Research Commercialization Academy (BETA 0.01)

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: .

Source: IOWA INNOVATION CORPORATION

Interest: The Iowa Innovation Corporation announced today the first award of its newly released SBIR/STTR Assistance program to NanoMedTrix of Coralville, Iowa. The Iowa Innovation Corporation’s Small Business Innovation Research and Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) Outreach Program is designed to increase the rate of successful grant applications for Iowa's innovative businesses seeking federal grants through the Small Business Administration's SBIR/STTR programs.

Link: http://www.innovationamerica.us/index.php/innovation-daily/29455-iowa-innovation-corporation-awards-first-sbirsttr-assistance-program-award-to-nanomedtrix-llc?utm_source=innovation-daily---your-daily-newsletter-highlighting-global-innovation-news-and-tren

Author: .

Source: Photonics.Com

Interest: Four Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants targeting advances in solid-state-lighting technology were announced Monday by the US Department of Energy's Office of Science. The FY13, Phase I Release 2 grants, awarded to Plextronics Inc., Universal Display Corp., InnoSys Inc. and Litecontrol Corp., will explore the technical merits or feasibility of their concepts or technologies.

Link: http://www.photonics.com/Article.aspx?AID=53806

Author: .

Source: Herald Online

Interest: The Institute for the Commercialization of Public Research (the Institute) announced today that it has finalized a funding agreement with Garmor, Inc., an advanced materials company based in Orlando, Florida that focuses on developing low-cost, low-weight and high-strength materials without sacrificing critical features such as product durability, efficiency and performance.

Link: http://www.heraldonline.com/2013/05/06/4836195/university-of-central-florida.html

Author: Erin Ailworth

Source: Boston.com

Interest: Picasolar, a start-up from the University of Arkansas, on Monday won the MIT Clean Energy Prize for developing a technology that could improve the efficiency of solar panels and make them cheaper to produce, said Boston utility NStar, one of the annual competition’s sponsors.

Link: http://www.boston.com/business/technology/2013/05/06/arkansas-start-wins-mit-prize/EuibRLyISs77cLuFpgUVSP/story.html

Author: Jonathan B. Wilson

Source: Point of Law

Interest: Internet giant Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) last week announced that it was buying a stake in peer-to-peer financing platform Lending Club. The transaction, which effectively values Lending Club at around $1.55 billion, validates much of the thinking around crowdfunding. The central premise of crowdfunding is that a large group of people, with access to transparent information and the ability to communicate in real time, will make efficient decisions with their own money.

Link: http://www.pointoflaw.com/archives/2013/05/google-invests-in-crowdfunding.php

Author: Jan Cottingham

Source: Arkansas Business

Interest: The Internet is profoundly democratic, lowercase “d.” Anyone with computer access can publish a book, hawk his collection of vintage duck decoys, provide advice on holistic healing. Crowdfunding, enabled by the Internet, promises as profound a shift: Anyone can become a venture capitalist and anyone can solicit those would-be capitalists to support his startup dreams.

Link: http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article/92322/crowdfunding-eases-startup-cash-crunch

Author: Victoria Silchenko

Source: HuffPost Business

Interest: Nikola Tesla wrote once, "The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine." I can see this being quoted by any supporter of equity based crowdfunding (or crowdinvesting) -- an innovative online tool that would give you a legitimate right to own a stake in a company you choose to invest in. Just like angels investors do. Now, if you think you can invest too, join the club and have a nice... fight.

Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/victoria-silchenko/equity-crowdfunding-next-_b_3220914.html

Author: Marielle Segarra

Source: CFO

Interest: As companies wait for the Securities and Exchange Commission to finalize the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act rules, they may be eager to pounce on equity-based crowdfunding. Once the SEC writes the rules, businesses will be able to raise up to $1 million from non-accredited investors and use general solicitation to secure funding from accredited investors, such as hedge funds and angel groups. But they will have to carefully consider the way they approach crowdfunding, particularly from non-

Link: http://www3.cfo.com/article/2013/5/capital-markets_crowdfunding-venture_capital-series_a-jobs_act-sec-equity

Author: Barbara Soderlin

Source: The Omaha World Herald

Interest: A new partnership between the University of Nebraska at Omaha and a group that helps turn inventions into businesses is expected to raise the research profile of UNO and the affiliated Peter Kiewit Institute. Called the UNO Innovation Accelerator, the effort will help students, faculty and staff who don't have business experience to connect to entrepreneurial education, training and funding.

Link: http://www.omaha.com/article/20130505/MONEY/705059933

Author: Bill Burton

Source: UIC News

Interest: UIC will launch a $10 million fund to move technologies devised by faculty, students or staff from research to commercial use. The Chancellor’s Innovation Fund will make grants totaling $2 million a year for five years. About half the funding will finance proof-of-concept grants of up to $75,000 for projects just emerging from basic research.

Link: http://www.innovationamerica.us/index.php/innovation-daily/29395-bridging-gap-between-research-commercialization-uic-news-center?utm_source=innovation-daily---your-daily-newsletter-highlighting-global-innovation-news-and-trends&utm_medium=gazetty&utm_camp

Author: .

Source: MIT News

Interest: The Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship has expanded its MIT Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) Network to better support MIT students. The updated program still features a lineup of successful serial entrepreneurs but has added two more levels of support to match students with those EIRs who best suit the student's level of entrepreneurship knowledge and expertise.

Link: http://www.innovationamerica.us/index.php/innovation-daily/29313-mit-entrepreneur-in-residence-network-expands-mit-news-office?utm_source=innovation-daily---your-daily-newsletter-highlighting-global-innovation-news-and-trends&utm_medium=gazetty&utm_campai

Author: Rob Kuznia

Source: http://www.dailybreeze.com/

Interest: A miracle drink to cure hangovers. A cream that brightens the color on tattoos. An ergonomic shovel. A website that cuts the humble car salesman out of the deal. In addition to dreaming up these inventions, students in Loyola Marymount University's new business-incubator class created the prototypes.

Link: http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_23168039/dreaming-big-loyola-marymount-business-students-pitch-products

Author: Kathleen Gallagher

Source: http://www.jsonline.com/

Interest: The Madison office of law firm Perkins Coie LLP is sponsoring a first-ever award with a $10,000 prize for the University of Wisconsin-Madison team that demonstrates the most market-ready innovation. UW-Madison is the fourth campus to be chosen for an Innovative Minds competition. The others are Arizona State University, the University of California-Los Angeles and the University of Washington, Perkins Coie launched the program in 2011 to help advance creative thinking, innovation and entrepren

Link: http://www.jsonline.com/business/perkins-cole-sponsors-10000-innovation-prize-at-uwmadison-competition-q39qj7q-205972371.html

Author: Karsten Strauss

Source: http://www.forbes.com/

Interest: You can’t accuse billionaire Ronald Perelman of not investing in the future—the FORBES 400 lister just put up $100 million to help teach entrepreneurs to navigate the fast changing currents of modern markets.

Link: http://www.forbes.com/sites/karstenstrauss/2013/05/03/billionaire-ronald-perelman-spends-100m-to-teach-entrepreneurs/

Author: Karsten Strauss

Source: Forbes

Interest: In the age of startup-mania, accelerators, incubators and the constant search for venture capital, Northeastern University is taking a proactive approach to getting would-be founders to an entrepreneurial happy-place.

Link: http://www.forbes.com/sites/karstenstrauss/2013/04/30/getting-serious-about-startups-northeastern-universitys-idea/

Author: http://www.utexas.edu/

Source: http://www.utexas.edu/

Interest: The Global Venture Labs Investment Competition (Global VLIC), the longest-running investment competition for graduate student entrepreneurs, will hold its 30th annual competition May 2-4 at the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center at The University of Texas at Austin.

Link: http://www.utexas.edu/news/2013/04/30/investor-ready-startups-to-compete-at-global-venture-labs-investment-competition/