#Opening Up Innovation Open Innovation has become a major theme in the life sciences over the last couple of years.
Most of the attention has focused on initiatives where big pharma offers access to non-core assets to outside researchers in the hope that they will develop them successfully or form collaborations.
generating creative initiatives from universities, tech transfer organizations, government and biotechs. BIO-X is an open innovation vehicle run by Uppsala BIO.
It was established in the Stockholm-Uppsala Region of Sweden almost ten years ago to act as an independent bridge-builder between universities
healthcare and industry. According to managing director Erik Forsberg, BIO-X turns the normal approach on its head:
and small biotechs, offering to support their ideas through to proof of principle. or the proposals selected,
The latest call for hospital-acquired infections closed recently with 35 applications. Back in September 2011, Roche global innovation program, called EIN (Expanding the Innovation Network,)
Roche agreed to support a new BIO-X project run by Karolinska Institutet spin out Liquid Biopsy in cancer diagnostics.
including circulating tumor cells from blood, paving the way for better cancer treatments. The project will get access both to the BIO-X process support
and Roche global R&d capabilities, offering access to equipment, services, reagents and know-how, as well as financial support for the project for up to two years f
#Biotechnology Helps Meet Consumer Demand for Earth-Friendly Products Industrial biotechnology has its roots in cleaning up environmental hazards.
In fact, the first patented genetically engineered microbe was designed to clean up oil spills. Today, biotechnology enables manufacturers to make sustainable products with renewable material, instead of oil,
and to use less energy in the manufacturing process A recent Roundtable discussion hosted by the Industrial biotechnology Journal
and printed in its April edition features academic experts and executives from industrial biotechnology and consumer product companies discussing demand for sustainable products.
Visit Journal publisher Maryann Liebert at Booth 3617 in the BIO Exhibition. Consumers are looking for products that are safer,
reduce pollution and energy use, and minimize impact on water quality, according to the participants. Jenny Cross, Global Sustainability Director for Mohawk Industries maker of Smartstrand carpets that use renewable nylons explains:
e find that what she is looking for and in our case, it is mostly a female demographic purchasing flooring is centered really more on the health
and wellbeing of the people inside the home than the more technical aspects of a product. onsumers either have a great awareness of green products
Vice president of Global Sales and Applications for Dupont Industrial Biosciences. bout 80 percent of U s. consumers say they will buy green products
according to Damien Development with Genomatica. early half of the entire chemical industry (45%)reported that they now have investment in research and development for using renewable feedstocks,
The $3. 5 trillion global chemicals market represents a significant opportunity for growth of industrial biotechnology that ultimately provides consumers a choice of safer, cleaner products f
#Wall street journal Highlights Promising Gene therapy Advances Yesterday, bluebird bio reported some very uplifting news at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology.
Two patients with beta-thalassemia, a genetic disorder which normally requires regular blood transfusions, have been able to forgo transfusions for at least five months following a gene therapy treatment from bluebird.
The Wall street journal Ron Winslow reports: Bluebird bio treatment involves extracting blood stem cells from a patient,
treating them with a functioning version of the defective gene that is delivered in a viral delivery vehicle called a vector,
Alexis A. Thompson, head of hematology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of medicine in Chicago, and lead investigator of the study. n a relatively short period of time,
theye requiring minimal to no transfusion support. The first patient treated with a previous version of the treatment has now been transfusion-free for over six years
according to bluebird bio President and CEO Nick Leschly, who is also a member of BIO Board of directors.
Advances such as this show the promise of biotechnology to transform lives and enable patients who had relied previously on frequent,
and women at biotechnology companies across the world are working hard to advance every day. Read the full Wall street journal article here r
Oilseed crops commercialized by Agrisoma were used as a feedstock and transformed by Applied Research Associates into a complete replacement fuel for conventional jet fuel.
Industrial biotechnology continues to enable solutions to energy challenges and building a biobased economy is key to reducing dependence on foreign oil enhancing our nation economic and energy security.
Production and use of advanced biofuel could displace at least 15 billion gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel the equivalent of 475 million barrels of oil each year by 2022, reducing oil imports by $70 billion
Last week, the U s. Navy signed an agreement with biotech company Biodico to collaborate on developing advanced biofuels and bioenergy refineries throughout the globe for the U s. military.
California that will produce biofuels and bioenergy at prices competitive with unsubsidized conventional fuel and power.
The California Energy Commission will partially fund the construction through grants. ur objective is to privately fund sustainable biorefineries at Dod facilities around the world at no cost to the U s. taxpayer,
For every $0. 25 rise in the price of jet fuel the Department of defense (Dod) must come up with an extra $1 billion annually,
which must be diverted from training, maintenance, and other mission-essential programs. The Pentagon spent $17. 3 billion on petroleum in 2011, a 26 percent increase from the previous year with practically no change in the volume purchased.
In fiscal year 2012 alone, the $30 increase in prices of oil resulted in more than $3b in additional, unplanned costs to Dod.
Progress in biofuel-powered flights and the Navy continued pursuit of alternative energy are great steps to help the United states build a biobased economy
The biopharmaceutical industry is an important contributor to U s. economic growth and sustainability, with more than 650,000 direct jobs (supporting a total of nearly 4 million jobs) and an economic output that totals more than $900 billion
As a result, gains and losses in the biopharmaceutical sector cascade across many important economic sectors in the U s. It is becoming clear,
however, that the U s. can no longer take its leadership in biopharmaceuticals or other knowledge-based industries for granted.
to invest in education, in research, in engineering; to set a goal of reaching space
emerging economies, and developed economiesre implementing policies and programs to foster innovation and grow knowledge-based industries;
many of which are targeted to the biopharmaceutical industry and related sectors. Despite the short-term costs associated with these investments,
many foreign governments recognize the long-term economic benefits. As a result, more and more, the U s. is competing globally to maintain its leadership position in biopharmaceuticals.
For purposes of this study, entitled The Biopharmaceutical Research and development Enterprise: Growth Platform for Economies Around the World, Battelle examined policies
and programs being implemented to promote the bioscience sector in 18 countries and the European union (E u.).These countries were selected because of their interest in growing an innovation economy.
In addition, countries selected include a mix of developed countries with an existing biopharmaceutical presence (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Sweden, the United kingdom UK,
and the E u. as a whole) and emerging countries that are targeting the biopharmaceutical sector (Brazil, Chile, China, Russia, Saudi arabia, Singapore, South africa, and South korea).
This report summarizes key findings regarding the efforts being implemented across this mix of countries. It is designed to help gauge how the global environment is changing and the extent to
which global competitors are actively seeking to attract and grow this sector. For example, other countries are increasingly seeking to make substantial public investments in R&d infrastructure,
fostering R&d investment via tax and other research incentives, focusing on attracting and growing talent in related employment fields, ensuring access to capital and fostering public-private partnerships.
In addition, many countries have their own national innovation agenda specifically focusing on biomedical research. Perhaps the most striking finding of this analysis is the similarity found across countries in terms of policies
and programs countries are implementing. While developed countries are more able to leverage their own intellectual
and financial resources and developing economies are more likely to focus first on attracting foreign direct investment and talent from abroad before turning to development of indigenous resources of technology, talent,
and capital, all of the countries examined are focusing on strategic components to grow their biopharmaceutical economy.
Therefore, while the U s. has dominated globally over the past three decades, other developed and developing countries have been making substantial investments via new policies
and programs to increase the economic footprint of the biopharmaceutical and related sectors in their own countries.
The U s. has historically been characterized by strong public and private R&d investments a free market system that supports innovation, a robust IP and regulatory system,
as well as access to venture and other private capital and a well-educated and highly-skilled workforce.
Increasingly, other countries are seeking to develop knowledge-based economies to not only spur economic growth but also increase their ability to compete effectively in a global economy.
Many of these countries are borrowing effective pro-innovation practices that have worked in the U s. and building on them at the same time that the U s,
. in some respects, is becoming less favorable to innovation. For example America innovative biopharmaceutical companies face increasing challenges, ranging from the cost and increased complexity of bringing new medicines to patients, the prospect of attracting
and sustaining the capital needed to develop tomorrow new treatments and cures, the increasing uncertainty related to coverage and payment of innovative medicines,
and intensifying competition from other countries. At the same time, international competition is rising and retaining U s. leadership will require the U s. to not only maintain
but expand investments in R&d and commercialization, education and workforce development, financial capital, and the nation science and technology infrastructure.
Just as other countries have drawn lessons from the growth of the U s. biopharmaceutical sector so too can the U s. learn from other countries that are strategically
and effectively creating a more favorable environment for R&d investment around the globe d
#The White house Releases its Strategy for Restoring Pollinator Habitats Today, The White house released its National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey bees
and Other Pollinators, calling for the restoration or enhancement of 7 million acres of land for pollinators over the next five years through federal actions and public/private partnerships.
Agripulse covered the announcement: Other goals of the strategy are to reduce honey bee colony losses during the winter months to no more than 15 percent within 10 years,
and to increase the population of the Monarch butterfly to 225 million by 2020 in its overwintering grounds in Mexico.
The White house said its Strategy, which includes added research funding, also advances commitments to increase
and improve pollinator habitat, both directly, through management of federal land and facilities, and indirectly,
including pests and pathogens, reduced habitat, lack of nutritional resources and exposure to pesticides. gripulse noted that The Washington post reported that the EPA will announce that it will accelerate a review of the effects of neonicotinoid pesticides on pollinators
and impose new restrictions on what pesticides farmers can use when commercial honeybees are pollinating their crops.
BIO is a member of Croplife America (CLA), a crop protection association that represents the companies that develop,
manufacture, formulate and distribute crop protection chemicals and plant science solutions for agriculture and pest management in the United states. CLA welcomed today release of the White house National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey bees and Other Pollinators.
In their statement they commended the White house Pollinator Task force for issuing a strategy that has pronged a multi
and coordinated approach to bolstering pollinator health. Many of BIO Food & Agriculture Section members are doing their part to help improve pollinator health
and learn more about what is contributing to the decline of butterflies and bees. Bayer developed an entire website page dedicated to bee care.
It holds general information on bees and what Bayer is doing through research to improve bee health.
You can find here information on how Monsanto is helping the honey bees keep on buzzinand the work the company is doing to restore habitats for the monarch butterfly.
You can also also visit BASF page which outlines some factors that may be contributing to the decline in bee health. c
#The New Food Economy: How Innovation is Transforming Agriculture Data analysis and computational technologies are giving farmers the ability to monitor their land better,
to make decisions that can lower costs and increase crop yields, and allow them to access information quickly through their smartphones.
Nanette Byrnes, writer for the MIT Technology Review, calls this the ew food economy. y combining this information with data generated by soil sensors and weather reports,
farmers could find ways to use water, seed, and fertilizer more efficiently, lowering their costs enough to more than pay for the technology investment
while maintaining or even improving yields. Technology is not only helping farmers grow their crops but also aid in monitoring the health of their livestock.
For instance, there is an e-pill in trial that can be swallowed by livestock that can access respiration,
heart rates and help determine the health of the animals to prevent the spread of illnesswithout the use of antibiotics.
Byrnes also suggests that investors play a crucial role in the development and innovative process to promote these technologies. enden Manor Estates,
which keeps 500 milk cows and younger Holstein friesians in Kent, southeast of London, ays that if they get it right,
it will be so transformative.?Food-tech startup investment rose to $1 billion in the past year according to CB insights,
and is popular among Google Ventures, Silicon valley, and Monsanto investors. Such investments led to the creation of water sensors and drones
which help farmers, like Keith Larrabee, make effective decisions. In her second article, Brynes tells Larrabee narrative,
and explains that investors and companies hope their technologies will positively influence a farmer experience:
hen Larrabee began using such sensors, he had to walk into the fields to read each one individually process so laborious that he sometimes did it just once a week.
But now, every 15 minutes, readings from the 25 sensors are fed into a network of solar-powered information-gathering stations scattered through the orchard.
One of the stations transmits that information to a main database via cell signal. Larrabee uses his smartphone
or tablet to log on to see that data, which is available almost instantaneously. It is nearly common knowledge that by 2050 farmers will struggle to feed the massive growing population;
this industry relies on innovative technologies and creative investors to ensure economic stability and food for all.
Farmers now have the ability to make choices that are affordable, effective, and based on fact. arming is moving from being an act of intuitive decision making to an act of analytical decision making,
says David Friedberg, CEO of Climate Corporation, a data modeling firm that Monsanto bought for $930 million in 2013
#Computers can now see images Artificial intelligence has graduated past the infancy stage of figuring out what's in an image.
Computers have previously been capable of little more than a simple game of I Spy: Name a specific object or person,
and they'll show you an image containing it. But thanks to new developments in AI research, machines can now answer more complex questions,
like,"What is there on the grass, except the person?""A research paper at Cornell University outlines a system that learns to identify fine-grained visual features of images,
and the words associated with them. Then it combines the two into a dictionary in its digital brain.
It then references this to answer new questions about never-before-seen images. The research was conducted by a team comprised of experts from the Chinese Internet search company Baidu and a student at the University of California at Los angeles,
and coincides with similar research from Microsoft, Virginia Tech, and various other academic institutions that came out recently."
"Our goal is to enable the computer to connect language with experiences in the physical world,
"says Wei Xu, a distinguished scientist in Baidu's research group.""This is important for solving the problem of common sense reasoning."
"Bloomberg put the Baidu and UCLA system to its own test. I took a picture of a small citrus fruit in the palm of my hand,
and sent it to Baidu with the question, "What is in the centre of the hand?"
"The software answered:""An orange."("It's actually a satsuma, but we'll let it slide.)
This development may sound small, but teaching computers to discern what's inside of images
and associate them with language has proved immensely challenging. Such research draws on different disciplines that have started only recently to converge.
Advances in this field brings us closer to a day when we may be able to ask a search engine like Google or Baidu to ferret through millions of images,
and find only the ones containing a Volkswagen bus with a flat tire, or seven oranges in a bowl.
The development from Baidu and UCLA, while important, is far from perfect. The system can't handle multiple questions in a row
like asking what types of fruit are in a basket, then asking it to count the number of apples.
In tests, it gave the correct answer 64.7 per cent of the time, the paper says.
People answered the questions with 94.8 per cent accuracy.""In its current stage, the system is not ready for serious applications,
as it still makes errors, "Xu says. Creating computers that can look at images and answer specific questions about them"has the distinctive advantage of pushing the frontiers on'AI-complete'problems,
"Microsoft says.""Given the recent progress in the community, we believe the time is ripe to take on such an endeavour."
"Work done by UCLA and two startups has focused on the analysis of surveillance videos. One day, AI may be able to monitor security camera footage to quickly
and automatically discover unmarked vans parked outside of banks for four hours without moving. Baidu is interested in other aspects, too."
"In the future, potential applications are education and mobile image search, "Xu says. AI might cater lessons to students by,
for instance, quizzing them on the types of animals in a photo their parents shot on a weekend trip to the zoo.
With the new research, computers have reached a milestone, not unlike that of many young kids figuring out the world.
You can now show a machine a Dr Seuss book, and it can tell you:
On the cover of this book is a cat wearing a red and white striped hat t
#Soon, a Mastercard phone app to verify online payments via selfies Mastercard is experimenting with a smartphone app
which allows people to confirm their identity and authenticate online transactions via a facial scan.
Users will have to download the Mastercard phone app and at checkout they will be asked to hold up their phone to stare
and blink at it.""The new generation, which is into selfies...I think they'll find it cool.
They'll embrace it, "said Ajay Bhalla, security expert at the American financial services company Mastercard.
Currently, users can set up something called"Securecode, "which requires a password when shopping online. However, passwords can be forgotten,
stolen, or intercepted. Mastercard is launching a small pilot programme involving 500 people that uses fingerprints
-but also facial scans to verify online transactions,'CNN Money'reported. Mastercard said it has partnered with every smartphone maker to make this method of verification possible.
Mastercard said a pop-up will ask for authorisation after people buy something. They can choose fingerprint or facial recognition.
Users who choose facial recognition have to stare at the phone and blink once. Mastercard's security researchers believe blinking is the best way to prevent a thief from just holding up a picture of a person
and fooling the system. Mastercard said it does not actually get a picture of the user's finger or face.
All fingerprint scans will create a code that stays on the device. The facial recognition scan will map out a user's face,
convert it to 1s and 0s and transmit that over the Internet to Mastercard. Bhalla said Mastercard is also experimenting with voice recognition,
so people may be able to simply approve an online transaction by speaking to their phone.
Mastercard is also working with a Canadian firm Nymi, to develop technology that will approve transactions by recognising a person's unique heartbeat t
#Say goodbye to your clunky air conditioner this kitchen table uses no electricity to regulate the temperature of your apartment Consisting simply of a surface and legs,
the table is one piece of furniture that has remained largely the same for thousands of years. But now, a French design duo has come up with a way to turn the humble table into a means of climate control that doesn't use any electricity.
Paris-based industrial designer Jean-Sébastien Lagrange teamed up with French engineer Raphaël Ménard to create the Zero Energy Furniture table, also known as the ZEF Climatic Table.
The ZEF table looks like any other with the sleek design of a solid plank oak top
and angled legs but it could hold the secret to cutting energy costs by as much as 60%.
%e wanted to see if it was possible to address climate and energy issues on a furniture scale,
Lagrange told WIRED. Beneath the oak table are a series of phase-changing materials (PCMS) placed between the wood
and anodized aluminum bottom. The materials soften when the surrounding room reaches around 71 degrees,
absorbing the excess heat, and then harden once the temperature dips back below 71 degrees,
releasing the trapped heat with the help of the aluminum and causing a noticeable change in the room temperature.
That means the table is essentially working like a hermal sponge as Lagrange and Ménard put it,
%which could save a lot of money as well as energy. It a feat of engineering that makes the most sense in homes that don't have climate control.
In climates where the temperature can drastically swing from hot to cold in short spans of time,
the ZEF table would make the climate in that room more consistent. The ZEF table works best in rooms that undergo significant temperature changes frequently.
It would also be best in parts of the world where air conditioning is either undesirable like in parts of Europe where it thought to cause illnesses or unattainable.
If your thermostat or air conditioning unit is constantly turned on, it would be fighting the ZEF table
and using more energy instead of less. Lagrange and Ménard are planning more Zero Energy Furniture in the future.
The pair told WIRED that they are looking into home goods as well as lighting designs in their next project
#Google wants you to buy things straight through Youtube videos (GOOG) Youtube is rolling out a new feature that will let advertisers easily lists goods that they are selling alongside or within their video ads.
The feature is called Trueview for shopping and builds off of the introduction of"cards"in April,
and links to their websites on their videos. Now, Youtube is linking videos ads into the same dashboard it uses for Google Shopping,
so instead of manually connecting individual products and ads, advertisers can have added product links automatically. Essentially, Google its taking the technology and infrastructure it built for Shopping
and letting advertisers use it in on Youtube.;With Trueview ads, which the company launched five years ago,
Google only charges advertisers if a viewer doesn't skip their ad and watches for at least 30-seconds or to the end of the video (whichever is less.)
When it rolled out cards, it started charging either for a click or a full-view,
and that pricing structure will continue with the new feature. The key is that Youtube bets the greater emphasis on this shopping element will make its ads more effective.
And the more effective the ads are, the more advertisers will want to buy them, and then the more that Youtube can charge per view.
Trueview for shopping is optimized for both desktop and mobile.""Advertisers had used annotations in the past to make their videos interactive,
but these didn't work on all screens and viewers didn't always know what to expect,
"Youtube product Manager Avi Fein told Business Insider via email.""So with cards and Trueview for shopping we created a very consistent experience that creates a much more engaging and interactive format for viewers."
"Along with the feature announcement, Google also stressed that people are using Youtube to help them make shopping decisions more than ever.
There are now more than 1 million channels on Youtube focused on product reviews, and views of those videos have grown 50%year-over-year.
And that growth is paying out for brands too. For example, Wayfair said it saw a 3x revenue increase per ad impression served over its previous Youtube campaigns.
This rollout comes not long after the Wall street journal reported that Google plans to roll out a new"buy"button in its Google Shopping search results that will let users make a purchase without being shuttled to a brands website e
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