News that Moves St. Louis Forward | August 7, 2025
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A New Era of Freight Innovation
St. Louis startup Intramotev is reimagining infrastructure everywhere. Five years after its founding, the company that converts conventional freight cars to battery-powered, self-propelled rail cars sees its work as the future of freight. And there’s no better place to be doing that than here, said Tim Luchini, CEO, in an interview with St. Louis Post-Dispatch Publisher Ian Caso.
“It’s huge for St. Louis, and I don’t see a future where this doesn’t exist,” said Luchini. “Right now in St. Louis, we have a huge opportunity to be the first and to build it, and to make it feasible. We get to be the first to bring that, which offers speed, flexibility, low cost, and the best transportation system for any type of freight. And that really is a paradigm shift.”
The Bottom Line: You may not realize it, but St. Louis’ intersecting infrastructure strengths — rivers, rail, road, and air — make it a strong logistics hub, directly in the center of the country. In fact, the recent 2025 State of the St. Louis Workforce report from St. Louis Community College tells us that over the last 10 years, employment across transportation and warehousing increased by 23%. Luchini sees infrastructure as an industry of the future, alongside and aligned with others, like agtech and geospatial.
“The history of St. Louis is built on the legacy of freight rail infrastructure… and that’s really what prepares it for the next two-hundred years,” he said. For St. Louis to grow, we need to get excited about building businesses and creating connections. Turning our challenges into opportunity, Luchini said, “could change the way people think about our city.”
Now Independent, TGI Helps Carve Out a Global Geospatial Reputation for St. Louis
Founded to accelerate geospatial research in the St. Louis region and beyond, the Taylor Geospatial Institute has reached a new milestone, officially launching this week as an independent nonprofit organization. The move to independence solidifies TGI’s long-term sustainability and positions it to deepen its impact as a world-class center for interdisciplinary research and innovation.
GSL Founding Chair Andrew C. Taylor made the transformative investment needed in 2022 to launch TGI, which is a consortium of eight Midwest research institutions in both Missouri and Illinois. Its creation was aligned with the GeoFutures Strategic Roadmap — a regional plan to establish St. Louis as the global hub for geospatial technology by 2030.
“Geospatial is the critical technology in nearly everything we do, and it is imperative that St. Louis have the world’s leading geospatial research institution to fulfill our promise as the global center for geospatial technology in the next decade,” said Taylor at TGI’s launch. “It is my hope that this institute will cement St. Louis as the world’s true center for geospatial excellence.”
The Bottom Line: Its transition to independence enables TGI to scale its programs, enhance industry partnerships, and attract new investment in talent and research infrastructure. This comes at a time when the geospatial sector in St. Louis is not only well-established, it’s already seen as a global leader. And with the $1.7 billion NGA St. Louis opening this fall, the time is right to continue to push forward.
“By stepping into independence, TGI affirms its commitment to pioneering research, cultivating the next generation of geospatial leaders, and advancing the region as a global epicenter of innovation,” said Robert Cardillo, chair of the Taylor Geospatial Institute Board of Directors.
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At New Startup, Mars Tech Applied on Earth
A startup founded here in St. Louis is continuing to make waves, its core technology now at the heart of yet another innovative company. STLMade Impossible Sensing developed technology to study both deep sea and deep space, and now its spin-off, TerraBlaster, is using the same tech to deliver precision data to farmers. Growing something great.
2025 State of the St. Louis Workforce
St. Louis Community College, a member of the GSL Chair’s Council, released its annual State of the St. Louis Workforce this week, highlighting the significant impact transportation has on the local economy. Read the report.
Orise Distribution, a startup wholesale distributor of medical supplies, announced this week that it will expand in St. Louis City, investing $6.2 million and creating 40 new jobs. The company’s expansion includes the addition of more than 5,000 square feet of space to its existing facility. Committed to St. Louis.
Summer in the City
As the heatwave broke last week, joyful crowds converged in Kiener Plaza to relish cool evening breezes and dynamic live music. Downtown Summer Nights, sponsored by Greater St. Louis, Inc., offers two evenings most weeks for families and friends to gather in Kiener Plaza to enjoy movies, music, food, and more. The next concert takes place tonight, Thursday, Aug. 7. See the lineup.
