The Elusive Innovation ROI
By Lee Bruno, Innovation Pipeline

Let's face it. The majority of tech companies have become obsessed with innovation and determined to use it whenever possible in marketing campaigns.

That's because demonstrated leadership in the area of innovation signals to competitors and customers alike that your company possesses the right stuff. The trouble is that measuring innovation is not easy. Which doesn't mean people aren't trying.

McKinsey Quarterly recently reported results of a global survey that it says reveals the companies getting the highest returns from innovation.

Among the interesting findings are: only 16 percent of the survey respondents say their companies don't use metrics to assess innovation; and 45 percent don't track the relationship between spending on innovation and shareholder value. Read more ...

Bosses are a bad idea
By Stefan Stern and Peter Marsh, Financial Times
From Financial Times, December 1, 2008

What is the secret of WL Gore's success? The high-tech materials company, creator of Gore-Tex fabric, sophisticated surgical products, cables and more besides, is committed to manufacturing leading-edge products through advanced engineering.

You would think it is a pretty tight ship. But no. "It's a very chaotic environment," declares Terri Kelly, the company's chief executive officer, with obvious pride. And there's more. "For some reason, management just never took hold in our company ... we don't like the 'manager' word ... we get very angry when people call [the staff] employees ..."

So there you have it. If you want to achieve 50 years of almost continuous growth, you now know what you have to do: abolish management and get rid of all the employees. Read more ...

Digital Family Reunion - Collective Inspiration - Connecting 1.0 and 2.0

Join us on Thursday, December 11th from 5:00pm to 10:00pm at the Skirball Cultural Center for a unique business networking event, which includes a leadership panel forecasting 2009, a conversation with the recipient of the DFR “Outstanding Achievement Honor”, promotion of an important non-profit initiative, showcase tables from over 20 technology associations and networking groups, entertainment and much more.

The Digital Family Reunion (DFR) is bringing the Southern California technology and business communities together for the holidays. In association with some of the region’s top trade associations and social networking groups, the DFR is throwing the holiday party of the millennium… so far! The DFR will reignite old relationships, spark new ones, and set the stage to kick off 2009 with a bright new start.

Inviting early adopters and legacy participants of the Internet 1.0 and today’s digitally apt Internet 2.0 tube dwellers, the DFR will create the optimum conditions for these generations to synergize with one another and inspire opportunities that will serve our industries, our region, and our society at large. Attendees will include leaders from all the major industry sectors such as media, entertainment, finance, publishing, venture funding, software, commerce, education, and many more.

Visit www.digitalfamilyreunion.net and join the collective conversation. Use promo code DFR30 for a special $20 discount.

Larta Family Is Growing!

Larta Institute is happy to announce the arrival of two new associates, Julie Cao and Alex Holiday. Given our rapidly growing suite of programs and initiatives, Larta constantly looks to bring on board innovative talent, and Julie and Alex exemplify this effort.

A listing of events, activities, information and news about Larta Institute and its partners around the globe.

The Feedback Session is an invitation-only event of the CAP. It is a one-day working meeting for the participants to present their Commercialization Profiles to a group of mentors and life science industry experts. The mentors and industry experts will critique the company's presentation for both content and presentation style, and provide honest and objective feedback on the company's commercialization opportunity(ies) and strategy. By this point in the program, the participants will have diligently worked with their Principal Advisors, so hearing from a fresh set of experts provides new perspectives, and valuable feedback and direction.

Washington, DC February 2-3, 2009
Boston, MA February 5-6, 2009
Los Angeles, CA February 18-19, 2009

"Imagining William Henry Hatch Today"

In November 2008, William H. Danforth, Chancellor Emeritus and Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Washington University, St. Louis, delivered a lecture at the annual meeting of the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges. In it, he addresses federal support of research in agriculture, strengthening the role of science in policymaking, and the role of the National Institute for Food and Agriculture, created in the 2008 Farm Bill.

Larta Institute manages the USDA Commercialization Assistance Training Program, helping to advance the commercial potential, readiness, and societal impact of innovative SBIR companies. The program seeks to build on the spirit of the themes in Danforth's talk.

Click here to read the entire lecture.

William Danforth is director of the board of trustees of the Danforth Foundation and a trustee of the American Youth Foundation. Danforth is also chairman of the board of directors of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and co-chairman of the board of directors of Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

Industrial Technology Research Institute of Taiwan (ITRI)

ITRI, a Larta partner from the Taiwan-U.S. Bridge Program in 2006, has once again made it into the front pages of technology news sources as well as the hearts of cutting edge gadget slaves.

According to ITRI, within the next couple years, our smartphones might look something like the PilotFish, a concept that integrates a folding, Thin Film Transistor Electrophoretic Display (TFT-EPD).

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, Quantum Tubers Corporation specializes in the controlled-environment growth of plants. The company has experience with many genetically engineered plants and has developed the first cGMP protocols for use with pharmaceuticals produced with plants. Through their work with Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Cornell University's Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, and Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute, via their previous work in vaccine-bearing plants, Quantum Tubers is producing potatoes bearing HBsAg surface antigen for hepatitis B vaccine production. This product has already been tested using healthy humans in a double-blind,clinical trial with measured results. A company has been formed around this vaccine product and a Phase II SBIR will allow them to produce a shelf-stable, oral dose version of this vaccine though the first stage of FDA authorization of this new vaccine.

2008-2009 NIH Commercialization Assistance Program participant Bonenta is developing new drugs for bone healing in spine, jaw, implant, and other surgical indications. Bonenta's lead product is a bone grafting device that combines a common grafting material with a proprietary biologic supplement demonstrating dramatically faster bone regeneration in pre-clinical trials when compared to the current gold standard. Bonenta, Inc. was incorporated in 2008 with an exclusive license for bone healing technology from its parent company, Agenta Biotechnologies, Inc.

Visit our Events Calendar for a list of Larta's partners events.