Test your knowledge: Take this quiz on the latest headlines in Philly tech
Between Philly Tech Week and SEPTA budget cuts, it's been an eventful month in the local tech ecosystem.
Test how well you've been paying attention by taking this month's news trivia quiz. You'll score high if you've been keeping up with our articles and weekly newsletter.
Read on to take the quiz.
Enter your answers below, then submit and SCROLL UP, then hit 'View Score' to see how you did. Don't see the questions below? Take the quiz here.
Sarah Huffman is a 2022-2024 corps member for Report for America, an initiative of The Groundtruth Project that pairs young journalists with local newsrooms. This position is supported by the Lenfest Institute for Journalism.
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Technical.ly
2 days ago
- Technical.ly
App that uses AI to boost caregiving for seniors wins PCI pitch competition at Philly Tech Week
Penn startup Sync Labs, which is developing a new AI solution to improve caregiving for seniors, won the pitch competition at the 'Innovate & Inspire: Research Panel & Pitch Competition' event during Philly Tech Week. The event was hosted by the Penn Center for Innovation (PCI), Pennovation Works and Philadelphia Alliance for Capital & Technologies (PACT). Sync Labs, a graduate of the Penn I-Corps Program and a 2025 President's Innovation Prize winner, was founded by Penn Engineering students Melanie Herbert, Nami Lindquist and Alexandra Popescu, with mentorship from Jeffrey Babin, Professor of Practice and Associate Director of Engineering Entrepreneurship at Penn Engineering. Sync Labs utilizes AI and privacy-focused edge computing to address key problems faced by caregivers. Navigating potential blind spots in care and reading time-consuming documentation can lead to caregiver burnout, reduced quality of personalized attention and increased health risks. To address this, Sync Labs's technology uses discreet, AI-powered sensors and an app to privately track seniors' daily activities, giving caregivers real-time insights and saving time on manual recording. Early pilots at assisted living facilities have shown that caregivers using Sync Labs' technology can see three times more seniors per day while providing enhanced personalized care. 'Aging is something most of us will all go through, and it is an experience where people can unfortunately lose their independence, something I can understand from being a patient myself,' said Herbert, as per Penn Today. 'Caregivers need our support in meeting the growing number of seniors so they can always give the best, most personalized care.' With an aging population and rising caregiver workloads, Sync Labs fills a critical need for tech-driven support that enhances care quality, preserves seniors' independence and reduces burnout among those on the front lines of eldercare. The company aims to continue working towards this solution by further refining their product, running additional pilots to gather real-world feedback and securing the funding needed to support scalable growth. Penn MedTech spinouts help promote healing and protect health Prior to the Philly Tech Week pitch competition, a panel was held with early-stage venture capital investors to discuss current investment trends across industries. Bianca Schilling, chief of staff and investor at Apprentis Ventures, Brett Topche, managing director at Red & Blue Ventures and Manny Stockman, partner at Osage University Partners, spoke about their individual decision-making processes around investing in technologies and answered audience questions about startup funding. Also presenting at the pitch competition was Airalux, another Penn I-Corps graduate co-founded by Penn Engineering alum Josh Freedman and advised by Jeffrey Babin and Dr. Andrew Tsourkas, Professor of Bioengineering at Penn Engineering. Airalux is tackling the challenge of managing post-surgical breathing exercises, which are critical for patient recovery but are often overlooked or inconsistently followed, resulting in health complications. To solve this medical problem, Airalux is developing a smart, user-friendly device designed to help patients adhere to prescribed breathing exercises and provide real-time feedback to healthcare providers, improving recovery outcomes and reducing complications. The device aims to integrate seamlessly into clinical workflows, empowering both patients and clinicians with actionable insights to support recovery. Another participant in the pitch competition was Neuralert, a Penn startup developing products for life-saving stroke detection, cofounded by Dr. Steven Messe, Professor of Neurology at Penn Medicine and Dr. James Weimer, PhD, formerly faculty at Penn Engineering and now Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Vanderbilt University. According to the American Stroke Association, on average 1.9 million brain cells die every minute that a stroke goes untreated. To combat this, Neuralert has developed a lightweight, non-invasive wristband capable of detecting signs of stroke within as little as 15 minutes, which has the potential to dramatically reduce treatment delays, improve outcomes and save lives. The technology is designed for continuous monitoring in hospital settings, offering clinicians an early-warning system to initiate timely interventions. A chance to pitch in the big leagues As winner of the competition, Sync Labs received direct entry to present in October at PACT's Mid-Atlantic Capital Conference, where the team will pitch to a panel of seasoned investors and industry leaders. Looking to the future, PCI is excited to host additional programs highlighting innovation and entrepreneurial activity at Penn during Philly Tech Week in 2026 and will continue scheduling commercialization education sessions throughout the year. Stay up to date on PCI's commercialization activities here.
Technical.ly
13-05-2025
- Technical.ly
Philadelphia's innovation community must lead the country's 250th anniversary. Here's how.
In 2026, the United States will celebrate 250 years since its revolution. Nearly all cities and states will contribute something to the complex anniversary, but Philadelphia can lay claim to being that revolution's center. The semiquincentennial is more than a chance to remember history and celebrate the present. It's an opportunity to imagine our future. Fresh off the 15th annual Philly Tech Week, we at are kicking off our efforts to ensure this ecosystem leads that conversation — and we need your help. Below are three starting-gun ideas, and a pledge of our own. If you're a founder, a technologist, a builder, a civic leader, or someone who cares about where this city is heading, we want you in. Fill out this short form to join the coalition. Join the coalition! Idea 1: Vision for the future Over the past year, has been gathering feedback from Philadelphians on a collective, 250-word vision for what this city could look like in the year 2276. From neighborhood festivals to public salons, we've asked: What do we hope Philadelphia becomes in another 250 years? You can read and respond to the working draft now at By this fall, we'll finalize it — and next May, we plan to install this vision in permanent displays across the city, in neighborhoods and civic spaces, where it can spark conversation and pride for generations. Idea 2: Shared launch We're calling on every startup, established company, institution and organization with a stake in Philadelphia's future: Let's launch something together. We're challenging you to time a product release, announcement, campaign, report or milestone during Philly Tech Week 2026 (target May 4-8). Whether your users are local or global, tie your work to this moment. Let's demonstrate to the world that this region knows how to collaborate, celebrate and lead. This is for everyone, from the scrappiest startup to the biggest employer in the region to companies HQ'd elsewhere that have a footprint in Philadelphia. We want you to think boldly and time your announcement to PTW 2026. Let's flood the headlines. Idea 3: Giant spectacle Twelve years ago, with Drexel's Frank Lee, we helped play the world's largest video game on the side of the Cira Centre. That spectacle defines what's possible when our community blends art, technology, and guts. We're working on a return. Maybe it's Tetris again. Maybe it's something even wilder. But rest assured, we intend to go big, to remind this city (and the country) what creative innovation looks like when rooted in place. Our pledge: 50 states, one week just hosted our annual Builders Conference as the capstone of PTW. This year, we had attendees from 25 states. In 2026, we're setting our sights higher. We're pledging to bring entrepreneurs and ecosystem leaders from all 50 states to Philadelphia next May. To make all this happen, we'll need entrepreneurs, technologists, storytellers, organizers, sponsors, venues, creative minds and future thinkers. Want to help? 👉 Fill out the short form to get involved. This is the heads up. You have 12+ months to plan. Let's make Philly Tech Week 2026 a global moment, grounded in a local legacy. We started the revolution. Let's lead the future.
Technical.ly
13-05-2025
- Technical.ly
Test your knowledge: Take this quiz on the latest headlines in Philly tech
Between Philly Tech Week and SEPTA budget cuts, it's been an eventful month in the local tech ecosystem. Test how well you've been paying attention by taking this month's news trivia quiz. You'll score high if you've been keeping up with our articles and weekly newsletter. Read on to take the quiz. Enter your answers below, then submit and SCROLL UP, then hit 'View Score' to see how you did. Don't see the questions below? Take the quiz here. Sarah Huffman is a 2022-2024 corps member for Report for America, an initiative of The Groundtruth Project that pairs young journalists with local newsrooms. This position is supported by the Lenfest Institute for Journalism.
