The news roundup for the week ending 15 April 2016.
Alta Innovations: the origins of success
In part one of a series about Birmingham’s TTO, editor Thierry Heles talks to CEO James Wilkie about Alta Innovations’ origins, ambitions and recently secured first seed fund.
Rakuten invests in Chiba University spinout Autonomous Control Systems Laboratory, which researches and develops unmanned aerial vehicles.
Amal diagnoses series A investment
Geneva spinout Amal Therapeutics moves on with the development of its potential colorectal cancer therapy as it raises $3.1m in series A funding.
CTT reconnects with Cambridge for seed round
Cambridge Touch Technologies gains support from the University of Cambridge Enterprise Fund III after previously securing capital from the institution’s tech transfer office.
Purdue jets towards commercialisation
The Air Force Research Lab at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base signs a commercialisation partnership agreement with Purdue.
Vedanta ingests licensing agreement
Two Japanese universities sign a licensing agreement with immunology and microbiology company Vedanta to discover potential treatments for infectious diseases and cancer.
Michigan University spinout Clinc raises $1.2m to explore the real-world possibilities of artificial intelligence.
Delta Microinverter converts research
Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis has licensed technology to simplify solar panel system installations to Delta Microinverter.
EU and US neck and neck in U-Multirank
US universities dominate “top cited publications” in the latest edition of U-Multirank but lose out to European institutions when looking at “co-publications with industrial partners”.
Acucela sets its sights on Manchester
Manchester University has licensed optogenetic gene therapy to Acucela to develop possible treatments for diseases such as Retinitis Pohmentosa, which causes gradual loss of sight.
Traffic Observation via Management takes $494,000 into account
North West Fund for Venture Capital backs Traffic Observation via Management, a cybersecurity spinout from Liverpool University that is based on initial research from Queen’s University.
Veriflow networks its way to $2.9m
Urbana-Champaign spinout Veriflow emerges out of stealth mode with funding from the US Department of Defense and the National Science Foundation.
