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Ideas are the juice that powers our economy with innovation happening fast on multiple technology fronts. Rapid developments are in play in areas as diverse as 3D printing, Ultra HD, sensors, health care, automotive electronics, agriculture, transportation, biotech and genetic mapping.

The $211 billion consumer electronics (CE) industry is at the vanguard of innovation. Just last year, the U.S. Patent Office issued a record 277,835 patents. We are at the beginning of a surge of technology advances that we will all benefit from.

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On a massive bus in the heart of America, a group of tech entrepreneurs and investors are spreading glad tidings about entrepreneurship and startups in cities that don't exactly scream innovation. Many people have tried to jumpstart the innovation engine across the country, but few have as much experience and clout to pull it off as Steve Case, co-founder of AOL, and chairman of DC-based investment firm Revolution.

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Becton Dickinson (NYSE: BDX) has acquired GenCell Biosystems, a privately-held Irish biotech company that has developed proprietary technologies that address key biological analysis protocols – from library preparation of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) to genotyping for agricultural applications.

"We are excited with the GenCell Biosystems acquisition as it provides BD entry into the Next Generation Sequencing market, a fast-growing segment with the potential to have a significant impact on healthcare," said Linda Tharby, Group President, BD. "The acquisition gives BD access to the NGS market with a differentiated platform that will provide a base to further grow our genomics offerings."

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Don’t miss the third annual full-day Innovation 2 Commercialization (I2C) conference featuring three informative plenary sessions to help launch, commercialize and fund YOUR technology to make your business venture profitable!

Hear panels on innovation, commercialization and financing featuring speakers from MedImmune, Brain Sentry, Naval Research Lab and more. Plus, learn about the "Amplimmune Story" and enjoy lunch as you discuss issues affecting your innovation or small business with a subject matter expert from a federal lab, university tech transfer office, venture capital firm, business service organization and others who serve as your table host.

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A Johns Hopkins neuroscientist hopes to fuel future research projects by turning his expertise into a video game that stars a dolphin.

Hopkins neuroscientist John Krakauer, who studies movement and human obsession with movement, worked with Hopkins software architects Omar Ahmad and Promit Roy, and Baltimore artist Kat McNally to create the game “I Am Dolphin.” The game was released through iTunes Oct. 9 and costs $2.99.

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T, business, human capital and other stakeholders can now use cloud-based analytics to more effectively attract, acquire, serve and engage customers, Deloitte Digital announced today. Deloitte Digital has created an analytics offering for Wave, the Salesforce Analytics Cloud that is designed to offer greater flexibility than on-premises solutions. Deloitte Digital's approach to cloud-based analytics is designed to help companies create strategies for success in a new environment. An example of Deloitte Digital's commitment to Salesforce Analytics Cloud is its Member Connect solution, a health care industry-focused accelerator with an intuitive approach to the customer journey focusing on omni-channel interactions and a holistic view of the customer.

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Of the 115 healthcare accelerators in the world, 87 are in the U.S., most of them are geared to digital health and are under two years old. Although many accelerator companies have created jobs and there have been some exits, most have yet to show anything for the investment in them. That’s understandable given the age of the average accelerator and given that it can take seven years before a company can realize a return on capital for investors. But the consensus of a new report published by the California HealthCare Foundation is that we should expect some consolidation soon.

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Joel S. Marcus, founder, chairman, and chief executive of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, has focused the real estate investment trust on developing properties for the life sciences industry. While it operates in other biotechnology and medical technology hubs from New York to San Francisco, the Pasadena, Calif., company’s largest cluster of properties is in Greater Boston, where it owns 3.5 million square feet of space in Cambridge’s Kendall Square, along Route 128, and in Boston’s Longwood Medical Area. On a visit to Cambridge, the 67-year-old Marcus spoke with Globe reporter Robert Weisman. Here’s what he found out:

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Downtown Partnership of Baltimore Inc. is launching a grant program aimed at getting more tech firms to consider moving downtown.

The nonprofit is offering six $10,000 grants to tech firms willing to give office space a try downtown for at least a year. Firms must locate to within Downtown Partnership's "management authority area," a 106-block area that includes the central business district, part of midtown's west side and the west side of downtown up to Greene Street.

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Another incubator is ready to test Y Combinator's theory that it is possible to get a biotech-related startup off the ground with smaller sums of money than ever before. VC shop SOS Ventures is offering startups working broadly in biology $35,000 in seed funding, mentors and lab space at incubators in San Francisco and Cork, Ireland.

Like Y Combinator, SOS Ventures is casting its net beyond traditional biotech startups to include any company developing products, processes or software that have a basis in biology. Synthetic biology is an area of particular interest for the team behind the incubator--called IndieBio--and was the focus of a 6-startup pilot accelerator SOS Ventures ran in Cork earlier this year. The VC firm is now scaling up its incubator ambitions.

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The University Senate made progress on the policies and guidelines that address non-tenure-track faculty — or professional track faculty, as they will soon be addressed, after a proposal passed in the senate yesterday.

The proposal, which passed by a vote of 61–12 with four abstentions, aims to create an overall title for faculty who are not on the tenure track but contribute to the university through teaching, research or service.

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As Alexandria Real Estate Equities (NYSE: ARE) marks the 20th anniversary of its founding, the provider of state-of-the-art real estate for the science and technology industries is seeing occupancy, demand and new development all reach record levels.

“It’s an interesting time because we’re seeing the innovation economy doing miraculously well,” said Joel Marcus, founder and CEO of Pasadena, Calif.-based Alexandria.

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Swiss drug major Roche (ROG: SIX) has acquired exclusive rights to a primer extension-based target enrichment technology and associated patent applications filled by therapeutic target discovery company AbVitro.

AbVitro and Roche scientists are to collaborate on the development and application of the technology, which will be used to support next-generation sequencing directly from blood or other biological samples, a key advantage for clinical sequencing applications. It will be incorporated into Roche’s sequencing unit research and development pipeline to support the strategy of providing a full next-generation sequencing workflow solution for clinical sequencing.

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The National Institutes of Health on Thursday awarded almost $32-million in grants to more than two dozen institutions to devise innovative ways of helping researchers handle huge sets of data seen as increasingly central to future medical discoveries.

The grants are the first outlay in a project, announced last year and known as Big Data to Knowledge, that’s expected to involve more than $600-million in spending by 2020. Its goals include developing and distributing methods, software, and tools for sharing, analyzing, managing, and integrating data into medical research.

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Join the BioBuzz networking group at our next free event. Along with 100's of the region's bioscience workers, you too could be making new connections, getting jobs and helping to build a stronger, more connected industry through the BioBuzz community!

The event is always free and we offer free drinks to the first 50 to 100 who arrive depending on how much we've been sponsored on a given month. People from all around the the region are coming out each month for this unique and welcoming monthly happy hour. It's a great place to meet up with coworkers past and present, make new connections or just catch up on the latest industry gossip If you're new and haven't yet made it out to an event, then we hope that you'll join us this month and see what all the Buzz is all about.

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In 2014, startups took home nearly $1M in cash and prizes from the InvestMaryland Challenge. For 2015 we have new categories and are racking up partner prizes like cash grants, incubator space, legal advice and consulting services.

Start your application today! Applications are due December 12th.

$100,000 Grand Prize Categories

  • IT HARDWARE/SOFTWARE
    Enterprise Software, Data Analytics, Social Media & Apps, E-Commerce and Marketing/ADTECH.
  • DEFENSE & SECURITY
    Cybersecurity, Unmanned Systems, Defense, Communications Infrastructure, Public Infrastructure and Grid Security.
  • LIFE SCIENCES
    Biopharmaceuticals, Medical Devices & Diagnostics, Nutraceuticals, Agriculture Bio & Aquaculture and Healthcare IT.
  • SUSTAINABILTY & EXPLORATION
    EdTech, Energy, Solar Power, Space & Satellite Technologies, Climate Change/Weather, Water Management and Materials Science.

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To attend a NICE/UKTI Scientific Advice Seminar for developers of devices and diagnostics.

Learn how to prepare for an evaluation by NICE, the UK’s health technology assessment body.

The seminar will cover:

  • "Value" from the perspective of NICE
  • How value propositions link to the need for specific evidence
  • The types of evidence considered by NICE
  • The general principles of health technology assessment (HTA)
  • Advantages of doing business in the UK

Who should attend?

  • Developers of medical technologies, in particular SMEs
  • Investors in the field of medical technologies
  • Anyone new to the world of health technology assessment
  • Academics, scientists, or clinicians who want to know more about how NICE assesses the value of innovative products

The seminar program is funded by UKTI to allow you free event registration (standard event rate - $550)

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It has been said that there is no money for start-ups here. NOT TRUE! Montgomery County is proud to shine the spotlight on local success stories from our business community.

During 2013 and through this year, Montgomery County businesses from targeted growth sectors have received local and state investments to support their ongoing growth and success. From grants, loans and tax credit incentives, to targeted funding programs and competitive investment awards, local companies are proving they have what it takes and continue to contribute to the growth of the innovative economy in Montgomery County.

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University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and University of Maryland, College Park will work with MITRE Corp. on a new cyber security research and development center in Montgomery County.

McLean, Va.-based MITRE was selected by the National Institute of Standards and Technology for a $29 million award to operate a new federally funded research and development center dedicated to cyber security. The center will be housed at the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence in Montgomery County.

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The University Economic Development Association (UEDA) announced its 2014 Awards of Excellence winners during its Annual Summit held this week in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The Awards of Excellence Program recognizes UEDA members who are transforming their campuses into engines of economic prosperity through leading edge initiatives in five categories:

  1. Community Connected Campus: initiatives that promote the physical development of quality connected campuses and their surrounding communities;
  2. Research and Analysis: initiatives that enhance the capacity of colleges and universities to provide new forms of research and tools for community, economic and workforce development practitioners;
  3. Leadership and Collaboration: initiatives that support the development of collaborative economic development strategies and the leaders required to implement them;
  4. Innovation and Entrepreneurship: initiatives designed to support startups, high-growth companies and clusters within a region; and
  5. Talent Development: initiatives that promote the development of 21st-century skills.

Rich Overmoyer, UEDA’s Executive Director and President & CEO of Fourth Economy Consulting stated, “As we benchmark cities of regional transformation across North America, there is a noticeable trend in the impact that quality institutions of higher education have on regions of growth.” Overmoyer continued, “these Awards of Excellence category winners and finalists represent regions where universities are playing a role to create sustainable economic growth.”

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Biotech companies are looking for ways to speed up drug discovery and pharmaceutical companies need an easier way to find accurate drug pricing information to make their businesses more competitive. So two big data analytics companies graduating from Blueprint Health’s accelerator have taken a cue from Maverick and Goose. One offers a way to shrink the amount of time genome analysis takes and another developed a way to make it easier for drug companies to find global drug price data in real time.

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Medical equipment supplier Becton Dickinson & Co (BDX.N) has agreed to buy CareFusion Corp (CFN.N), a maker of infusion pumps and other medical devices, for $12.2 billion in cash and stock, marking the latest multibillion-dollar healthcare sector deal.

Becton said on Sunday it would pay a total of $58.00 a share - $49.00 in cash and 0.0777 of a share of Becton Dickinson - for each share of CareFusion, representing a premium of 26 percent to the closing price on Oct. 3.

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The US pharmaceutical company Baxter International is to establish a new global innovation and R&D center for biopharmacetucals in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US. This follows Baxter's decision to hive off its biopharmaceutical business as an independent company called Baxalta in mid-2015.

The new R&D center will house 400 R&D staff, who will relocate from current sites in California and Europe, although Baxalta will retain certain R&D operations at its site in Vienna, Austria. In addition, the new center will house Baxalta's business development, oncology and biosimilars teams.

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Health officials are now monitoring 50 people in Texas for signs of Ebola, via twice-daily temperature checks, and in recent days, there have been reports that people in other areas of the country — most recently, Washington, D.C. — may be infected with the virus.

But why can't all these people just be tested for Ebola as soon as possible?

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DPOB's new program, TechConnect, provides up to $10,000 per tech company (with at least 4 employees) for locating for at least one year within Downtown Baltimore. Partner perks, including discounted design, legal and internet service and free zipcar hours are available as well. DPOB will also help companies through site selection, mitigate any move/set up issues, distribution of permits, etc. and they have two partner brokers on board to provide full brokerage service. Read more about their new program here: http://www.godowntownbaltimore.com/work/TechConnect/index.aspx

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Pipeline updates are highly awaited events in the pharma/biotech sector as they play an important role in deciding whether or not to invest in a particular company. These updates provide information on experimental drugs and at times give an insight into the commercial potential of the candidate once it is successfully developed and commercialized.

Roche (RHHBY - Analyst Report) specializes in cancer drugs. Immunotherapy has received a lot of attention in recent times as pharmaceuticals majors focus their research and development efforts on the same.

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The three-story brick building at the corner of Main and Osborn streets in Cambridge, on the edge of Kendall Square and the MIT campus, captures three distinct eras in the city’s innovation history. In the early 1800s, it was the site of Kimball & Davenport, the first builder of passenger railroad cars in America.

After World War II, it was the epicenter of the Massachusetts tech boom, home to the office and private lab of Edwin Land, Polaroid’s founder. In between, Thomas A. Watson strung a wire from Boston to Cambridge, and set up the equipment to receive the first “long distance” phone call, in 1876.

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Lecture 1: The Importance of Commercializing Research Tuesday, October 7, 2014, 1:00 to 2:30 pm ET

Now on its seventh run, the Research Commercialization Introductory Course is a very popular online course designed to help science and engineering researchers better understand how research commercialization works. Over 5000 students, faculty and researchers from across the US have taken this course since it's been offered.

Research commercialization involves taking articles, documentation, know-how, patents, and copyrights, which are created during research activities and getting them to users and patients for real societal impacts. In some cases, commercialization involved taking patents based on the research and licensing them to a company. This usually involves also having the researchers consult to the company. In other cases, commercialization involves forming of creating a startup and applying to federally funded commercialization programs. In all cases, though, research commercialization typically involves defining the nature of the research being commercialized (e.g., in a patent or intellectual property agreement), establishing a commercial relationship with another party (e.g., employment, a sale or license), and negotiating a contract (e.g., compensation).

Areas covered in the course include intellectual property, patents, copyrights, trade secrets, trademarks, licensing agreements, employment agreements, consulting agreements, tech transfer, creating and funding companies, and federally funded Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) programs

Each lecture is a live 90-minute online class with Q&A.

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Tasly Pharmaceuticals, Inc. made its official debut at the Natural Products Expo East 2014, held from September 17-20, 2014 in Baltimore, MD. As the leading East Cost trade show in the natural, healthy and organic products industry, attracting 22,000 professionals and representing 33% of the natural products industry, Expo East 2014 was a perfect opportunity for Tasly to introduce Deepure, its inaugural line of nutraceuticals. The line includes three condition-specific, whole-food and herb-based formulas, namely, ProHeart PLUS, ImmunoPower PLUS, and Re-Memory PLUS. All Deepure nutraceuticals are gluten-free and made without chemicals, preservatives, artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners, or gelatin. Deepure will be available in stores nationwide later this Fall.

Tasly also participated in two very attractive marketing and sponsorship opportunities located in New Products Pavilion, including Best of East Press Showcase and New Products Showcase.

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The U.S. Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has selected The MITRE Corporation to operate the first federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) solely dedicated to enhancing cybersecurity and protecting national information systems. MITRE will partner with the University System of Maryland (USM) to support the center.

The new FFRDC will support the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE), which NIST, the state of Maryland, and Montgomery County, Md., established in 2012 to help businesses secure their data and digital infrastructure by bringing together information security experts from industry, government and academia. MITRE will further the NCCoE’s goal to foster public-private collaborations to identify and solve today’s most pressing cybersecurity challenges. Working with the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), two leading research institutions within the USM, MITRE will carry out the goals of the new FFRDC in research, development, engineering and technical support as well as operations and facilities planning.

Maryland

In the U.S., North America, and around the Globe, education innovation clusters are popping up across the landscape to solve the 21st century’s toughest learning challenges. Some of these economic development clusters, moreover entrepreneurship hubs, will lead in ways that others cannot. Maryland is one of them.