Connecting people to drive innovation

May 2011 v.1, n.29

2011 Ag Innovation Showcase – Announcing Presenting Companies

After a rigorous selection process and out of many promising candidates, 16 companies have been chosen to present at the 2011 Ag Innovation Showcase in St. Louis, MO at the end of the month. The selected presenters are among the top up-and-coming entrepreneurial companies with solutions to the most pressing challenges facing agriculture. These companies develop technologies to overcome issues in energy, food production, nutrition, and resource management. In addition to company presentations, five exciting panels will explore today’s most pertinent Ag-related topics. These panels will engage attendees in well-rounded, extensive discussions with key players within the industry. For more details about the presenting companies, panels, speakers and more, visit our website, www.agshowcase.com.

Larta Receives Award for NIH Commercialization Assistance Program at 2011 Acquisition, Grants, and Small Business Symposium

Last week in Alexandria, VA, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Grants and Acquisition Policy and Accountability (OGAPA) recognized the National Institutes of Health’s Commercialization Assistance Program (and its Niche Assessment Program) for a special “team” recognition award for superior efforts to assist over 600 companies in bringing their applications to market and “contributing to public health”.  The award was made at the 2011 Acquisition, Grants, and Small Business Symposium. CEO Rohit Shukla was present and recognized as part of the team.  The two-day symposium also highlighted various aspects of the acquisition, grants, and small business planning process to enrich stakeholder and customer knowledge...Read more...

Larta CEO to Participate in Startup America Reducing Barriers Roundtable

CEO Rohit Shukla will participate in the Startup America: Reducing Barriers Roundtable on Thursday, May 12 at Stanford University.  Mr. Shukla will join Administration officials and local high-growth entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley to discuss the regulatory reforms, reductions and improvements that could be enacted to help high-growth entrepreneurs grow in the U.S. Administration members to attend are Peggy Hamburg (U.S. FDA), Teresa Rea (Patent and Trademark Office), Ginger Lew (White House National Economic Council), and Ronnie Chatterji (White House Council of Economic Advisors). For more information, please visit: http://www.sba.gov/content/startup-america-reducing-barriers-roundtables.

Conversations with Key Innovation Leaders in Latin America

Dovetailing with the Latin America - World Economic Forum held in Rio de Janeiro last week, Larta Institute executives Constanza Pachon and Carlos Gutierrez were active in the region holding discussions with key government and state agency and S&T leaders regarding innovation policy support, commercialization initiatives, and building globally competitive tech-based enterprises.

CEO Rohit Shukla to Speak at Midwest Technology Exchange this Month

Mr. Shukla will deliver a keynote speech highlighting the challenges of technology commercialization in the healthcare and defense industries at mtechx, the Midwest Technology Exchange. The event will take place May 8-10, 2011 at the University of Nebraska, Omaha. Mtechx is a collaborative conference focusing on the development and commercialization of Midwestern technologies which have been developed in collaboration with the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC) and the Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC). For more information on the event, please go to: http://www.mtechx.org/index.html.

Larta CSO Consults for World Bank Mission in Croatia

Earlier this year CSO Carlos Gutierrez visited Croatia with the World Bank’s Technical Assistance Mission to observe and review a crucial component of the country’s innovation policy – The Science and Technology Project. The project supports the creation of technology transfer offices in key public research organizations and universities. It also subsidizes research and development (R&D) by small and medium sized enterprises to improve the commercialization efforts of public research and private sector innovation. Overall, the mission was impressed with the breadth of the government’s efforts to promote R&D as a basis for private sector investment and economic growth.

Cluster or Cloister–who cares? Rejecting the popular concept in favor of a new model for our times
Rohit K. Shukla,CEO, Larta Institute

Clusters, as local or regional units of analysis and organization, are out of whack with the times.  It is time for a retooling and a rethinking.

Writing in Competitive Advantage of Nations (1990), Michael Porter was characteristically persuasive in advocating on behalf of a concept of “agglomeration” as the underlying strategy of companies and economies.  This notion of a “cluster” as a geographic concentration of interconnected companies, suppliers and institutions supportive of a resulting “eco system” has gained a huge following since its popularization in the 1990s.

The phenomenon of Silicon Valley was seen as a “model” worthy of replication, and since at least the 1990s, and perhaps for some time preceding it (Sophia Antipolis in France, Bristol in the UK and organizational networks across Germany), clusters have been seen as the answer to a region’s quest for excellence and relevance.   The allure and aura of a small area that creates big ideas (and even grander egos, I might add) has been since marked by similar coming-of-age stories, in San Diego, Austin and Raleigh-Durham where aggregations of entrepreneurs, universities, investors and service providers have been seen as more efficient and effective in result and action than the messy, incoherent sprawls of economies like Los Angeles, New York City or Chicago.  Many of these eco-systems, however, have been bolstered by a chance happening:  in the case of Silicon Valley, the implosion of Fairchild Semiconductor, in San Diego the acquisition by Eli Lilly of Hybritech.  The subsequent dispersion of talent in those areas has resulted, in both cases, in an explosion of entrepreneurial activity...Read more...

Our pick of Larta-alumni companies that are making the news and already on their way to making it big!

Filament Games Awarded Developer Prize in the Joan Ganz Cooney Center's National STEM Video Game Challenge

Current NSF-CAP1 company Filament Games, a game production studio that exclusively creates learning games, was awarded the Developer Prize in the 1st Annual Joan Ganz Cooney Center's National STEM Video Game Challenge. Science-themed game You Make Me Sick! was awarded the Grand Prize in the Developer Prize category. Filament Games' Dan Norton and Dan White, will receive $50,000 for their game, which is designed to teach children about the spread and structure of bacteria and viruses...Read more...

Shark Defense SMART Hook™ Featured in LiveScience

Shark Defense, a current NSF-CAP1 participant, was featured in LiveScience due to to the efficacy of their technology, the "SMART Hook™." In an effort to help the fishing industry improve their catch, scientists at Shark Defense have developed a new type of fishing hook that is able to reduce the number of sharks accidentally caught during commercial fishing for tuna or swordfish.This "SMART Hook™," which stands for a "selective magnetic and repellent-treated" hook, combines two published shark repellent, magnetism and shark repellent metals, into standard fishing hooks...Read more...

AuditMyBooks Finalist in GRA/TAG Business Launch Competition

2010 Larta NSF-CAP1 alumnus AuditMyBooks, specializing in accounting software for small and medium size businesses to detect errors and possible fraud, has been selected as a finalist in the GRA/TAG Business launch Competition. The Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) and Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) Business Launch supports Georgia’s burgeoning start-up community by helping local entrepreneurs launch their businesses. Since it was founded in 2006, it has become one of the largest competitions of its kind in the U.S. AuditMyBooks is one of four companies that will compete for $50,000 in cash and over $400,000 in services on May 24, 2011...Read more...

Syagen Technology, Inc. to be Acquired by Morpho Detection, Inc.

Morpho Detection, Inc., part of Morpho, Safran group’s security business, announced in mid-April that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire NSF-CAP1 alumnus Syagen Technology, Inc. of Tustin, Calif. Syagen is a leading mass spectrometry technology development company for security applications. The acquisition of Syagen strengthens Morpho Detection’s (MDI) position as the industry-leading provider of explosives and narcotics trace detection solutions for the homeland security market. Combining Syagen’s world class technologies with MDI’s global commercial and service reach is expected to generate strong growth potential and offer enhanced explosives trace detection capability, especially against emerging non-conventional explosives threats...Read more...

Business Growth Conference 2011
May 9, 2011 - Anaheim, CA

Join over 1,000 of Southern California's elite business leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs at the 27th Annual Southern California Business Growth Conference on Thursday, May 9, 2011. Obtain practical advice, "insider" information as well as business tools and techniques that can help grow your business. Break free from survival mode. Learn how to use the improving economy to leap past your competitors. Co-hosted by the Harvard Business School Association of Orange County and the USC Marshall Alumni Association, this conference offers you rare access to the resources, energy and success of two world-class business institutions. To register, please go to: http://www.itsmyseat.com/BGC2011.html

Missouri Venture Forum: Getting $$$ from Angel Investors
May 19, 2011 - St. Louis, MO

The Missouri Venture Forum is sponsoring a very valuable event – “Getting $$$ From Angel Investors.”   The event, which will take place on May 19, 2011 from 4-7 pm at the Sheraton Clayton Plaza, St. Louis, MO, features five speakers followed by an open Q&A session.  The cost is $40 for nonmembers and $32 for members.  Please register at www.MissouriVentureForum.org or call 314-241-2683.

OCTANe VC in the OC
May 24, 2011 - Hyatt Regency, Irvine, CA

VC in the OC showcases the best of Orange County innovation. From investment presentations to keynote speakers to industry discussions, this is OC’s premier venture capital conference. VC in the OC takes place each May, and you can view this year’s conference - taking place May 24, 2011 -  here: www.vcintheoc2011.com

13th Annual C21 BioVentures
May 24-26, 2011 - Meritage Resort, Napa Valley, CA

As 2011 progresses there are both new opportunities and new challenges for biotech companies, pharmaceutical partners and investors. C21 provides a platform to network with your peers, learn from new business models and pre-schedule one-on-one meetings with the partners and investors you need to succeed.

With podium presentations, leadership sessions and two-full days of one-on-one partnering meetings C21 is an opportunity you shouldn't miss. For more information, please visit: http://www.techvision.com/c21

The Israel Conference™
June 2, 2011 - Luxe Hotel, Los Angeles, CA

The Israel Conference™  is a business conference which features leaders of Israel-facing companies that are founded in Israel / have R&D in Israel / do business in Israel / and invest in Israeli companies.   The Israel Conference™ showcases hundreds of leading companies’ demonstrating technologies and products that are market-making and in demand, featuring CEOs of powerful brands, technology innovators, and investors in High Tech / Media and Entertainment / Advertising / Mobile / Content / Gaming / Clean / Medical Tech / Consumer Products coming out of Israel.  The Israel Conference™ is an interactive full day event with over 700 business executives attending in a unique forum to increase your business and investment opportunities.  Speakers are CEO’s of companies who represent the spirit of the inventiveness of the Israel market.  Attendees will gain an insider’s understanding of the growth of both public and privately-held Israel-facing companies.  Register NOW at www.TheIsraelConference.org/register.php  Use code LARTA53 to take advantage of Larta Institute’s special pricing.

2011 Bio International Convention
June 27-30, 2011 - Washington, DC

Leadership. Partnerships. Breakthroughs.

Keep pace with the pulse of the global biotech industry in Washington, DC.  The 2011 BIO International Convention draws the largest gathering of biotech thought leaders and decision makers together for 4 dynamic days of collaboration to spark breakthrough solutions and drive the industry forward.

Join 15,000+ global decision makers from more than 65 countries in Washington, DC, June 27 - 30, 2011 and take advantage of—

-  unparalleled partnering opportunities in the BIO Business Forum
-  cutting edge technologies and solutions from 1,800+ companies in the BIO Exhibition
-  the BIO Program with more than 125 breakout sessions across 16 targeted tracks that will keep you abreast of the industry’s most important developments

One trip to Washington, D.C., will grant you access to the resources, relationships and knowledge that you need to propel biotech and your business.

Register and book housing today! Visit convention.bio.org.

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