Research Commercialization Academy (BETA 0.01)

Author: Steve Vockrodt

Source: Kansas City Business Journal

Interest: The University of Missouri-Kansas City has set a fundraising record, having raised $65.5 million during the 2011-12 fiscal year. The university received contributions from 19,213 donors. The UMKC Foundation’s endowment reached $22.6 million. The largest gift was $32 million, which came from H&R Block Inc. co-founder Henry Bloch and his wife, Marion, for the development of the Henry W. Bloch Executive Hall for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. That project is expected to open in August 2013.

Link: http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2012/08/21/university-of-missouri-kansas-city.html

Author: KARLIN LILLINGTON

Source: www.irishtimes.com

Interest: NET RESULTS: WHEN IT comes to venture capital investment in the US, it’s one of those glass-half-full versus glass-half-empty moments again, depending on how you eye the statistics. The latest report from the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), in conjunction with Moneytree and PriceWaterhouseCoopers, indicates VC spending was down significantly – 7 per cent – in the second quarter this year, compared to the same quarter in 2011.

Link: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2012/0816/1224322255882.html

Author: Richard A. D'Errico

Source: BizBlog

Interest: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is introducing a bill to create a $200 million fund to help biotech companies move discoveries out of the lab and into the marketplace. Gillibrand (D-NY) announced the legislation, called the America Innovates Act, today at the University at Albany’s East Campus.

Link: http://www.bizjournals.com/albany/blog/2012/08/gillibrand-introducing-bill-to.html

Author: Jon Zemke

Source: www.concentratemedia.com

Interest: Talk about the current state of venture capital in North America and states like California and Massachusetts are immediately invoked. Have a conversation about building the venture capital communities of tomorrow, and you might be surprised to hear Michigan's name surface.

Link: http://concentratemedia.com/features/wolverineinvestmentu-m0205.aspx

Author: venturebeat.com

Source: venturebeat.com

Interest: While the San Francisco Bay Area — including Silicon Valley — has become an unofficial mecca for all things tech, S.F. isn’t the only place where startups thrive. Several other American cities are rising to compete with the Bay, offering budding companies room to play outside the shadows of giants like Google, Apple and Facebook, and at lower (read: lifestyle-friendly) prices.

Link: http://venturebeat.com/2012/08/08/top-5-american-cities-for-startups/

Author: Elizabeth Lopatto

Source: http://www.businessweek.com

Interest: Novartis AG (NOVN) will fund a $20 million research center at the University of Pennsylvania in a deal in which the drugmaker gains technology that uses manipulated immune-system cells to fight cancer.

Link: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-08-06/novartis-gets-immune-cell-cancer-therapy-in-upenn-pact

Author: http://www.clemson.edu

Source: http://www.clemson.edu

Interest: A collaboration involving a Clemson University institute that leads research and education in advanced biomaterials and tissue fabrication has received a National Science Foundation grant to advance an increasingly favored surgical procedure. The team has received a $50,000 I-Corps grant to explore commercialization of a haptic device to train laparoscopic surgeons.

Link: http://www.clemson.edu/media-relations/article.php?article_id=4386

Author: Gregory T. Huang

Source: http://www.xconomy.com

Interest: The Waltham, MA-based tech startup, which also has operations in Santa Clara, CA, has raised $12 million in Series C funding from Horizons Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (Digital Growth Fund), and previous investors, which include WPP and Myrian Capital.

Link: http://www.xconomy.com/boston/2012/08/07/mit-spinout-affectiva-gets-12m-more-from-big-investors-to-pursue-big-idea/

Author: Jessica Stillman

Source: http://www.cnbc.com

Interest: Enter New Jersey non-profit Intersect Fund and its latest program, Entrepreneur University. The organization was founded by a pair of Rutgers University students, Joe Shure and Rohan Mathew, who were both impressed by the drive of the folks they met in their local community of New Brunswick.

Link: http://www.cnbc.com/id/48531825

Author: www.virtual-strategy.com

Source: www.virtual-strategy.com

Interest: AFrame Digital is awarded its second CRCF award to expand the scope of a telemonitoring study under a grant from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Aging. The study will help develop analytical models that trend and alert on changes in health status for the aging U.S. population.

Link: http://www.virtual-strategy.com/2012/07/30/aframe-digital-receives-second-commonwealth-research-commercialization-fund-crcf-award-mh

Author: BUSINESS WIRE

Source: BUSINESS WIRE

Interest: Founded at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business, the UIF is the nation’s first private student-run social venture and impact investing capital fund focusing on for-profit analysis in startup companies designed to solve problems associated with social issues such as poverty and pollution while generating a profit for investors.

Link: http://eon.businesswire.com/news/eon/20120731005226/en

Author: Staff

Source: http://www.pehub.com

Interest: Tintri Inc., a maker of VM-aware storage appliances, has added $25 million in new funding. Menlo Ventures led the round. Existing investors NEA and Lightspeed Venture Partners also contributed. The money will help Tintri expand research and development, as well as sales efforts.

Link: http://www.pehub.com/160241/tintri-seals-25m-nea-lightspeed-menlo-ventures/

Author: CHRISTINE WILLIAMSON

Source: http://www.pionline.com

Interest: University of Michigan Board of Regents, Ann Arbor, approved investment agreements for four potential investments under the State of Michigan Conflict of Interest statute from Michigan Investment in New Technology Startups, a venture capital fund co-managed by the university's investment office and its Office of Technology Transfer.

Link: http://www.pionline.com/article/20120723/DAILYREG/120729964/university-of-michigan-invests-in-4-in-state-companies

Author: http://www.commercialappeal.com

Source: http://www.commercialappeal.com

Interest: Tennessee ranks eighth in the country for the volume of federal grants its university research centers receive, but those dollars are not paying off in terms of new products, companies and jobs.

Link: http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2012/jul/23/tennessee-launches-effort-to-turn-research-into/

Author: Melissa M. Werthmann

Source: http://bostonglobe.com

Interest: EdX, a joint venture established this spring by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University to offer free online classes, is getting a high-profile West Coast partner: the University of California, Berkeley. The $60 million initiative, which will offer seven classes in the fall, gives millions of people around the world the chance to take college-­level courses for free through the open-source platform. The addition of UC Berkeley, being announced Tuesday, thrusts one of th

Link: http://bostonglobe.com/metro/2012/07/23/university-california-berkeley-join-edx-joint-harvard-mit-venture-offer-online-courses/mKl47LI5BdBX0MMO2RHHwI/story.html

Author: Eileen Ambrose

Source: http://www.baltimoresun.com

Interest: This new incubator venture, set to open in September in Federal Hill, will be a place that entrepreneurs — for a monthly membership fee — can call home temporarily while getting access to the mentoring and networking needed to turn ideas into viable products. Betamore also will offer classes, such as such as Angel Investing 101, along with more extensive courses on running a business.

Link: http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/money/bs-bz-ambrose-betamore-20120724,0,917603.story

Author: Carol Potera

Source: http://www.genengnews.com

Interest: Rich reserves of iron and coal once made Birmingham a major producer of iron and steel. In fact, the city’s nickname was “The Pittsburgh of the South.” Like Pittsburgh, the steel industry and local economy sharply declined, and now clean technology companies are boosting Birmingham’s economy. Many of them, like Soluble Therapeutics, are located in the Innovation Depot, close to the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) campus. The building, once the largest Sears & Roebuck retail store in t

Link: http://www.genengnews.com/blog-biotech/biotech-booming-in-birmingham/712/

Author: http://therealdeal.com

Source: http://therealdeal.com

Interest: From Google to Midtown South to the forthcoming CornellNYC Tech campus on Roosevelt Island, tech influence abounds in New York City. The New York Daily News reported that a new proposal made to a Queens Regional Economic Development Council to bring a tech incubator space to Long Island City would not only create jobs, but also help strengthen the Queens tech entrepreneur and start-up community — making the “F-train tech corridor” prediction seem real.

Link: http://therealdeal.com/blog/2012/07/23/is-queens-the-next-tech-start-up-haven/

Author: Kathryn Gerlach

Source: http://news.ufl.edu

Interest: The University of Florida is the only university in the state and among only 10 universities in the region to receive a federal five-year grant this month to promote the formation of technology startup companies based on university research discoveries.

Link: http://news.ufl.edu/2012/07/23/tech-grant/

Author: Shana Lynch

Source: Silicon Valley

Interest: Selected companies will get $100,000 in funding as well as mentorship, workshops, and general assistance startups need in the realms of marketing, legal, HR and bookkeeping.

Link: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/blog/2012/07/innospring-incubator-wants-to-give-10.html