Note: Carl Nelson Consulting, Inc is not an investment adviser and may hold a financial interest or client relationship in companies discussed.

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Illumina has found a famous early adopter for a futuristic personal genome-sequencing service it offers.  The company said Thursday that movie and television star Glenn Close had her genome sequenced last fall, one of about 10 people to have their genetic data compiled since the company introduced the service in June.  While it’s expensive, at $48,000, Illumina says it believes the cost will quickly become a realistic option for many people (with a spare $48K).  [Thomas Kupper, San Diego Union Tribune, Mar 11, 10]

Fuel Cell Energy up 11% [Mar 11, 10]

Metabolix up 14% [Mar 11, 10]

NMT Medical up 10% [Mar 11, 10]

Ultralife will receive $2.4 million in NYSERDA funds to help integrate battery and ultra-capacitors, an electronic energy-storage device, on a common power circuit serving two renewable-energy generation sources that will allow increased renewable-energy contributions to the grid. [Andrea Deckert, Rochester Business Journal, Mar 10, 10]

Cerion Enterprises (Rochester, NY; no SBIR)  gets $200,000 to help develop materials for next-generation lithium-ion batteries, which are used in automotive applications and in consumer electronics .  [Andrea Deckert, Rochester Business Journal, Mar 10, 10]

Several life sciences startups in the San Diego area have received funding in recent weeks. Auspex Pharmaceuticals raised $3 million, Aethlon Medical raised $600,000, and Tocagen got $3 million.  [Bruce Bigelow, signonsandiego.com, Mar 12, 10]

Capital Factory, the tech incubator launched last year by a group of Austin entrepreneurs, has put out a call for startups for its 2010 program. Five companies will be chosen for the intensive mentoring program. In exchange for a 5 percent stake in each startup, Capital Factory will provide up to $20,000 in investment; in-kind services, including office space, legal counseling and public relations support; mentoring by Austin tech executives; and a 10-week summer boot camp. [Austin American-Statesman, Mar 12]

President Barack Obama laid out plans Thursday to help U.S. businesses double their export sales and add what he said would be 2 million more jobs at home during the next 5 years. [Stephen Thomma, McClatchey Newspapers, Mar 12]  Domestic politics. Every elected national leader wants to increase exports in what classic mercantilism treats as a zero-sum game.  Since America's main competitive industrial asset is technology innovation, and our leaders won't tolerate lowering wages, net exports aren't going to grow unless American continually hones that edge. In that spirit, among baser political motives, SBIR was supposed to be a small engine. But after two decades plus, there's little evidence that it is coming close to even a net gain over doing nothing about steering federal R&D toward economic goals. No matter, the mini-battle over SBIR is purely political now.

ImmunoGen reports the [FDA] and the EU Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products has granted orphan drug status to an ImmunoGen compound used to treat Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC).  The compound, IMGN901, has shown effectiveness in treating MCC, a rare aggressive neuroendocrine cancer of the skin that typically occurs on the head/neck, most often in individuals of European ancestry, according to the company.  [Mass High Tech, Mar 10, 10]

InterMune surged 65%, after an FDA panel recommended the agency approve pirfenidone, a lung drug developed to treat a type of pulmonary fibrosis. [Wall Street Journal, Mar 11, 10]

Affymax said it received a $5 million development milestone payment from Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. ... said the payment is part of the companies’ exclusive global agreement to develop and commercialize Hematide, Affymax’s investigational drug for the treatment of anemia in chronic renal failure patients.  [Silicon Valley/ San Jose Business Journal, Mar 10, 10]

Intevac said that its photonics business received a multi-year, $18 million purchasing agreement for its digital night vision module.  [Silicon Valley/ San Jose Business Journal, Mar 9, 10]

XenoPort said it plans to cut its work force by about half and focus its resources on advancement of later-stage drug candidates.  [Silicon Valley/ San Jose Business Journal, Mar 5, 10]

House Democratic leaders banned budget earmarks to private industry, ending a practice that has steered billions of dollars in no-bid contracts to companies and set off corruption scandals. [New York Times, Mar 11]  Senate not so enthusiastic.

Corporate Welfare?   SBIR Insider Rick Shindell reports in high dudgeon that House SB Committee Velazquez said, Without the participation of venture-backed companies, the SBIR program has become little more than corporate welfare for marginal companies who are unable to secure external market-based funding.  Shindell counters that, This statement is not only an outrage, but is untrue and ignorant!  Velazquez is debasing thousands of small businesses and SBIR projects that have provided significant results, more often than not resulting in innovations exceeding that of any other sector including large business and academia.  SBIR success is universally acclaimed by numerous sources, including extensive studies by the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) and the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, not to mention many other countries that are now emulating the program.  The bad news for SBIR advocates is apparent agreement among the Committee with the chair's opinion.  Says Shindell, There were no objections nor amendments so the document was approved/passed by unanimous consent with only a few committee members present.  While only Velazquez knows what's really motivating her, taking on the myth that small business is America's economic savior is pretty brave stuff.  Perhaps the SBIR advocates can reflect that their two decades of opposition to economic evaluation of SBIR has finally come to haunt them. Stay tuned for developments.

Salix Pharmaceuticals' fourth-quarter revenue and net income slightly exceeded analysts' expectations, but the Raleigh company projected first-quarter numbers that were surprisingly low. [Raleigh News & Observer, Mar 10, 10]

Collegium Pharmaceutical (Cumberland, RI; no SBIR) has taken in $1 million of a planned $2.5 million debt financing round, according to [SEC] filing ... develops and commercializes drug treatments of skin-related, respiratory and central nervous system disorders, according to the Collegium website.  ... closed a $20 million Series D financing in July 2008  [Mass High Tech, Mar 9, 10]

Fund Us, or Else.  Britain will suffer decades of economic decline if the next government cuts science spending to help to contain the £178 billion national debt, an influential panel of researchers, business leaders and former ministers warns today.  [Mark Henderson and Suzy Jagger, The Times, Mar 9] The same argument made by every beneficiary in S&T. How's a Congress to decide how much for whom is enough for a reasonable return?  Who's going to argue against science since no one has a vested interest in less funding?

American Superconductor  reports it has landed $10 million from a Chinese company for electrical components for wind turbines.  [Mass High Tech, Mar 8, 10]

Oral vaccine developer Vaxart (San Francisco, CA; $3.8M SBIR) closed a $12.5 million Series B financing. ... to advance its lead product, a potential avian flu vaccine, through Phase I clinical trials.  [Ron Leuty, San Francisco Business Times, Mar 5, 10]

Elevation Pharmaceuticals (San Diego, CA; no SBIR, founded 2008) startup developing aerosol-based treatments for respiratory diseases, said it has raised a tranched $30 million in Series A venture funding. It’s a sizable round for the [San Diego] life sciences community, but other recent fundings have come close. Last month, VentiRx (no SBIR) raised $25 million, Pfenex (no SBIR) got $24 million, and Zogenix (no SBIR)  got $20 million.  [Bruce Bigelow, signonsandiego.com, Mar 8, 10] 

The technology bubble popped a decade ago, but the venture-capital industry that helped finance the boom stayed largely intact. Now venture-capital firms are going through their own brutal culling. ..  says Rebecca Lynn, a principal at venture-capital firm Morgenthaler Ventures in Menlo Park, Calif. "We'll see a continued shakeout as a lot of firms that aren't the top firms won't be around." ... Meanwhile, Austin Ventures has de-emphasized its investments in young companies and is instead focused on larger private-equity deals that take $15 million to $25 million of capital, says Mr. Siegel. [Pui-Wing Tam, Wall Street Journal, Mar 9] Remember that VCs want big ROI, not attaboys or votes for helping mediocre companies.

Isis Biopolymer (Providence, RI; no SBIR, founded 2007) has taken in $3 million in new funding, according to federal documents. ... developing a drug-delivery patch called the IsisIQ .. small, wireless patch that contains microprocessors, thin film batteries, biopolymers and proprietary adhesives. The patch can be loaded and pre-programmed to deliver a variety of drugs at specific intervals, officials said. ...  has raised approximately $4.5 million in funding to date.  [Mass High Tech, Mar 4, 10]

Entopica Therapeutics (Andover, MA; no SBIR), a stealth-mode drug development company incubating in the offices of Ora Inc., has sold $1 million in option or warrant securities to an unidentified investor ...  focusing on therapies to address “ear, nose and throat” maladies  [Mass High Tech, Mar 4, 10]

Exactly a week after signing a deal worth an estimated $9 million, Valence Technology's founder poured $1 million into the rechargeable battery and energy developer.  [Austin Business Journal, Feb 25, 10]

Alnara Pharmaceuticals (no SBIR) stands ready to send its drug target to treat cystic fibrosis to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a mere 16 months after the company raised its first venture capital round of $20 million.  [Julie Donnelly, Mass High Tech, Mar 5, 10]

Power system manufacturer Active Power (Austin, TX; no SBIR) has priced a 13.2 million common stock offering at 75 cents per share that could raise an expected $9 million for the company.  ... founded 1997, 150 employees [Austin Business Journal, Feb 22, 10]

At least five Massachusetts biotechs — Dynogen Pharmaceuticals Inc., Epix Pharmaceuticals, Oscient Pharmaceuticals, Biopure Corp. and Altus — have more or less ceased operations since the stock market meltdown in September 2008.  [Julie Donnelly, Mass High Tech, Mar 5, 10]

Sage Science (Beverly, MA; no SBIR, founded 2005), a developer of laboratory and research-related technologies, has raised a $2 million round of venture capital. [Mass High Tech, Mar 5, 10]

Drug maker NanoViricides (West Haven, CT; no SBIR)  has filed documents stating that it will look to raise up to $40 million through the occasional sale of company stock ... working on antiviral drugs for bird (avian) influenza, seasonal flu, HIV, Dengue fever and rabies  [Mass High Tech, Mar 5, 10]

Intermune  up 59% [Mar 5, 10]  as Wall Street took a favorable view of briefing documents for next week's panel that will review the Brisbane, Calif., biotechnology company's lung-disease treatment and recommend whether the Food and Drug Administration should approve it. While the documents aren't overtly positive, they leave the door open to approval in early May.  [Wall Street Journal, Mar 6, 10]

[IBM] Researchers are claiming an important advance that could change the way computer chips communicate, sharply boosting speed while lowering energy consumption. The goal is to use pulses of light rather than copper wires to exchange information between chips—and to build the needed components out of silicon rather than costly, esoteric materials. IBM's advance involves a key component called an avalanche photodetector, which converts light into electricity. The researchers say they used silicon and the element germanium to create a photodetector that is among the fastest and least power-hungry of its kind. They are publishing their findings in the scientific journal Nature.  [Paul Glader and Don Clark, Wall Street Journal, Mar 4]

Senators Kerry and Lugar introduced a bill (S. 3029) that would provide a new type of visa to allow foreign entrepreneurs to enter the U.S. The proposed EB-6 visa would allow foreigners to enter the U.S. for two years if they can secure at least $250,000 from U.S. investors in support of a start-up venture. This proposal builds upon the EB-5 visa program, which allows foreigners to enter the U.S. if they invest at least $1 million of their own money in a new venture which creates at least ten jobs. [AAAS, Mar 5]

Science Wins One. A prominent [religious] conservative lost his seat on the [Texas] state education board, a shift that weakens the board's powerful social conservative bloc. ... to challenger Thomas Ratliff, viewed as a moderate, on the board that shapes what millions of students read in textbooks. [Wall Street Journal, Mar 4]

But Religion Soldiers On. South Dakota Legislature Considering Resolution on "Balanced" Teaching of Climate Change.By an 18-17 vote, the South Dakota State Senate passed a concurrent resolution on the teaching of climate change in public schools, urging that the subject be taught in a "balanced and objective manner" and stating that the debate on global climate change is "subject to varying scientific interpretations." The Senate amended an earlier resolution (HCR 1009) that passed the state's House of Representatives 36-30, which had included a recommendation to include in classroom instruction discussion of "a variety of climatological, meteorological, astrological, thermological, cosmological, and ecological dynamics that can effect [sic] world weather phenomena and that the significance and interrelativity of these factors is largely speculative." The bill now returns to the House.  [AAAS, Mar 5]  "Balanced" apparently includes superstition, holy scripture, faith, and astrology.

After spending last year in the doldrums, venture capitalists are optimistic that a rebound will occur this year, particularly in the so-called green-tech energy and conservation sector, according to a recent survey from the tax and advisory firm KPMG LLP.  [Boston Globe, Mar 5]

Need Government Support? Viktor Petrik shows off what he describes as his discoveries: a cell that generates electricity when you breathe on it. A new way to produce silicon for computer chips from fertilizer waste. A filter that cleans the toxins—and the color—from red wine. "This is real, serious science here," he says ...  He has won some high-level support. United Russia, the ruling party, regularly gives him prominent roles in events on innovation, while officials including Boris Gryzlov, the speaker of Russia's parliament and No. 2 in the party, have publicly endorsed his products ...  Mr. Petrik's detractors say he's the latest in a long history of false experts who owe their success to their ability to fool people in power. Says Petrik critic Rostislav Polishchuk, a member of the pseudoscience commission: "Russia is especially vulnerable to this."   [Gregory White, Wall Street Journal, Mar 5, 10] Give cold-fusion another whirl and invoke your US Representative.

Konarka Technologies has taken in a $20 million investment from Japanese giant Konica Minolta Holdings Inc. in a deal that will have the two companies collaborate on organic thin-film photovoltaics. [Mass High Tech, Mar 2, 10]

Inovio Biomedical (San Diego, CA; no SBIR) said it got the go-ahead to begin human trials of a preventive vaccine for H5N1 avian flu in Korea.  [San Diego Union Tribune, Mar 3, 10]

1st Detect (Austin, TX, no SBIR) which is developing a portable chemical detection device, said that it has received a $1.8 million grant from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund. ....  formed by Astrotech (Austin, TX; no SBIR) satellite and space research company. It is commercializing miniature mass spectrometer technology first developed for the International Space Station. [Austin American-Statesman, Mar 4, 10]

Albany Molecular Research has sued a consultant for at least $5 million, alleging the man gave away proprietary information to a competitor in the pharmaceutical industry.   ...  According to the lawsuit was [while consulting for AMRI] also employed as a consultant with [a foreign] company [that] AMRI beat in its bid for development work on the drug. [Adam Sichko, Business Review (Albany), Feb 25, 10]...  AMRI also paid $19 million to acquire a chemical development company in Wales. [Business Review (Albany), Feb 18, 10]

Insight Technology has landed $34.1 million from the U.S. Navy to develop imaging technology for night vision goggles  [Mass High Tech, Mar 2, 10]

Fibrocell Science (Exton, PA; no SBIR) entered into a $3.8 million securities purchase agreement with unidentified accredited investors. .... developing regenerative cell therapy treatments for aesthetic, medical and scientific applications. [John George, Philadelphia Business Journal, Mar 3, 10]

CryoLife (Kennesaw, GA; $2.5M SBIR) may engage in a proxy fight to take over medtech Medafor (Brooklyn Center, MN; no SBIR) after Medafor  rejected CryoLife’s initial $40 million offer for company. [Minneapolis/St Paul Business Journal, Feb 18, 10]

Political Help Claimed.  NeuroDx Development (Bensalem, PA; no previous SBIR) received a $143,000 SBIR to continue its development of improved diagnostic tests for children and adults with brain injuries and diseases. ...  “This grant supports the vital research that NeuroDx is conducting to help those suffering from this brain condition, as well as supporting employment in this cutting-edge field,” said U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Bucks, who helped the company secure the funding.  [Philadelphia Business Journal, Mar 1, 10] 

Ra Pharmaceuticals (Boston, MA; no SBIR) has pulled in $10.3 million of a planned $27.6 million equity round of financing, according to [SEC] filing. [Mass High Tech, Feb 26, 10]

NMT Medical maker of medical implant technologies, has completed a private placement to bring in about $5.8 million. [Mass High Tech, Feb 17, 10]

CyVek (Wallingford, CT; no SBIR) has pulled in $1.95 million in an equity offering [Mass High Tech, Feb 17, 10]

Medivation sank 67% after reporting that its experimental Alzheimer's disease treatment Dimebon, in development with large-cap Pfizer, failed to show effectiveness in late-stage trials. [Wall Street Journal, Mar 4, 10]

calls for the Small Business Administration to help business owners find willing lenders and, as a last resort, issue the loan directly. While this provision passed a House vote in October, the direct-lending provision has an uncertain future as it awaits consideration from the Senate. ...  The president, in his response, said that the SBA "does not have the infrastructure to go all across the country in every region and process loans." He added that creating a direct-lending system would make a "massive bureaucracy." .... If businesses are being told 'no' because they are not creditworthy and lenders won't make the loan with a 90% SBA guarantee, why should the taxpayers do it with a 100% guarantee?" says Jonathan Swain, an SBA representative  [Emily Maltby, Wall Street Journal, Mar 4]

Medicare vs Moonshots.  NASA chief Charles Bolden has asked senior managers to draw up an alternate plan for the space agency after members of Congress indicated they wanted to reject a White House proposal to hire private companies to ferry U.S. astronauts into orbit and beyond.  In an internal memo viewed by The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Bolden ordered officials to map out "what a potential compromise might look like" to satisfy critics on Capitol Hill. By calling for an alternative plan, Mr. Bolden threatened to undercut White House efforts to get its proposed NASA budget through Congress. [Andy Pasztor, Wall Street Journal, Mar 4]

Sequenom  up 16% [Mar 2, 10]

Icagen  (Durham, NC; $700K SBIR) hit another setback when its experimental pain medicine didn't help patients during a small test in Britain. ... reported late Monday that the drug did not reduce pain in 24 healthy volunteers who were given simulated sunburns or injected with capsaicin, the active ingredient in chili peppers. ... has seen several experimental drugs run into regulatory roadblocks. ... risks being delisted by the Nasdaq if it doesn't trade above $1 for 10 consecutive days by May. [IPO] 2005 at $8, but have never lived up to investors' expectations. [Alan Wolf, Raleigh News & Observer, Mar 2, 10]

Superconductor Tech  up 16% [Mar 2, 10]

Allos Thera  down 13% [Mar 2, 10]

Anthera Pharmaceuticals (no SBIR), an unprofitable company that hasn't obtained regulatory approval for any of its treatments, rose one cent to $7.01 in their debut. ... restructured its offering after failing to debut last week;.  [Wall Street Journal, Mar 2, 10]

Promentis Pharmaceuticals   (Milwaukee, WI; $500K SBIR) developing drugs to treat schizophrenia and other central nervous system disorders said Thursday it has raised $1.94 million from investors. [Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Feb 26, 10]

strredwolf writes "Caltech has released a flexible solar array that converts 95% of single-wavelength incandescent light and 86% of all sunlight into electricity. Instead of being flat-panel, they stand thin silicon wires in a plastic substrate that scatters the light onto them. The total composition is 98% plastic, 2% wire — the amount of silicon used is 1/50th that of ordinary panels. So as soon as they can get these to market, solar could be very viable and cheap to produce." [slashdot.org, Mar 1]

Bio-based chemicals developer Myriant Technologies (Quincy, MA; no SBIR) has raised $5 million in new funding according to federal documents. ... ways to produce various acids from biomass ... In December, Myriant received an award of up to $50 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to help finance a renewable biochemicals facility in Louisiana   [Mass High tech, Feb 24, 10]

Novelos Therapeutics (Newton, MA; one SBIR) said in a press release today that "the primary endpoint of improvement in overall survival was not met" in a Phase 3 trial of its lead drug when it was used in combination with first-line chemotherapy. [Boston Globe, Feb 25]

Unable to secure financing in a tough economy, VitalMedix  (Hudson, WI; no SBIR), a promising  start-up company spun off from the University of Minnesota, will liquidate under federal bankruptcy laws. ...  was developing a hemorrhagic shock drug called Tamiasyn designed to keep alive victims suffering near-fatal injuries  [Janet Moore, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Feb 25, 10]

Florida's efforts to boost its biotechnology sector may not be paying off as quickly as originally hoped. ... $449 million invested through the Innovation Incentive Program has yet to result in industry growth in counties where the program's grantees have their facilities. ... suggests that the state's lack of early-stage capital for biotech startups may be contributing to the sluggish pace of development. [SSTI, Feb 24]  Government "investment" always sounds good, until ROI time comes. In R&D particularly, the sci-techs have more interest in good science than in economics and profit.

The board of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center today approved spending $5.5 million to launch the second year of its flagship investment program, which provides "accelerator" loans to early-stage biotechnology and medical device companies.Applications to the program are due by March 24, and loans of up to $750,000 per company will be available   [Robert Weisman, Boston Globe, Feb 25]

Salix Pharma  up 20% [Feb 24, 10]

ViroPharma  up 10% [Feb 24, 10]

SBIR Insider Rick Shindell fulminates on the House's old-trick blatant attempt to get all its pet SBIR ideas into law by default as a rider on the "must pass" jobs bill. Says Rick: virtually unlimited majority ownership and control of small businesses by VC syndicates; no limitations on the overall percentage of award dollars made to these larger entities; elimination of mandatory phase I (allows direct to phase II); allowing and encouraging "Jumbo Awards",  award amounts with no ceilings, only loose guidelines not requiring justification (makes possible $10B, $20B or more awards,); allowing earmarking of SBIR award dollars; only 2 year reauthorization (contributes to continued destabilization of the SBIR program but acts as a fund raising mechanism for incumbent house members, bipartisan at that); no allowance to raise the SBIR allocation (Senate raises from 2.5% to 3.5% over 10 years).  There are many additional issues beyond the scope of this article. For those who believe SBIR is the greatest advance since sliced bread, Rick goes on the repeat the usual arguments for SBIR.

Intel and 24 venture capital firms said Tuesday that they planned to invest $3.5 billion in American start-ups over the next two years. ...   hiring 10,500 graduates of American colleges, largely those with computer science and engineering degrees  ...   Fewer than 10 percent of college graduates in the United States have engineering degrees, compared with more than one-third in India and China, and more foreign-born graduates of United States universities are returning to their home countries, he said. ...  others say that the competitive threat from abroad is overblown. The United States benefits no matter where new technologies are invented, because Americans are more innovative at using and commercializing technologies, said Amar Bhidé, a visiting professor at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard [Claire Cain Miller, New York Times, Feb 24]

Bloom Energy (Sunnyvale, CA; no SBIR) , has raised about $400 million from investors and spent nearly a decade developing a new variety of solid oxide fuel cell, ...  generating electricity at a cost of 8 to 10 cents a kilowatt hour, using natural gas. [Todd Woody, New York Times, Feb 24]

Luminus Devices (Billerica,MA; no SBIR) designer, developer and manufacturer of LEDs, announced the closing of its round of funding totaling $19 million.  [Boston Globe, Feb 23, 10]

Elevation Pharmaceuticals  (San Diego, CA; no SBIR) a biotech startup developing aerosol-based treatments for respiratory diseases, said today it has raised a tranched $30 million in Series A venture funding [Bruce Bigelow, San Diego, Union Tribune, Feb 24, 10]

Nasdaq halted trading in Salix Pharmaceuticals shares this morning, as the company awaits word from regulators on one of its medicines. [Raleigh News & Observer, Feb 23, 10]  but then Salix Pharmaceuticals shares jumped as much as 18 percent in after-hours trading Tuesday after the company's application to market its best-selling drug Xifaxan for a serious liver disease got a thumbs up from a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel. [Raleigh News & Observer, Feb 24, 10]

Xenoport  down 10% [Feb 23, 10]

Cellectar  (Madison, WI; no SBIR) testing a radioactive drug with potential to identify and treat tumors has raised $2.7 million of funding, according to [SEC] filing ... already raised $22 million prior  [Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Feb 22, 10]

Fuel Cell Energy  up 12% [Feb 22, 10]

Cleveland BioLabs  up 13% [Feb 22, 10]

Luna Innovations  up 12% [Feb 19, 10]gained ground after plunging almost 70% the day before when it said that the FDA had decided not to approve Horizant, also known as gabapentin enacarbil, for the treatment of restless-legs syndrome, citing concerns that early animal studies had indicated the product might trigger pancreatic tumors. [marketwatch.com, Feb 20, 10]

Defense and security technology firm L-3 Communications said it would acquire Insight Technology (Londonderry, NH; $1.1M SBIR) maker of night vision goggles and other electro-optical equipment.  ...  L3 said Insight is expected to generate $290 million in sales for 2010, and while it would not disclose the purchase price, it is approximately nine times Insight’s 2010 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of this year.

Insight employs about 1,100 people. [Mass High Tech, Feb 19, 10]

NIH is proposing to expand its definition of human embryonic stem cells, enabling the university researchers it finances to work with cells derived from a very early human egg. The proposal will benefit several academic researchers and a company, Advanced Cell Technology (Santa Monica, CA and Worcester, MA; $500K SBIR) , that has filed a request with the FDA to test a treatment for macular degeneration, an eye disease. If approved, it would be among the first clinical tests of embryonic stem cells, which were first discovered in 1998. [New York Times, Feb 20, 10]

Last month the Department of Defense (DOD) asked SBTC to come up with a list of possible improvements to make the DOD's SBIR program more efficient. The parameters for SBTC's recommendations were that the improvements had to be non-legislative and could be quickly implemented. To address this issue, SBTC formed a committee of about 16 small businesses that have had experience working with the DOD SBIR program. After coming up with a number of good ideas, the committee whittled the recommendations down to five main topics. 1)     The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and the Director of Defense Research and Engineering (DDR&E) should direct DOD to prioritize the use of SBIR technology in acquisition programs.  2)     Simplify and streamline the SBIR contracting process. 3)     Provide incentives and rewards to government organizations and prime contractors for successful transitioning and commercialization of SBIR technology.  4)     Educate DOD contracting, management, and technical personnel. 5)     Increase SBIR allocation in the DOD from 2.5 percent to 5 percent, and implement scheduled 1 percent increase in SBIR transitioning funding immediately, rather than over 10 years.  [SBIR Alerting Service, Feb 19]   In other words: lobbyists say give our clients more money (from somebody else's wallet), and pay more attention to their whining. I suppose that's responsive to DOD's request if they adopt a twisted idea of efficiency, which should mean more output per unit of input. If they really wanted efficiency (instead of just more money) they would recommend picking companies and ideas with a future. None of those recommendations would make any efficiency from a rocket plume model project, and passing out money faster to the wrong places won't help efficiency. How about starting with: 1) give some experienced VCs and financially successful SBIR business execs a voice in selections and project structures; 2) toss out every year the bottom some percent of companies with no financial success after an SBIR technical success; 3) give a specified portion of the money to managers who will go for, and be willing to measured and rewarded by, economic success from tech success for a military objective; 4) institute some kind of structure that forces every successive SBIR for a company's technology to meet a steeply progressive requirement for third-party co-investment. Anyway, if DOD were serious about efficiency, it wouldn't be asking such question of lobbyists.   

Real efficiency. NVE is the 4th most efficient company in [Technology stocks]. .. earnings per employee was $230,210 for the last 12 months. That's profits! Hittite Microwave  the 9th most efficient [with] earnings per employee was $140,570 for the last 12 months. [China Analyst, Feb 19 10]  Thanks to Jeff Bond for the info.

Xenoport  up 26% [Feb 19, 10]

Salix Pharmaceuticals down 9%. FDA questioned the impact of the company's drug that would treat a condition caused by the buildup of toxic substances that impairs brain function known as hepatic encephalopathy. [Wall Street Journal, Feb 20, 10]

Aryx Therapeutics (Fremont, CA; no SBIR) tumbled 48%  said its recent partnership discussions on its antiarrhythmic treatment had fallen apart, leading it to explore other options and make its second job cut in four months. [Wall Street Journal, Feb 20, 10]

Cellular Dynamics International (Madison, WI; $500K SBIR) has raised $40.6 million, according to [SEC] filing ... sells stem cell-derived heart cells to Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche and others to help them test the toxicity of drugs. ... previously raised $18 million in late 2008 from mostly Wisconsin-based investors.  [Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Feb 18, 10]

Eleven Biotherapeutics, (Cambridge, MA; no SBIR) said it has completed a $35 million Series A financing ...  based on recent breakthroughs in protein engineering and structural biology ...  initial focus includes developing products to treat inflammatory conditions and coagulation disorders. [Boston Globe, Feb 17, 10]

Immunomedics  up 13% [Feb 17, 10]

Luna Innovations  up 20% [Feb 17, 10]

Revival in Tech Valley.  Applied Materials reported another quarterly profit and a 39% jump in revenue, as the Silicon Valley company continues to rebound from a steep slump affecting makers of computer chips. [Wall Street Journal, Feb 18]

II-VI  inked a $40 million multi-year agreement with Lockheed Martin to supply components for the Joint Strike Fighter, F-35 Lighting II, the company said .... will be supplying sapphire windows [Malia Spencer, Pittsburgh Business Times, Feb 11, 10]

Long-time chip designer Intrinsity  (Austin, TX; no SBIR) raised $4 million in a new round of funding. ... from 11 investors ..  founded 1997 ... employed more than 100 workers in early 2008. [Austin Business Journal, Feb 12, 10]

Medical device startup SurgiQuest (Orange, CT; no SBIR) has boosted its previously announced funding round from $3.3 million to $15 million in a combination of equity, options and warrants for securities, according to federal documents. ... makes a device that uses aerodynamics to create an airtight area in which to perform surgeries  [Mass High Tech, Feb 16, 10]

iRobot announced that it has delivered its 3,000th PackBot tactical mobile robot  [Boston Globe, Feb 17, 10]  War has been great for business.

Sequenom  up 16% [Feb 16, 10]

much of the cutting-edge research and development in key areas such as renewable energy now takes place outside the United States. There's a real chance that the "green Silicon Valley" will take root in Germany or China. We can't afford to let that happen.  ... Show me a program with a 100 percent success rate, and I'll show you one with 0 percent innovation.  [Google CEO Eric Schmidt, WaPo, Feb 9] One serious problem with DOD and NASA SBIR, the Innovation seeks too much certainty. But then those mission agencies have no incentive to foster US innovation for economic progress. And a politically paralyzed Congress is in no shape to remake anything.

The strengths of a region once known as the "machine shop to the world" helped set it apart from nearly 80 other cities considered by Spain's Ingeteam, which announced it will open its first U.S. factory in Milwaukee [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Feb 17]

If the US is to stop losing ground against other mature and developing economies, it is going to have to put money to work more effectively. We are still the leaders in technology and scientific research and we must continue to take advantage of the commercial possibilities of innovation.  ...  but in the first decade of this century capital productivity declined seriously ..  by the end of the decade it took six dollars of capital to produce a dollar of growth. The return on that would only be 5 per cent and few would put money at risk for that reward    [Byron Wein, Financial Times, Feb 16]  Just one more reason for government programs like SBIR to focus on serious capital investment in technology with a future.

Fear and overwork. productivity is soaring. The reading of better than 8 per cent growth is the highest in decades. Rather than applaud the efficiency of the American worker one should wonder if the numbers are too good. Are workers being driven to the point of exhaustion? There’s no sign that anyone’s complaining. Wage rates are barely increasing. Most of us with jobs are glad to have them and aren’t willing to make any waves. How much longer can this go on? Not much longer [Byron Wein, Financial Times, Feb 16]

Since Marc Stanley is retiring, ... NIST is seeking qualified applicants for the director of the Technology Innovation Program (TIP). ... to support, promote, and accelerate innovation in the United States through high-risk, high-reward research in areas of critical national need  [SSTI, Feb 16] Applicant needs steady nerves to withstand Republican free-market drumbeat.

Josh Lerner has been selected as the 2010 recipient of the Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research. [SSTI, Feb 16]

Replenishing the Innovation Incentive Fund and investing in space industry, public research, and green energy technologies are among Gov. Charlie Crist's FY11 budget recommendations to grow the state's innovation economy and establish Florida as a pre-eminent global hub. ...   includes $100 million for the Innovation Incentive Fund, which was established in 2006 to attract R&D companies and create high-wage jobs  ... The fund was depleted in 2008 [SSTI, Feb 16]

When in doubt, re-organize. The Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST) is among a list of 16 state agencies slated for consolidation in Gov. Brad Henry's budget proposal, which he says will result in cost savings of $5.3 million. Under the proposal, OCAST would be moved to the Department of Commerce, along with Aeronautics, Indian Affairs and the Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority. Funding for OCAST would be reduced by 3 percent  [SSTI, Feb 16]

Promentis Pharmaceuticals (Milwaukee, WI; $500K SBIR; founded 2006) will receive a $250,000 Technology Venture Fund loan from the state Department of Commerce to continue development of pharmaceuticals that treat psychiatric, behavioral and neurological disorders. ... initially focused on the development of a new class of antipsychotic medications for the treatment of schizophrenia. [Business Journal of Milwaukee, Feb 11, 10]

Theragenics (Buford, GA; one SBIR 1987) set a revenue record in 2009 and ended up in the black. .... Research and development cost were up 69 percent to $2.2 million due to investments to support future growth in Theragenics’ surgical products segment.  [Atlanta Business Chronicle, Feb 11, 10] trades on NYSE with $44M market cap, down to about 4% of its 1998 high.

SunPower agreed to buy European solar plant developer SunRay Renewable Energy for $277 million.  [San Francisco Business Times, Feb 11, 10]

A flying Boeing 747 equipped with a massive laser gun shot down a Scud-like missile over the Pacific late Thursday, marking what analysts said was a major milestone in the development of the nation's missile-defense system. [WJ Hennigan, LA Times, Feb 12] The USAF version of anti-missile defense: get 'em during powered flight phase. Such a defense requires control of the air in the neighborhood of the launching country.

If you think you want to get some of MDA's SBIR to help both you and the DOD, be prepared to be quite specific on engineering details and performance of your stuff. The latest list of MDA SBIR awards screams that MDA cares little for innovation or market potential. It's nearly a perfect list of military R&D directly serving on-going development and deployment programs. Which also gives an edge to companies who have made friends in the MDA organization.  A Risk Reduction Process for Enhanced Mission Assurance;  Enhancements to Continuum Plume Flowfield Models for Transitional Flow Simulations; Global Missile Defense Battle Management; Rapid End-game Assessment Package; Development of Validated Plume Signature Codes at Nontraditional Wavelengths Utilizing Ground Based Simulation Facilities; Distributed, Cooperative Planning and Automatic Optimization for Existing BMDS Engagement Planner; etc, etc  You're not going to compete for this stuff until you have an inside view, nor are going to attract outside capital for any downstream markets. The chance that private capital will further develop these ideas into products that MDA would buy later with no interim investment by MDA?  NIL; they would rather have knowledge and control now than depend on uncontrolled and competitive investment, no matter how great the ultimate gain.  Which, I suppose, might even be reasonable if they could rely on unlimited funding for their development and procurement plans.

Incubate elsewhere.   Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is closing its business incubation center, ending a program that helped develop some of the area’s most successful pharmaceutical, software and video game companies.  The school is phasing out its 30-year-old incubator by the end of the month and plans to replace it with a new virtual program focused on energy and environmental products, services and start-up companies. Rensselaer’s decision leaves its remaining 13 tenants scrambling to find new space off campus to ensure their businesses are not interrupted. [The Business Review (Albany), Feb 5]

Excelimmune (Woburn, MA; one SBIR 2009) has pulled in $1 million in a Series B investment round that will support studies of the company’s drug candidate to treat methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). ...  founded in 2006 [Mass High Tech, Feb 12, 10]

Alexza Pharmaceuticals rose 8% after the FDA accepted the company's drug application for a treatment for agitation in patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. [Wall Street Journal, Feb 12, 10]

Flir Systems fell 8% as quarterly earnings fell 7.3% on lower margins and weak business in its government segment. Also, its 2010 per-share earnings forecast was below analysts' expectations.  [Wall Street Journal, Feb 12, 10]

Protonex Technology said it has been selected by the defense contractor Lockheed Martin to develop power supply concepts that will enable its HULC robotic exoskeleton to support extended missions of 72 hours or more. [Boston Globe, Feb 11, 10]

Senomyx  down 11% [Feb 11, 10]

Superconductor Tech  up 10% [Feb 10, 10]

BioCryst Pharma  up 18% [Feb 10, 10]

Isis Pharma  down 19% [Feb 10, 10] said its cholesterol-lowering drug mipomersen was effective in a late-stage clinical trial, but safety concerns [on liver toxicity] pushed the company's shares down [Reuters]

Two chip-design startups from Austin will be sending marketing teams to Barcelona, Spain, next week to talk to the titans of the cell phone business ... [Black Sand Technologies and Javelin Semiconductor, neither had SBIR] are developing innovative chips that serve as signal amplifiers for advanced 3G cell phones. [Austin American Statesman, Feb 11, 10]

Silicon Valley's economy took a big hit during the global meltdown and could have trouble climbing out, ... The 2010 Index of Silicon Valley said the region is entering a "new phase of uncertainty" where job losses, a shrinking foreign talent pool, a drop in investments and state legislative gridlock could put its standing as the center of technology at risk.  [Brooke Donald, AP, Feb 10]

CytoSolv (Providence, RI; no SBIR) biotech startup has taken in $500,000 in seed-stage funding from the Slater Technology Fund, Rhode Island’s state-backed venture capital fund. ... developing proprietary technology to address wound healing, initially targeting diabetic ulcers [Mass High Tech, Feb 9, 10]

Cell Therapeutics sank 40% after the FDA said that there was limited clinical evidence on the Seattle company's proposed drug to treat non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. [Wall Street Journal, Feb 9, 10]

Dynavax Technologies (Berkeley, CA; $2.2M SBIR) will start a 2,000-patient trial of its investigational adult hepatitis B vaccine, aiming for data in the first half of 2011. .. has a Phase III trial under way in chronic kidney disease patients using the same vaccine [Ron Leuty, San Francisco Business Times, Feb 8, 10]

BioMarin Pharmaceutical (Novato, CA; $200K SBIR)  agreed to buy Lead Therapeutics (San Bruno, CA; no SBIR) which has a cancer drug in early development, for $18 million.  [SEF Brown, San Francisco Business Times, Feb 4, 10]

Drug development company Xoma plans to raise about $21 million by selling stock and warrants.  [San Francisco Business Times, Feb 2, 10]

Silicon Valley venture capitalist John Denniston advocated greater spending on green energy. "We can continue business as usual, and we'll be buying windmills from Europe, batteries from Japan and solar panels from China,"  ... Roger Martin, a professor at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management, denounced what he called the self-serving myth that this nation lags in engineering and science. He said the key to creative thinking is the study of literature, history and other liberal arts.  We seem to be headed to a world where we're ever-exalting analytic thinking over creativity," Martin said. "If anyone here thinks we're going to fend off the challenge from India and China by being more analytical, then I have one thing to say to you: Good luck." [John Murawski, Raleigh News & Observer, Feb 9] reporting on Raleigh's Emerging Issues Forum

Venture capital investment in cleantech businesses fell by half in 2009, according to an Ernst & Young LLP report. [San Francisco Business Times, Feb 8, 10]

Luminex (Austin, TX; one SBIR) posts 4th-quarter revenue of $38.2 million, up 35% from 2008 ....  makes biological testing systems for medical and life sciences customers  [Austin American Statesman, Feb 6, 10]

Disc Dynamics  (Eden Prairie, MN; no SBIR), a once-promising medical device start-up that raised about $65 million from investors, has shut down and is selling off its assets.  ...  developed a minimally invasive technique to treat low back pain, failed to win a go-ahead from the FDA to conduct a pivotal clinical trial.  [Minneapolis Star Tribune, Feb 5, 10]

Infinia (Kennewick, WA; $3.6M SBIR) is raising another truckload of money. ... backed by Paul Allen and Vinod Khosla, has snapped up $11.5 million in new equity financing out of a round that could bring in as much as $75 million over time, according to a regulatory filing. ... developing solar-powered [Stirling] engines to generate large amounts of electricity in a renewable way  [xconomy.com/seattle, Feb 5, 10]

HemaQuest Pharmaceuticals (Seattle, WA; no SBIR) has raised $6 million in equity financing out of a round that could be worth as much as $12.7 million, according to a regulatory filing. ... led by former Xcyte Therapies ($1.3M SBIR) CEO Ron Berenson, is pursuing a new treatment for sickle cell anemia. [xconomy.com/seattle, Feb 4, 10]

Kensey Nash  down 15% [Feb 5, 10]

Let's Have an Industrial Policy?  The U.S. is down to four world leading industries: entertainment, out of Los Angeles (heavily indebted to Democrats); information technology, out of the Bay Area (likewise); energy, out of Houston (heavily indebted to Republicans); and financial services, out of New York (indebted to both parties). That's it, folks. We're otherwise second- or third-rung suppliers across the range of manufactured products—except for biotech, a small industry—and we can still (mostly) feed ourselves. ... We've never systematically used government incentives to help U.S. industry compete across the board. It's time we did, like everyone else.  [John Hofmeister (formerly of big oil), Wall Street Journal, Feb 8] SBIR advocates would be for it, even though they cannot prove economic success after nearly three decades of handout. The industrial policy advocates similarly cannot prove that their ideas work better in a competitive world than free markets. Like most advocates, they believe in sub-optimizing and pretend that it's global optimizing.

 "Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune." - Jim Rohn 

Tepha (Lexington, MA; $2M SBIR) medical devices company, has raised almost $3 million in financing, according to [SEC filing ] ... founded in 1998 as a spinoff of a collaboration between its sister company Metabolix Inc. in Cambridge and Children’s Hospital Boston to develop technologies related to cardiac tissue engineering.  ..  makes absorbable biomaterials, including polymers and elastomers, used in medical devices such as surgical sutures and meshes.  [Mass High Tech, Feb 4, 10]

AXT won a five year contract with Germany’s Azur Space Solar Power GmbH.... will sell germanium substrates to Heilbronn-based Azur Space, which will used them to make solar cells. [San Francisco Business Times, Feb 2, 10]

Virent Energy Systems (Madison, WI; two SBIRs) has been awarded $2.4 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to help convert plant sugars into transportation fuels.... included in $33.8 million in funds from the [stimulus] to the National Advanced Biofuels Consortium ... Virent said it started working on pre-treatment and deconstruction of cellulosic biomass in 2007 with a $2 million Advanced Technology Program grant from NIST.  [Thomas Content, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Feb 4, 10]  Note that the stimulus funding is still in its first year when you hear all the political whining that the stimulus failed as measured by the 10% national unemployment. Facts are elastic toys in the hand of politicians eager for theater.

Aerovironment  down 12% [Feb 4, 10]  after preliminary federal budget plans, Companies in FBR's coverage space that fared the worst because of the budget were industry leader Lockheed Martin and AeroVironment, the firm said [Reuters]

Optelecom  up 11% [Feb 4, 10]

Affymetrix  up 29% [Feb 4, 10]posted a surprise quarterly profit and said it expects to be profitable in 2010 after almost two years. [Reuters]

AMAG Pharma  down 16% [Feb 4, 10] after an analyst downgraded the stock on concerns that kidney disease patients treated with the company's intravenous iron replacement therapy Feraheme are ending up in the hospital with severe allergic reactions. [thestreet.com]

Senomyx  down 10% [Feb 4, 10]

Achillion Pharmaceuticals said it entered a partnership to develop and sell its hepatitis B and HIV drug candidate elvucitabine in China and other territories.  [AP, Feb 2, 10]

Respiratory disease business Pearl Therapeutics (Redwood City, CA; no SBIR) raised $15 million in loans that will be converted to equity in its next round of venture funding. [SEF Brown, San Francisco Business Times, Feb 2, 10]

Solar-power technology developer 1366 Technologies has landed $5.1 million of a planned $6.2 million round of venture capital. [Craig Douglas, Mass High Tech, Feb 4, 10]

Protonex Technology reports it has landed $1.5 million from the U.S. Army for supplying portable battery charger fuel cells. [Mass High Tech, Feb 4, 10]

indispensable capitalist partner. China said it issued a record number of patents in 2009, [up 41% from a year earlier] but concerns are growing that new patent regulations and other initiatives may damp that growth. [Wall Street Journal, Feb 4]  Everybody worries about regulation.  The Chinese revitalization of Asian capitalism remains the most important positive event in the world in the last 30 years. Not only did it release a billion people from penury and oppression but it transformed China from a communist enemy of the U.S. into a now indispensable capitalist partner.  [George Gilder, Wall Street Journal, Feb 5]

Public growth, private shrinkage.  NSF, NIST laboratories, and the Department of Energy's Office of Science continue on the path to doubling their budgets. [SSTI, Feb 4]  As always, scientists believe that deficit reduction beef must come from some other sacred cow. But,   GSK plans to expand previous cost-cutting efforts by saving nearly $800 million more a year by 2012 than previously planned. Half of that savings will come from reducing research and development spending, which will affect its R&D hubs, including the one in Research Triangle Park [Raleigh News &Observer, Feb 5]

eldavojohn writes "MIT researchers have built and demonstrated the first room-temperature germanium laser that can produce light at wavelengths suited for communication. This achievement has two parts: '[U]nlike the materials typically used in lasers, germanium is easy to incorporate into existing processes for manufacturing silicon chips. So the result could prove an important step toward computers that move data — and maybe even perform calculations — using light instead of electricity. But more fundamentally, the researchers have shown that, contrary to prior belief, a class of materials called indirect-band-gap semiconductors can yield practical lasers.' While these are only the initial steps in what may become optical computing devices, the article paints it as very promising. The painful details will be published in the journal Optics Letters."  [slashdot.org, Feb 5]

Vertex Pharmaceuticals said that its experimental cystic fibrosis drug VX-809 met key safety and tolerability goals in a midstage study.  [AP, Feb 3, 10]

Planar  down 11% [Feb 3, 10]

We asked a handful of VC investors to name the companies they hadn’t invested in but wish they had. ... Bessemer Venture Partners declined Apple, FedEx, and Google ... other VCs listed Agios Pharmaceuticals, EnerNOC, LogMeIn, [Galen Moore, Mass High Tech, Feb 3]

Business spending on technology goods and services is returning as the economy mends, pumping new life into suppliers such as Cisco, though it has been slower to reach other sectors. ... "This is one of the most robust positive turnarounds I've seen in my career," [Cisco CEO Chambers] added  [B Worthen and D Clark, Wall Street Journal, Feb 4]

Pfizer said that it plans to cut R&D spending by as much as $3 billion by 2012, in an attempt to wring efficiencies following its take-over of Wyeth without sacrificing future product development. [Wall Street Journal, Feb 4]

The Russian finance minister on Wednesday floated a new approach to catching up with the West in technology ... The government will order ministries and state companies to use more of their procurement budgets to buy products that qualify as “innovative” and that are made in Russia. [New York Times, Feb 4]  A national security state going to enliven useful and advanced technology?  Certainly no better than the US DOD does with its national security SBIR.

Boston Dynamics (Waltham, MA; $2.4M SBIR)  reports it has landed $32 million from [DARPA] to develop a Big Dog-like robot to carry supplies for U.S. Marines. [Mass High Tech, Feb 2, 10]

American Superconductor down 10% [Feb 2, 10]

Planar  up 11% [Feb 2, 10]<

Dyax said that KALBITOR, its treatment for acute attacks of hereditary angioedema in patients 16 and older, is now commercially available in the United States.  [Boston Globe, Feb 2, 10]

Cell Therapeutics has survived more than one near-death experience in the past, ....  pretty much the whole farm is riding on this [next week's] panel vote. ... ran down to less than a couple of weeks of cash at one point last year, doesn’t have any marketed products generating cash at the moment and nothing besides pixantrone with a legitimate shot at imminent FDA approval. Amazingly, it has burned through more than $1.4 billion of capital since its founding in 1991 without ever becoming profitable. Yet the company has been so prodigious at convincing investors to keep writing checks, and so popular with the fast-money crowd, that it now has an astonishing 574 million shares outstanding. [Luke Timmerman, xconomy.com/seattle, Feb 3, 10]

Nice Technology, Little Market. Martin Marietta Composites said it is closing its plant in Sparta [NC] that makes pedestrian bridge decks, commercial truck trailers and blast resistant panels. Chief financial officer Anne Lloyd says the company is dropping the product line because of a lack of demand. [AP, Feb 3]

America's industrial base is undergoing its most radical restructuring in decades as manufacturers rethink their businesses in the wake of the recession. ... shift away from heavy sectors, such as automobiles and basic chemicals, toward higher-tech products like super-fast computer chips. In some cases, as with auto makers, companies are stripping down to adjust to diminished U.S. demand or investing in smaller, more-efficient facilities.  [Mark Whitehouse, Wall Street Journal, Feb 3] Part of the solution is higher labor productivity which usually means capital investment in more efficient operation which also usually means improved technology.  A great objective for an innovative tech R&D program.  SBIR could be be such program if it could focus its energy on technology and companies with a future instead of spending a vast share on incremental technology useful only to government.   Of course a huge portion of the Republican supporters "know" that the problem is labor unions. They want cheaper and easily expendable labor which would lower their costs without raising productivity. In the need, that would do nothing other than reduce average wages and the national standard of living. Nor would it make a great difference since only 12% of manufacturing labor is unionized and only 7% for the private sector overall, says the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Shrinking Cradle. A study by the Shenzhen Academy of Social Sciences ... shows a precipitous drop in the fraction of the population involved in starting new businesses, from 12% in 2004 to 5% in 2009. .... Many laws have been enacted to protect workers and the environment, making it more costly and complex to start a business. As factories have moved away, so has low-skilled labour. ... Only 9% of the respondents said the technology they hoped to use in their new venture was truly innovative—less than one year old. [The Economist, Jan 23]

KingRobot sends news that a recent test of a US missile defense system has failed. The test of the Groundbased Midcourse Defense interceptor apparently had a problem with the sea-based X-band radar. Both the target missile, launched from the Pacific, and the interceptor, launched from California, performed as expected. "Yesterday's test was intended to quell doubters of the entire missile-defense approach, with the target missile deploying countermeasures. Critics of the GMD programme say that tests thus far, which have not included such spoilers, have been too kind to the intercept tech. The [military] isn't disclosing whether the intercepting kill vehicle had simply failed to reach the 'threat cluster' of warhead(s) and decoys, or whether it had reached the cluster but hit a countermeasure rather than the actual target."  [slashdot.org, Feb 2]

Luna Innovations  up 10% [Feb 1, 10]

Planar  up 21% [Feb 1, 10]

American Superconductor won a $70 million initial order from China’s Shenyang Blower Works (Group) Co. Ltd. for full wind turbine electrical control systems, to be used in wind turbines that were co-developed with its subsidiary AMSC Windtec.[Mass High Tech, Feb 1, 10]

BioBehavioral Diagnostics (Westford, MA; no SBIR) developer of a diagnostic tool for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, has closed a $10 million Series B funding round.... Founded in 2006,  first landed a $8.5 million Series A round in 2007 [Mass High Tech, Feb 1, 10]

Optelecom  up 13% [Jan 29, 10]

Omeros  up 12% [Jan 29, 10]

Planar  down 13% [Jan 29, 10]

Flexion Therapeutics (Woburn, MA; no SBIR)  has closed a first round of venture capital financing worth $42 million. The company also announced that it has acquired four potential drugs from large pharmaceutical companies. [Mass High Tech, Jan 29, 10]

Ready, Set, Continue. Congress is extending non-DOD SBIR again, until Apr 30. Which, unfortunately, gives the agencies that don't like SBIR an avenue to interrupt the flow of proposals and awards.

Good news is bad news. Stocks turned lower at the end of a disappointing January as investors questioned the economy's ability to sustain a big fourth-quarter growth rate. [AP, Jan 29]

Obama wants to offer tax credits to companies that hire new workers, a plan that drew a cool reception from Congress last month despite the nation's double-digit unemployment rate. With polls showing that jobs are Americans' top priority [AP, Jan 29] Some things the government does not do well, including stimulus by creating jobs that lasts only as long as the money.  Wealth creation belongs in private hands after the government has built a safe and invigorating milieu. But until people stop rewarding their politicians with re-election for handing out public money, the inefficient machine will grind on at least at the federal level where running bills up on the national credit card is rewarded with hands on the levers of power.  For a view of what can go wrong, look at Venezuela. Any program to fund private business must be done with great restraint and a structure that provides support only at critical junctures where there is a clear path beyond the barrier to privately based development. A greatly scaled down and highly targeted SBIR, for example, might - might - qualify; not the broad and loose handout of the last almost three decades.

A venture capitalist recently remarked to me that the uncertainty the administration has created is "nothing short of paralyzing." Nobody will invest in an industry that might be the next to be overtaxed, overregulated, or publicly disemboweled. [Kimberly Strassel, Wall Street Journal, Jan 29] Strassel writes regularly in the ultra-conservative and growing WSJ op-ed section that never saw a good business tax or regulation.

When priced in gold, the US stock market has been in a bear market for the entire 21st century [Chart of the Day, Jan 29] 9 oz today vs. 45 oz in 1999.

federal deficits have only climbed to 5% of GDP four times since the end of World War II—in 1946, under President Harry S. Truman, and three years under President Ronald Reagan. Why are deficits labeled by president when the president has so little to do with it? One reason: Congresses are ID'd by a number that no one knows nor remembers. What's the number? Subtract 1787 from the year and divide by two to know that we now have the 111th Congress. Anyway the whole business of deficit is enfogged with attitudes that keep changing. The widening deficit and growing federal debt show how the political ground has shifted. During the Clinton administration, deficit concerns were pre-eminent. "Rubinomics," named for then-Treasury Secretary Rubin, said balanced budgets helped the economy flourish and kept interest rates down. By the time Vice President Dick Cheney famously said deficits didn't matter, the pendulum had swung back. Republicans passed tax cuts totaling nearly $2 trillion over 10 years and approved a Medicare prescription-drug benefit, the largest entitlement expansion since the 1960s. Now, there is a new orthodoxy. Democrats argue that fiscal discipline must be restored—but not before the nation regains its economic footing. The debate is how quickly to shift from fiscal stimulus to fiscal austerity. [Jonathan Weisman, Wall Street Journal, Jan 30]

Barely one month after reporting a $10 million venture investment, QD Vision (Watertown, MA; $1.7M SBIR) says it has taken in $3 million from DTE Energy Ventures to help expand the market for its technology for LED lighting and displays products. [Mass High Tech, Jan 21, 10]

Cardiorobotics (Newport, RI (originally founded in 2005 as Innovention Technologies, Pittsburgh, PA); no SBIR) has landed $5 million in venture capital ... makes the cardioARM, a snake-like, remote-controlled robotic probe intended to minimize incisions necessary for surgical procedures. ... In June, raised a Series A round of $11.6 million  [Mass High Tech, Jan 21, 10]

Arsenal Medical (Watertown, MA, formerly WMR Bionedical; no SBIR)., a developer of targeted therapies for patients with chronic conditions, has raised $2.05 million in debt financing from nine investors, [Mass High Tech, Jan 21, 10]

Alnara Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA; no SBIR) a developer of metabolic disease treatments, has raised $35 million in Series B funding. ... to file a new drug application for liprotamase, its pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy for patients with cystic fibrosis, which has gone through Phase 3 clinical trials with support from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Therapeutics Inc. [Mass High Tech, Jan 28, 10]

Repligen said today that it extended its long-term deal to supply recombinant protein A to General Electric's GE Healthcare unit. [AP, Jan 28, 10]

Life Technologies reported higher-than-expected profit for the fourth quarter yesterday, as sales of the Carlsbad company’s products for scientific research continued to grow.... born of the 2008 merger of Carlsbad’s Invitrogen and instrument maker Applied Biosystems  [Thomas Kupper, San Diego Union Tribune, Jan 29, 10]

Cymbet (Elk River, MN; no SBIR) , a maker of thin-film rechargeable batteries, has wrapped up a $31 million round of financing, ... third round of funding; that round began in late 2008, when the company closed on $14 million  ...  technology provides back-up power to circuits used in several electronic devices, such as cell phones [Kathryn Grayson, Minneapolis/St Paul Business Journal, Jan 25, 10]

BioTech Maturing. Ten years ago, big biotechnology stocks were at an age when anything seemed possible. Investors believed the companies would make their wildest dreams come true. These days, youthful exuberance has given way to middle-aged cynicism. Price-earnings multiples of major biotech firms, once in triple digits, recently slipped below the S&P 500 average for the first time.  ... And they already have learned acquisitions are no miracle cure. As biotech firms start to suffer from big pharma's ailments, they might simply have to accept lower valuations.  [John Jannerone, Wall Street Journal, Jan 29]

several new start-up "incubators" are slated to pop up around Silicon Valley in the next few months. ...   Well-known incubators include Y Combinator and Plug and Play Tech Center, with many venture-capital firms also incubating start-ups. [Pui-Wing Tam,  Wall Street Journal, Jan 28]

While the appetite for bandwidth increases, the network investment to provide it is not keeping pace. Similarly, semiconductor chip sizes continue to shrink, but investment in the new equipment to make smaller chips has fallen. According to Gartner Group, global semiconductor industry capital spending declined 32% in 2008 to $31 billion and further declined an estimated 43% in 2009. ... Confidence is returning to our economy. I expect 2010 to be a very good year for tech stocks, despite the run-up we saw in 2009. In particular, I'm betting on companies building the latest-generation semiconductors or facilitating greater network bandwidth. Gartner Group predicts capital spending in the chip business will increase 45% in 2009. [Jim Oberweis,  Forbes, Feb 8]

Last year, Seacoast Science (Carlsbad, CA; $4.4M SBIR) introduced its first mass product, a compact gas chromatograph that is about half the size of a shoebox, which the company developed in partnership with Vernier, a Beaverton, OR, distributor of scientific instruments and products for the university, college, and other educational markets. The device, which sells for $1,750, also reflects another aspect of the startup’s strategy. “Because we’re just 12 to 13 people, we’ve gone out to look for industrial partners with marketing and distribution networks,” Haerle says. [Bruce Bigelow, xconomy San Diego Union Tribune, Jan 27. 10]

Rapid Diagnostek (Hudson, WI; no SBIR) has raised $4 million of venture capital ... to develop a portable, one-step sensing device that could quickly diagnose diseases, bacteria, viruses, and spores by analyzing blood, urine and saliva. The company moved to Hudson in 2008 from Minnesota. [Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Jan 26, 10]

Immunomedics  down 11% [Jan 26, 10]

EnVivo Pharmaceuticals (Redwood City, CA; one SBIR) and FoldRx Pharmaceuticals (no SBIR) will share with four other companies a $2.1 million grant from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF). [Mass High Tech, Jan 26, 10]

Laser systems maker IPG Photonics (Oxford, MA, founded 1990; no SBIR) has acquired Photonics Innovations (Birmingham, AL; one SBIR) a maker of active and passive laser materials and tunable lasers.  [Mass High Tech, Jan 26, 10]

Memsic (Andover, MA; no SBIR, IPO 2007) maker of micro-electromechanical (MEMS) devices, has acquired certain assets of smart sensor developer Crossbow Technology (San Jose, CA; no SBIR) for $18 million in cash.  [Mass High Tech, Jan 22, 10]

Intuitive Surgical  up 12% [Jan 22, 10]

Momenta Pharma  up 13% [Jan 22, 10]