Tag: economics
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Injections No Better than Oral Steroids for Sudden Deafness
A large clinical trial over six years shows the more expensive injected steroids no better or worse as a treatment for sudden deafness than oral steroids. The findings appear in the 25 May 2011 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. The multicenter clinical trial was funded by the National Institute on Deafness…
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Report: Research Triangle Becoming Smart-Grid R&D Cluster
A new report by Duke University’s Center for Globalization, Governance and Competitiveness (CGGC) assesses the capabilities of North Carolina, particularly the 13-county Research Triangle region, to serve as a hub for developing advanced technologies to better manage electrical power. A smart grid, as this collection of technologies is called, promises to make the outdated U.S.…
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Interactive Map Shows Off-Grid Energy Technology Sites
Santa Clara University in California and social-enterprise information company Ayllu have created the Energy Map Web site that offers graphs and analyses of 40 social enterprises in 16 countries that bring electricity or alternative fuel to communities of 500 to 500,000 people each. All 40 of the sites involve energy produced or consumed outside of…
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Lilly Spins Off Biotech to Develop Sepsis Drug
Eli Lilly and Company in Indianapolis, Indiana has signed agreements with private investors Care Capital and NovaQuest Capital to establish BioCritica Inc., a new biotechnology company. BioCritica will initially focus on the continued U.S. development and commercialization of Xigris — drotrecogin alfa (activated) — Lilly’s medicine for severe sepsis. Under the agreement, BioCritica will acquire…
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U.S. Regional Industry Cluster Challenge Unveiled
The Economic Development Administration (EDA), part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, announced a funding competition to promote the development of regional collections of innovative businesses. The $33 million program, called the Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge, will fund 20 “high-growth industry clusters” that best spell out strategies for meeting opportunities or overcoming obstacles to…
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Report: Concentrating Photovoltaic Solar More Competitive
Traditional flat-plate photovoltaic (PV) solar technologies can expect to face increasing pressure in public utility markets from concentrating photovoltaic (CPV), according to a new study by GTM Research. The report — Concentrating Photovoltaics 2011: Technology, Costs and Markets — tracks 170 CPV projects underway by 70 companies, as well as cost and demand forecasts through…
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Venture Capital Investment Performance Improves Through 2010
Returns on venture capital (VC) investments continued to improve for the fourth quarter and all of 2010, for most time horizons stretching back to 1981, and in some cases exceeding the benchmark stock indexes. These data are contained in the latest Cambridge Associates U.S. Venture Capital Index, prepared for the National Venture Capital Association. For…
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Initiative Aims to Improve Honey Bee Health
An initiative led by several universities and supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture seeks to establish a nationwide network to monitor and maintain honey bee health. The program, called the Bee Informed Partnership, is funded by a $5 million grant from USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Beekeeping is not only an industry…
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Regulatory Agency Funding Increases in Federal Budgets
A new report from researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri and George Washington University in Washington, DC describe increases in funding and staff at federal regulatory agencies over the two most recent fiscal years. Fiscal Stalemate Reflected in Regulators Budget: An Analysis of the U.S. Budget for Fiscal Years 2011 and 2012, by…
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Study: Local Food Can Improve Oregon’s Health, Create Jobs
A new study suggests that proposed legislation in Oregon that offers incentives to deliver fresh local food to schools would help improve the health of the state’s residents and create hundreds of new farm-industry jobs. The study was funded by a grant from the Health Impact Project, a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation…