<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)">
<!--[if !mso]><style>v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
.shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
</style><![endif]--><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin-top:0in;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:10.0pt;
margin-left:0in;
line-height:115%;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:#0563C1;
text-decoration:underline;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:windowtext;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1027" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
</head>
<body lang="EN-US" link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72" style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div class="WordSection1">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div align="center">
<table class="MsoNormalTable" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="715" style="border-collapse:collapse">
<tbody>
<tr style="height:94.5pt">
<td width="342" valign="top" style="width:256.5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:94.5pt">
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600" o:spt="75" o:preferrelative="t" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" filled="f" stroked="f">
<v:stroke joinstyle="miter" />
<v:formulas>
<v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0" />
<v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0" />
<v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1" />
<v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2" />
<v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth" />
<v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight" />
<v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1" />
<v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2" />
<v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth" />
<v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0" />
<v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight" />
<v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0" />
</v:formulas>
<v:path o:extrusionok="f" gradientshapeok="t" o:connecttype="rect" />
<o:lock v:ext="edit" aspectratio="t" />
</v:shapetype><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_2" o:spid="_x0000_s1026" type="#_x0000_t75" alt="City of Durham logo and Durham County logo" style='position:absolute;left:0;text-align:left;margin-left:-5.5pt;margin-top:0;width:187.2pt;height:100.35pt;z-index:251659264;visibility:visible;mso-wrap-style:square;mso-width-percent:0;mso-height-percent:0;mso-wrap-distance-left:9pt;mso-wrap-distance-top:0;mso-wrap-distance-right:9pt;mso-wrap-distance-bottom:0;mso-position-horizontal:absolute;mso-position-horizontal-relative:text;mso-position-vertical:absolute;mso-position-vertical-relative:text;mso-width-percent:0;mso-height-percent:0;mso-width-relative:page;mso-height-relative:page'>
<v:imagedata src="cid:image001.png@01D74E33.B0DA3CB0" o:title="City of Durham logo and Durham County logo" cropbottom="20506f" />
<w:wrap type="square"/>
</v:shape><![endif]--><![if !vml]><img width="250" height="134" style="width:2.6041in;height:1.3958in" src="cid:image002.png@01D74E33.B0DA3CB0" align="left" hspace="12" alt="City of Durham logo and Durham County logo" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_2"><![endif]><span style="font-size:1.0pt;line-height:115%"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td width="373" valign="top" style="width:279.8pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:94.5pt">
<p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="text-align:right"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;color:#00467E">News Media Contacts<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="text-align:right"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;color:#00467E">Amy Blalock, Public Affairs Manager, City of Durham<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="text-align:right"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;color:#00467E">919.475.7735 (mobile)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="text-align:right"><a href="mailto:Amy.Blalock@DurhamNC.gov"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%">Amy.Blalock@DurhamNC.gov</span></a><u><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;color:blue"><o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;color:#00467E"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="text-align:right"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;color:#00467E">Henry R. Jones, Public Information Specialist, Durham County<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="text-align:right"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;color:#00467E">919.560.0000<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="text-align:right"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%"><a href="mailto:publicinformationoffice@dconc.gov">publicinformationoffice@dconc.gov</a><u><span style="color:blue"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height:54.2pt">
<td width="715" colspan="2" valign="top" style="width:536.3pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:54.2pt">
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-right:25.4pt;text-align:center">
<span style="font-size:50.0pt;line-height:115%;color:#00538E">News Release</span><span style="font-size:50.0pt;line-height:115%;color:#D3372A"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-right:25.4pt;text-align:center">
<span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;color:#D3372A">For Immediate Release: May 21, 2021<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%">2021<span style="color:black"> Innovate Durham Partners Chosen to Bring New Ideas to City of Durham and Durham County Governments<a name="_heading=h.gjdgxs"></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">DURHAM, N.C. – </span>Three<span style="color:black"> startup companies will get the chance to bring their new ideas to the City of Durham</span> and
<span style="color:black">Durham County governments</span> <span style="color:black">
by spending the next </span>16<span style="color:black"> weeks testing out innovative solutions with local challenges. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">City</span> and County<span style="color:black"> staff collaboratively selected
</span>three<span style="color:black"> partners </span>– <span style="color:black">
Acta Solutions, Coworks, an</span>d DayWatt – <span style="color:black">for the </span><a href="http://durhamnc.gov/3165/Innovate-Durham">20</a><a href="http://durhamnc.gov/3165/Innovate-Durham">21</a><a href="http://durhamnc.gov/3165/Innovate-Durham"> Innovate
Durham cohort</a>. The <span style="color:black">program allows startups and entrepreneurs to use local government as a lab to test out an idea, product or service
</span>while having <span style="color:black">access to local government staff, data, and facilities.
</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Innovate Durham received </span>40
<span style="color:black">applications from companies interested in participating in
</span>the fourth year<span style="color:black"> of the program. A review committee, made up of City and County leadership, narrowed the field to a list of finalists who
</span>pitched their ideas to City and County staff<span style="color:black">. </span>Due to COVID-19’s effects on collaboration and staff availability, the number of selected partners during this 2021 cohort has been scaled down to three. The focus of the
selection was on technologies that can help benefit City and County employees and residents.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“It’s a testament to Innovate Durham that we received so much interest and are running the program virtually this year,” said Mariel Klein, business services administrator for the City of Durham. “It’s so important during everyone’s recovery
from COVID-19 that we continue to support programs like Innovate Durham that are bringing business and government communities closer and using innovation to knit Durham into an even more resilient community.” <span style="color:black;background:yellow;mso-highlight:yellow"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">The </span>2021<span style="color:black"> Innovate Durham partners and their assigned test-case departments are as follows: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://actasolutions.io/"><b>Acta Solutions</b></a><b><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Durham County Register of Deeds<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Acta Solutions is a software-as-a-service company that automates customer service communications for local governments to save time, increase revenue, and speedily provide residents, developers, and businesses with the services they need
by intelligently suggesting automated responses that staff reviews before sending.<b><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://coworksapp.com/"><b>Coworks</b></a><b><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Durham County Department of Social Services<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Coworks provides a space management portal that allows users to organize billing, conference room/meeting space, desk reservations and more as well as a member portal to assist people working in a shared space.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://www.daywatt.com/"><b>DayWatt</b></a><b><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>City of Durham General Services Department and Durham County Department of General Services<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#201F1E">DayWatt's technology enables rooftop solar installations on commercial buildings to supply long-term backup power to the facility during blackouts, a feature unavailable with conventional renewable energy approaches.
In addition to offering cost-effective power outage resiliency, the system also provides lifetime benefits through lower energy bills, decreased maintenance, and reduced carbon emissions.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“We recognize that the past year has been difficult for the startup communities and for local government. Innovate Durham continues to provide a symbiotic relationship between startups and Durham’s local governments, which can be leveraged
to address some of the difficulties that have arisen from COVID-19,” said Hannah Hemphill, business services librarian with Durham County Library. “Our goal is to bring innovative ideas into the City and County to help us better serve the Durham community
through the recovery phase.” <span style="background:yellow;mso-highlight:yellow">
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This year, the Innovate Durham cohort is creating partnerships with more than one single department. DayWatt is working with the City and County of Durham to collect data on the most optimal placement for solar installations that provide
backup electricity. Meanwhile, Acta hopes to expand beyond the Register of Deeds and pilot its software with other County departments to increase efficiency in email responses. Additionally, Coworks is seeking to use public and private spaces in order to help
the County’s Department of Social Services with flexible work schedules and convenient work sites for its field agents.<span style="color:black;background:yellow;mso-highlight:yellow"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">The pilot period for each startup began on M</span>ay 10<span style="color:black">
</span>and will finish on September 3. <span style="color:black">Each partner will meet regularly with Innovate Durham staff, as well as,</span> with<span style="color:black"> selected City</span> and County<span style="color:black"> departments to help test
their products throughout the pilot period.</span> On September 30, <span style="color:black">
partners will present their accomplishments and discuss the pilot period at a ‘Demo Day</span>’ event,<span style="color:black"> which will be open to the public through a virtual live stream. Details on Demo Day and how to watch will soon be provided on the
</span><a href="https://durhamnc.gov/3165/Innovate-Durham">Innovate Durham webpage</a><span style="color:black">. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">For more information, visit the </span>
<a href="https://durhamnc.gov/3165/Innovate-Durham">Innovate Durham webpage</a><span style="color:black"> or contact
</span>Klein by <a href="mailto:%20mariel.klein@durhamnc.gov">email</a> <span style="color:black">
or</span> Hemphill by <a href="mailto:hhemphill@dconc.gov">email</a>.<span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="color:black">### <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>