Research Commercialization Academy (BETA 0.01)

Author: NATHAN HURST

Source: www.wired.com

Interest: Kick starter is doing well. Project creators have launched 38,000 successful undertakings for $441 million in pledges since its launch four years ago. And it’s only expected to grow. So it’s no wonder that crowd-funding clones, imitators, and innovators are popping up like weeds. From the uber-broad to the niche, entrepreneurs have, are, and will continue to build platforms that fill holes in Kickstarter’s coverage, methods, or both.

Link: http://www.wired.com/design/2013/05/kickstarter-knockoffs/

Author: David Ferguson

Source: www.rawstory.com

Interest: Raw Story reported Tuesday on a new technique pioneered by researchers at Florida International University for treating HIV by acting directly on the brain, delivering medicine across the blood-brain barrier through the use of nanoparticles. Wednesday, we spoke to Florida International University researcher Sakhrat Khizroev about the breakthrough and its potential for treatment of other brain diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and brain cancers.

Link: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/08/nanotech-researcher-everything-is-possible-in-new-brain-treatments/

Author: Tina Casey

Source: www.cleantechnica.com

Interest: The U.S. Army has just launched the first in a series of renewable energy contracts that will eventually total $7 billion by the end of this year, using power purchase agreements along with a standard procurement tool that is expected to crush any obstacles that are put in its path. That includes the notorious budget sequester as well as any objections from the anti-renewable energy crowd in Congress, which has already used the budget as an excuse to sink the Navy’s biofuel initiatives.

Link: http://cleantechnica.com/2013/05/09/army-renewable-energy-gets-7-billion-boost/

Author: Scott Gunnerson

Source: www.floridatoday.com

Interest: PORT ST. JOHN — Maureen Rupe teared up on the dais Wednesday as she welcomed back neighbors she had fought with for more than 20 years. Florida Power & Light commissioned a new $900 million natural-gas facility Wednesday that replaced a 45-year-old plant that was built to supply electricity to the space center and became a landmark on the Indian River.

Link: http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20130509/BUSINESS/305090045/Florida-Power-Light-plant-opens-clean-energy-smiles

Author: www.huffingtonpost.com

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Interest: How badly do some people want to kill even a mild form of support for renewable energy in North Carolina? Badly enough that they’re willing to risk cheating on legislative votes. It’s really an extraordinary thing to see: The North Carolina Senate Finance Committee was voting last week on a bill that would gut the state’s renewable portfolio standard.

Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/08/north-carolina-renewable-energy-standards-under-fire_n_3231652.html?utm_hp_ref=green

Author: Liz Gannes

Source: www.allthingsd.com

Interest: Crowdfunding now has a celebrity mogul endorsement. A new site called FundAnything from Learning Annex founder Bill Zanker launches today with help from loudmouth businessman Donald Trump. Trump’s approach will be to effectively trump the crowd by fully funding some FundAnything projects himself.

Link: http://allthingsd.com/20130508/donald-trump-launches-fundanything-a-kickstarter-clone-meant-to-bring-crowdfunding-to-the-masses/?refcat=news

Author: The Sacramento Bee & ASSOCIATED PRESS

Source: www.utsandiego.com

Interest: For anyone contemplating raising money through crowd funding, the National Federation of Independent Business has some tips: Spread the word: Reach out to your network of friends, family, patrons, existing clients and customers. Use social networking, as well as word-of-mouth. Make it personal: It’s about a personal connection to you and your project. Tell why it’s important or how it will benefit others. Backers want to be part of something that matters.

Link: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/apr/30/tp-crowd-funding-poised-to-grow/

Author: Elizabeth Smith Kulik

Source: www.venturebeat.com

Interest: Crowdfunding has once again become a hot topic in the financial world, given the recent one-year anniversary of the JOBS Act on April 5. The JOBS Act legalized equity- and debt-based crowd-funding in the U.S. However the SEC has missed congressionally mandated deadlines to complete the rule-making process to the detriment of capital-seeking entrepreneurs.

Link: http://venturebeat.com/2013/04/29/state-of-crowdfunding-2013/

Author: Dina ElBoghdady

Source: www.washingtonpost.com

Interest: For $100, Micah Lubens bought a share of a vacant, two-story brick building that was promoted as the next up-and-coming hot spot along D.C.’s bustling H Street corridor. Through food blogs, Lubens learned of plans to transform 1351 H Street NE into a mini-replica of Asian night markets, with food stalls and at least one clothing shop. The developers were offering shares of the property online for $100 a pop.

Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/crowdfunding-breaks-into-us-investing-landscape/2013/04/29/2b58fbe8-a829-11e2-a8e2-5b98cb59187f_story.html

Author: Charlie

Source: Clean Energy

Interest: Apparently some in North Carolina are not paying attention to the boom in clean energy businesses and jobs that have sprouted up around the state in recent years. When Senate Bill 3 passed in 2007 in a nearly-unanimous bipartisan vote, it established a Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard (REPS) requiring the state’s utility companies to provide a portion (12.5% for investor-owned utilities and 10% for municipal utilities and electric coops)

Link: http://blog.cleanenergy.org/2013/04/23/repeal-of-the-reps-will-hurt-north-carolina/

Author: Christopher Martin

Source: www.bloomberg.com

Interest: More than half the U.S. states with laws requiring utilities to buy renewable energy are considering ways to pare back those mandates after a plunge in natural gas prices brought on by technology that boosted supply. Sixteen of the 29 states with renewable portfolio standards are considering legislation that would reduce the need for wind and solar power, according to researchers backed by the U.S. Energy Department.

Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-23/u-s-states-turn-against-renewable-energy-as-gas-plunges.html

Author: ALLAN ROTH

Source: www.cbsnews.com

Interest: (MoneyWatch) You can have it all -- you can save the earth and make money by investing in clean energy. At least that's what I've heard said many times. After all, there is a finite amount of fossil fuels on the planet, and any innovator who can develop the next clean and cheap source of energy is likely to become quite wealthy, as will those who are savvy enough to invest in it. The ultimate win-win, right?

Link: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505123_162-57577530/is-investing-in-clean-energy-a-good-idea/

Author: The Wall Street Journal

Source: ACC Clean Energy Challenge

Interest: COLLEGE PARK, Md., April 22, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Bioadhesive Alliance Inc., a team from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University developing a bio-based adhesive for potential use as a substitute to petroleum-based asphalt binder, won the second annual ACC Clean Energy Challenge and the Department of Energy's $100,000 grand prize, competition officials announce today.

Link: http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130422-909293.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Author: Joshua S Hill

Source: www.cleantechnica.com

Interest: New York-based ResHydro has announced plans to establish operations in Glasgow, Scotland, a move that would make them the first US renewable energy inward investment in Scotland. The news, released by way of a press release on PR Newswire, is hopefully the first of many such more outward US renewable energy investments.

Link: http://cleantechnica.com/2013/04/09/us-tidal-energy-company-first-scottish-renewable-energy-inward-investment/

Author: MICHAEL HILL

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Interest: ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A new study says New York could get the power it needs from wind, water and sunlight by 2030 with a concerted push, though the state's decade-long effort to significantly boost green energy shows how challenging that could be.

Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/07/ny-renewable-energy-study_n_3032873.html?utm_hp_ref=green

Author: Cathy Proctor

Source: www.bizjournals.com

Interest: Colorado commercial property owners could get loans for energy-efficiency projects under a proposal approved by the state Senate. The bill, SB 212, sponsored by Sen. Gail Schwartz, D-Snowmass, creates the CPACE program, short for Commercial Property-Assessed Clean Energy.

Link: http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/blog/earth_to_power/2013/04/legislative-proposal-creates.html

Author: www.nanotech-now.com

Source: www.nanotech-now.com

Interest: Speaking at the 245th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society, A. Paul Alivisatos, Ph.D., expressed concern that the cuts come when nanotechnology is poised to deliver on those promises. He told the meeting, which continues through Thursday, that ill-conceived cuts could set back America's progress in nanotechnology by decades.

Link: http://www.nanotech-now.com/news.cgi?story_id=47231

Author: NICHOLAS THOMPSON

Source: www.newyorker.com

Interest: Is Stanford still a university? The Wall Street Journal recently reported that more than a dozen students—both undergraduate and graduate—have left school to work on a new technology start-up called Clinkle. Faculty members have invested, the former dean of Stanford’s business school is on the board, and one computer-science professor who taught several of the employees now owns shares.

Link: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/04/silicon-valley-start-ups-and-the-end-of-stanford.html

Author: The New York Times

Source: The New York Times

Interest: Educators from nine universities are testing technology from a Silicon Valley start-up company, CourseSmart, allowing them to track their students’ progress with digital textbooks, David Streitfeld reports in The New York Times.

Link: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/09/daily-report-teacher-knows-if-youve-done-the-e-reading/

Author: Dara Kerr

Source: CNET

Interest: In the tech world, crowdfunding is most associated with Kickstarter and raising money for technology-centered projects like the Ouya gaming console, the Elevation Dock, and the Pebble smartwatch. But, the concept has a far wider reach than just consumer devices. Global crowdfunding raised nearly $2.7 billion for more than 1 million campaigns in 2012, according to a new report by Massolution. This means that the crowdfunding market grew by 81 percent over the year prior.

Link: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57578565-93/crowdfunding-raises-$2.7-billion-worldwide-in-2012/