We are having our First Friday on April 13th to accommodate potential conflicts with Good Friday and Easter weekend.

Due to extenuating circumstances Gary Beach, Publisher Emeritus of CIO Magazine, will be unable to join us Apr 13. Stay tuned for our schedule for that day.

Tech visionary and entrepreneur John Landry speaks at the CCTC at a recent First Friday. Thanks to Cape Media Center for shooting and processing the video.

Ever wanted to be a part of a start-up company?  Have an idea that you think would really work as a business, but you need a team of the right people to get you started?  Think you have the energy to work as a team to create the framework for a business?

Then save the date for Cape Cod Entrepreneurs Weekend 4 on March 2-4, 2012!  The event is designed to brings 100 participants together in a weekend long business plan competition.

What’s in store for the weekend:

Friday, March 2nd, 5 to 8:30 p.m: EmBargo Restaurant at 453 Main Street in Hyannis will host the event kick-off! Participants will have a chance to pitch their ideas and/or their skills as potential team members. Then we open the floor to allow the participants a chance to form teams around the most popular ideas. Our coaches and mentors will be on hand to help guide prospective team members to ideas that may be suited to their skillset. Well-rounded teams will have a mix of skills, from leadership, sales, marketing, accounting, etc. The newly formed teams are encouraged to go out to dinner with their teammates to begin the process of creating their business plan pitch.

Saturday, March 3rd: Start the day at 8 a.m. at the Cape Cod Community College Hyannis Center, 540 Main Street in Hyannis, with a continental breakfast and a presentation of the key elements of the “5-minute Business Plan” template. Also learn what the judges will be looking for when reviewing the presentations. Teams organize the work ahead, research, analyze and outline their ideas. Coaches and mentors are available for consultation on all elements of the plan throughout the day. We break for lunch and dinner (provided) to listen to two inspirational and dynamic speakers. During the afternoon and evening sessions, teams work diligently to complete their plans and hone their presentations. The teams can work until 10 p.m. at the downtown facility.

Sunday, March 4th:  Teams will again convene at the Cape Cod Community College Hyannis Center. Breakfast will be served at 8 a.m so teams can get an early start on putting the final touches on their presentations and have a chance to practice their pitches. The judging will begin at noon. Guests and the public are welcome to watch the teams present their business plans in 5 minutes, and hear 5 minutes of feedback from the judges for each team. We wrap up in the afternoon with the awarding of prizes to the top 3 teams.

Cost to attend is $75, including meals and breaks, one dinner on your own ($25 for students). Click here to register now! And join the LinkedIn site to get the EW4 dialogue started!

Click here for a press release on the November 12, 2012 Entrepreneurs Pitch Boot Camp, including feedback from the attendees.

Entrepreneurs’ Weekend is organized by the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce, with support from Coastal Community Capital, Cape Cod Technology Council, Cape Cod Community College, Cape Cod Young Professionals, Cape Cod EDC, Community Development Partnership, MASBDC, Cape & Islands Workforce Investment Board and the Southern New England Entrepreneurs Forum.

If you live, work, or do business on the Cape and southeastern Massachusetts, you are part of shaping our shared future! In our region, new open access middle mile broadband infrastructure combined with compelling economic and environmental trends add up to a chance for us to spark new ways of managing this very special place. We can float with the tide — or command our own destiny. We invite you to be part of the solution for our future.

Why a SmarterCape Summit? Why Now?

Economic pressures mean old models in the region must change … Water, energy, and transportation challenges cry out for new ways of thinking …A new open-access 300-mile fiber middle mile network removes barriers & creates opportunities …Challenges and opportunities surround us and it all adds up to a unique moment in time!

Last year’s summit featured speakers like Lou Zacharilla from Intelligent Communities Forum, Dr. Sharon Nunes of IBM Smarter Planet, Secretary Gregory Bialecki and Governor Deval Patrick. We will again feature powerful plenary sessions and seven themes for the breakouts – environment, economy, development, education, healthcare, transportation, and government.

Please join us at the beautifully renovated Sea Crest Beach Hotel on Old Silver Beach in North Falmouth to enjoy two days of stimulating discussion, information sharing, advocacy and collaboration as we educate the region on how to be a “smarter” place.

Monday & Tuesday, May 14 & 15, 2012 Registration opens @ 1 PM on Monday and the event runs through Tuesday afternoon.

See www.smartercapesummit.com for full schedule of speakers and workshops. Fee to attend $40 per person – includes breaks & lunch on Tuesday.

Dinner or Breakfast or Networking event options at additional fee (check website details & registration.)

Sea Crest Beach Hotel, Old Silver Beach, 350 Quaker Road, N. Falmouth, MA 02556 Special hotel rates available.

SmarterCape Summit is organized by the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce, the Cape Cod Commission, OpenCape Corporation, Cape Cod Technology Council and Cape Cod Economic Development Council.

The Summit is sponsored by CapeNet, Cape Light Compact, FCTV, Convention Data Services and the Mass. Office of Business Development/EOHED. Sponsorship opportunities are still open (see www.smartercapesummit.com.)

The Cape Cod Technology Council Annual Meeting will be held at New Seabury on Tues, April 24. Details to follow.

OpenCape and CapeNet announce the start of construction of the 350-mile OpenCape fiber network. Read the press release.

The Barnstable County Economic Development Council has posted a bid on the County Procurement website for a county-wide technology audit to be used in advance of OpenCape’s installation of enhanced broadband service. The audit will help determine redundant and outdated communications and other technologies being used throughout the region so a comprehensive plan for more efficient service delivery may be devised.

You can download the RFP here after free and instant registration.

Update on CapeNet’s progress on the OpenCape fiber-optic middle-mile buildout.

Presented by Nina Greenwald, Senior Lecturer, Critical and Creative Thinking Program
Date: Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Time: 6:30 – 8:30 PM
Location: Cape Cod Media Center, Shad Hole Road, Dennis Port (off of Rte. 28 at Exit 9)

Cost: $35 per person, $25 for CCTC Members: limited to the first 15 people to sign up. Register below.

This highly interactive workshop is a fun, introductory excursion in critical and creative thinking. Participants will gain an understanding of key processes and habits of mind that catalyze effective thinking and problem solving.

Participants will also apply some specific strategies to identify issues of importance for entrepreneurs and generate possible solutions. All told, gate-opening thinking experiences designed to inspire wanting to learn more about the best kinds of thinking we do and how it can work to give us an edge in successfully managing our lives on countless levels!

About the presenter: Nina Greenwald (Senior Lecturer, CCT Program) is an educational consultant, national teacher trainer and keynote speaker with specializations in critical and creative thinking, problem-based learning, multiple intelligences, and gifted education. An elected member of the Danforth Associates of New England, an organization of selected higher education faculty distinguished for excellence in teaching, she has taught courses in creative thinking, critical thinking, and humor for the program for over a decade. Her publications include articles on teaching thinking and problem-based learning (PBL), teaching gifted children, and teaching thinking through multiple intelligences. She is former director of K-8 programs to develop critical and creative thinking for a Massachusetts educational collaborative, and an advisor to the exhibits department of the Museum of Science, Boston, on the development of innovative exhibits that engage visitors in thinking and problem solving. Nina is a founding member and past president of The Massachusetts Association for Advancement of Individual Potential (MA/AIP), an advocacy organization in behalf of gifted education.

Her published articles include instructional models for teaching thinking and curriculum for gifted students. Curriculum publications include those which promote thinking and problem solving in science for the Massachusetts Society for Medical Research, The National Institute of Health, The American Medical Association, The New England Aquarium, and NOVA. She is co-author of a chapter on cultural impediments to creative development in Fostering Creativity in Children, Allyn and Bacon, 2001. Her book, Science in Progress, containing authentic issues and dilemmas in biomedical science, and a PBL model for guiding students in the use of this material, has been adopted by the Pennsylvania State Department of Education as a basis for promoting instructional reforms in science education. Currently, she is collaborating on a new book focused on concept-based teaching of biology with two colleagues from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Presented by:
Kevin Galligan, Energy Efficiency Program Manager and
Briana Kane, Senior Residential Program Coordinator
Cape Light Compact

In 2009, Cape Light Compact launched a pilot program promoting and measuring energy efficiency in private homes across Cape Cod using technology now known as Smart Grid. Homeowners who are part of the program are outfitted with a monitoring device that provides near-real time information about their use of electricity.  Since the program started, participants have saved an average of 9% off their monthly bills.

During our March Frist Friday breakfast, Kevin Galligan, Energy Efficiency Program Manager, and Briana Kane, Senior Residential Program Coordinator, both of Cape Light Compact, will review Smart Grid technology and how it can benefit our communities. Douglas Horton, of NSTAR will also be on hand to add to the conversation.

About the presenters: Kevin F. Galligan is Energy Efficiency Program Manager at the Cape Light Compact, Barnstable County, a municipal aggregator and program administrator of the ratepayer funded energy efficiency programs.  He is also adjunct instructor at Cape Cod Community College teaching energy efficiency and conservation as part of a National Science Foundation grant awarded to the college to promote and develop a trained workforce to install renewable energy systems on Cape Cod.  Kevin has over thirty years of energy industry experience including engineering project management with Duke Energy (now Spectra Energy) prior to joining the Cape Light Compact in 2002.  He has a B.S., Engineering Technology/Mechanical Engineering from Northeastern University and an M.B.A. from University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth.  Kevin Chaired the Town of Orleans Wind Energy Committee and was a Town of Orleans Water Commissioner.  Kevin is a Board Member of the National Energy Education Development Project, is a Board Member of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board and is an ex-officio member of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Energy Efficiency Advisory Council.

Briana Kane is the Senior Residential Program Coordinator at the Cape Light Compact.  Briana has 13 years of experience in government and has been with Barnstable County for the last 8 years.  She has an environmental background and received her Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.  Briana coordinates the following residential programs: Lighting, Appliances & Electronics, HVAC, Multi-Family and the Smart Home Energy Monitoring Pilot.