In the first collaboration of its kind, Intel is teaming up with the Maricopa County Community College District — the largest community college district in the nation — to produce workers  trained in artificial intelligence (AI) skills to meet a growing demand in Arizona.  

Together they are launching the nation’s first Intel-designed AI certificate and associate degree program. It will enable tens of thousands of students to land careers in high-tech, healthcare, automotive, industrial and aerospace fields, said the district’s interim chancellor, Dr. Steven R. Gonzales. 

“This program will train our students for a competitive workforce, strengthen Arizona’s economy as well as help close the opportunity gap we see across the state and be a model for educational institutions across the nation,” Gonzales said. 

Pilot courses slated for fall kickoff   

The community college district will launch the first two courses in the Artificial Intelligence and Machine-learning program virtually as soon as Fall 2020. By January 2021, it plans to have five courses deployed for the Spring 2021 semester. 

As physical distancing requirements are lifted, and the constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic lessen, the new program will begin in-person at Community College and Community College in Avondale. It then will be expanded to other campuses.

Students will learn fundamental skills such as data collection, AI model training, coding and exploration of AI technology’s societal impact. 

The courses have been developed by the college’s faculty and Intel leaders based on Intel software and tools such as the Intel Distribution of OpenVINO Toolkit and Intel Python. Intel is also contributing technical advice, faculty training, summer internships and Intel mentors for both students and faculty members. 

Upon completion, the college district will offer an associate degree in artificial intelligence that can be transferred to a four-year college.

Artificial Intelligence skills one of top five most in demand 

Today’s AI technology is driving discoveries and technology to add value to people’s lives and work. It’s finding water on the moon, speeding critical medical diagnoses, and identifying product defects faster, college and Intel officials aid. 

Occupations using AI skills include: business analyst, java developer, data engineer, marketing manager, health manager, engineer, product manager, developer, front end developer, architect, and more.  

Top employers requesting these skills are corporations like Intel, IBM, Wells Fargo, Deloitte and American Express.

Recent studies show the demand for AI is growing exponentially. notes that AI skills are one of the top five most in-demand hard skills. 

Arizona to see more than 20,000 AI jobs this year 

The local demand for AI talent is increasing as well in Maricopa County and the state. Careers are projected to grow faster than the average rate for all employment over the next decade, district officials said. 

Research done by MCCCD Workforce and Economic Development Office estimates an increase of 22.4 percent for these roles by 2029 according to Economic Modeling Specialists, Inc.

This year, Arizona is expected to see 21,535 AI employment opportunities — 6 percent above the national average, they said. 

Diverse population to benefit industry  

One of the reasons Intel chose the college district, which has 10 campuses and more than 200,000 students, is to tap into its diverse population, said Gregory Bryan, Intel’s executive vice president and general manager of the Client Computing Group.

“We strongly believe AI technology should be shaped by many voices representing different experiences and backgrounds,” Bryant said. “Community colleges offer the opportunity to expand and diversify AI since they attract a diverse array of students with a variety of backgrounds and expertise.”

Arizona Commerce Authority gives $100,000 grant to the program 

As the state’s leading economic development organization, the Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA) is providing marketing and workforce connectivity strategies to support the program.

“Arizona has become a hub for innovation and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, and this initiative will enhance our state’s competitiveness in the global market,” said Sandra Watson, ACA president and CEO. “Ensuring companies have access to talent with AI skills is key to Arizona’s continued economic success.”

Intel committed to train 1 million developers worldwide

The new AI program at MCCD expands on the Intel that provides AI curriculum and resources to over 100,000 high school and vocational students in nine countries. 

Intel recently collaborated with Udacity to create the aimed at training 1 million developers.

Both are part of the company’s commitment to expand digital readiness to reach 30 million people in 30,000 institutions in 30 countries.

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Arizona is becoming an incubation chamber for medical technology innovation, and several businesses stand out from the fold.

AZ Big Media’s AZ Business Magazine recently published its picks for Health Care Leaders of the Year for 2019, chosen by the magazine’s .

�鶹��ýӳ�� spoke with representatives from three rising stars that made the list for health care Delivery Methods.

AdviNOW Medical

James Bates moved to Arizona in 2012, where he ran a $700 million business for , a Texas-based corporation that was later acquired by .

After the acquisition, Bates was looking for a new opportunity — a friend suggested investing in a chain of urgent care centers in the Valley.

“I knew absolutely nothing about urgent care,” Bates recalled. “Digging into the financial analysis, I quickly came to the conclusion that running a medical practice is very tough business.”

Urgent care centers see high fixed costs — providers, facilities, equipment and regulatory requirements are all expensive.

Bates almost gave up on the investment opportunity, but then he had an idea: What if you take the autonomous technology in self-driving vehicles today and use it to automate the intake and administration for urgent care centers?

“We make the doctor still responsible, but we automate everything around the doctor,” Bates said. “We built that financial model with the tech implemented, and it actually reduced the cost of running the clinic by over 70 percent. It was so dramatic that I figured I had no choice but to found the company.”

Bates filed 12 patents and founded the “world’s first fully-automated medical visit.”

“It fundamentally revolutionizes health care,” said Bates, who serves as CEO of AdviNOW Medical. “This invention alone saves Medicare, it enables access for every single person on the planet, and this is how you resolve the disaster of health care that we have in this country as well as the world — this technology.”

One of the greatest costs in today is the fact that people are using the hospital emergency room for their primary care, he said.

“Ultimately, what happens is that people who are on Medicare or  end up using the most expensive point of care, which is the emergency room, for things that they shouldn’t,” Bates said. “When you look at that scenario, the reality is the emergency room is not convenient. No one wants to use the emergency room, but they don’t really know how, or they don’t have access to a simpler and lower-cost point of care.”

The other problem is that people often forget or neglect to manage medications properly when treating chronic conditions. Patients need a follow-up system to help them help themselves, Bates said.

“You need to have primary care service that is cheap; you need to have nurse call centers which are cheap and plentiful,” he said. “Both of those things don’t exist today; it’s impossible for that to happen. What AdviNOW Medical does is it actually allows existing doctors to see three- to four-times more patients per day than they see today.”

At the same time, patient compliance — making sure patients follow through with their treatment plans — is all managed through AdviNOW Medical’s Virtual Provider Assistant, Hannah, which completely automates the clinical visit within regulatory guidelines using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Augmented Reality (AR).

“AdviNOW Medical does all of the triage with the AI; they do all of the follow-up with the AI; they do all of the documentation for the doctor with the AI,” Bates explained. “Because they’re only making decisions now — just like the driver only has to watch the road and touch the steering wheel in their Tesla every 30 seconds — similarly, a doctor just has to confirm what the AI is suggesting on the diagnosis, confirm what the AI is suggesting on the treatment plan, and then press, ‘I agree.’”

Now, doctors can see more patients, and patients receive follow-up, data collection and compliance, almost for free, he said.

The AI handles four main components: the intake, or introductory paperwork; dynamic patient data collection, including History of Present Illness (HPI), using the AI; patient measurement collection using AR; and documentation for the doctor, also known as SOAP (subjective, objective, assessment and plan) notes.

“Ultimately, there is no data entry at all for the provider, and there’s no data collection at all for the provider,” Bates said. “All of that is done, and the provider just reviews and says, ‘I agree,’ relays that information to the patient to make sure they’re compliant with the FDA regulatory environment that we have today.”

AdviNOW Medical currently operates 11 clinics at Safeway grocery stores in the Valley, with a contract to open 600 more in Safeway stores. The company also has two Valley locations with providers on-site, three out-of-state clinics and contracts to open 400 more locations nationwide.

“We’re really excited,” Bates said. “It’s a long road to get there, but hopefully we’ll have another billion-dollar company here in Arizona. Right now, that’s where it’s leading.”

SpotRx

“Someone asked me, ‘What gets you motivated to get out of bed to come to this job?’ and I said, ‘There’s really three things,’” Will Misloski said. “One, I love to build things. I love working in startups, and I love innovating. But the third thing… is I’m actually in an industry that makes a difference in people’s lives, to their benefit.”

Misloski is chief marketing officer at SpotRx, a “next-gen pharmacy solution” that makes consulting pharmacists and picking up prescriptions and over-the counter drugs quick and convenient for consumers.

operates fully-automated pharmacy kiosks placed at strategic locations in the community to give residents the best access possible to pharmacy services. The company recently signed a contract with Green Valley Recreation in southern Arizona to place its kiosks in three of its member centers.

“The idea was, how do we ensure that we’re able to give patients 24/7 access to prescription drugs?” Misloski recalled. “Based on everything I’ve heard and the research we’ve done, patients and consumers want to be able to have 24/7 access. And that’s not always the case with pharmacies; they’re not able to do that.”

SpotRx, a subsidiary of , launched in the third quarter of 2018 as a direct-to-consumer brand with two brick-and-mortar pharmacy locations — one in Phoenix, one in — and about 18 pharmaceutical vending machines currently operating in Arizona.

“This year is a big scaling year for us, and we’re looking to expand probably about three- to four-times from where we are today by the end of this year, in terms of what I call ‘kiosk dusting’ — getting kiosks in key locations to our target audiences,” Misloski said.

SpotRx also offers home delivery, because the ultimate goal of the brand is to give consumers more choices, following the model of services like Netflix and Uber, he said.

“What they’ve done is they’ve put control into consumers’ hands; we’re trying to do the same thing,” Misloski said. “It all comes down to putting it in their hands and giving patients access to their medication when and where they want it.”

Another aspect of the technology that has arisen with regards to access is rural health care — while a big-box pharmacy company like Walgreens or CVS might not see the value in opening a full-service location in rural areas, a SpotRx kiosk could easily be added to an existing store in remote locations.

“We’re trying to figure out what’s the best way to insert ourselves in locations that are more rural, that it seems more part [of the] customer’s life, because that’s really [the question] — How do we insert ourselves into a daily part of someone’s life?” Misloski said.

Misloski said his favorite part about working for SpotRx is helping provide a service that helps people.

“Look at our team that we’re building in Arizona,” he said. “The people we’re hiring — this is what’s driving them. They’re seeing the difference it’s making in people’s lives and helping them stay adherent to their medicine, and it’s been a cool thing.”

Catalytic Health Partners

Founded by Susan Cordts, who now serves as CEO, is an integrated health care delivery solution of social, behavioral and physical medicine designed for patients with more complex needs.

“We utilize a model of people, technology and data to achieve our goals, believing strongly that there is nothing to be accomplished until our team and the member we are managing have formed an engaged relationship,” Cordts said. “Thereafter technology and data can be used to further our effectiveness and give us objective insights on our performance.”

Catalytic Health Partners gives each of its members internet-connected tablets with telemedicine, telemonitoring, medication reminders, electronically-populated medical records and an educational portal.

“The results of our work speak for themselves as we have dramatically improved social, behavioral and physical health outcomes as well as dramatically decreased costs for our populations,” Cordts said.

The tablets and telemonitoring devices Catalytic Health Partners provides to its members offer 24/7 access to a live team member at the company, so members can reach out at any time — from anywhere, Cordts said.

“Irrespective of where one lives, they have access to a provider who knows about them and can readily meet their needs, overcoming many of the barriers of being more rural,” she said. “Additionally, our support team provides them concierge services to coordinate their care and ensure that all the dots are connected to make their care more efficient and effective.”

Cordts said she is proud of her team and “ecstatic” to see their work recognized for the differences they are making in members’ lives.

“We are proving that one can greatly improve outcomes, improve member satisfaction, decrease costs with a highly satisfied team with our model,” she said. “I hope to transform the delivery of health care to one of accountability for outcomes in a more holistic approach, considering social, behavioral and physical medicine needs without forgetting the importance of the human touch.”

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Intel Capital, Intel Corporation’s global investment organization, announced $117 million of investments at the in Phoenix, adding 14 “disruptive” tech startups to its ever-growing portfolio of data-centered companies from around the world.

“At Intel, we’re focused on pushing the boundaries of technology to make amazing experiences possible,” an Intel Capital spokesperson said. “Each of these new portfolio companies is pushing disruptive technologies that advance key areas of focus for Intel.”

New investments continue to signal Intel Corporation’s transition into a data company, shaking up the startups’ respective industries and supporting the advancement of technology intended to improve health, convenience and quality of life for consumers.

“We’ve invested behind new applications of technology, with a shift from manufacturing to service-based solutions, such as smart health care, service robots and AI,” the spokesperson said. “Other investments include IoT, (robotics, drones, connected cars), as well as datacenter hardware and software.”

Intel Capital’s mission is two-fold: create a return on investment for Intel shareholders and support Intel Corporation’s strategic objectives and break ground on new tech.

“Intel has driven disruption for the last 50 years, changing the way we live by making compute ubiquitous,” said Wendell Brooks, president of Intel Capital and senior vice president of Intel Corporation, at the summit. “Intel Capital is continuing that legacy of disruption with these investments. These companies are shifting the way we think about artificial intelligence, communications, manufacturing and health care — areas that will become increasingly essential in coming years as the linchpins of a smarter, more connected society.”

Intel Corporation set up shop in Arizona in 1979, beginning operations in Chandler the following year. Today, the company has more than 10,000 , manufacturing microprocessors that power data centers and hundreds of millions of devices worldwide.

The company’s annual economic impact in Arizona is about $5.3 billion, according to a 2013 study by Arizona State University.

Intel Capital launched the Intel Capital Diversity Initiative in 2015 to provide diverse startups access to Intel Capital’s business development programs, global network, technology expertise and brand capital.

More than 10 percent of the portfolio is now led by entrepreneurs from underrepresented communities, which Intel Capital believes is “an essential part of making the tech industry more inclusive for everyone’s benefit,” the spokesperson said.

In 2018, Intel Capital invested $391 million in 89 companies, 22 percent of which were made in diverse companies. Four companies completed Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) and 14 were acquired.

Intel Capital has invested $12.4 billion in 1,544 companies in 57 countries since 1991, and in that time 670 companies in the organization’s portfolio have gone public or participated in a merger.

“In recent years, Intel Capital has typically invested between $300 million to $500 million annually,” the spokesperson said. “At the same time, we’ve been making fewer new investments each year. Making fewer, bigger investments lets us take more meaningful stakes in companies and play a more relevant role in helping them grow and succeed.”

According to Intel Capital, the organization has paid attention to artificial intelligence (AI) for at least five to six years, including machine learning, cognitive computing and more. AI has been one of the most important areas of focus for Intel as the company sets out to “build the future” under its “virtuous cycle of growth” strategy.

This year’s investment recipients comprise a variety of unique new businesses from California, Texas, Canada, the United Kingdom, China and Israel.

“Our continued goal is to leverage the global resources and expertise of the world’s greatest engineering company, and its ecosystem of customers and partners, to help these founders accelerate growth and innovation,” Brooks said.

The 2019 Intel Capital Global Summit invited more than 600 entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and Global 2000 business leaders to spend three days networking and company-building.

Here are Intel Capital’s disruptive startups for 2019:

• (Shanghai, China)
• (Palo Alto, California)
• (Houston, Texas)
• (Palo Alto, California)
• (Cupertino, California)
• (Santa Clara, California)
• (Guildford, United Kingdom)
• (Haifa, Israel)
• (Roseville, California)
• (San Diego, California)
• (Palo Alto, California)
• (Petaluma, California)
• (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
• (Zhuhai, China)

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