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Innovation and Entrepreneurship

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Customer service goes to the bots

Forbes Magazine called them the top customer service trend of 2017. Gartner, a business research and advisory firm, predicts they’ll handle more than 85 percent of customer interactions by 2020.


The chatbot has arrived and …

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Customer service goes to the bots

Forbes Magazine called them the top customer service trend of 2017. Gartner, a business research and advisory firm, predicts they’ll handle more than 85 percent of customer interactions by 2020.

The chatbot has arrived and …

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Science camp offers full-ride scholarships

Gov. Kim Reynolds announced Thursday that two Iowa high school seniors will win full scholarships to the National Youth Science Camp in West Virginia from June 27 to July 21. The students will exchange ideas …

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Lessons from the past year

As 2017 nears its close, the Business Record asked you, our readers, to tell share what lessons you learned in the last 12 months that others in the business community could benefit from hearing. 

And …

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2017 in review: Airport project tinkering, pop-up arts, Apple center

This year brought some big news on my beats. Here are a few stories that hit some of the high points. 

– The Des Moines airport authority board launched an effort to trim costs on a proposed …

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DuPont Pioneer lays off employees in Johnston

DuPont Pioneer has laid off an undisclosed number of workers in Johnston, the Des Moines Register reported. DuPont spokesman Gregg Schmidt said the company cut jobs to “integrate our operations and establish a streamlined, efficient, built-for-purpose …

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Report calls for biotech development center, increased capital

The state needs to establish an Iowa Bioscience Development Center as one piece of a four-part strategy for advancing its growth in the biosciences sector, according to a new consultants’ report released Tuesday by Gov. …

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FCC repeals net neutrality

The Federal Communications Commission today gave companies the power to reshape Americans’ online experiences — saving faster speeds for certain sites and apps, the New York Times reported.

The agency scrapped a 2015 decision that banned …

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Iowa researchers seek to tackle flu using nanoparticles

Researchers from Iowa State University, the University of Iowa and the University of Wisconsin-Madison are working together to develop and test what they think could be a better way to fight the flu, according to an …

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Attorneys general seek delay of net neutrality vote

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller joined 17 state attorneys general on Wednesday in asking the Federal Communications Commission to delay today’s net neutrality rule-making deadline, citing concerns over a possible criminal effort to corrupt the …