The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is by far the principal nonprofit funder of biomedical research in the United States. Consequently, when President Donald Trump’s fiscal year 2018 budget proposal included deep cuts in funding for the NIH, it sent shock waves through academic medical institutions that benefit from NIH research moneys. Although Congress is unlikely to accommodate this proposal, the suggested cuts raise the question of the role of government in medical innovation.
Whether you’re a fan of Steve Jobs and his products or not, two things are undeniable: He was very successful and very different. Now you can relax; this short article will not provide a blow-by-blow account of the man and his methods. “What would Steve Jobs tell the pharma/biotech industry?” is just a metaphor to encourage our industry to radically change — not by reinventing the wheel, but by copying the success of others.
The University System of Maryland was ranked 27th by the National Academy of Inventors and the Intellectual Property Owners Association on a list of the most U.S. patents granted last year among universities worldwide.
The University of Maryland received 48 of the 72 patents granted to universities in the university system in 2016, said Felicia Metz, the intellectual property assistant director of this university’s Office of Technology Commercialization, which works with patents owned by the university and inventors to help make the products of research available on the market.
Here’s what New Enterprise Associates chief Scott Sandell says about his record fund, along with a look at the other 10 firms that have raised $1 billion or more since 2015.
More and more, bwtech@UMBC has been a stop for international visitors looking to learn about cybersecurity, said executive director Ellen Hemmerly.
While paying a visit to the research park’s incubator or attending a conference offers a glimpse, there are signs of a desire to dig deeper. Earlier this year, the incubator was a “soft landing” for a group of companies from the Netherlands as part of an exchange program run by the Maryland Department of Commerce.
Learn. Build. Launch.
BHI Q&A with Leverege, LLC. Co-Founder & CEO, Eric Conn
Company: Leverege, LLC.
Location: Germantown Innovation Center
Founded: July 2014
Overview: Leverege is an Internet of Things (IoT) software company with a suite of cloud-based products that simplify and accelerate any IoT project.
Goal: Leverege aims to become the #1 destination for all things IoT. Learn. Build. Launch.
Pipeline: Currently working with numerous commercial companies in a number of verticals launching IoT projects for asset tracking, remote monitoring and control, energy management, security, and defense applications. Partner ecosystem is growing nicely and recently became technology partners of Google and AT&T. Anticipate increasing monthly recurring revenue associated with licensing of the cloud-based platform and sales of the accelerated IoT deployment package called Jumpstart.
Funding: A bootstrapped company that has been financed by the founders since inception. Revenues are increasing each month with a projection to be cash-flow positive by the end of 2017. Anticipate raising a Series A in Q1 2018 from a combination of traditional VCs and strategic investors to expand operations, invest in new products, and accelerate growth.
Recent Recognition: Winner of the 2017 Maryland Incubator Company of the Year Award for Best Software Company.
Q&A with Eric Conn, Co-Founder & CEO, Leverege
Thank you! We are honored to have been selected for the award and really appreciate the recognition from our peers in Maryland’s startup ecosystem. The support we have received from the State, particularly Montgomery County through the Germantown Innovation Center, has helped us immensely and significantly reduced some of the normal financial burdens associated with launching a startup.
Leverege was conceived and started by me and my close friend Steve Lee in the summer of 2014. Steve and I are both software engineers and have worked with each other for over 20 years in previous companies. We had always talked about starting a business together and finally, the time was right. I was wrapping up things with my prior startup Gloto and he was ready to move on from a long career at Raytheon Solipsys, a company I had helped start in the mid-nineties after leaving the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. It was just the two of us for the first 6 months so we rented a couple of desks in a friend’s incubator in the Reston Town Center and started crafting our business strategy.
There were several reasons we chose the Germantown Innovation Center. The first was the proximity to each of our homes. I live in western Howard County and Steve lives in Alexandria Virginia so Germantown was approximately in the middle – although I have to admit my commute is much better than Steve’s since he has to cross the American Legion Bridge every day. The second reason was the amenities and support staff. The offices are very modern and the support staff is so friendly and helpful. The building also has excellent infrastructure such as high-speed internet and a computer room for our rack of servers – not to mention the high-tech coffee machine which is pretty vital to our productivity. The third reason was the very reasonable and flexible lease agreement. Expensive, long-term leases for traditional office space don’t’ really make sense for a startup trying to find its way and the per office/per month pricing that the GIC offered us really helped.
I think Maryland has done a great job in supporting early stage startups. There are many high-quality incubators such as the GIC and bwtech@UMBC (where we also have an office) and numerous resources are available if you need them. From a financial angle, there are grants and numerous early stage funding options through TEDCO, Anne Arundel County’s VOLT program, Baltimore County’s BOOST loan program, and the Maryland Venture Fund. Ultimately though it all comes down to making your own breaks and working incredibly hard on your business. There is so much competition out there and you really need to be on top of your game at all times.
The Internet of Things is all about bringing the physical and digital worlds closer together and improving people’s lives through remote sensing, data analytics, and automation. However, implementing an IoT project can be a daunting undertaking since it involves knowledge of sensors, wireless communications, cloud computing, and user interface design. We’re striving to remove some of the complexity from the equation by developing software products that make launching an IoT initiative much simpler, less expensive, and faster.
As a serial entrepreneur, I know how hard starting and growing a business can be. No matter how many times I do it, it never really gets easier. Funding is always a challenge and is something that keeps you awake at night no matter how large or small your company is. Knowledge of your market is also very important and finding the right product/market fit before you grow is paramount. Finally something I really stress is corporate culture. Hiring the right people who share your ideals and vision is the ultimate competitive advantage. Too many companies fail because they don’t pay attention to the most important ingredient in any company, the people.
We differentiate ourselves from our competition in several ways. We run one of the most popular online educational sites about IoT called “IoT For All.” On iot-for-all.com, we post high-quality, unbiased content on a daily basis about technology trends in IoT as well as detailed explanations of key concepts. Our audience is growing rapidly and that site has helped establish Leverege as a thought leader in the industry and also provides an excellent channel for inbound sales leads. On the technology side, we employ high-fidelity simulation and easy-to-use self-serve tools to build IoT projects with higher quality in less time at a lower cost. Our team and corporate culture is also pretty incredible so our customer service is outstanding. We regularly have large customers and partners such as Cox Communications and Google tell us how impressed they are with our people, technology, and processes.
We’re laser-focused on execution across the board right now. We want to grow our IoT For All publication to 1M page views per month in 2017 and begin monetizing the site by the end of the summer. Our product roadmap is fairly aggressive and we hope to launch a full suite of our self-serve tools to select system integrator partners in Q3. From a revenue perspective, we are onboard several new customers right now and anticipate being cash-flow positive with 15 employees by the end of the year. We are also gathering all of the required diligence materials for our Series A raise in Q1 2018. It’s a very exciting time.
Being an entrepreneur is certainly not easy but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. However, it is not for everyone. The collection of skills required to build a successful business is ever changing and the ride is never smooth. You must be prepared to work harder than you ever have, usually with less pay and certainly with less job security, and nothing will be given to you. That being said, the rewards of success are unmatched on a personal level. Just like with everything in life, the harder the battle, the sweeter the victory.
To learn more about Leverege. Visit their Website, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn pages.
Pharmaceutical companies are betting big on a new wave of innovative cancer therapies they believe will be more effective than existing treatments and move them a big step closer to finding a cure for the disease.
The fast-emerging branch of therapies – immuno-oncology (IO) – works by equipping the body’s immune system with the tools to kill cancer cells.
The Old Line’s flag laid board-flat against the marbled gray sky as crisply as if it had been pressed by a hot iron. I double checked my lifejacket, clipped the boat’s kill switch onto its nylon strap and eased the 25-foot center console beyond the breakwaters of Matapeake. White caps that had rolled past Point Lookout three hours earlier continued to barrel northward toward Rock Hall. I took a quick look around, briefly questioned my decision-making faculties and then punched the throttle to get on top of the rumbling three footers.
Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) announced today that its fourth-generation HIV combination antigen-antibody assay, the Elecsys HIV combi PT assay, has received FDA PMA approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Improvements Act of 2017, H.R. 2763, unanimously passed a House committee last week, moving one step closer to approval.
“The bill ultimately helps small businesses advance innovation and research that will help industries across California and the nation,” Knight said. “The advantages of supporting small business in their ventures are endless as some of the greatest entrepreneurial developments in technology originate from the support of the surrounding community and government resources.”
