Temple University receives $700k to support “urban apps and maps studio” and urban wireless network

Temple University has received two major grants totaling $700,000 to support a tech startup studio and an urban wireless network, as a press release announced this week.
The $500,000 grant from the Economic Development Administration will build an Urban Apps and Maps Studio meant to serve as a hub for creating software applications, maps and data sets and launching technology-based companies and jobs, says Fox School of Business spokesman Brandon Lausch. Temple also received nearly $200,000 from the National Science Foundation to serve as a test for campus and urban wireless networks as part of NSF’s Global Environment for Network Innovations, Lausch added.

Portions of the project will be live for the spring semester and the studio is seeking more grant funding to create a hub for digital entrepreneurs, as KYW reported. It’s initially billed as a five-year project, the school has announced.
Fox Professor Youngjin Yoo, with whom Technically Philly spoke in March about his Center for Design and Innovation, is principal investigator on the EDA grant and one of others on the NSF project. Both grants will help support the proposed studio and promote interdisciplinary research that touches many parts of Temple, Lausch said.
The EDA grant was part of a $21 million initiative that sent funding to 21 universities. Temple was the only Philadelphia school in that number.
Full Disclosure: This reporter has a personal relationship with Lausch.