Business expansions gain state aid

LANSING — Three business expansions that will generate more than $40.7 million in total investment and create 349 jobs in Oakland County have received Michigan Strategic Fund approval for support, the Michigan Economic Development Corp. announced.

Comerica Bank’s Michigan Index Ticks Up

DETROIT — Comerica Bank’s Michigan Economic Activity Index improved 0.8 percentage points in March to a level of 130.4 from 129.6 in February.

AT&T Invests $1.6 Billion Over Three Years In Michigan Network

DETROIT — AT&T Inc. announced it had invested more than $1.4 billion in its Michigan wireless and wired networks in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

Whirlpool Files Dumping Complaint Against LG, Samsung

BENTON HARBOR — Whirlpool Corp., the Benton Harbor-based appliance manufacturer, announced it had filed a “safeguard petition” with the United States International Trade Commission.

LTU Offers $600,000 Scholarships To Video Gamers

SOUTHFIELD – Lawrence Technological University offered $600,000 in scholarships to the winners and runners-up of the first-ever E-Sports Michigan Invitational video game tournament, held Saturday on LTU’s Southfield campus.

Some 75 students from 15 high schools in the Detroit area competed. LTU and the State Champs! high school sports TV show sponsored the event.

UM Research Claims Huge Advance In Testing Self-Driving Cars

ANN ARBOR — Mobility researchers at the University of Michigan say they have devised a new way to test autonomous vehicles that bypasses the billions of miles they would need to log for consumers to consider them road-ready.

The process, which was developed using data from more than 25 million miles of real-world driving, can cut the time required to evaluate robotic vehicles’ handling of potentially dangerous situations by 300 to 100,000 times. And it could save 99.9 percent of testing time and costs, the researchers say.

They outline the approach in a new white paper published by Mcity, a UM-led public-private partnership to accelerate advanced mobility vehicles and technologies.

Science Center Unveils New Theater

DETROIT — Toyota Motor North America and the Michigan Science Center have unveiled the new Toyota 4D Engineering Theater.

Fraser Firm’s Real Estate Technology Gains New Clients

FRASER — ZipLogix, creators of zipForm real estate form software, announced new single-sign-on technology for members of five real estate organizations.

Diplomat Adds Medication Adherence Technology

FLINT — Diplomat Pharmacy Inc. (NYSE: DPLO), the Flint-based specialty pharmacy, has partnered with New York City-based SMRxT Inc. to begin deploying its Nomi medication adherence system.

ProQuest Names New CEO

ANN ARBOR — Matti Shem Tov, president of Ex Libris, a ProQuest company, will succeed Kurt Sanford as CEO of ProQuest, the Ann Arbor online information provider, the company announced.