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Today, as is often the case, one tech company’s loss became another’s gain.  Utkarsh Srivastava has left Yahoo after spending more than three years as a senior research scientist there, and Srivastava confirmed (in well under 140 characters) that he’ll land at Twitter.

Srivastava’s background is quite impressive.  On the educational front, he earned degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology and Stanford, and happened to receive the Stanford Graduate Fellowship, too.

Around the same time, he acted as a research intern at Microsoft and then IBM, and was awarded the Microsoft Graduate Fellowship.  Not bad.

Next, Srivastava headed to Yahoo, where according to his LinkedIn profile, he became "one of the original designers and developers of Pig, a high-level language for data processing over Hadoop.  Pig is open-sourced as a subproject of Hadoop, and is routinely used in production for large data processing both within, and outside of Yahoo!."

Which more or less brings us back to the present day.  Louis Gray noticed that Srivastava had been added to a list of Twitter employees, and Srivastava confirmed it on Twitter a little later.

Yahoo hasn’t named any sort of replacement or, as far as we can tell, chained its remaining employees to their desks.

Related Articles:

> More Microsoft Layoffs On The Way

> YouTube’s Director Of Content Partnerships To Leave

> Twitter Picks Up Former Facebook Platform Manager

The long-awaited case of Bilski and Warsaw v. Kappos, which could reshape the patent world, finally landed in the U.S. Supreme Court this week. During one-hour oral arguments, several justices — including the court’s newest member, Sonia M. Sotomayor — expressed skepticism about affording patent protection to business methods. The heralded case concerns a patent that had been denied to Bernard Bilski and Rand Warsaw for a process that could help utilities, factories, and schools have more predictable energy costs. Justices peppered J. Michael Jakes, a lawyer for Bilski and Warsaw, with hypothetical patents that they clearly found ludicrous. Justice Antonin Scalia suggested that under Jakes’ argument, a patent for “somebody who writes a book on how to win friends and influence people” might be allowed, while Sotomayor suggested a “method of speed dating.” Justice Stephen G. Breyer set off a ripple of laughter when he mentioned his “great, wonderful, really original method of teaching antitrust law” — one in which 80% of students actually stayed awake — and asked if that could be patented. Scalia also asked why, during the nation’s horse-based economy in the 1800s, there were no patents directed to methods of training horses, as this would certainly have been useful at the time.

Nevertheless, the Justices seemed to struggle with framing an appropriate solution for Bilski and appeared mindful of the potential consequences of their ruling. Breyer asked whether the framers of the Constitution intended for every “new” method that helps a business owner conduct business to be patentable, intimating that Bilski’s proposed test could be too encompassing and asking for a more reasonable alternative, such as “useful arts.” Breyer indicated that the justices needed to consider four factors — two positive and two negative — in making their decision. On the plus side, a patent offers monopoly power to the inventor and disclosure to the public, he said. On the downside, a patent raises prices when the monopoly is in play and slows progress while users seek a license or permission to practice. Although, historically, patents have been used to protect the processes performed by machines, Breyer admitted that he was unsure whether providing patent protection to information “will do no harm or more harm than good.” Sotomayor also told Jakes that “a patent limits the free flow of information. It requires licensing fees and other steps — legal steps. So you can’t argue that your definition is improving the free flow of information.”

The high-water mark for business method patents was a 1998 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in State Street Bank v. Signature Financial Group that a method of processing mutual fund data could be patented. The ramifications of that case were discussed during the oral arguments. Nearly 70 amicus briefs were filed in the Bilski case by parties ranging from Microsoft to the American Civil Liberties Union. “This case is the case of the century for patent law,” says John F. Duffy, a professor at the George Washington University Law School and co-author of a brief on behalf of several technology companies. “There’s a tremendous public benefit that could come from encouraging innovation in this space.” But Pamela Samuelson, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law and author of a brief on behalf of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, says it’s time for the court to tap the brakes on business method patents. The State Street decision had the effect of “knocking patent law loose from its historical moorings and improperly injecting patents into business areas where they were neither needed nor wanted,” according to her brief. A decision is expected before the end of the Court’s current term in June 2010.

Sources: The New York Times, Patently-O, and Patently-O

When President Obama took office, one of the very first things he did was declare that all government agencies should default towards openness in dealing with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. It looks like some are trying to sneak around that a bit. Wired has the story of an FOIA request where the government is demanding $522,886 in order to fulfill the request. This certainly gives off the appearances of pretending to be open while figuring out a nice way to toss up a huge roadblock. Oh, by the way, that single bill would just about equal the entire cost that the US gov’t charged for all FOIA responses in 2008. Why so expensive? That’s not particularly clear. Apparently, the guy filing the request even knows which file cabinets the information he needs is in, so it’s not like the gov’t has to go searching for it…

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The Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) and a consortium of six major U.S. research universities have endorsed a global health initiative designed to speed access to affordable medicines in the developing world. The group has signed onto a plan that will insist licensees to university-created therapies, such as pharma companies, agree to help make those therapies more widely available in developing countries. By inking the “Statement of Principles and Strategies for the Equitable Dissemination of Medical Technologies,” Harvard, Yale, Brown, Boston, and Oregon Health & Science Universities and the University of Pennsylvania, together with AUTM, committed to “implementing technology transfer strategies that promote the availability of health-related technologies in developing countries for essential medical care.” The initiative takes a major step beyond “Nine Points to Consider in Licensing University Technology,” a 2007 statement endorsed by nearly six dozen research and academic institutions, and includes a Global Health Toolkit created by AUTM members. The toolkit allows TTOs to share information on structuring licenses that promote innovation and product development while encouraging access to essential medicines. The toolkit includes sample clauses taken from signed license agreements that include global access language acceptable to the licensees. AUTM plans to update the toolkit as TTOs gain experience and provide feedback on it, according to Arundeep S. Pradhan, associate vice president, technology transfer and business development, at Oregon Health & Science University and president of AUTM.

The effort to hasten the development and dissemination of technologies and medications to ease the global health crisis began last spring when Harvard and Yale hosted a gathering of TTOs from a dozen U.S. research institutions. The daylong meeting and months of follow-up conference calls provided the framework for the document. The student group Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM) also pushed for the effort. The consensus statement describes a number of strategies to facilitate generic production or below-market pricing and commits the universities to, among other things:

• make “vigorous efforts to develop creative and effective licensing strategies that help to promote global access to health related technologies;”
• ensure that IP “should not become a barrier to essential health-related technologies needed by patients in developing countries;”
• exert control over patent rights in such a way as to foster the availability of life-saving products in the developing world; and
• support the development of health-related technologies aimed at diseases that disproportionately burden individuals in the developing world — tuberculosis, AIDS, water-borne disease, tropical- and other region-specific ailments and parasitic infections — without regard for economic gain.

Officials at AUTM and the six schools wanted to craft guidelines that encourage drug access for poor nations without dissuading companies from working with university scientists, according to Maryanne Fenerjian, Harvard’s director of technology transfer policy. Participating schools will use strategies such as decreasing royalty rates to persuade companies to charge less or allow low-cost generic production of new drugs for poor patients, she says. Harvard has already used techniques cited in the toolkit to help promote access to medicines. When the university licensed a tuberculosis vaccine technology in 2007 to Hong Kong-based Morningside Group, the company agreed to sell the vaccine at affordable prices in developing countries. “It’s important that our intellectual property doesn’t serve as a barrier — and in some cases should be used as leverage — to help ensure that drugs, vaccines, and other technologies reach the developing world,” Fenerjian says. “But there is no single solution. Every technology is different and every licensee’s capabilities and sensitivities are different.”

The six universities expect other private and public universities to adopt the principles once they are broadly disseminated. “A number of institutions have been willing to be tough and creative on these issues,” Fenerjian says. “Until now, we haven’t had a statement that says this is what we see as our goal — this is what we see as our new norm.” Universities can endorse the statement of principles at http://www.autm.net/endorse.

Sources: Yale University Office of Public Affairs and Bloomberg.com

Tokyo-based gadget maker OTAS is selling sunglasses [JP] that feature, for some reason, a built-in video camera and MP3 player. The so-called aigo glasses come with a 1.3 megapixel camera, a music player that supports MP3 and WMA files, 4 GB of internal memory, and a USB 2.0 port.

OTAS says the internal memory is enough to store up to 10,000 songs. You can shoot pictures (in JPEG format) in 1,280×1,024 and videos (in AVI format) in 640×480 resolution and at 12fps. The sunglasses weigh 52 grams and support Windows XP/Vista/7.

You can get them over at import specialist Geek Stuff 4 U for $220.78 plus shipping.

The drive on Capitol Hill to create a bipartisan entitlement and tax reform commission to help “bend the cost curve” of health spending and address mounting deficits picked up momentum Tuesday, as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and a handful of moderate Democrats and Republicans voiced support for the effort.

The commission would draft proposals to control the long-term costs of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, which together account for 40 percent of all federal spending other than interest on the debt. The recommendations would require a swift up or down vote by a supermajority of members of Congress, to assure bipartisan support for unpopular measures to cut sensitive spending programs or to raise taxes if necessary.

The chief authors of the measure, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., and Republican Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, say they will attempt to attach their plan to must-pass legislation raising the government’s debt ceiling in the coming weeks. Others, including independent Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and Republican Sen. George V. Voinovich of Ohio, are circulating similar plans.

Conrad held hearings Tuesday to drum up support for the approach. He was joined by a small group of lawmakers from both chambers warning that runaway government spending and a $1.4 trillion annual deficit were threatening to undermine the nation’s economy and the U.S. credit rating abroad. “It doesn’t take an economist to realize our course is unsustainable,” Voinovich said. “The federal government is the worst credit card abuser in the world and we’re putting everything on the tab of our children and grandchildren.”

McConnell, R-Ky., said he would have to see the composition and mandate of a commission before signing on, to make sure Republicans were adequately represented. But his comments echoed those of Conrad and others who believe a commission may be the only way to force Congress to come to grips with unsustainable spending on entitlement programs, the major cost drivers in the federal budget.

“I actually discussed that matter with the President back before he was sworn in and I indicated a willingness to discuss the appropriateness of having some kind of commission, and I’m willing to talk about that – particularly if the commission targets the real problem we have in the future which is the unfunded liabilities we have in Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security,” McConnell told reporters at a news conference.

The government is on track to accumulate deficits totaling $9 trillion between now and 2019, according to the Treasury and the Office of Management and Budget. While the administration’s spending in response to the recession and financial meltdown helped drive up the fiscal 2009 deficit to a record $1.4 trillion, most of the future problem will be due to rapid rises in entitlement spending on Medicare and Social Security for seniors and Medicaid for the poor and disabled. Experts say that these problems are not being addressed as part of the health care overhaul bill passed by the House last weekend or the plans being considered in the Senate.

The idea of threatening to hold up a measure allowing the government to raise the nation’s nearly $12 trillion debt limit to enable the Treasury Department to continue borrowing has attracted strong backing from Sens. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., 13 other Democrats and Lieberman. Bayh, who met late last week with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to press his case for a commission, described the move as an “insurrection” by lawmakers fearful that the government was on an unsustainable spending path.

Lieberman said that it is essential to link action on a new debt ceiling with a commission to address the nation’s long-term fiscal problems “to ensure that we do not put ourselves or the nation into a position where we continually have to increase the nation’s debt ceiling limit to accommodate perpetual deficits and ever-growing national debt.”

Jim Manley, a spokesman for Reid, said the majority leader has been “actively talking with many of his colleagues and administration officials about this type of proposal,” but that no decision has been made. Manley emphasized, however, that “the process and policy needs to be a joint administration-House-Senate decision.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., opposes the approach, according to an aide, but House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., supports the concept.

The White House has signaled interest in the Conrad-Gregg commission approach, according to Conrad, but remains non-committal. During Tuesday’s Senate Budget Committee hearing, William Galston, a Brookings Institution senior fellow, said he has heard the administration may include a proposal for a bipartisan commission in the fiscal 2011 budget proposal that will be submitted to Congress early next year. The Office of Management and Budget declined to confirm or deny the speculation.

David Walker, the former Comptroller General of the United States, urged Congress to move swiftly next year to create a bipartisan commission to address the nation’s growing fiscal challenges.

“Importantly, everything must be on the table for any commission to be credible and to have a real chance of success,” said Walker, who is now president and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. “This includes acknowledging the need to modernize the current social insurance programs, constrain federal spending, including defense spending, and raise additional revenues.”

Royalty Rates for Trademarks & Copyrights, 4th Edition has just been published, with 30% more transactions and benchmark rates featured. Along with an unrivaled set of benchmarks and real-world rates from transactions completed through 2009, this 4th edition, published by IPRA Inc. and authored by royalty and valuation expert Russell Parr, also shows how to implement financial models for the derivation of royalty rates. Details are include on rules of thumb, profit differential calculations, investment rate of return analyses, and discounted cash flow analysis, along with examples that can be used as a template for your specific applications. For details, a table of contents, sample pages, and to order, CLICK HERE.

After taking the mass media to task last week for its often one-sided negative coverage of tech transfer, it’s only fair to recognize an outstanding portrayal of a tech transfer professional in the consumer press. Writing in The Cleveland Plain Dealer, reporter Tom Breckenridge profiles Mark Coticchia, vice president for research and technology management at Case Western Reserve University. Breckenridge describes Coticchia as “one of the most important figures” in remaking the Ohio economy. That’s heady stuff, considering that tech transfer professionals usually toil in obscurity, but probably accurate. Here are some excerpts:

When Coticchia arrived on the job eight years ago, an e-mail from a noted faculty member informed him that his mission to spin university research into new business “was all a bunch of bull- – – -.” Coticchia took the missive in stride, admitting that “I had to make people believe it could be done. That e-mailer couldn’t have articulated the challenge in front of me any better.” Since then, Coticchia has parlayed VC savvy, a well-paid staff, and a smile that beams like a lighthouse at midnight into a steady flow of high-tech deals and new business. The university collected $16.3 million in licensing revenue in 2008 — eight times the amount collected by Ohio State University, despite OSU’s much larger research budget. Coticchia’s office also had a hand in spinning out five companies from CWRU last year.

Coticchia “is really good at the blocking and tackling” of technology transfer, says Ray Leach, CEO of JumpStart, a venture development organization that has invested in seven CWRU start-ups. “He’s in a complex work environment,” Leach adds. “It’s not the easiest thing to commercialize and monetize technology quickly.” Coticchia and his staff engage in a daily dance of diplomacy, trying to balance the interests of multiple parties: university officials who insist on fair royalties for commercial successes born in their labs, faculty inventors who want a reward for their sweat equity, and companies that don’t want to pay too much for rights to the innovations. Then there’s the patent and market research that Coticchia’s staff manages in the years-long grind of moving innovation to market. “The mix of people, technology, and capital is different for every opportunity,” Coticchia says. “To get the right mix at the right time is absolutely critical to success. That’s why it’s more art than science.” Eric Fingerhut, chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents, last year asked Coticchia to head efforts to drive more technology transfer — and community prosperity — from Ohio’s 14 universities and 23 community colleges. “He’s just exceptional in his understanding of what’s needed to be done and how to leverage Case Western Reserve as a driver for the Northeast Ohio economy,” Fingerhut says. “I really came to believe that he was the best in the state in this area.”

Coticchia previously headed the TTO at Carnegie Mellon University, where he also co-founded Lycos, the Internet search engine. In 2000, he left the university for a VC firm, where he courted some of the country’s top research institutions for technology-related investment opportunities. His real-world business experience distinguishes him from tech transfer leaders who start their careers as researchers before moving to the business side. Coticchia’s mindset has always been that of a venture capitalist, according to Mark Crowell, past president of the Association of University Technology Managers. “Mark thinks about what makes a good [business] opportunity, the potential for emerging companies, what the risks could be,” Crowell says. Coticchia admits that his approach hinges on hiring people with the attributes valued by VC firms: technology backgrounds and advanced degrees, sales and marketing experience, and an understanding of company formation and product development. To attract these skills in a competitive industry, CWRU’s key staffers are paid 20% more than the industry average. But they’ve delivered results. The $16.3 million in licensing revenue collected in 2008 is eight times what it was when Coticchia arrived, and the TTO crafted 31 licensing deals last year, up from six in 2001.

Source: cleveland.com

Four law firms have secured contracts from the National Institutes of Health potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars over 10 years for contested proceedings over patents awarded in the biotechnology, chemistry, and mechanical/electrical/software fields. Foley & Lardner will begin work soon on its first NIH contract, worth up to $208 million. Mark Kassel, who chairs Foley’s chemical and pharmaceutical practice, says the NIH has a right to review the contracts annually and his firm is likely to see “some fraction” of the $208 million. “It’s all based on what the need is,” Kassel says. Three other recipients previously received NIH contracts. San Francisco-based Townsend & Townsend & Crew could see up to $209 million, and Chicago-based Leydig, Voit & Mayer is looking at $183 million. McAndrews, Held & Malloy, whose only location is in Chicago, won a contract worth up to $181 million. Townsend and Leydig won other NIH contracts earlier this year and will focus their NIH efforts in their home offices.

The NIH Office of Technology Transfer hires private lawyers to help it steer technology developed in NIH laboratories and at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration through the patent process. The office filed 343 U.S. patent applications and received $92.7 million in patent royalties in fiscal year 2008, according to its online statistics. According to Kassel, the contracts with the law firms call primarily for litigation support, patent interferences, and inter partes reexaminations. The bulk of Foley’s interferences will be handled out of its D.C. office, according to George Quillin, a partner in the office. The firm’s payday will depend, in part, on the NIH’s appetite for litigation. “I’ve been involved in interferences where the other side gives up right away,” he says. “Or it could be a very closely fought [court battle].”

Source: The Blog of Legal Times

The University of Florida has inked an agreement with Sterling, VA-based G4i Consulting to provide government business development services to UF-affiliated technology companies. The agreement has the potential to bring several hundred million dollars in new government contracts to UF’s incubator companies and to increase licensing revenues for the university. The goal is to establish a fund that will accelerate the commercialization of UF’s start-ups by introducing them directly to government clients and Fortune 500 companies operating in the government contracting space. Plans call for the fund initially to support the creation of a dedicated business development “Gator Team” for five to seven portfolio companies. Drawing on G4i’s customer relationship management system, E PROMIS, and its proprietary business intelligence, each Gator Team will work with G4i to focus the strategy, business, and marketing plans of its incubator companies and develop a proposal aimed at winning multi-billion-dollar contracts over a two-year period. “As focused as we are on driving licensing, we’re also seeking out relationships that will set our start-ups on a path for success,” says David Day, director of UF’s Office of Technology Licensing. “UF’s affiliation with G4i introduces our incubator companies to the largest consumer in the world. The U.S. government buys more than $300 billion of goods and services annually. We believe this can be a powerful engine for fast tracking the university’s technologies into the marketplace.”

As part of its own expansion efforts, G4i plans to open its flagship on-site presence at UF’s Florida Innovation Hub — a 45,000-sq.ft. “super” incubator for scientists, investors, and entrepreneurs expected to open in December 2011. G4i’s dedicated Gator Teams will be housed on-site to assist in market research, business development, and proposal management. In the meantime, G4i expects to begin the appraisal and evaluation of UF start-ups in the fourth quarter of 2009. G4i is currently capitalizing the fund with VC, hedge fund, and private equity relationships.

Visit: G4i Channel

While most licensees act in good faith and strive to abide by their contractual obligations, some — according to several studies the majority — intentionally or not end up breaching their contract. Under-reporting of royalties, failure to support the IP as promised, re-interpretation of definitions, sublicensing arrangements, and financial hardship are just some of the common reasons TTOs and their faculty frequently get short-changed. If you don’t have an airtight post-license monitoring procedure in place, you could be losing millions in royalties. That’s why we’ve lined up three leading experts in licensee monitoring for an intensive 90-minute distance learning event: Post-License Monitoring and Support: Performance and Revenue Enhancement Strategies (and when all else fails, how to pull the plug and take back your IP), scheduled for Wednesday, December 16, 2009. Our panel of three experts will show you how to discover these missing dollars using a systematic, thorough auditing process while maintaining positive relationships with licensees. And they’ll also outline the specific steps, after a problem comes to light, you must take to protect your IP and collect your rightfully share royalty payments. For complete details and to register, CLICK HERE.

PLUS, it’s still not too late to register for Thursday’s live event: CLICK HERE for information on Shifting Your TTO from Market Push to Market Pull: Finding the White Space.

Adfonic, a UK-based operator of a self-service mobile advertising marketplace, has raised $600,000 in seed funding from cleantech entrepreneur Gordon Shields.

PRESS RELEASE

Adfonic (http://adfonic.com), the web-based self-service global mobile advertising marketplace, today announced that it has secured $600k in its first round of funding. The money raised will fund the recruitment of key personnel and the next phase of development for its advertising platform, as well as allow it to expand internationally.

The funding comes from Gordon Shields, a clean tech entrepreneur, who is best known for founding Shields Environmental, the world leader in re-use, re-marketing and recycling of surplus network assets for mobile network operators. Working with Adfonic, Gordon’s role will be one of leadership and mentoring, not simply as an investor.

Launched in July, Adfonic offers the industry’s most advanced targeting capabilities and campaign management tools, enabling advertisers to deliver relevant messages to specific audiences on mobile devices through both the mobile web and application platforms such as iPhone and Android.

Victor Malachard, CEO of Adfonic comments: “We are thrilled that Gordon has joined the team here at Adfonic and already his insight is proving invaluable. As we grow the team and increase the capabilities of the platform, there is no doubt we will continue to attract the most relevant advertising agencies and brands and grow our base of key publishers.”

Gordon Shields, the investor of Adfonic, adds: “The Adfonic team fills me with confidence as they offer a clear yet creative analytical platform. I have watched this innovative and ambitious team enter a competitive market and now look forward to sharing with them my experience and connections in the mobile sector”.

-Ends-

For further information, please contact:

Media contact:

Emma Parlons on behalf of Adfonic on +447958 951118 or at [email protected]

Other business:

Paul Childs CMO at Adfonic on +44 7711 417 430 or at [email protected]

About Adfonic

Launched in July 09, Adfonic is Europe’s first self-service mobile advertising marketplace. Adfonic is headquartered in London, with operations in France, Spain and USA. Adfonic offers comprehensive and intuitive capabilities that make it easy for advertisers to connect with their target audience and for publishers to maximise the earning potential of their mobile sites and applications. The company was founded by three mobile and marketing industry veterans, Victor Malachard (CEO) Wesley Biggs (CTO) and Paul Childs (CMO) who collectively bring 40 years of mobile marketing, mobile technology and start-up experience to their role.

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The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the state stem cell agency, and two international partners have awarded more than $250 million to 14 multidisciplinary teams of researchers in California, the U.K., and Canada to develop stem cell-based therapies for 11 diseases. The Disease Team Research Awards include approximately $8 million from the U.K.’s Medical Research Council and approximately $35 million from Canada’s Cancer Stem Cell Consortium to fund the international portions of the collaborations. The four-year grants mark the first CIRM funding explicitly expected to result in a filing with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to begin a clinical trial. The awards fund research teams that include basic scientists and clinicians from both academia and industry. These collaborations are expected to speed the process of establishing clinical trials by insuring that clinically relevant issues are considered early and avoiding potential safety issues being discovered late in the process.

Alan Trounson, president of CIRM, says the pace of the Disease Team projects stands in contrast to the decade or more that’s usually required to reach clinical trials. “By encouraging applicants to form teams composed of the best researchers from around the world, we think CIRM will set a new standard for how translational research should be funded,” he says. CIRM and the agency’s international partners will actively manage each team, and decisions to move a project forward will be made at key points in the development cycle. The teams are targeting leukemia and solid cell tumors, acute myeloid leukemia, age-related macular degeneration, HIV/AIDS, type 1 diabetes, heart disease, sickle cell anemia, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and epidermolysis bullosa.

Source: Bioresearch Online

In a cold but light drizzle today, after breakfast with veterans in the East Room of the White House, the President and the First Lady along with the Vice President and Dr. Biden went to Arlington National Cemetery. The President took part in the wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns, then spoke at the Memorial Amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery.

The President began his remarks extending his thanks to VA Secretary Shinseki, and to the Bidens and their son Beau, who just returned from Iraq. He expressed humility to be speaking to the veterans in the audience, and spoke in awe of the “determination” he saw in the eyes of those grieving yesterday at Fort Hood. Noting that there have been times in the past when America did not stand by our veterans, the President pledged that this would never happen again:

That is my message to all veterans today.  That is my message to all who serve in harm’s way.  To the husbands and wives back home doing the parenting of two.  To the parents who watch their sons and daughters go off to war, and the children who wonder when mom and dad is coming home.  To all our wounded warriors, and to the families who laid a loved one to rest.  America will not let you down.  We will take care of our own.

And to those who are serving in far-flung places today, when your tour ends, when you see our flag, when you touch our soil, you will be home in an America that is forever here for you just as you’ve been there for us.  That is my promise — our nation’s promise — to you.

Ninety-one years ago today, the battlefields of Europe fell quiet as World War I came to a close.  But we don’t mark this day each year as a celebration of victory, as proud of that victory as we are.  We mark this day as a celebration of those who made victory possible.  It’s a day we keep in our minds the brave men and women of this young nation — generations of them — who above all else believed in and fought for a set of ideals.  Because they did, our country still stands; our founding principles still shine; nations around the world that once knew nothing but fear now know the blessings of freedom.

That is why we fight — in hopes of a day when we no longer need to.  And that is why we gather at these solemn remembrances and reminders of war — to recommit ourselves to the hard work of peace.

There will be a day before long when this generation of servicemen and women step out of uniform.  They will build families and lives of their own.  God willing, they will grow old.  And someday, their children, and their children’s children, will gather here to honor them.

Thank you.  God bless you.  And God bless the United States of America.  (Applause.)

—————————————————

Mensaje del Presidente sobre el Día de los Veteranos

Ayer, en un día frío y lluvioso, luego de desayunar con veteranos en el ala este de la Casa Blanca, el Presidente y la Primera Dama en compañía del Vicepresidente y la Dra. Biden se dirigieron al Cementerio Nacional de Arlington. El Presidente participó en la ceremonia de colocación de la corona en la tumba de los soldados desconocidos, luego dio su discurso en el Anfiteatro Conmemorativo del Cementerio Nacional de Arlington.

El Presidente comenzó sus declaraciones dándole gracias alSecretario de Asuntos para Veteranos Shinseki y a los Biden y a su hijo Beau, quien recientemente regresó de Irak. Expresó humildad al hablarle a los veteranos en la audiencia y habló en admiración a la “determinación” que vio ayer en los ojos de aquellos afligidos en Fort Hood. Haciendo notar que ha habido veces en el pasado cuando los Estados Unidos no ha apoyado a nuestros veteranos, el Presidente prometió que esto no volverá a pasar.:

Ése es mi mensaje a los veteranos hoy. Ése es mi mensaje a todos los que prestan servicios bajo condiciones peligrosas. A los esposos y esposas en casa que hacen la labor de dos padres. A los padres que ven a sus hijos e hijas irse a la guerra, y a los hijos que se preguntan si mamá y papá regresarán. A todos los combatientes heridos y a las familias que han enterrado a un ser querido. Estados Unidos no los defraudará. Velaremos por los nuestros.

Y a los militares en lugares lejanos hoy, cuando su campaña concluya, cuando vean nuestra bandera, cuando toquen nuestra tierra, estarán en casa, en un Estados Unidos que estará a su disposición para siempre, así como ustedes lo estuvieron para nosotros. Ésa es la promesa que yo y la promesa que nuestra nación les hacemos.

Hace exactamente noventa y un años, los campos de batalla de Europa quedaron silenciosos al finalizar la Primera Guerra Mundial. Pero no conmemoramos este día, año tras año, como una celebración de la victoria, por más orgullo que sintamos por esa victoria. Conmemoramos este día como un homenaje a quienes hicieron posible la victoria. Es un día para recordar a los valientes hombres y mujeres de esta joven nación –muchas generaciones de ellos– quienes por encima de todo creyeron y lucharon por un conjunto de ideales. Debido a lo que hicieron, nuestro país aún existe; los principios de nuestra fundación aún brillan; países por todo el mundo que alguna vez conocían solamente el temor ahora conocen los frutos de la libertad.

Es por eso que luchamos, con la esperanza de que algún día ya no tengamos que hacerlo. Y es por eso que nos congregamos en estas conmemoraciones y recordatorios de guerra: para volver a comprometernos con el arduo trabajo de la paz.

Pronto llegará el día en que esta generación de hombres y mujeres de las Fuerzas Armadas dejen el uniforme. Se dedicarán a sus familias y a su propia vida. Dios mediante, llegarán a la vejez. Y algún día, sus hijos y los hijos de sus hijos se congregarán aquí para rendirles homenaje.

Gracias. Que Dios los bendiga. Y que Dios bendiga a Estados Unidos de Norteamérica. (Aplausos.)

After the good news comes the bad. Just yesterday, news about trophies being blocked on the PS3 version of Modern Warfare 2 came out. That’s been fixe…

Across the pond, where public companies have taken a much larger stake in tech transfer activity than they have in the U.S., a deal between two firms may signal industry consolidation. London-based tech transfer company IP Group will take a 20% stake in the much smaller Fusion IP in a £3.2 million ($5.7 million) agreement. A co-investment provision for the larger company will allow IP Group to take a share in any new companies incubated by Fusion. Sheffield, U.K.-based Fusion has exclusive arrangements to commercialize discoveries at the universities of Cardiff and Sheffield, which both spend approximately £90 million annually on research. Fusion’s investments are valued at £6.4 million, and each year the company creates two or three spinoffs — principally in the fields of information technology, engineering, and biotechnology. IP Group, which is more than nine times the size of Fusion, with a market capitalization of £140 million, also commercializes third-level research from a group of 10 universities, including the universities of Leeds, Oxford, Bath, and Glasgow.

“We as a company were quite keen to raise a small amount of additional money — a couple of million or, maximum, £3 million,” says David Baynes, CEO of Fusion IP. “We got money out there in the marketplace talking to institutions, but then we had a chat with the IP [Group] guys.” Those conversations convinced Fusion that the IP Group’s stake was a better deal. Through the co-investment agreement, any new deal funded by Fusion would create a company that is 12% owned by IP Group, 48% owned by Fusion, and 40% owned by the academic initially responsible for the commercialized discovery. In addition, IP Group offers an in-house recruitment team for tech start-ups and a capital markets team that raises money for portfolio companies. “Those are quite nice resources for us to be able to tap into,” Baynes says.

Source: Financial Times

Binghamton University, State University of New York, is targeting entrepreneurship with a pair of initiatives. Entrepreneurship Across the Curriculum, modeled after the university’s successful Languages Across the Curriculum program, offers small stipends to faculty members who agree to provide an entrepreneurship component on a continuing basis in their classes. Faculty members will submit proposals to a committee comprised of their peers and of representatives from outside groups such as Catalysts for Intellectual Capital 2020 (CIC2020). The committee will decide which projects to fund. “Our role as sponsors is to get the ball rolling and leave decision-making to the committee,” says Eugene Krentsel, assistant vice president for technology transfer and innovation partnerships. “Every discipline has the opportunity to have a component of entrepreneurship added to a syllabus. If you are a sculptor, you may eventually open your own gallery. If you are pre-med, you may run your own clinic at some point.” Faculty members will be required to devote a set minimum of class hours to the entrepreneurship component, Krentsel says, adding that faculty members need only provide a “teaser” to their syllabi to pique the interest of students. The committee hopes to receive initial proposals for Entrepreneurship Across the Curriculum in December and to make funding decisions by January 2010, says Ken McLeod, a committee member and bioengineering professor. “You have to start small and let this grow,” he points out. “It’s not going to happen overnight.”

The second entrepreneurship initiative is aimed at faculty members who are considering starting their own businesses. Zhihao Yang, chief technology officer and co-founder of NanoMas Technologies, will serve as special adviser for entrepreneurship. Launched in the Start-Up Suite of the university’s Innovative Technologies Complex, NanoMas represents one of Binghamton’s most successful ventures. Yang will draw on that success to offer hands-on help, encouragement, and information to faculty members seeking to proceed with a business plan.Yang, who has agreed to serve as the adviser for six months, will have his own office on the second floor of the Innovative Technologies Complex. “It’s great for us to have someone who can not only teach it, but say, ‘Hey, I’ve been there. I started one. Here’s what it took,’” Krentsel says.

Source: Binghamton University

Economists say the country is on the verge of a recovery, but businesses and universities are still in cost-cutting mode. They’re slashing budgets, curtailing programs, and implementing hiring freezes. At the same time, TTOs are under increasing pressure to bring in fresh revenues. With few if any options for adding staff, many offices are turning to the student body for the help they need. Such raw talent needs to be developed, but a well-crafted internship program can significantly stretch your resources. “It’s a way of sending emissaries back out into the institution so that, once trained, these graduate student interns can talk about what kinds of things are necessary as you are developing invention disclosures,” explains Michael Batalia, PhD, director of the Office of Technology Asset Management at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC. For example, while most researchers know their fields very well, they may not have good notebook practices, and they may not know what to look for the in the patent landscape, explains Batalia. “The graduate interns help to set up lines of communication between our office and the different departments.”

Batalia launched the Wake Forest internship program in 2008 as a way to offload some of the time-consuming legwork involved in managing disclosures, and also to build a “back bench” of qualified TTO professionals. “As an office grows and expands you need qualified people, and that can be a challenge,” he says. “It also gives the students alternate career paths and exposure.” A detailed article on using students to bolster TTO staff appears in the October issue of Technology Transfer Tactics. For subscription information, CLICK HERE.

Pittsburgh, PA-based Wellspring Worldwide, LLC, plans to acquire the Flintbox Innovation Network, an online global IP exchange, from UBC Research Enterprise (UBCRE), a wholly owned, for-profit subsidiary of the University of British Columbia. Details of the transaction were not disclosed. Based in Vancouver, B.C., Flintbox is a U-British Columbia spinout and represents a strategic addition to Wellspring’s online software product business. The acquisition will extend Wellspring’s Technology Gateway product, enabling more than 160 universities, government labs, and companies to post, exchange, license, and purchase technologies online. Wellspring also plans to develop the Flintbox platform into an open innovation network by incorporating technology from other Wellspring software products. The open innovation network will enable universities and companies to collaborate on research and commercialization agreements and allow partner organizations to manage online material transfer agreements, multi-institution disclosures, and bundled marketing and licensing. The combined business will operate under the Flintbox brand name and maintain its operations base in Vancouver.

Source: Central Penn Business Network