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Neapolitan Labs launches vaccine appointment solution for COVID-19

Neapolitan Labs, a full-service web development, marketing, and advertising company based in Des Moines, recently announced that it has created a vaccine appointment and scheduling system for public health entities and other organizations. The system, titled “VANILLA”, is an appointment, notification, reporting, and management solution.

The idea for the vaccine appointment system first came when Pottawattamie County reached out to Neapolitan Labs last year to see if they could create a scheduling system for COVID-19 vaccines.

“We have been partners with Pottawattamie County for about a year working on digital solutions for the county,” said Brian McMillin, CEO of Neapolitan Labs. “Their public health department reached out to us last October and were wondering if we had the capacity to create something that could be used for vaccine appointment and scheduling.”

McMillin and his team worked with the county to put together a proposal and then had a couple months of testing between October and December, when the first doses of the vaccine began.

“I believe the first clinics in Pottawattamie County were Dec. 23 and 24 and were for the priority 1A group. The county’s public health department had identified the organizations they were going to reach out to and had a good idea of how many organizations they could work with given how many doses they were given. They then distributed a private link that we created for them to various organizations,” said McMillin.

McMillin says he would like to work with other counties in the state and that the company is currently working with Jones County in a similar capacity.

“Jones County Public Health Department is working with us to collect vaccine interest information,” said McMillin. “Basically users will be able to go the website and fill out who their employer is, if they live in the county, work in the county, have risk factors Then the county is able to sort those results, export them and send emails to people. So they’re using their own scheduling tool but are using our tool to collect, organize and communicate.

“We were a little hesitant to start doing outreach or promotion of this project until we felt like we had a really refined project put together for Pottawattamie County,” said McMillin. “Our hope is that we can work with other counties. Now that we know this works in Pottawattamie, which is a fairly large county for Iowa, I feel like we have a good product for other public health entities or really any organization that’s trying to schedule vaccine appointments.”

Previous coverage

Neapolitan Labs is working with county auditors to create election websites -April 23, 2020

Neapolitan Labs is helping small businesses with their web presence -Oct. 23, 2018


Neapolitan Labs launches vaccine appointment solution for COVID-19 | Clay & Milk
A central Iowa ag-tech accelerator has secured more backers and finally has a name. The Greater Des Moines Partnership first announced the accelerator last year, naming four initial investors. On Monday, the Partnership said the program will be called the "Iowa AgriTech Accelerator" and named three new investors. The new investors include Grinnell Mutual, Kent Corp. and Sukup Manufacturing, all Iowa companies. They join investors Deere & Co., Peoples Co., Farmers Mutual Hail Insurance Co. and DuPont Pioneer. Each investor has agreed to put up $100,000 for the first year of the accelerator. Startups entering the program will receive $40,000 in seed funding in exchange for 6 percent equity. Tej Dhawan, an angel investor and local startup mentor, is serving as interim director until the AgriTech Accelerator names a permanent leader. Dhawan held a similar role with the GIA before Brian Hemesath was named as managing director. As interim director, Dhawan said his main job includes hiring the accelerator's executive director, establishing a business structure and initial recruiting for the first cohort. The accelerator will place few filters, such as location and product, on the applicant pool, Dhawan said. "When you’re seeking innovation, innovation can come from every corner of the world so why restrict ourselves," he said. One area the the AgriTech Accelerator won't recruit from is biotech. For its first cohort, the AgriTech Accelerator will work out of the GIA's space in Des Moines' East Village, Dhawan said. A future, permanent home is still to be decided. The accelerator's program will host startups from mid-July through mid-October, ending with an event connected to the annual World Food Prize. The GIA, which the AgriTech Accelerator is based on, also ends with presentations at an industry event. The accelerator has also started lining up a mentor pool. The Iowa Corn Growers Association, Iowa Soybean Association and the Iowa Pork Producers Association have agreed to provide mentors, as has Iowa State University. While the AgriTech Accelerator is loosely based off of the GIA, it will differ in its business structure, Dhawan said. The GIA runs through a for-profit model for both operations and its investment fund. The AgriTech Accelerator will have a nonprofit model for its operations and a for-profit setup for its fund. Dhawan said the nonprofit model is being used so the accelerator can better work with other nonprofit partners, such as trade associations. "These are all organizations that are nonprofits and can be amazing stakeholders without ever having to be investors in the accelerator," he said. "It becomes easier to work with trade associations in their nonprofit role when we are also a nonprofit." When it's up and running, the AgriTech Accelerator would be one of a handful of ag-focused startup development programs in Iowa. Others include the Ag Startup Engine out of Iowa State University and the Rural Ventures Alliance from Iowa MicroLoan. Matthew Patane is the managing editor and co-founder of Clay & Milk. Send him an email at mpatane@clayandmilk.com.
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