Ellen Levy

Sanyukta Bhide joined the University of Washington Bothell's Social enterprise class to share her story. After a career in engineering at big companies and start ups, Sanyukta Bhide took a leap into entrepreneurship. This was driven by a personal mission to help families care for aging loved ones. Through the University of Washington’s Women’s Entrepreneurship Program, she launched Mivera Technologies with a focus on tech-enabled senior care. She’s now navigating the tough but exciting early stages: raising capital via crowdfunding, finding the right partners, and defining her brand. The class had so many takeaways including: 💡 Lead with passion. 💡 Expect failure—and learn from it. 💡 Find your people. 💡 Keep investing in yourself. Sanyukta's story is a great reminder that innovation often starts with something personal—and grows through persistence.

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How did a small city like the City of Corona become a surprising innovation hub for AI? In our latest GovAI podcast, I sat down with Chris McMasters, CIO of Corona, California. After nearly two decades in the private sector, Chris made the leap into government—driven by a sense of purpose to serve. Our conversation tackled a big question: why does government often lag in adopting new technologies like AI? Chris explained it’s not about chasing the latest tech—it’s about protecting the people they serve and ensuring any new tool actually makes a difference. The key? Build trust first, then show—not tell—how technology can help. Chris believes AI won’t replace people—it’ll free them to focus on what humans do best. His vision: a future where city services are as seamless as ordering from Amazon, with AI agents removing the red tape. For anyone working in GovTech, or trying to break in, you'll learn a lot from this conversation. 🔗 Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/dzNed-ZP or listen here: https://lnkd.in/dhpwW_-8

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Camber Creek led the $3.7 million Seed round for TwinKnowledge, which is tackling an important problem in the built environment. Construction projects get delayed and rework is required because of discrepancies across construction documents, submittals, requests for information, design, and other plans. TwinKnowledge’s AI Agents absorb structured and unstructured project data, surfacing and preventing conflicts before the work begins. We’re excited about our partnership with CEO Ivan Panushev and his team. #construction #AEC #AI #technology https://ow.ly/mBYX50VtaVG

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AI isn't just powering software. BrightAI just raised $51 million to automate inspection and other hardware-based AI capabilities. As Alexa von Tobel, co-founder of Inspired Capital put it: “So many people are so focused on the future of digital AI, but we’re excited about this new layer of AI: the physical world AI.” We are in the early innings of a series of AI-fueled innovations! https://lnkd.in/enhmafvH

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https://lnkd.in/eWC4SgN3 In Episode 5, I start a three-part series on corporate innovation by focusing on the foundation most companies miss: system design. Before org charts, roles, or pilots, innovation depends on clear authority, mandate, executive sponsorship, and the right success metrics. When those are vague, teams stay busy but impact stays limited. This episode sets the groundwork for the next two, where I’ll cover operating models and ecosystem design. #corporateinnovation #innovation

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🚨California Takes Action with Passage of 3 Bills to Scale CDR Innovation This weekend, California made unprecedented progress in creating compliance mechanisms to help grow Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) by providing pathways for all CDR approaches to gain market traction and grow responsibly in the state: ✅ CDR is included for the first time in the Cap & Invest program via AB1207, which creates a pathway for CDR to be permanently integrated as a compliance offset category ✅ The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund was reauthorized via SB804, and now includes a framework for CDR to be included in future allocations from the fund for climate tech innovation, including as part of an $85M climate tech innovation program ✅ The passage of SB643 creates a Carbon Dioxide Removal Purchase Program to purchase CDR credits from eligible suppliers With these actions, California has created the framework to responsibly scale CDR, creating both economic and environmental benefits for Californians. These benefits include addressing affordability by generating good paying jobs and lowering CDR technology costs, as well as deploying technologies that tackle critical challenges such as wildfire fuel load reduction (such as the pictured Charm pilot in the Inyo National Forest) and orphaned wells. In addition, this program is technology-inclusive - enabling the state to deploy a wide range of technologies that support meeting CA’s climate goals by tackling legacy and residual emissions. Over the past few years, Charm Industrial has been collaborating with legislators, the California Air Resources Board (CARB), and numerous NGO, industry, and academic partners to explore these concepts - what is the right mix of technologies for California? How can CDR help plug the gaps for residual and hard to abate emissions, and what are the benefits for Californians? We are incredibly proud of this progress, and this suite of new mechanisms provides support for R&D, supply, and demand, which together will support the scaling of the CDR industry - coupled with additional resources allocated to CARB for scaling SB905, the Carbon Capture Removal and Storage bill passed in 2022, which provides the framework to support this work. This is also yet another example of California leading the nation by fully integrating responsible CDR into its programs, creating a huge opportunity for the state to lead on scaling a wide range of technologies that will not only create environmental and economic benefits, but are also critical to helping the state stay on track for net zero and reaching California’s climate goals. Thank you to our partners in the legislature and agencies for your vision and commitment to scaling these solutions, and to all of our NGO, industry, and academic partners for all of the painstaking work to come up with the right set of solutions for California. We’re looking forward to working together to implement these important programs! 

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