Science and Enterprise

Tag: entrepreneurs

  • Venture Company to Invest in Early-Stage Science Enterprises

    True North Venture Partners, a venture capital company in Chicago, unveiled today its $300 million investment fund and strategy. The company plans to invest in early stage companies in the energy, water, agriculture, and waste sectors — where products and services are often based on scientific research findings — with amounts invested ranging from $100,000…

  • Grad Student Improves Solar Collector, Starts Company

    A masters degree candidate at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands developed a new type of hybrid solar collector with higher efficiency and longer lifespan than the current hybrid systems. Stefan Roest, who recently completed his degree in sustainable energy technology at Delft, also helped start Eternal Sun, a company to bring solar test…

  • Quick Color-Change Lens Technology Leads to New Company

    A professor of chemistry and colleagues at University of Connecticut in Storrs have devised a process for quick-changing, variable colors in films and displays, such as sunglasses. Greg Sotzing and one of his colleagues started a company called Alphachromics Inc. to commercialize the technology for consumer sunglasses lenses and military goggles. Transition lenses normally use…

  • Study: Start-Ups Hiring and Keeping Fewer Workers

    A new study by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation indicates recent start-up businesses — like those formed by scientists to commercialize their research findings — are not generating the numbers of jobs created by earlier start-up businesses. The foundation says the trend of less hiring by start-ups pre-dates the 2007-2009 recession. The Kauffman findings show…

  • Fewer VCs in U.S. Raise More Funds in First Half of 2011

    According to Thomson Reuters and National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), the number of venture capital companies raising money in the first six months of 2011 dropped sharply, but the amount of funds collected also rose sharply compared to the first half of 2010. Venture capital (VC) companies are often sought out to invest in early-stage…

  • University Spin-Off to Develop Semiconductor Power Devices

    Anvil Semiconductors Ltd, a company created by University of Warwick in Coventry, U.K., will develop silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductor power switches that promise to be smaller and more efficient than devices built on traditional silicon. The company was founded by Warwick engineering faculty Phil Mawby and Peter Ward, who designed the company’s development technology in…

  • Venture Exits Down, Capital Volumes Up in Second Quarter

    The number of companies backed by venture capital achieving liquidity fell in the second quarter of 2011, but the amount of capital raised in the process rose significantly in that period. These data on venture-backed exits — companies gaining financial independence, usually through merger and acquisition (M&A) or initial public offering (IPO) — are compiled…

  • North Africa, Middle East Entrepreneurial Programs Unveiled

    Two new programs aimed at spurring innovation based on science and technology in North Africa, Middle East, and South Asia were  unveiled at a kick-off meeting in Rabat, Morocco last week. The Civilian Research and Development Foundation (CRDF) in Arlington, Virginia manages the programs, with funding from the U.S. Department of State. One of new…

  • University, Foundation Establish Translational Awards

    University of Missouri in Columbia and the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation have established a a $5 million grant agreement for projects between biomedical engineers and clinicians to take research discoveries to the marketplace. The foundation has set up similar programs with some 15 universities nationwide. The agreement calls for the Coulter Foundation to fund two-thirds…

  • University Start Up Commercializes Feeding Tube Research

    A start up company founded by a University of Utah medical researcher is developing a feeding tube for patients that reduces the risks and casualties from misplacement. The company, Veritract Inc. in Salt Lake City, was started by John Fang, clinical director of the university’s gastroenterology division. The privately held Veritract is developing what they…