Corporations have the opportunity to partner with VCs but will they grasp it?

Last year there was a surprising level of initial public offerings (IPOs) and merger and acquisition (M&A) activity for venture capital-backed start-ups.

By some accounts, the number of transactions was twice that expected at the end of 2009.

Looking at just IPOs, there were 51 technology IPOs in the US out of a total of 150 transactions, making 2010 the strongest year for technology IPOs since 2005.

Forecasts for this year indicate a continued upward trend for…