Concentric Sky

Wikipedia: Concentric Sky is a software development company located in Eugene, Oregon. The company was founded in 2005 by Wayne Skipper,[1] and has since grown to nearly 90 employees.[2] In 2015, Cale Bruckner was promoted to President of the company. Skipper continues to serve as CEO.[3] Contents 1 History 2 Culture 3 References 4 External links History[edit] Concentric Sky has grown steadily since it was founded in 2005.[4][5] In 2008, the company announced a partnership with GoldMoney to create an iPhone app to allow the transfer of digital units of gold.[6] In 2009, the company formed a partnership with Encyclopædia Britannica to launch a series of iOS apps for the K-12 education market.[7][8][9] That same year, the company released the official iOS app for NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day[10][11][12][13][14] and also developed the website for film maker Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story.[15] In 2010, Concentric Sky Founder Wayne Skipper was asked to submit expert testimony to the Federal Trade Commission regarding Google's acquisition of Admob.[16][17] That same year, the company partnered with the World Bank[18] to develop a series of data visualization apps and partnered with National Geographic to design and build a series of official study apps for the National Geographic Bee.[4] In 2010, the Internet Engineering Task Force voted to make the company a development partner.[19] In 2011, the company partnered with the United Nations to develop a data visualization app to support the UN's annual reports.[20] That same year, the company was named "the only App Developer officially endorsed by Mashable."[21] In 2012, the company designed and built an iPad version of the Encyclopædia Britannica.[22] The app received widespread recognition,[23][24][25][26][27] including an Appy Award.[28] In 2013, products featuring Concentric Sky's work for partner Cengage Learning won 2 Codie awards.[29] That same year, the company's work resulted in a US patent for usability improvements to electronic medical records.[30] In 2014, the company joined the Open Badges movement and launched the Oregon Badge Alliance with partners including Oregon State University.[31] Later that year, the company released an open source Android viewer app for Khan Academy content.[32] In 2015, the company launched the open source project Badgr with partner edX.[33] Badgr has since been integrated into Instructure's Canvas LMS[34] and Microsoft's Virtual Academy,[35] and by early 2018 had grown to serve nearly 10,000 organizations around the world.[2] In 2016, the company announced a partnership with MacArthur Foundation spin off, Collective Shift,[36] focused on advancements in education technology and workforce readiness. Under this partnership, the company took over development of GlassLab Games, which includes the educational variants of several popular video games including Civilization and SimCity.[37] In 2017, the company became a founding member of the IEEE Industry Consortium for Learning Engineering,[38] and announced partnerships with the California Community Colleges System,[39] Georgia Department of Education,[40] and SURFnet.[41][42] The success of the company's Badgr product led to Founder Wayne Skipper being interviewed broadly in the education community,[43][44][45][46][47] as well as Badgr's inclusion in the European Commission Joint Research Centre's 2017 "Blockchain in Education" report.[48] That same year, the company offered digital badges to commemorate The Great American Eclipse,[49] and another product featuring the company's work for partner Cengage Learning won a Codie award.[50] Culture[edit] Concentric Sky is known for its creative company culture.[5][51][52] In 2012, the company dubbed its local metro region the Silicon Shire.[53] The company hosts events to promote the Silicon Shire region and facilitate dialog between the public and private sectors,[54] and also offers a shared working space for local tech entrepreneurs.[55]