Interest: Y Combinator has become a popular incubator for new entrepreneurs, so the event was packed with venture capitalists and angel investors. All of the presenting companies are raising new financing, says Paul Graham, cofounder of Y Combinator. In the past, the incubator held a preview event for angel investors to get a glimpse of the companies. But Graham dropped that because there are now so many angel investors and because it was distracting for entrepreneurs to be raising funding --
Interest: Many scientific bodies attest to the safety of biotech crops. Studies by the National Research Council confirm that there has not been a single instance of harm to human health or the environment due to the use of biotech seeds. In Europe, the Joint Research Centre has concluded that biotech products currently on the market in the European Union are safe.
Interest: Peter Thiel, a co-founder of PayPal and early investor in Facebook, warned that--despite spectacular advances in computer-related fields over the last few decades--technological progress overall is actually "stalled out."
Interest: The basic idea of patents is a good one: an inventor is granted a limited monopoly (20 years, in America and elsewhere) over a technology in return for disclosing the details of its workings, so that others can build upon the invention. Advanced technologies are thus made widely available, rather than remaining trade secrets, spurring further innovation.
Interest: Even if the correction continues and startup financing shrinks, we’re not facing a post-party “sober-up” stage similar what happened to 2000 and 2008. The reality is that creating meaningful and enduring technology companies is not a zero sum game. In a world of nearly seven billion people with 30 percent internet penetration and nearly two thirds of the global population using cell phones, there is room for thousands of new technology companies each year.
Interest: The clean-tech sector attracted more than $2.17 billion of venture capital nationwide in first half of this year, which is down about 4% from $2.27 billion the first half of 2010, according to the MoneyTree Report, prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association. Clean-tech investment accounted for about one of every six venture capital dollars invested in the second quarter of this year, the report found.
Author: US Department of Health and Human Services
Source: US Department of Health and Human Services
Interest: NIH announces the availability of a Commercialization Assistance Program (CAP) for its SBIR Phase II awardees from the past five years. This program is aimed at assisting participants evaluate their commercialization options based on their specific SBIR-supported technologies and to develop a solid market-entry strategic plan.
Interest: The Department of Defense (DoD) 2011.3 SBIR and 2011.B STTR program solicitations will open for receipt of proposals on August 29, 2011. Both solicitations have been modified since their pre-release on July 28, 2011.
Interest: The Department of Energy (DOE) SBIR/STTR Programs Office issued their 2012 SBIR/STTR Phase I Funding Opportunity Announcement on August 1, 2011.
Interest: The University of Texas System is comprised of nine academic institutions and six health institutions spanning the spectrum of size and location. In many ways, it is a microcosm and representative cross section of American public universities and their treatment of incubators. Thirteen of the institutions host “incubators” in one form or another. The list is provided below with hyperlinks to the appropriate webpage for the incubator.
Interest: Many, including the author, view the deal-making process as situational management where one listens to the “customer” or potential licensee and pulls from the shelf a deal structure in the form of an agreement template that best meets the particular “sweet spot” for that deal. Unfortunately, the shelf is filled with many such “sweet spots,” although only a few dominate most of the action.
Interest: This course is for angel and early-stage investors, corporate development venture funds, economic development officials, emerging fund managers, seed and early-stage funds, attorneys, accountants, and consultants. If you are engaged in any of these occupations or just want to be an investor, these courses will prepare the potential investor with the knowledge and confidence to execute their investment strategy.
Interest: The United States is still the world’s most innovative economy, and within biomedicine the Bay State is the most successful ecosystem. As the US government steps back, only a greater focus on other consumers - domestic and foreign - who can finance the extraordinary cost of biomedical innovation in the future can ensure the continued vibrancy of our innovation ecosystem.
Interest: To further harness resources, the White House also launched the Startup America Partnership on January 31st to bring together an alliance of major corporations, funders, service providers, mentors and advisors to work to dramatically increase the success of high-growth enterprises in the U.S. Initial funding and leadership for this partnership came from Carl Schramm at the Kauffman Foundation and AOL co-founder Steve Case and the Case Foundation.
Interest: Envōc is a Louisiana-based company specializing in creating software and applications unique to individual businesses. The company deals with small businesses all the way to Fortune 500 companies that want a technology partner that excels in working with Enterprise-grade I.T. departments.
Interest: As outlined in the university’s recently published economic impact study, over the past five years inventions by university researchers have brought nearly $390 million in revenue into the state and helped fund numerous initiatives across the university, including fellowships for graduate students, critical research infrastructure and major equipment needs, development investments for university technologies, and funding for additional research.
Interest: The Venture Accelerator provides laboratory and office space, as well as business services, to startup companies emerging from the pipeline of new ventures at U of M Tech Transfer.
Interest: The Angel Investment Tax Credit Program is part of the Talent and Innovation Initiative supported by Gov. Dave Heineman and approved by the Legislature this year. The package of bills aims to improve the state's economic climate for entrepreneurs, inventors and small businesses and as the governor has said, "put a laser-like focus on growing Nebraska's innovation economy,"
Interest: What is unique and exciting for both OneSchool Inc. as well as the NewMe is that it is the first of NewMe graduates to receive a hefty grant of $100,00. The founder of OneSchool Inc., David Adewumi, as well as his two co-founders will use the money to rent a hacker house and hire a staff of former classmates to assist in coding.
Interest: Venture capital attracts universities in particular, which have followed the so-called Yale model by investing in alternative, illiquid assets. But universities and other institutional investors froze in late 2008. Suddenly faced with shrinking investments in public equities, many, including Duke, Columbia and Harvard, sold or considered selling their stakes in illiquid venture funds on the secondary market or sharply decreased the amount they invested in venture.
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