Allied Minds Creates Unique Crowdsourcing Website for Commercializing University Technology

What would you do with plastic batteries or silver ink pens that write electric circuits?

From MarketWatch:

“A private equity firm that invests in university-derived inventions, Allied Minds, Inc. today (3/7/2012) announced the creation of AlliedMindStorm.com, an open innovation website that invites the public (Thinkers) to brainstorm new commercial applications around exciting technologies (Challenges) developed by researchers at universities across the country. Any “Thinker” whose specific application of the technology results in a new startup will receive $25,000. In addition, smaller prizes will be given out for best-in-class suggestions.

“Allied MindStorm represents the manifestation of our firm’s mission: we want a diverse community of people working together to transform invention into innovation,” Allied Minds CEO Chris Silva said. “Although our primary goal is to create new businesses based around the best suggestions we receive, our ultimate motivation is changing the way the public thinks about how technology evolves from an idea into a commercial application.”

Hundreds of American universities market thousands of technology inventions to investment firms each year. Many of these are technologies with obvious commercial uses. Some of the most ambitious and intriguing research, however, gets passed over because of too many unanswered question about what is the best application to develop a sustainable product or service. Allied MindStorm.com is the first crowdsourcing platform within the institutional investment industry designed to answer these questions in order to commercialize research more efficiently…”

READ FULL ARTICLE [web]
Allied MindStorm [web]
Allied Minds [web]

J&J Opens San Diego Biotech Startup Center

J&J has been moving quickly the past few months on a new initiative to help biotech startups get up and running…

From Xconomy:

“Johnson & Johnson’s West Coast research leader, Diego Miralles, has met with a lot of biotech entrepreneurs who are curious about what J&J is doing to foster more startups at its facility in San Diego. At some point, a skeptical question usually comes up.

“What’s the catch?” Miralles says he’s sometimes asked.

He insists there isn’t any catch.

“We are genuinely trying to help the industry,” Miralles said last week in a meeting at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco. “We think helping the biotech industry helps us. We strongly believe that a rising tide lifts all ships.”

J&J (NYSE: JNJ), which is based in New Brunswick, NJ, has been moving quickly the past few months on a new initiative to help biotech startups get up and running, through its new 30,000 square foot Janssen Labs startup space on the Torrey Pines Mesa. As Bruce first reported here in October, the idea is to create a space at J&J’s facility where 18-20 fledgling companies can get modern lab space, supplies, professional facilities management, and equipment that is supposed to free up the entrepreneurs to focus more on their science…”

READ FULL ARTICLE [web]
Press Release (including list of first startup residents) [web]
Janssen Labs at San Diego [web]

Universities in Innovation Networks

Universities play a vital and extensive role in driving innovation in the United States. They offer a vast research base (a total of $50 billion nationwide), the ability to teach and develop a fresh new workforce (3 million graduates each year), goodwill of successful alumni, the ability to convene disparate expertise, and a deep commitment to local communities.

From Center for American Progress:

“The United States is known for its innovativeness and entrepreneurial spirit. Between half and three-quarters, or even more, of all economic growth in the last half-century can be tied to technological innovation, depending on which study you use. Yet in the last few decades, measures increasingly demonstrate that the United States is falling perilously behind in innovation.

When we think of technological innovation, we think of inventors, entrepreneurs, and corporations joining novel ideas with financial capital and market opportunities. Efforts to increase innovation should help support circumstances for the private sector to bring new products and services to market. The spark of technological innovation, however, often begins well before the opportunity is obvious or attractive to private sector. As a result, the partnership between the U.S. government’s funding of research in the nation’s public and private universities plays a larger role than most observers recognize.

Universities play a vital and extensive role in driving innovation in the United States. They offer a vast research base (a total of $50 billion nationwide), the ability to teach and develop a fresh new workforce (3 million graduates each year), goodwill of successful alumni, the ability to convene disparate expertise, and a deep commitment to local communities. Universities have been important players to date, and we have an opportunity to further nurture these vibrant ecologies to sustainably generate greater innovation and economic growth…”

READ FULL ARTICLE [web
READ THE REPORT [web]
Report’s Author, Krisztina Holly @KrisztinaHolly [twitter]

U. of Cincinnati an Engine for Innovation, Launches Program for Campus Entrepreneurs

The idea is to remove the wall between discovery at universities and implementation in the economy.

From Cincinnati News:

“Dean Carlo Montemagno believes that some of the best teachers at the University of Cincinnati are dreaming up products that could change the world.

They’re partnering with corporations like GE Aviation, Procter & Gamble and Ethicon Endo-Surgery to apply that research or start their own companies. And they’re providing students with real-world experience that readies them for careers.

Montemagno, dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science, is an entrepreneurial pioneer for UC. This month, he raised $50 million in funding from the state of Ohio and GE Aviation to start a new research institute at the university…”

READ FULL ARTICLE [web]
U. of Cincinnati Press Release [web]

Stanford unveils ambitious proposal for opening a campus in New York City

“Silicon Valley has been terrific, but if the country wants to maintain its leadership in science and technology, it needs more than Silicon Valley.”

From Mercury News:

“It’s already got palm trees, sunshine and some of the sharpest minds in Silicon Valley. What else could Stanford possibly want?

A big, enthusiastic bite out of the Big Apple.

Seeking greater access to an urban world rich in art, finance, drama, music, high-end media, deep-pocketed philanthropy, tweedy East Coast faculty and diverse students, Stanford is putting the finishing touches on a 500-page application for a second campus in New York City, due to land on Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s desk in two weeks.

At Thursday’s meeting of Stanford’s academic senate, the university unveiled its most detailed-yet description of the proposed “Stanford NYC” campus that by 2045 could be home to as many as 350 professors and more than 2,000 graduate students studying science, engineering and entrepreneurship.

Three decades of construction at an estimated price of $1 billion to $2 billion, the project is so breathtaking in its scope that the application process alone could cost $1 million…”

READ FULL ARTICLE [web]
Opportunities and Challenges of StanfordNYC [web]
Stanford@CCNY [web]

Related:
Cornell Gains Partner in Graduate School Bid [web]

University System of Maryland and the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) Form New Tech-Transfer Partnership

To speed researchers’ innovations to market and help create jobs, the University of Maryland-led Alliance gives small, targeted grants for demonstration projects that can help prove to potential investors that a successful laboratory concept works – often a make-or-break challenge.

From CisionWire:

“COLLEGE PARK, Md. – An innovative Maryland technology transfer program – the first of its kind in the United States to partner federal labs and public universities – has received an award honoring its success.

The Maryland Proof of Concept Alliance, which teams the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and the University System of Maryland, was recognized as a national model by a group representing federal labs.

The Mid-Atlantic Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) – has made the Alliance the first recipient of its Partnership Award honoring successful collaborations between educational institutions and federal labs.

To speed researchers’ innovations to market and help create jobs, the University of Maryland-led Alliance gives small, targeted grants for demonstration projects that can help prove to potential investors that a successful laboratory concept works – often a make-or-break challenge.

“The Maryland Proof of Concept Alliance demonstrates that this tech-commercialization approach translates quite effectively to the federal sector,” says Mojdeh Bahar, FLC chair and former coordinator of the FLC’s Mid-Atlantic Region.

“Proof of concept has worked well in the private sector, and it’s quite an effective way of transferring promising technologies from university research labs into the marketplace. The Maryland program offers an important example of what public universities and federal labs can do together,” Bahar adds…”

READ FULL PRESS RELEASE [web]
Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute [web]
University System of Maryland Strategic Plan 2020 [web]

Can the U.S. Government “Out-Startup” Silicon Valley?

Lean LaunchPad, Steve Blank, Stanford and the Nat’l Science Foundation Set Out to Prove They Can Starting Sunday, Oct. 9

From BusinessWire:

“One hundred of the best U.S. scientists and engineers are about to start one of the most exciting science experiments ever attempted — can you turn Rocket Scientists into startup founders? It might be called the U.S. Government versus tech incubators like Y-Combinator, as the National Science Foundation (NSF) creates a full-fledged incubator, complete with mentoring, for 100 teams of top engineers and scientists.

The National Science Foundation, which funds all non-medical science and engineering research in the U.S., is giving out 18,000 grants a year — with a $7 billion annual budget for innovation. This new Innovation-Corps program will infuse “startup” culture, training and mentoring for the best science and engineering funded by NSF–taking the best projects out of the science labs and universities to speed privatization and job creation, following the path of incubators like TechStars and Y-Combinator…”

READ FULL ARTICLE [web]
NSF I-Corps Program [web]
I-Corps 1st Round of Awardees Announced [web]
Stanford Technology Ventures Program [web]
I-Corps introduction by Steve Blank [web]

How University of Michigan executives resolved their clash over startup investments

The analysis examined the performance of the university’s startups over the past 30 years — including the 104 spinoff companies launched by the U-M Technology Transfer Office over the last decade. U-M analyzed how the university’s endowment would have performed if it had invested in those startups at an early stage.

From AnnArbor.com:

“The University of Michigan’s decision to invest up to $25 million in its own startup companies offers a telling glimpse at how the university is balancing its investment pursuits with a stated desire to boost the economy.

The move also revealed a private debate in which U-M executives clashed over whether the university’s own spinoff companies were worthy of cash.

U-M President Mary Sue Coleman announced Wednesday morning that U-M’s $7.8 billion endowment would deliver up to $500,000 to every early-stage U-M startup that has already secured venture capital from an outside source.

It’s an admission that the university has missed out on past investment opportunities that would have helped its own startup companies expand — and earned the university’s endowment big financial returns…”

READ FULL ARTICLE [web]
University of Michigan startups [web]
University of Michigan Announces Initiative to Invest Endowment $$ into Startups [web]

Why Universities Are Key to the Future of Biotech, and How UCSF’s Chief is Showing the Way

What’s needed now are the creative partnerships, where someone knowledgeable about the whole process steps in and finds a way to more seamlessly bring together these two factions around what they have in common.

From Xconomy:

“These are hard times at universities in America. State support is dwindling, tuition is booming, and federal research dollars are in jeopardy. Morale has taken a beating.

But U.S. academic research centers are still the driving force for innovative new medicines, like always. And anyone who cares about U.S. universities should pay attention to what’s happening at UC San Francisco under the leadership of chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann.

Desmond-Hellmann, a biotech industry star from her days running drug development at Genentech, has her work cut out in her third year as UCSF’s chancellor. Like any executive arriving on campus, she’s had to learn a lot in a hurry. UCSF is a complex, 23,000-employee enterprise that does everything from studying the basic functions of stem cells to helping discover new drugs to treating patients. Starting in August 2009, she’s had the unpleasant job of overseeing furloughs, layoffs, and multi-million-dollar budget cuts. She’s said no, repeatedly, to promising new scientific initiatives…”

READ FULL ARTICLE [web]
UCSF’s 2014-2015 Plan [web, pdf]
QB3 [web]

Purdue Restructures Processes and Incentives for Research Commercialization to Boost Economic Development

A key element is restructuring the processes and incentives for research commercialization with the additional benefit of boosting economic development in Indiana through the creation of new businesses and products.

From Purdue News:

“A new emphasis on extracting more economic value from sponsored research and intellectual property at Purdue University will help move more Purdue research to the marketplace faster and reduce the university’s reliance on tuition and tax dollars.

Purdue President France A. Córdova announced Wednesday (Sept. 28) a three–part Decadal Funding Plan that will increase sources of revenue beyond tuition and state appropriations – the traditional sources for public university funding – by doubling financial capacity through continued cost-cutting, expanding online degree and professional education offerings, encouraging more robust use of campus facilities through summer teaching, and ramping up research commercialization.

A key element is restructuring the processes and incentives for research commercialization with the additional benefit of boosting economic development in Indiana through the creation of new businesses and products. The effort also invests in more entrepreneurial education and support for faculty, students and businesses.

“We intend to leverage our most valuable resources, a first-class faculty and an amazing group of students, to materially improve our performance in creating and supporting entrepreneurs, commercialization of new science and technology, and industry-university collaborations,” Córdova said…”

READ FULL ARTICLE [web]
Purdue Research Park [web]
Discovery Park at Purdue University [web]
Purdue/Industry Partnerships Newsletter [web, pdf]