On Friday, Feb. 9, BALANCED Media | Technology participated in the groundbreaking ceremony for the upcoming Chasing Aces golf entertainment facility being built in Bossier City, Louisianna and set to open its door in June of 2025.

In a momentous development for Bossier City’s recreational landscape, the commencement of construction at the Chasing Aces golf complex heralds a significant leap forward. Spearheaded by founder and owner John Dudley, this ambitious venture marks a significant milestone after over three years of meticulous planning. Collaborating closely with BALANCED, tasked with integrating state-of-the-art technology into the facility’s blueprint, the venture heralds a promising future marked by innovative experiences.

As a partner in this endeavor, BALANCED looks forward to contributing its unique customer engagement technologies to the project, such as a loyalty system and Sponster^® targeted engagement system. With plans to integrate its patented Human-in-the-Loop solutions in the future, the company envisions enhancing the guest experience at Chasing Aces even further. With a projected investment of $25 million and the creation of numerous job opportunities, Chasing Aces signifies not only a promising addition to Bossier City’s recreational scene but also a substantial economic boost for the local community. BALANCED is excited to work on the next step with them as the construction begins.

Dallas Innovates and D CEO Magazine recently hosted the fifth annual Innovation Awards, a program designed to acknowledge and celebrate individuals and companies contributing to the growth of innovation in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The awards, presented jointly by D CEO and Dallas Innovates, encompassed 74 finalists in 17 categories and recognized outstanding achievements in technology and innovation.

BALANCED Media | Technology emerged as the recipient of the Innovation Award in AI and Machine Learning, highlighting the company’s significant contribution to advancing technology in the region.

BALANCED congratulates all this year’s nominees and finalists who are helping build and strengthen the technology landscape in Dallas-Fort Worth. 

The awards ceremony acknowledged the dedication and collaborative work of the talented individuals from BALANCED and all these organizations, shaping the future of AI and machine learning. This event celebrated everyone’s commitment at BALANCED working together to change the landscape of AI machine learning and making sure that AI is developed and administered in partnership with humans to the service of humanity.

For details on the other categories and winners, visit the link below.

Robert Atkins shared insights into the groundbreaking work undertaken by BALANCED at the CG Infinity panel. Atkins expressed optimism about BALANCED leading the way in harnessing the power of gaming to address educational challenges and solve real-world industry problems. Drawing attention to the unique skill set of gamers, honed by decades of virtual heroism, he envisioned a future where gamers actively contribute to solving tangible issues.

Additionally, Atkins reflected on the early stages of AI, emphasizing the ongoing exploration of its capabilities and the transformative potential it holds for industries. He highlighted the current phase as one of innovation, with companies leveraging accumulated data to drive advancements in problem-solving, experience enhancement, and cost reduction through AI applications. 

The full talk centered around the evolving landscape of AI, emphasizing the pivotal role that gaming and innovative organizations like BALANCED play in shaping a positive and impactful future.

Watch the full video of the discussion:

[Original Article]

Robert Atkins, CEO of BALANCED, will speak at CG Infinity’s panel “The AI Creative: Gaming, Toys & Business”. The talk will cover the current uses of artificial intelligence for creativity, the governance of AI, and the future state of AI in creativity.

BALANCED has developed solutions around leveraging AI in videogames and interactives to solve real-world problems, including in the areas of medicine and health care and Robert is expected to bring this unique perspective to the conversation.

The talk will occur on November 15, 2023, at 12:00 PM CST.

In attendance at the event, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, Senator Bret Allain, and Lafourche Parish President Archie Chaisson highlighted the importance of investing in higher education projects such as the Coastal Center, to which the state contributed $45 million.

At the ceremony coinciding with Nicholls State University’s 75th anniversary, Nicholls State President Jay Clune emphasized the commitment to strengthening the university’s foundation for Louisiana’s prosperous future.

BALANCED Media | Technology is excited to help contribute to this future through the use of HEWMEN technology in collaboration with the upcoming Nichols Coastal Center.

Read more about the Groundbreaking event here: Nicholls Welcomes Governor John Bel Edwards for Special Event Showcasing Facility Progress on Campus – Nicholls News

Read about BALANCED’s partnership with Nichols State here

The Guildhall’s seven-year partnership with BALANCED Media | Technology, under Dr. Clark’s leadership has given rise to many of these great initiatives with more to come.

Having witnessed the impactful contributions and outcomes to these initiatives and the leadership of their graduates in the company, BALANCED remains enthusiastic about the program’s future endeavors. As Guildhall embarks on its next 20 years, BALANCED eagerly anticipates witnessing the continued growth and innovation that will shape the landscape of game development for years to come.

You can read more about SMU Guildhall here: https://www.smu.edu/guildhall

Overview

BALANCED Media|Technology is again partnering with the Esports Awards to provide the official companion app and interactive experience (known as an ‘extension’).

The live awards show will be broadcast live from the Resorts World Las Vegas theatre on Tuesday, December 12 at 7pm PST on the Twitch streaming platform.

The Esports Awards is an annual event that presents awards to the top organizations, professional players, and broadcast personalities in the esports industry. The Esports Awards extension by BALANCED is incorporated directly into the live stream and provides viewers with live information and updates regarding the categories, nominees, and winners. The extension also provides a fun and engaging way for the stream audience to interact with the stream and participate in the event.

Features

[NEW] Giveaways

New to this year’s Esports Awards, the companion extension has added the ability to conduct live giveaways connected to audience participation. This allows the Esports Awards to directly connect their viewers with their sponsors in ways that directly engage their audience.

Awards Information

• A central, dynamically updating list of award categories that provides up to the minute information regarding the upcoming award to be announced, the nominees for each category, and the winners of announced categories

• Each award category on the extension panel is an expandable list of nominees, with the winner of the category highlighted after it is announced

Choose with the Community

• The extension also features Battle Polls that allows users to become active participants of the show by presenting a series of two nominees from a pool per category in rapid succession for the stream-viewing community to vote for their own favorite finalists, with winners advancing until one choice reigns supreme
• Battle Polls is activated from its own tab page and the polling interface is displayed over a corner of the stream. The battle results, as well as the overall winner, are displayed at the end of each round, along with a scale showing how often the user’s choice aligns with the popular vote that updates after each vote.

Use the extension anywhere with the Twitch Mobile App

The Esports Awards Companion extension is also available integrated into the mobile Twitch app. Viewers can keep track of the event on the go or on a second screen as the extension provides them with up-to-the-minute information and the ability to engage in Battle Polls.

We are honored to have our amazing CTO recognized by Tech Titans for this award, very humbled to be considered amongst other great nominees for startups in North Texas, and deeply thankful for the entire BALANCED team; the recognition as a pioneer and leader in technology stands as a testament to the entire team’s incredible work.

Emerging Company CIO/CTO Award

This category recognizes a Chief Information Officer or Corporate Technology or Science Officer for exceptional technical leadership that fostered the development or deployment of new technology resulting in significant value for the company.

Last year, BALANCED leadership was named finalist for 2021 Tech Titans Start Up Company CEO Award and Emerging Company CIO/CTO Award categories and BALANCED was announced as the winner of the Edge Grand Challenge. In the year prior, BALANCED won the 2020 Tech Titans Emerging Company Innovation Award, and was also a finalist nominee for the Corporate CTO Award.

2022 TECH TITANS AWARDS GALA

The Tech Titans^® Awards Gala, to be held on October 27, gives visibility to innovators, adopters, and executors in North Texas technology leading the way in transforming the high-tech industry and giving companies a competitive edge and celebrates those who impact tech for the better. You are invited to join the BALANCED team at this year’s event to help us celebrate this accomplishment. Keep an eye out for tickets on the gala page at https://techtitans.org/awards-gala/.

Dr. Clark was part of a panel of literacy advocates and innovators, including British A. Robinson, CEO of the Barbara Bush Foundation, and Denine Torr, VP of Corporate Social Responsibility & Philanthropy at Dollar General and Executive Director of Dollar General Literacy Foundation. Together, they talked about the scope of America’s literacy crisis – 43 million U.S. adults reading below a 3rd-grade reading level, and how educational technologies like games, VR and AI can help empower our communities.

The panel mentioned Codex: Lost Words of Atlantis, which was developed under the leadership of Dr. Clark as part of a collaboration between SMU Guildhall, SMU Simmons, and Literacy Instruction for Texas (LIFT).  Codex is a puzzle game that won the XPrize for Adult Literacy for achieving the best increase for English language learners among all competitors. The development of the app and the data gathered through this process is only the first step that will allow us to start building machine learning techniques to personalize learning experiences for adult learners, accounting for diverse backgrounds and knowledge gaps.

Watch the full session video with Dr. Clark on Solutions for America’s Literacy Crisis

BALANCED has been named the winner of the 2021 Tech Titans Edge Grand Challenge competition based on its HEWMEN technology platform solution.  For this competition, pre-revenue startups were asked to submit solutions demonstrating an innovative Edge-enabled products benefitting the areas of work, life, education, or health that help the world return to work and life. Entries were judged on the basis of product readiness/scalability/maturity, overall innovativeness, impact, outlook, team composition, and professionalism.

CEO Robert M. Atkins and CTO Corey Clark, PhD accepted a ceremonial check representing a cash award of $20K. As Edge Grand Challenge winners, BALANCED also receives an invitation to the Tech Titans Awards Gala on Jan. 19, enterprise-level mentoring that could include access to technology resources and potential customers/partners, and introductions to funding resources.

BALANCED is honored to be recognized as a pioneer and leader in technology and the award stands as a testament to the incredible work of the entire BALANCED team.

Tech Titans is the largest technology trade association in Texas, and leverages the regional technology community to collaborate, share and inspire creative thinking that fuels tomorrow’s innovations.

Watch Corey Clark talk about how crowdsourcing gamers can influence real-world solutions, like cancer research, through the use of artificial intelligence (AI).

Read the Dallas Innovates article about BALANCED’s award

McKinney-Based BALANCED Wins Tech Titans Award for Connecting Gamers and COVID Research Through Edge Computing