Category Archives: Publications

The new translational research center of NIH: one step closer to opening !

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Fait accompli! The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) is launched by the NIH !The Obama administration will provide $30.7 billion to NIH for FY 2012 which includes $576.5 million to fund the NCATS. This article presents this new center that will focus on advancing translational research projects and moving basic research findings into applied innovations. A major step of the Obama Administration for innovation.

Read the full article (In French)

Innovation activities in the US: 2011 report, 2012 trends, a French perspective !

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Jointly drawn up by David and Antoine, the paper explores the recent trends impacting US innovation activities in 2011. It also identifies the key questions facing the funding of innovation, including the VC activities in 2012 and the development of new funding schemes. A large section of the paper addresses the US Federal policy in the field of innovation, including the “Start up America” initiative. Although challenged by various negative factors, such as the poor economic outlook, the US innovation system appears both robust and flexible.

Read the full article (in French)

And that’s only the first part ! Next week’s article will explore the new funding and support methods for entrepreneurs, and will highlight the hottest US industries and clusters for 2012 !

From Basic Research to the Creation of Gatorade: The Challenges of Technology Transfer in the Amercian universities

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 “On September 16, 2011, President Obama announced the signature of the America Invents Act that that will help American entrepreneurs and businesses bring their inventions to market sooner, creating new businesses and new jobs. He also announced new steps that will help America’s universities and research labs convert ideas into new products, create startups, expand the economy and create high-value 21st century jobs.

Following this memoranda, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) has set up webinar series where vice-presidents of research in each university highlights specific plans for enhancing technology transfer activities in response to President’s call for action

Practices related to technology transfer are very different in universities. Each university has its own experiences and organizations in this field.

Read the full article (in French)”

The U.S. Research Federal Budget for 2012 : Which Importance for Innovation ?

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Summary 
As the FY 2012 appropriation for U.S. R&D budget took place on Dec 23rd, 2011, the paper explores both trends and features of the Federal Government in the field of Innovation. Although Federal R&D funding is challenged by a dire budget situation, the FY 2012 budget mostly follows the President’s proposals, about $ 147 Bi. and has similar content with the previous budget.
This paper also elaborates on the U.S. industry R&D in 2012, which is expected to increase by 3.8%, reaching $ 250 Bi. A larger part of this R&D increase relates to offshore innovation of the U.S. industry.

The French American Innovation Day lives up to its expectations

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As you may already know, the 2011 Franco-American Innovation Day conference, held at Harvard Medical School, explored the Challenges of Translational breakthroughs. According to the attendance, the conference met the expectations of both academia and industry participants.

This 9th edition took place in the Joseph B.Martin Conference Center of Harvard Medical School in Boston and was organized in collaboration with French innovation Campus GIANT (Grenoble) and in partnership with Pioneer Valley Life Sciences Institute, PVLSI


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Opportunities in neuroimaging in the US : ethical responsabilities (In French)

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This article is the third and last part of a longer contribution regarding the scientific and technological development of neuroimaging in the US. Emphasis is put on the ethics aspect of neuroimaging in the US. Surprisingly neuroimaging in the US is not regulated by the US central authorities. Interdisciplinary Center for Ethics (Yale University) supports the idea that the US is not well equipped for similar initiative. Regulation is expected to be generated at the state level. Most cited ethics issues in the US address interpretation of the data, data protection and privacy, and data exploitation.

Read the full article (in French)

The grand challenge: how can big companies keep being innovative ?

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This year, entrepreneurship and innovation have been praised as “life savers”, not only for the american economy, but all over the world. Mostly, we focus on small companies and entrepreneurs. We expect them to be the next generation of innovators, creating fantastic new startups that will revolutionize markets, create jobs and get the economy back on track.

But what about the big companies ? They’ve been surfing the innovation wave, proudly boasting about their innovation ability and their will to change the world. But when we look behind the curtain, the picture is not so cheesy. Most big firms really struggle to turn innovation into a profit and implement it at the core and roots of their global strategies.

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Greatness and disillusionment of U.S Biotech : the Vertex Case

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This article (in French) explores the ups and downs of Vertex Pharmaceuricals, a promising biotech expected last year to turn a larger pharma after series of positive results regarding its treatment Telaprevir against Hepatitis C. Vertex Pharmaceuticals is now facing tough and unexpected competition from Pharmasset, a small New-Jersey based company, recently aquired by Gileat for $ 11.5 Billions. The firm may have developed a larger product (i.e targetting a larger market) than Telaprevir. Needless to say this is a dire straight for Vertex..

To read the whole story, please click here !

Harvard finally embraces entrepreneurship with the I-Lab

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 Last week, Harvard’s President Drew Faust and Boston’s mayor Thomas Menino gathered for the launching of Harvard’s brand new Innovation-Lab, whose great goal is to foster Entrepreneurship projects in the various faculties composing the University. The $20 millions facility will offer collaborative spaces, rooms, mentoring supports and entrepreneurship classes to all students willing to develop a project on their own, be it with other Harvard student or “outsiders”. While its development model is still to be determined, Gordon Jones, director of the Lab, plans to let the student envision the future of the lab. Sounds a lot like developing a startup! 4 000 students already visited the I-Lab during it’s opening day, and a startup scramble week end engaged some of them to explore and develop business ideas.

While the I-Lab is still a kindergartner compared to similar facilities such as the MIT Media Lab or Stanford’s Desisseroth Lab, it ambitions to become a must-go place for Boston based entrepreneurs. Will that be enough to keep the most promising startups to fly to Silicon Valley ? Let’s hope so !

Read the whole article in French

US Congress finally finds a way to support Innovation Financing !

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After months of unproductive quarreling that hampered the adoption of crucial entrepreneurship bills, the US Congress surprised us all by adopting two new bills aimed at spurring innovation financing. The first bill, called the Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act, will make it easier to businesses to raise capital through “crowdfunding”, allowing the companies to solicit small equity investment from a large number of people, up to $2 millions. That bill opens a whole new field of investment opportunities for startups, and also for regular people, who can now dream to invest in the next Facebook !

The second law, entitled Small  Company Capital Formation Act, will allow companies to issue up to $50 millions stocks without registering it to the Security & Exchanges Commission. This is a great alternative to IPO who needs important financing amounts and don’t want to go through the long and expensive process of SEC’s registration!

Those two bills still have to be approved by the Senate, but the bipartisan nature of the bills and the huge support at the House makes it almost certain ! This is a great new for entrepreneurs and companies looking for cash, and a proof, if needed, that government representative can collaborate for the greater good of America !

To read the entire article (In French), please click here !