NanoBio Executive Roundtable Series

Risk vs Reward: Financing Early-Stage, Emerging Technologies

Date: July 14, 2011
Registration begins: 5:00pm
Event: 5:30 to 7:30pm
Place: Piedmont Club (200 W. 2nd St., Winston-Salem)
RSVP: Click Here

For this July Roundtable event, COIN invites our entire nanobio community to join us in a discussion on Risk vs Reward: Financing Early-Stage, Emerging Technologies. The "Valley of Death" is critical funding gap common in many industries. COIN, on behalf of our members, will host a dialogue with several seasoned investors and entrepreneurs to provide a better understanding from the investor's perspective of the balance that is struck between risk and reward when making funding decisions for early-stage technologies. Because nanobiotechnology is an emerging field where many technologies are platform technologies with applications across mutliple industries, there are unique challenges and opportunities.

This panel session will be moderated by Andy Dreyfuss, a Fund Executive at the Piedmont Angel Network. Panelists include Scott Albert, a Venture Partner with Aurora Funds, Christy Shaffer, a Venture Partner and Managing Director with Hatteras Venture Partners, and Steven Walsh, a serial entrepreneur at the University of New Mexico. More

Triad BioSummer Program Concludes July 1 with Student Presentations

The 2011 Triad BioSummer program will conclude Friday, July 1 at 9:00 a.m. in Wake Forest’s Winston Hall with presentations from participating students. Triad BioSummer is a summer study program in its 8th consecutive year for local rising 8th, 11th and 12th graders considering a career in life sciences. The two-week long program provides over 40 students with a variety of hands-on classroom, campus, laboratory, and field experience.

Triad BioSummer is hosted by Wake Forest University, the Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce’s Technology Council and Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, and students attend free due to support of the programs sponsors: Platinum – Reynolds American; Diamond – Banner, Cook Medical, and Womble Carlyle Sandridge and Rice; Gold – Bank of America, BB&T, Coach America, JFK Consulting, O’Brien Atkins, and Shelco; Silver –Champion, NC Biotechnology Center - Piedmont Triad Office, Piedmont Triad Research Park, Pura Vida Promotions, and Targacept.

New Venture Incubator -- Frameworks Seminar

"Taking Control of Your Career and Your Life"

Presenter: Mack Arrington, PCC

All of us are interested in the trajectory that our careers will take us. However, how seldom do we include a formal analysis of our talents and strengths to see if we are pursuing a good career fit. Mack is a leading business and life coach who incorporates self-analysis and network building into his presentation. This is a session that should not be missed. Do a favor for one of your collogues and bring her/him.

Tuesday, June 28 @ 7:30am
Piedmont Triad Community Research Center Auditorium
115 Chestnut Street Winston-Salem, NC

Frameworks is a monthly seminar series brought to you by the Wake Forest University New Venture Incubator.

Two Construction Projects Planned for Piedmont Triad Research Park

Winston-Salem City Council has approved starting construction on two projects that are expected to speed up development of the Piedmont Triad Research Park.

Construction on Research Parkway will begin in August after a years-long process of securing permits, federal and state grants and environmental licensing. Read more.

Atala Featured on "The Innovators" a Bloomberg News program

Dr. Anthony Atala was featured recently on " The Innovators" a program of Bloomberg News. Bloomberg News says "the world is swirling with ideas on how to make money, but true innovation changes the way we live."

The program discusses how Atala engineers human organs and the latest organ (the liver) to be tackled after his work with urethras, kidneys, and bladders. Atala concludes by asking a question that defines the true mission of his work: "How can we increase the number of tissues we bring to patients and how can we make more patients benefit from these technologies?"

Nominate Your Business for Cook Innovation Award!

Do you or someone you know have an innovative product, service, concept or procedure? The third annual Cook Medical Innovation Award, presented by Cook Medical in partnership with the Chamber, will recognize outstanding locally-developed and novel technologies that positively affect society. The winner will be presented a unique award designed by a local artist at the Chamber’s Annual Meeting luncheon on November 30. Click here for details and submission information.

PTRP Seminar Series

Speaker: Anthony Atala, MD
Director, Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine

Location: PTCRC Building Auditorium
115 S. Chestnut Street, Winston-Salem

Time: Wednesday June 15, 9am–10am

The PTRP Seminar Series is a free, educational program hosted by the Piedmont Triad Research Park to help tenants in the Park get to know each other. The goal is to provide an opportunity for business owners and departments to share and discuss their services, products or skills with others.

Technology and Innovation Series Highlights Downtown Development

The WS Chamber of Commerce Technology and Innovation Series event at the Milton Rhodes Center featured a panel of three speakers. Doug Edgeton, President of the Piedmont Triad Research Park, Carol Strohecker, Director of the Center for Design Innovation and Jason Thiel President of the Downtown Winston-Salem Partnership all spoke about new and interesting initiatives happening in that part of Winston-Salem that used to be a ghost town…downtown. Gone are the days where you’d leave your downtown office and have to drive to meet friends for a drink or leave town to attend a forum or event surrounded by creative and technologically savvy leaders in their industry. Drinks, networking, technology and innovation are happening in downtown Winston-Salem.

Attendees of this series learned about the size and diversity of Piedmont Triad Research Park. Not only does the park have over 54 companies, employing almost 1000 people; these same individuals hail from 5 continents and 25 countries. The Research Park is expanding its footprint downtown beginning with a project to cleanup and restore the historic Bailey Point power plant for office or other multipurpose use. There are plans in the works to create a 24 mile walking/biking/skateboarding trail that will connect downtown to Salem Creek. And there are plans for a $105 million building restoration project. Building 91 and 92, former Reynolds American manufacturing buildings in the park, will be restored to eventually include an atrium, open staircases and house 400-500 workers.

Carol Strohecker shared the concept behind the start of the Center for Design Innovation” (CDI) which resulted from an economic development study (Angelou study) which recommended that Winston-Salem respond to the declining manufacturing industry trends by focusing on the creative industry and specifically design. CDI’s focus goes one step further by focusing on digital technology specifically motion capture and rapid prototyping. She also talked about tieing creativity and design to science and technology by thinking of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) versus STEM. CDI also has grand plans to build in the Research Park and their building will be LEED certified, might include solar panels and other environmentally friendly features that could results in energy savings of 30%.

Jason Thiel wrapped up the discussion by showing the audience the current downtown “map” and plans for the future. He indicated that the growth in downtown residents has increased and now averages about 57 new units occupied per year (rent or sold). Jason also remarked about the plethora of downtown eating establishments and commented wryly that if a restaurant is not successful, it’s no longer downtown’s fault”.

The session concluded with audience Q&A. From the size of the audience and the nature of the questions, interest in learning more about technology, downtown development and innovation continues to be strong. Visit this blog to keep updated on events in our community and learn more about technology initiatives.

Do Your Employees Qualify For Free Computer Training, Low-Cost Home Computers?

WinstonNet, a non-profit community technology initiative, provides free basic computer and Internet training for local residents through Connect Your Community. Those eligible include any "digitally disadvantaged" person – someone who does not use the Internet at home – over age 18. Upon completing the computer training, staff will assist students in finding the most economical Internet connection and can provide graduates with a subsidized, high-quality refurbished computer to take home for as little as $25. Learn more or call 336-703-4138.

Tech Series to Feature Research Park Updates!

The 2011 Technology and Innovation Series continues on Thursday, June 9, 8:30 am at the Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts with a discussion entitled: The Research Park and Downtown Connection: Developing a Work/Live/Play Community in the Heart of Winston-Salem! This event will feature the latest news and plans happening in the Park, along with a discussion about how our downtown’s revitalization can help attract and retain the workforce needed for the Park’s long-term success. Read more and register.

WFU Professor Training Digital Ants

As the nation’s electrical power grid becomes more interconnected through the Internet — from the nuclear power plant in California to transmission lines in Texas to the microwave in your kitchen — the chances of cyber attacks increase as well.

Professor of Computer Science Errin Fulp is training an army of “digital ants” to turn loose into the power grid to seek out computer viruses trying to wreak havoc on the system.

If the approach proves successful in safeguarding the power grid, it could have wide-ranging applications on protecting anything connected to SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) networks, computer systems that control everything from water and sewer management systems to mass transit systems to manufacturing systems.

More news about digital ants:
From TG Daily: Digital ants check networks for viruses
From Tech2: Virus protection takes inspiration from ants
From InfoSecurity: Can digital ants protect computer networks?
From Gather Technology: Researchers hope to use digital ant antivirus to protect the grid
From International Business Times: Researchers working on digital ants to flush out virus in computer networks

Fulp is working this summer with scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Wash., on the next steps in the digital ants technology, developed by PNNL and Wake Forest over the last several years. The approach is so promising that it was named one of the “ten technologies that have the power to change our lives,” by Scientific American magazine last year.

Learn more.