The Ping An Innovation Center is the first fund established by a major financial institution in China, the company said.

Steamboat Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of US-based media group Disney, is reportedly targeting a first close of its planned $200m fifth fund.

The supplier's Beijing Origin Seed subsidiary and HAU have jointly established the SK Wu Corn Research Institute for this research exchange.

The Maryland Innovation Initiative Fund will be run by the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (Tedco). The state is providing $5m with the remainder coming from five local universities.

Spartan Innovations will provide university-wide entrepreneurship education, stipends to support student start-up business participation, chief executive mentors-in-residence to help manage start-ups and take MSU technology to market, access to a network of external angel and early-stage investors, and gap funding from the $350m MSU Foundation.

Excell has raised $2.5m from Innovate NY and backs high-tech companies that often evolve from research at the state's University of Rochester.

Cosat and the Rogers Family Foundation jointly fund the Bridging-the-Gap programme, which provides nearly $1m a year for targeted research designed to move projects further along the path to commercialization at the University of California.