News Archive

Throughout the United States, innovation districts have been proposed with varying degrees of emphasis on inclusivity and opportunity. In January 2016, a public-private partnership representing many of Baltimore’s most influential anchor institutions, community-based organizations, and private companies declared their intent to develop an innovation district in West Baltimore dubbed the “Innovation Village.”  This week, the Innovation Village steering committee announced several initiatives aimed at supporting inclusive economic growth in West Baltimore neighborhoods including free Wi-Fi, entrepreneurial assistance programs, and the development of a food hub.

Thousand Oaks-based biotech giant Amgen has put its backing behind a new, life sciences incubator, called QB3@953. According to Amgen, it will provide a five year, platinum sponsorship of the San Francisco life sciences incubator, to accelerate the development of new therapies to improve human health. Financial details of the sponsorship were not detailed. As part of that sponsorship, Amgen said it will be providing two awards each year with a company receiving one year of lab space at QB3@953, in addition to connections to Amgen’s executives and other resources. QB3@953 provides lab space to life sciences startups, which Amgen says is a “key obstacle” for life sciences startups. A similar effort, the Ventura BioCenter, operates just around the corner from Amgen in the Thousand Oaks area.

What is success? Is it the amount of money you have in your bank account, at any given point? Is it that feeling you get after delivering a killer presentation, or even a pretty decent bar joke? Or is it something bigger—something wholly unnamable, undefinable, immeasurable, and totally subjective?

Kitchology, a food+wellness+tech startup headquartered in Germantown, was among the winners of this year’s Maryland Incubator Company of the Year (ICOY) Awards, winning in the consumer product category.

QIAGEN N.V. (Nasdaq: QGEN) announced the successful completion of the conditional, voluntary public tender offer for the shares in Exiqon A/S, a world leader in RNA technology. The extended Offer Period expired yesterday, on 22 June 2016, at 23.59 (CET).

Another week, another new initiative for IBM Watson Health.

Wednesday, IBM announced the formation of a Watson Health medical imaging collaborative, seeking to make “cognitive imaging” a routine part of medical practice in oncology, neurology, diabetes care, eye care, cardiovascular disease and other image-heavy specialties.  “Imaging is one of the things that spans across many different areas,” said Anne Le Grand, IBM Watson Health’s vice president of imaging.

Between June 2015 and June 2016, we’ve created more spaces and places for people to engage with the Science Center; honed and expanded our programs to support innovation and entrepreneurship; and enhanced the way we talk about our role in Greater Philadelphia’s innovation ecosystem.

Join us for a thrilling evening of start-up pitches from multiple sectors in healthcare including: Services, Health IT, Biotechnology, Medical Devices and Diagnostics. Applications are still being accepted, so if you not afraid of getting nipped by one of our judges, send your information to jhausfeld@sopenet.org.

The University System of Maryland is hoping a new $25 million venture capital fund it established will help spin off more commercial businesses — with the system reaping the benefits in the long run.

Qiagen and CosmosID have joined the Metagenomics and Metadesign of Subways and Urban Biomes (MetaSUB) consortium, an international five-year effort led by Weill Cornell Medicine, to map the genomes and epigenomes of microbial communities in 54 cities in 32 countries.