High Technology : In The News

First Round Capital's Dorm Room fund could expand beyond Philadelphia

Pando Daily Monday, September 24, 2012

Pando Daily likes the idea of the University of Pennsylvania as Stanford of the East, reporting on new UPenn neighbor First Round Capital's Dorm Room fund.

Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Facebook were started on college campuses. The thinking goes that if students were smart enough to create these companies, then they are smart enough to identify peers with potential. First Round is taking applications for its batch of eight mini-VCs on the Penn and Drexel campuses. Once its initial investment team is picked, those members will choose their own replacements as they graduate.

They’ll be given $500,000 to invest in companies (around $15,000 each) over the course of the school year.

Original source: Pando Daily

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Center City startup Connectify takes to Kickstarter for multiple broadcband software

GigaOm Friday, August 10, 2012

GigaOm reports on Philadelphia's Connectify, which created a Kickstarter campaign to fund its project that would combnie Wi-Fi and 4G into a single, fat wireless pipe.

Why would you want to combine multiple broadband connections? Well, if you eat up gobs of bandwidth through file sharing, the aggregated connections would come in handy, but a more typical example revolves around connection management. Connectify’s software allows you to prioritize different links. If you were at an airport or coffee shop with spotty Wi-Fi but didn’t want to max out your 4G hotspot’s monthly data allotment, you could configure Dispatch to tap a free Wi-Fi network’s cheap bandwidth first and only resort to the 4G hotspot when Wi-Fi falters.

Original source: GigaOm

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Philadelphia's first chief data officer comes from Code for America

GovTech Friday, August 10, 2012

GovTech reports on Mark Headd, recently named Philadelphia's first chief data officer.

Headd is not a newcomer to the public sector. According to Headd’s blog, he was the chief policy and budget adviser for Delaware’s Department of Technology and Information. Headd also has served as director of the Delaware Government Information Center and as a technology adviser to former Delaware Gov. Thomas Carper.

Original source: GovTech

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Inside Viridity Energy's microgrid moves

GreenTech Tuesday, May 01, 2012

GreenTech revisits Philadelphia-based Viridity Energy's cutting-edge projects that aim to put a value on energy saved from SEPTA's regenerative braking system.

Viridity is already bidding battery-backed power into frequency regulation markets with partner and battery supplier Axion Power, which has installed Viridity’s system at its New Castle, Pa. manufacturing plant.

Original source: GreenTech

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Science Leadership Academy's Lehmann weighs in on on tech in education

Slate Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Slate's report on the Education Innovation Summit in Arizona includes some time with Science Leadership Academy principal Chris Lehmann.

Lehmann expressed concern that too many in the burgeoning education sector hope to replace teachers with tech. "Before we rush to embrace the idea that the market might do education better than educators," he says, he wants to see a lengthy conversation about the “worst consequences of our best idea."

Original source: Slate

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Center City-based eResearchTechnology purchased for $400M

Wall Street Journal Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Center City, Philadelphia-based eResearch Technology, a large provider of medical devices and services to biopharmaceutical and health-care organizations, was purchased by San Francisco-based private equity giant Genstar Capital for $400 million, reports the Wall Street Journal.

ERT Chief Executive Jeffrey Litwin said the deal, expected to close during the third quarter, will provide the company with acquisition capital to expand its offering and better serve its clinical research clients.

Original source: Wall Street Journal

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Introducing the Academy of Natural Sciences' museum exhibition and book

The New York Times Tuesday, April 03, 2012

The exhibition, which opened last weekend, takes visitors along with academy scientists as they search for new species and study humanity’s collective impact on the environment. The book embraces a larger agenda.

To wander through "A Glorious Enterprise: The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and the Making of American Science" is to absorb the 19th century's passion for botany and zoology; the 20th century's mania for exploration of distant, difficult or desolate places; and present-day preoccupations, particularly environmental issues like water quality.

Original source: Academy of Natural Sciences

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Navy Yard transition keeps 793-acre site bustling

Area Development Tuesday, February 28, 2012

It has been 40 years since new ship construction at Navy shipyards ended, and Area Development delves into redevelopment at a few, including the transformation in South Philly's Philadelphia Navy Yard.

The 167-acre historic core of the Navy Yard, with more than 2.5 acres of waterfront, is actually on the National Register of Historic Places. The core offers opportunities for renovation of existing buildings for commercial use, and for the conversion of older loft space to residential use.

Original source: Area Development
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StreamTV gives glasses-free Ultra-D 3DTV launch another shot at CES

engadget Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Last January we introduced you to StreamTV's glasses-free 3D technology and the Philly company is aiming to introduce it to the world at this week's 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show, reports engagdet.

We don't recall seeing Stream TV's Elocity 3T autostereoscopic 3D TV on shelves after our CES demo last year, but to be fair, we don't get out much. Not to worry however, as the company will be back at CES 2012, this time touting Ultra-D "next generation 3D without glasses display technology" that it claims will surpass all 3D experiences to date. Lofty claims, but it's also banking on its tech for realtime 2D-to-3D conversion of any video content, with plans for the brand to reach TVs, converter boxes, tablets, PCs and more. Check out the press release after the break to drink in more hype, we'll be in line to see what's real at its press conference January 9th.

Original source: Engadget
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Collegeville synfuels company aims to spawn fleets of robotic farms

MSNBC Tuesday, January 10, 2012

BEAR Oceanics, a Collegeville-based technology and research company, hopes to make inexpensive, algae-based biodiesel fuel for transportation by harnessing ocean winds and sunshine, reports MSNBC.

The robotic farms would turn algae sludge into 5 gallons of biofuel per day with a sped-up version of the geological process that created Earth's fossil fuels -- all without the risks of drilling for oil or fracking for natural gas.

"At this point, you've turned biomass into a biofuel, and you haven't used any chemicals, so that you don't have a toxic waste stream," said Rudy Behrens, an engineer at BEAR Oceanics. "We can do this on a large scale without disrupting the food chain or creating a hazard."

Original source: MSNBC
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Wharton Innovation Tournament turns ideas into business prototypes

VentureBeat Tuesday, January 10, 2012

VentureBeat covers the Wharton School's Innovation Tournament, in which MBA students aim to create an internet business in four days.

At the end of the workshop, the organizers announced the winners of the Innovation Tournament. Each team won on a specific metric, such as most pageviews for the business website or best real world application.

The team that won based on pageviews and marketing created Chow4You, a service that helps you find meals based on nutritional value and dietary needs. Rohan Mirchandani, the acting CEO of Chow4You, said, "The workshop was focused on learning the steps to take to make a business viable, especially focusing on user experience, which I found to be the most important topic." The program is just a prototype now, but based on his experience in the course, Mirchandani said he felt confident that he could launch Chow4You as a real business.

Original source: VentureBeat
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Entrepreneur, Philly native has plan for more STEM opportunities in city schools

Technically Philly Monday, December 12, 2011

Technically Philly sits down with Dr. Chad Womack, a nanobiomolecular entrepreneur who is trying to increase opportunities in science, technology, education and mathematics (STEM) for city children.

Womack’s America21 Project is focused on empowering urban centers and communities through STEM education and workforce development, high-growth entrepreneurship and access to capital. With his new venture, he’s still actively engaging the District around STEM priorities.

Original source: Technically Philly
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Drexel Nanotech leader calls for standardized energy storage metrics

Nanowerk Tuesday, December 06, 2011

Drexel University researcher Dr. Yury Gogotsi believes figuring out why cell phone and laptop batteries die prematurely will help create a sustainable energy grid, reports Nanowerk.

"A dramatic expansion of research in the area of electrochemical energy storage has occurred over the past due to an ever increasing variety of handheld electronic devices that we all use," Gogotsi said. "This has expanded use of electrical energy in transportation, and the need to store renewable energy efficiently at the grid level. This process has been accompanied by the chase for glory with the arrival of new materials and technologies that leads to unrealistic expectations for batteries and supercapacitors and may hurt the entire energy storage field."

The main type of energy storage device addressed in the article is the supercapacitor. Supercapacators, which are built from relatively inexpensive natural materials such as carbon, aluminum and polymers, are found in devices, ranging from mobile phones and laptop batteries to trams, buses and solar cells.

Original source: Nanowerk
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Fast-growing tech firm from Northern Virginia expands to Philly, hiring eight

Richmond BizSense Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Northern Virginia technology company CapTech is growing and opening a Philadelphia office, reports Richmond BizSense.

The new Philadelphia office will employ 10 people, including two managers who will be relocated from Richmond to run the new location.

The company, which builds custom technology systems such as mobile banking, mobile shopping, and iPad and iPhone apps, has 300 employees and targets financial institutions and Fortune 500 companies.

Original source: Richmond BizSense
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Malvern pharma startup among stars of BioTech 2011's innovation corridor

MedCity News Tuesday, November 01, 2011

Recro Pharma of Malvern was one of several companies from the region who were showcased at BioTech 2011 last week at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, and MedCity News has a write-up and video on its new drug that targets postoperative and diabetes pain.

This year’s innovation corridor included about 24 scientists and early stage startups from universities and incubators who exhibited posters that highlighted their work and demonstrated the commercial applications, something that regional associations are trying to do more. Now in its sixth year, a decision was made to put the younger scientists alongside the more mature startups so potential investors could see them at the same time and encourage mentoring and partnership opportunities.

Recro Pharma, a Malvern, Pennsylvania-based company, is seeking $20 million for a new drug application for a drug that targets postoperative and diabetes pain relief.

Original source: MedCity News
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