousands of social media entrepreneurs who have built mega-audiences in the millions — larger than many media companies. Often, they operate in parallel universes, with little overlap between platforms.Why it matters: What differentiates social platforms is no longer their features, but their values and communities. What makes one person popular on one platfor...

As companies explore the world for new sources of growth, many search for commonalities that can simplify a complex and diverse world. [click to enlarge]Typically, companies organize their efforts by regions or by market segments, such as developed and emerging. Or they look for nations that share cultural roots. They then assume that strategies that succeed in one country will succeed in seemi...

Flytrex, the Israeli startup working with Walmart, Chili’s, and others in North Carolina in pilots for a drone-based delivery service targeting suburban consumers, has picked up $40 million in funding.To continue developing its hardware and software, as well as more business partnerships, as it awaits regulatory nods to expand its service to more markets in the U.S.While others like Amazon are...