UC Denver Technology of the Month:

Inhibition of Inflammatory Response to Treat Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury

CU-Colorado Springs Technology of the Month:

ROTEC Licenses University of Colorado Water Desalination Technology

The University of Colorado recently completed a license agreement with Reverse Osmosis Technologies (ROTEC) for CU technology enabling more efficient treatment of groundwater to make it suitable for drinking. ROTEC, an Israel-based water treatment technology company, will use the licensed technology to improve the performance of its water desalination process. A pilot demonstration is already underway in Israel. (Read the full press release.)

HepQuant Licenses CU Test to Assess Chronic Liver Disease

The University of Colorado andHepQuant, LLC, a Colorado-based company, have completed a licensing agreement allowing HepQuant to further develop a CU diagnostic technology to assess chronic liver disease. The first product to be developed based on the licensed technology, HepQuant-Dual™, is a non-invasive, cost-effective test that measures the liver's portal circulation using natural compounds labeled with stable isotopes. The test enables a physician to detect liver disease, measure the severity of the disease, and predict risk for future complications. The test was invented by Gregory Everson, Professor and Director of Hepatology at the UC Denver School of Medicine. (Read the full press release.)

TTO Hosts CU-Boulder Entrepreneurship Celebration

TTO has joined with the Leeds School of Business' Deming Center for Entrepreneurship and the Colorado Institute for Molecular Biology (CIMB) in recognizing and celebrating innovation and commercialization around the CU campus and beyond. On March 18, meet and network with students, faculty, staff, alumni, and business community members - hear from speakers, panelists, and today's movers and change-makers about some of the university's most interesting and exciting sectors:

·         Tom Cech, Director, CIMB

·         Russell Moore, CU-Boulder Associate Vice 

       Chancellor for Research

·         Catharine Merigold, General Partner, Vista Ventures

·         Misha Plam, serial entrepreneur with multiple

       university startups

·         Hang (Hubert) Yin, Assistant Professor,

       CIMB/Chemistry & Biochemistry

This event will also include a poster session presenting CU-Boulder technologies that are ready to take the next step toward commercialization - email TTO for information about presenting a poster. Register online using link above - there is no cost for CU faculty, staff and grad students.

Tech Transfer Office Squeezed by Recession

The University of Colorado tech transfer office has been forced this year to significantly scale back the amount of money it invests in CU research bound for licensing. Despite that, patent applications are up and the creation of start-up companies spawned at CU are on pace with past years. (Read full Daily Camera article.)

ALD NanoSolutions and Tyco Electronics Announce Collaboration Agreement

CU licensee ALD NanoSolutions, Inc. recently announced an alliance with Tyco Electronics to develop surface coatings for a variety of electronics applications.  Under the long-term agreement, the companies will work together to utilize ALDN's surface engineering technology to develop and fabricate thin films for certain electronic applications designed to specifically enhance performance.

TerraSpark Accelerates Development Of Seismic Visualization, Interpretation Products with $6M Investment

CU licensee TerraSpark Geosciences has announced that Lime Rock Partners, an investor of growth capital in energy exploration, production and service companies worldwide, has agreed to invest $6 million in TerraSpark to help accelerate the commercialization and development of its Insight Earth seismic visualization and interpretation products.

MedShape Solutions Announces Commercialization of SBIR-funded Technology

CU licensee MedShape Solutions announced that it is pursuing Phase III SBIR awards and has received preferred vendor status at Veterans Health Administration Hospitals and other Federally funded hospitals for its MORPHIX™ Shape Memory Suture Anchor.

CU Discovery of Cellular "Switch" May Provide New Means of Triggering Cell Death, Treating Human Diseases

MBA Neuroscience Intern Joshua Bueller

Joshua Bueller joined the TTO team in February through a Leeds School of Business MBA internship. Before his life as a graduate student, he was a neuroscientist for 10 years researching human pain and stress mechanisms at both the University of Michigan and at UCLA. He is currently focused on learning the details of IP patenting and commercialization in the bioscience/biotechnological sector and is tasked with analyzing the relevant patent claims in TTO portfolios ready for patent decisions. Joshua will graduate with an MBA from Leeds in May 2011 with a concentration in finance, marketing, and entrepreneurship.

Faegre Lawyer Hazlitt Receives Boulder Honor

Faegre & Benson partner (and TTO advisory board member) Chris Hazlitt was named Man of the Year for 2010 by the YWCA of Boulder County. The award honors those who have strengthened the Boulder community through dedicated volunteer service, commitment to advancing women and girls or their work to eliminate racism. Hazlitt has given time in either a volunteer or board capacity to many organizations, including The Community Foundation, Boulder Economic Council and the Boulder Innovation Center.

UC Denver Chemistry Professor Wins NSF Award

Hai Lin, assistant professor of chemistry at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at UC  Denver, recently received a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) National Science Foundation (NSF) award. Lin is supported by an approximately $625,000 CAREER award for the Theory, Models and Computational Methods program to carry out his research titled Multiscale Simulations of Chloride Transport Proteins by Combined Quantum and Classic Mechanical Approaches.

NIST Grants Awards for Recovery Act Fellowship Programs

The U.S. Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced that it is awarding a total of $19.5M to the University of Maryland and the University of Colorado to develop and implement NIST measurement science and engineering fellowship programs. The new fellowship programs were funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009.

Silicon Flatirons' Annual Mile High Tech Entrepreneurship Conference
March 18, CU-Boulder
Silicon Flatirons' annual entrepreneurship conference is a cornerstone of CU's Entrepreneurship Week. This year's conference will focus on the role of place in entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurship Under the Microscope: A celebration of CU research and technology

March 18, CU-Boulder

Join the CU Tech Transfer Office, the Leeds School of Business' Deming Center for Entrepreneurship and the Colorado Institute for Molecular Biology (CIMB) in recognizing and celebrating innovation and commercialization around the CU campus and beyond. Meet and network with students, faculty, staff, alumni, and business community members - hear from speakers, panelists, and today's movers and change-makers about some of the university's most interesting and exciting sectors. Part of CU's Entrepreneurship Week 2010. Register online using link above.

RETool: Opportunities in the New Energy Economy - Renewable Transportation Energy

March 26, CU-Boulder

Call for Applications: Bard Center Business Plan Competition

April 5 (applications due)

This competition is for early-stage Colorado-based companies which have not yet received angel or VC funding. The Bard Center solicits the best business plans from community members as well as faculty, staff, alumni, at all colleges & universities in Colorado. Full details online; applications must be received by April 5.

Call For Presenters: 22^nd Annual Colorado Capital Conference

April 6 (applications due)

This conference will look at entrepreneurship from all angles, by bringing together entrepreneurs of every shape and size, venture capitalists, angel investors, pundits and business leaders. To become a presenting company, you must be seeking either angel or VC funding to grow your business. We will select between six and eight companies seeking angel financing and between two and four companies looking for VC money. Full details online; applications must be received by April 6.

Boulder/Denver New Technology Meetup Group

April 6, CU- Boulder
This ongoing event provides a forum for technologists and entrepreneurs to showcase the new (especially web-based) technology developing in Boulder/Denver tech community. Five companies have five minutes each to demonstrate their new technology, followed by five minutes for Q&A from the audience.

Colorado Green Tech Meetup

April 8, CU-Boulder

An ongoing event to support eco-entrepreneurs and others people involved and/or interested in green tech: energy generation, transportation, construction, and efficiency technologies. Businesses and researchers present new technologies, and attendees may announce business news, job openings, fundings, etc.

TTO Faculty Seminar: Drug Targets, Screens, and Early-stage Drugs - Commercialization Strategies

April 22, CU-Boulder

This seminar hosted by TTO and the Colorado Institute for Molecular Biotechnology (CIMB) will offer strategies and perspectives on commercializing early-stage biomedical technologies, focusing on drug targets, drug screens/selection platforms, early-stage drugs, and other therapeutic platform technologies. This event is free and open to CU faculty from all campuses.

UC Denver Ranked 7^th in Nation for Postdoc Work Environment

In a recent ranking of research organizations that provide the best environment for post-doctoral students, University of Colorado Denver was listed seventh in the U.S., and the best among universities. Use link above for full ranking details from The Scientist.

Venture Capital Firms Sought to Boost Fitzsimons Life-science Incubator

Nestled between a golf course and a campus of thousands of researchers, the life-science incubator is missing perhaps just one feature that could turn the area into a major biotech hub: a cluster of venture capital firms. (See also: Fitzsimons: From Vacant Army Post to Medical Promised Land.)

Working Paper: Accelerating Innovation In Energy: Insights from Multiple Sectors

How should the energy sector best respond to the threat of climate change? In this introductory chapter to a forthcoming book, Harvard Business School scholars describe why accelerating innovation in energy could play an important role in shaping an effective response to climate change.

Defending the University Tech Transfer System

Arundeep S. Pradhan (President of the Association of University Technology Managers) urges policymakers to keep intact the Bayh-Dole Act and support the current system used to commercialize federally-funded academic research.

Government Tries Old Strategy for Creating the New in Cleantech

While critics say innovation is best achieved by private sector entrepreneurs, the Obama administration is betting an initial $400 million in government seed money on such future possibilities as giant batteries filled with molten metal and exotic materials that spin sunlight and water into methane.

Blog Resource: Technology Commercialization

Interesting insider's take on university technology commercialization, including analysis of university inventive and entrepreneurial cultures.

Roundup: University, Community, State, National and International Initiatives

Boulder Vies for Ultra-high-speed Broadband Technology

The City of Boulder recently announced its intent to respond to Google's nationwide Request for Information (RFI) for the development of a broadband network that could provide internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today.  Google will choose one or more trial locations across the country to test these ultra-fast fiber-to-home connections.

University of Texas Launches Campus-wide Commercialization Effort

The University of Texas at Austin recently announced the formation of a university-wide initiative to support technology commercialization, entrepreneurship and innovation. Venture Labs Texas will assist new ventures at the university and broker deals with sources of capital.

Purdue Research Foundation Establishes Network for Angel Investors

The Purdue Research Foundation has established the P3 Alliance - "Purdue, People, Performance" - as an angel investment network that provides investment information and connects individuals to firms or new technologies in which they may choose to invest.

Full Circle Investments Plans $30M Fund for Startups and University Commercialization

Erie, PA-based Full Circle Investments LLC (FCI) is raising a $30 million commercialization fund that will invest in young companies and technologies developed at a handful of research institutions, including Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and the University of Pittsburgh. FCI Commercialization Fund I LP will focus on nanotechnology/microtechnology and information assurance, also known as cyber security.

Upwind Medical Partners to Create $8M Early-stage Fund

Minneapolis-based Upwind Medical Partners is launching a $6 million to $8 million early-stage fund that will focus on commercializing IP from health care and research institutions such as the University of Minnesota (UMN), Wisconsin Alumni Research Fund (WARF), Allina Hospitals & Clinics, and Johns Hopkins Hospital.

The Pharmaceutical R&D Model is Broken. Here's How to Fix It

Research is the lifeblood of the biotech and pharmaceuticals business. The pharma and biotech industry spent some $65 billion dollars on R & D in 2008, according to the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association. If the PhRMA numbers are true, this would imply that it cost about $2.7 billion/drug to win FDA approval, a very poor return on investment since few drugs would ever be able to recoup that expense. These numbers suggest that drug makers need to find a more efficient way of developing medicines

Report: To Create Jobs, Streamline Tech Transfer, Entrepreneurship Policy

The federal government can stimulate the creation of jobs and businesses by streamlining its policies for bringing new technologies to market, says a report from the Association of University Research Parks (AURP).

Seeking the Biotech eBay

Internet exchanges suggest an easy route to sourcing and licensing technology, but can biotech intellectual property be packaged up and sold in this way?

Explaining Informal Investors