-The Venture Forum
--Life Sciences
2009 --Save the date! --June 25, 2009 --Fairmont, San Jose |
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Editor:
Avi Kulokas |
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Larta Institute
is a professional services firm providing commercialization and
technology transfer services for governments, research centers,
and universities in the US and globally. |
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www.larta.org |
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Larta’s
thirteen annual Federal Technology Guide (2008-2009) is now available |
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To sponsor VOX, Larta events or publications, contact Carlos Gutierrez, cgutierrez@larta.org |
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Southern
California Leads Cleantech Funding Activity
By socalTECH.com
Ernst
& Young LLP released an analysis of clean technology fundings for
Q3, finding that there were $363.5M in clean technology investments
in Southern California for the quarter, a significant chunk of an overall
$1.6 billion in fundings. According to Ernst & Young, based on data
from Dow Jones VentureSource, the record $1.6B investment in Q3 of the
year was up 55% from the prior quarter, and brought the year-to-date
total to $3.3B. Read
more …
Smart
Catalysts in Green Tech
By Lee Bruno, Innovation Pipeline
The problem for scientists and engineers has been that in order to tune a catalyst to do what is desired, you need to know how it adapts during a reaction. Trouble is, watching catalysts in action has escaped the reach of scientists until now.
With
the aid of powerful spectroscopy technology, U.S. Department of Energy
Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory scientists observed catalysts restructuring
themselves in response to various gases swirling around them.
The spectroscopy helps provide a window into these reactions for tuning catalysts. These insights are expected to help improve pollution control as well as fuel cell technologies. Smarter catalysts hold promise for removing toxins from water and helping feed hydrogen fuel cells. Read more ...
Cleantech
Investment Briefing
Morrison & Foerster and Larta Institute invite you to a panel of Cleantech investors, industry experts, and legal practitioners - including the Corporate, Energy, Land Use, and Intellectual Property/Patent practice groups. Together these leaders in the field will address the opportunities for Cleantech investment.
Tuesday,
November 18, 2008
The Langham Huntington Hotel & Spa
1401 South Oak Knoll Avenue
Pasadena, California
Registration:
8:30 AM - 9:00 AM
Program: 9:00AM - 11:00 AM
Breakfast will be provided
Discussion topics will include:
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Investment trends for 2008 and 2009
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Market segment growth and change
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Leveraging current and emerging regulations and incentives for maximizing return on Cleantech investments
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Protecting and managing intellectual property
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Facilitating strategic financial transactions and relationship
For more information please see the event's flyer or register to attend.
USDA
Commercialization Assistance Training Program
The 2008-09 U.S. Department
of Agriculture Commercialization Assistance Training Program (USDA-CATP)
has officially kicked off. More than 30 companies representing diverse
regions and industry sectors will participate in the 10-month program.
A distinguished Industry Advisory Board was assembled to assist the USDA-funded
companies. Board members include representatives from Dow Chemical, DuPont,
Cargill, John Deere, and investors and professional service advisors.
The Commercialization Training Workshop, the first event of the USDA-CATP,
will take place on Jan 15-16, 2009, in Washington, DC. In addition to
attending seminars on various topics of interest, companies will also
meet their respective Principal Advisors and the USDA staff at the workshop.
NIH Commercialization Assistance Program
The 2008-09 NIH Commercialization
Assistance Program (NIH-CAP) is fully underway. More than 40 companies
attended the Commercialization Training Workshop in Los Angeles on Oct.
28, 2008. Industry representatives, investors, and NIH presented seminars
on topics relevant to early stage life sciences companies, including business
planning, IP management, financing, and elements of federal funding. The
companies also had the chance to meet their respective Principal Advisors
in person at the workshop. The next program event is the nationwide Feedback
Sessions in February, 2009, to be held in Washington, DC, Boston, and
Los Angeles. Venture capitalists, angel investors, industry experts as
well as professional service advisors will provide the companies objective
feedback on their business plans and commercialization goals.
On November 17th, Larta's CEO Rohit Shukla will serve as keynote speaker at the Medical Device CEO Meeting at San Mateo Marriot and will cover the NIH Commercialization Assistance Program as well as issues of interest to emerging and young companies in commercializing their innovations in today's environment. The conference will focus on Marketing and Commercialization strategies that today's device CEO must examine as they continue to face a dynamic, highly competitive landscape. Through focusing specifically on the challenges that CEO's of small to mid-sized start up medical device companies face, this highly interactive program will afford CEO's the opportunity to discuss their best practices, challenges and methods for ensuring success. This meeting will address a range of high level strategies impacting the marketing and commercialization of both new and existing products. Read more …
Larta's long time fellow and Principal Advisor Jeff Blanton will be moderating a panel about effective outsourcing of Product Development at an event sponsored by Product Development Management Association (PDMA) of Orange County. Topics discussed will include:
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Deciding if and when outsourcing makes sense
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Adroitly selecting outsourced product development organizations
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Spurring product innovation through product development collaborations
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Leveraging outside product development services to reduce product development
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cycle times and project costs
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Turning outside collaboration into a strategic asset
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Identifying and avoiding outsourcing pitfalls
Our picks of companies that are making the news and already on their way to making it big!
2008-2009 NIH
Commercialization Assistance Program participant, Rational
Biotechnology is a privately owned company conducting translational
research in the drug discovery space. The company pioneers in utilizing
siRNA technology and the best in vitro models, human primary cell cultures,
to better predict drugs' clinical efficacy and safety profiles. Through
working closely with clients and collaborators, Rational Biotechnology
helped identify and validate novel therapeutic targets, and identify
and optimize compounds that are more likely to be effective and safe
in the human. Recently Rational entered a definitive collaboration
deal with Optivia Biotechnology on developing ultra- high-throughput
transporter assay platform.
2008-2009 NIH Commercialization Assistance Program participant Koning's technology platform, Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) affords accurate 3-D imaging of breast tissue with an innovative cone beam X-ray source, a detector that captures high resolution data as it circles the breast, and patented software that generates 3-D images of the tissue. The potential of the technology has been recognized by the scientific and business communities. Currently, funding for the development of CBCT has reached nearly $11 million dollars, including a $2.5 million Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Institutes of Health awarded in 2005.
