Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/1535247
W O R K F O R M E / S P R I N G 2 0 2 5 46 ited resources, this training ensures our graduates are ready to provide high-quality care from day one." By implementing cutting- edge simulation techniques, the university's goal is to enhance its nursing program. Simulation- based education is said to im- prove patient outcomes, boost provider confidence and create a more adaptable and resilient health care workforce. "By investing in simulation training, we're not just improv- ing education — we're improving health care for Maine communi- ties," said Voisine. Simulation will feature in UMA's new nursing education facility, under construction at the Capital Center at the Marketplace at Augusta and slated to open in time for the fall 2025 semester. UMA's nursing program has grown from 91 students in the 2019-20 school year to 265 in 2024–25. The new facility will be 50% larger than its current location at the Augusta Civic Center. It will have advanced laboratories and collaborative areas and triple the program's simulation lab capacity. The enhancements are ex- pected to help UMA address Maine's nursing shortage by increasing enrollment capacity to 400 students, offering more ro- bust hands-on learning environ- ments and supporting excellence in nursing and patient care to meet Maine's health care needs. An industrial software startup that's among the region's fastest growing Out of 154 companies deemed by Inc. magazine to make an out- sized impact in the northeastern U.S., Portland-based industrial software startup HighByte is the only Maine entity to make the cut. Growth is on the menu at HighByte. With a two-year revenue spurt of 925%, High- Byte was ranked No. 6 out of 154 companies across nine states. The company, run by found- ers Tony Paine, John Harrington and Torey Penrod-Cambra, em- ploys 40 people in total and re- cently moved to a larger office in Portland with plans to keep growing. "Since HighByte was founded in 2018, we've seen exponential demand for a solution that con- textualizes data across the diverse systems within a manufacturing environment," Penrod-Cambra, the company's chief communi- cations officer, told Mainebiz in an email from Germany, where the team was attending the Han- nover Messe trade fair — one of the world's largest. "Especially with the prolifera- tion of new AI tools, manufactur- ers need a solution that helps them make sense of all the data they have access to in order to gain valuable insights that en- able them to be more efficient," she explained. HighByte has raised $17.2 mil- lion in equity funding to date, including a $12 million Series A round last year. Asked what's next for the company, Penrod-Cambra point- ed to expanding the workforce as a priority. "When we moved our office last year," she said, "we chose a space that would allow us to con- tinue to grow our workforce and offer Portland-local employees a productive and collaborative environment to work in when they choose to." n « C O N T I N U E D F R O M P R E V I O U S PAG E Especially with the proliferation of new AI tools, manufacturers need a solution that helps them make sense of all the data they have access to in order to gain valuable insights that enable them to be more efficient. — Torey Penrod-Cambra HighByte T e c h n o l o g y P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y O F H I G H B Y T E HighByte principals John Harrington, Torey Penrod-Cambra, Jeffrey Schroeder and Carolyn Baron of HighByte outside the entrance of the Hannover Messe trade fair in Germany.