In today’s Bulldog update of technology news: Economic development package passes; 3 NC universities on most innovative list; Quintiles plans for Alzheimer’s Day Monday; health IT startup to expand.

NC economic development package passes

The NC legislature passed an economic development package that includes modifications to the Job Development Investment Grant Program (JDIG), raising the total amount for grants in a single year from $15 million to $20 million, for instance.

It also includes changes to the One North Carolina program.

You can take a look at the changes yourself here: http://tinyurl.com/opej8uh

Gov. Pat McCrory said Friday that he needed the economic development tools and that the state recruiting was crippled without them. The JDIG program awards tax breaks to companies that promise to create a given number of jobs in a given number of years.

Three NC universities on most innovative list

None of North Carolina’s universities made the top 10 on Reuter’s list of the top 100 most innnovative schools worldwide. Three, however, are in the top 100.

The University of North Carolina is at 15, Duke University came in at 17, and North Carolina State a distant 88.

Stanford topped the list, followed by M.I.T., and Harvard.

For the rest of the story see: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/15/idUSL1N11K16Q20150915

World Alzheimer’s Day Monday

This year, Quintiles is making a special effort to highlight the challenge of Alzheimer’s Disease globally and here in North Carolina on World Alzheimer’s Day Monday (Sept. 21).

It plans to turn its Durham headquarters purple, a nod to this year’s theme, “Go Purple with a Purpose.”

It will also do an Alzheimer’s blog: An overview of the toll the disease takes along with a look at the progress that’s being made (from Quintiles’ Dr. Lynne Hughes, head of Quintiles’ Neurology Center of Excellence.

She’ll also share a podcast. They’ll all be available on Quintilis’ Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Since 2000, Quintilis has provided clinical services for approximately 100 Alzeheimer’s disease studies.

Cguros will be hiring following financing

The Triangle Business Journal reports that Cguros, which raised a $5.5 million ventue round, is expanding in
Florida and also plans to hire additional staff in Raleigh.

The health IT firm sells software as a service that connects doctors to their patient’s continuum of care, something that can be difficult for some private practices.

For the full story see: http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2015/09/18/with-5-5m-ncsu-grad-plans-expanding-his-health-it.html