Tag: economics
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2011 Q2 VC Funding Up for Life Sciences, CleanTech Stalls
Venture capital (VC) funds and the number of VC deals increased in the second quarter of 2011 compared to the first quarter, with companies in the life sciences and semiconductors among those reaping the benefits. The data were collected by Thomson Reuters and published in the MoneyTree Report from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and the National Venture…
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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…
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Wood Products Offered As Part of Carbon Control Strategy
Taking advantage of the full life-cycle of forests and wood products offers opportunities for greater control of carbon emissions, according to an analysis by a team of researchers from the U.S. and Sweden. Their paper appears in the June issue of the journal Carbon Management. The review, by Bruce Lippke, University of Washington professor emeritus…
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Individualized Medical Cost-Effectiveness Metric Proposed
A physician and health economist at Stanford University School of Medicine in Palo Alto have devised a way to tailor a common measure of medical cost effectiveness for individual decision-making. Their findings appear in the current issue of the journal PLoS Medicine. John Ioannidis, chief of the Stanford Prevention Research Center, and health economist Alan…
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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…
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Generic Drugs Can Generate Sharp Health Care Cost Reductions
Researchers from Harvard University, Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and CVS Caremark have found that expanded use of generic medications for chronic disease can significantly reduce the cost of preventive health care. Their findings appear in the July issue of the journal Health Affairs (paid subscription required). The study concludes that preventive health care…
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University Culture Impacts Research Commercialization
A Baylor University management professor in Waco, Texas finds research universities with an organizational climate that supports commercialization and encourages interdisciplinary collaboration among researchers are more likely to produce invention disclosures and patent applications. The findings by Baylor’s Emily Hunter and colleagues from University of Houston and University of California at Davis appeared in the…
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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…
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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…
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Grant Funds Research on Developing Corn for Warmer Climate
A $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will fund Iowa State University researchers in Ames developing a corn variety that maintains the region’s high yields as temperatures rise. Professor Alan Myers and Tracie Hennen-Bierwagen, associate scientist, will join with colleagues from University of Wisconsin, Madison and the University of Florida, Gainesville on…