Tech Transfer
Refrigerator ottoman, diabetic medication, party tracking app among 1,000 Pitches winners
Kristen Adamowski had the idea while lamenting the space in her dorm room. "I thought it would be awesome if I could save space by combining my ottoman and my refrigerator into one," said Adamowski, a freshman in the University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. Judges in the 1,000 Pitches business idea contest agreed, and on Sunday morning, Adamowski became one of 10 students to win $1,000 in the contest that attracted more than 3,000 ideas from students across the university. Students submitted their pitches through YouTube remotely or at pitch stations set up across campus. "It was incredible," she said. "Winning has given me that much more motivation to take the refrigerator ottoman idea further." [Read more...]
Two spinoff companies share grants with U-M for medical projects
The U-M Nanotechnology Institute for Medicine and Biological Sciences (MNIMBS) will collaborate with a U-M spinoff company to develop a safe and effective Respiratory Syncytial Virus intranasal vaccine. Approximately one-third of a nearly $6 million grant, awarded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to the Ann Arbor-based NanoBio Corp., will be subcontracted to MNIMBS in exchange for a two-year commitment to the project. Meanwhile, Cielo MedSolutions, another Ann Arbor-based U-M spinoff, has received a $1.3 million National Cancer Institute grant to develop and prototype along with the U-M Health System a next-generation clinical quality-management solution.
41 U-M spin-offs receive grants to develop new therapies
A total of 66 projects from the Ann Arbor area were awarded grants from the Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Program. Of the 66, 41 involved U-M spin-offs, receiving the majority of $13 million from the program that was awarded statewide. The Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Program Grant was designed to provide tax credits and grants to small firms that show significant potential to produce new and cost-saving therapies, support U.S. jobs and increase U.S. competitiveness. [Read more...]
U-M robot team wins international competition and $750,000
A team of 14 autonomous robots built by U-M students has won an international competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense and its Australian counterpart, officials announced Nov. 16, 2010 in Brisbane. U-M’s team of more than 20 students, mostly from Computer Science and Engineering, won a $750,000 grant for finishing in first place of five teams in final round of the contest. MAGIC, which stands for Multi Autonomous Ground-robotic International Challenge, initially involved 23 teams. The competition took place in stages over more than two years. [Read more...]
Grant to test nanotech anti-infective agent for soldiers’ wounds
The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded $1.5 million over three years to the Michigan Nanotechnology Institute for Medicine and Biological Sciences and to Ann Arbor-based NanoBio Corporation to develop and test nanoemulsions with potential to fight a wide range of wound infections, including drug-resistant forms. Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan get infections, sometimes life-threatening, from shrapnel wounds, IED blast injuries and burns. Bacteria from soil, air and a soldier’s skin can enter wounds on the battlefield. A treatment easily applied in battle zones and in hospitals that is broadly effective against bacteria, viruses and fungi would help reduce these infections. Present therapies aren’t effective enough against antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, and don’t prevent or control a problem soldiers with severe burns encounter: They may fall victim to long-lasting inflammatory responses that delay healing. [Read more...]
1,000 Pitches business idea contest kicks off with plans for pitch stations across campus
A sunscreen applicator for your back. An education funding system more equitable than property taxes. A pillow alarm clock that's harder to sleep through than the one on your nightstand. These were some of the first submissions to the third annual 1,000 Pitches idea contest, organized by students and designed to fuel entrepreneurship at the university. "What we really want to do in this competition is to create a cultural movement on campus, where we get everyone to think more entrepreneurially and more innovatively," said 1,000 Pitches project director Prateek Garg, a sophomore majoring in industrial and operations engineering and business. [Read more...]
CI Days in November
Cyberinfrastructure Days (CI Days) is a free, community-building conference held on Tuesday, November 2 and Wednesday, November 3, 2010 and organized by the Office of Research Cyberinfrastructure (ORCI) and Information and Technology Services (ITS). The conference is an opportunity for faculty, students, and staff from across campus to share information and ideas about advanced, integrated computation and information resources and their use in research and learning; learn from nationally renowned leaders; attend tutorials, presentations, and panels; and present your research and learn about others' research at a poster session. [Read more...]
In tough economic times, U-M helps launch 10 new startups
U-M helped launch 10 startups last year and licensed 97 innovative technologies to industry, while university researchers reported 290 new inventions. The technology agreements tie a university record set four years ago, and the startups, up from eight the previous year, brings the university’s total for the past decade to 93. [Read more...]
Coleman authors Forbes column on ways to aid entrepreneurship
President Mary Sue Coleman wrote an article for Forbes.com in which she describes U-M’s interdisciplinary approach to helping students nurture their entrepreneurial spirit. She writes, “The educational programs designed to draw out these innovative thinkers must be welcoming to all students willing to take a risk on what some might call their ‘crazy ideas.’” [Read more...]
U-M spin-out, large contributor to local economy, acquired by global technology company
Arbor Networks, a network security company born out of research conducted at the University of Michigan, has been acquired by a global technology company in an example of basic university research translating to economic growth, global competitiveness and job creation. Arbor, founded by computer science and engineering professor Farnam Jahanian and then-doctoral student Robert Malan in 2000, has been acquired by Tektronix Communications, a division of Danaher. Arbor, which has a strong local presence, will remain a separate operating company. Today, Arbor is a global leader in internet service provider security. A full 70 percent of the world's network service providers are among its 300-plus customers, including AT&T, Verizon, and British Telecom. [Read more...]