CONNECT eNewsletter | December 17, 2009

	CONNECT News
	Policy News
	Member News
	Funding Resources
	CONNECT Scrubbed Deals
	Partner News

CONNECT NEWS

By Camille Sobrian, COO, CONNECT

CONNECT opens DC office; new voice will represent innovators

Currently more than 70% of funding for innovation in San Diego is coming from the federal government. But there are no organizations in DC dedicated to representing the unique interests and needs of the innovator. Yet innovation is one of the most important economic engines for our economic recovery and our country’s competitive position in the global economy.

To remedy this situation CONNECT CEO Duane Roth is working with a search committee to hire a full-time Washington-based advocate to represent the San Diego innovation community. CONNECT staffer Jessie Womble will be located in DC for the next six months to set up the DC office and establish a consistent CONNECT presence on the Hill. Once the CONNECT DC advocate is in place Womble will return to San Diego to ensure a strong link between San Diego innovation community interests and CONNECT’s DC policy efforts.

After making the cross country journey multiple times a month, Roth knows there is no substitute for "being there." Whether it’s backroom discussions on policy development or last minute amendments, CONNECT believes it is critical to be at the table to explain the impact on innovation and small business. To become aware of and gain access to these critical discussions CONNECT will now have a consistent presence and close relationships with legislative offices and administration officials.

The focus of the DC advocate will be federal policy issues that will foster or, conversely, hinder innovation in San Diego, including: intellectual property, workforce development (visas), regulation (Food and Drug Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Trade Commission), research funding, trade and antitrust, investment capital and incentives (SBIR/STTR, SBIC, tax policy).

CONNECT recognizes that a number of key community players have been active in DC and have done a great job in promoting San Diego interests from afar. Roth and the CONNECT board intend this initiative to complement and support those efforts.

CONNECT’s Policy Committee, headed by Rob McCray, CEO of Wireless Life Science Alliance and CONNECT Association board member, has representation from all industries and trade organizations in the San Diego community. This ensures we speak with one voice on issues that impact the San Diego region and do not work at cross purposes.

The CONNECT DC office will be housed in the University of California Washington Center, about two blocks from the Hill.

CONNECT CEO co-authors Kauffman paper on new model for drug discovery and development

Duane Roth, chief executive officer of CONNECT is the co-author of a new Kauffman Paper that outlines a potential solution for filling our drug development pipeline and protecting U.S. global dominance in biomedical products called: From a Trickle to a Tidal Wave.

The paper’s authors say drug discovery is in jeopardy and recommend new 'distributed partnership' model for speeding therapeutic products to market. The paper indicates the United States could speed the flow of new therapeutic drugs into thirsty industry pipelines by creating a new model for drug discovery and development. Roth and co-author Pedro Cuatrecasas, a biochemist and adjunct professor for the Departments of Pharmacology and Internal Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, say their distributed partnering model could foster productive, efficient advancement of biomedical innovations.
See Kauffman press release
See Kauffman Paper
Media Coverage: Xconomy

CONNECT launches new website, Federal Grants Portal and Resource Guide

CONNECT has launched a new website to make it easy for innovators to access business acceleration programs at every stage of innovation commercialization. A new Grants Portal has been developed in collaboration with Calit2 to help innovators access all federal grants available in their specialty. A Resource Guide makes accessing top caliber professional service providers easy. On the home page users see at a glance CONNECT programs to access Capital, Business Coaching, Education, Networking & Recognition, and Policy & Advocacy. Each program is a click away. Visit us at www.connect.org

Bill Walton brings Liquid Investments and Security Business Bank onboard

Security Business Bank and Liquid Investments have joined SEI at the founder level. Security Business Bank will join the Advisory Board. The SEI initiative also landed major coverage in the San Diego Business Journal and theUnion-Tribune.

Upcoming FrameWorks Speaker Mike Grey named as New Pappas Ventures Partner

Pappas Ventures announced that industry veteran Mike Grey has been named a venture partner with the firm, and will be based in San Diego. He joins a team that manages more than $350 million in assets and oversees investments in 25 active portfolio companies. Read full press release here.

Grey is a speaker at CONNECT’s upcoming February 11th FrameWorks Workshop, Capital Efficiency in Drug Development - Doing More with Fewer Dollars, and he says capital efficiency is critical to getting funding today, “The established pharmaceutical companies have shown that they are becoming progressively less effective at product innovation in house and they are increasingly looking to entrepreneurial biotech companies to help fill their pipelines, as is evidenced by the number of licensing and M&A transactions. Capital for early and mid stage biotech companies is, however, difficult to come by. In these circumstances it is critical that companies utilize available capital as efficiently as possible in drug discovery and development in order to progress programs to key value inflection points.” More about this workshop here.

Major expansion for wireless health programs plus Call for Applications to Investor Meeting and Papers for Scientific/Industry Summit

CONNECT partnered with SPAWAR to hold a conference track on wireless health and electronic medical records on February 4. The conference is part of West 2010: Smart Power - Does the QDR Get it Right? co-sponsored by AFCEA International and the U.S. Naval Institute and is the largest event on the West Coast for communications, electronics, intelligence, information systems, imaging, military weapon systems, aviation, shipbuilding, and more. The conference was an exclusive opportunity to engage the military and industry leaders who are designating warfighting strategies and operational platforms. Priority areas are optimization of the speed, responsiveness and forward presence that networks and related systems provide. For more information click here.

CONNECT board member Rob McCray has come onboard as CEO of the Wireless Life Sciences Alliance and is undertaking a major expansion of the organization. San Diego conferences will continue to be managed by CONNECT.

First up, the Alliance is holding a Mobile Healthcare Symposium in conjunction with Continua at the Westin Gaslamp Hotel on February 9. More information click here.

The Call for Applications to present at the WLSA Investor’s Meeting May 11 has been issued. Applicants will enter the TripleTree I Award® for the Wireless-Life Sciences Alliance recognizing innovation, insight and initiative within wireless-life sciences and mobile health industry sectors. Forms can be accessed by clicking here.

The invitation-only WLSA Convergence Summit will be held May 12 to be followed May 13 by an open Commercialization Day for go-to market teams in companies of all types and sizes.

On October 5-7, the Alliance presents Wireless Health 2010, The Scientific Event for the Academic, Research and Medical Communities. Read More.

CONNECT Foundation Expands Board of Directors

CONNECT has announced the nomination and approval of Paul Laikind PhD, Bruce Breslau and Helder Sebastiao PhD as the newest members of the CONNECT Foundation 501(c) 3 Board of Directors. Read full press release here.

CONNECT Promotes Steve Hoey to Senior Program Manager and Linda Wells to Program Manager

Read full press release here.

POLICY NEWS

By Jessie Womble, Business Development & Public Policy Manager &
Ashley Strange, Editor

Congressman Darrell Issa speaks at CONNECTs’ Public Policy Forum on patent reform

Issa spoke as a part of a panel on the problem of politics surrounding reform and how the politics of both the House and Senate have made it difficult to move forward on a bill. For Issa, reform means fee restructuring, and fixing the patent backlog problems. The panel consisted of Jeffrey A. Birchak, VP, IP & Secretary and Legal Counsel, Fallbrook Technologies; Margaret Dunbar, Senior Director of IP and Legal Affairs & Corporate Secretary for Sanford-Burnham Institute for Medical Research; Nicholas Godici, Executive Advisor, Birch, Stewart, Kolasch & Birch, LLP; and, Congressman Darrell Issa, US House of Representatives and Bryan Zielinski, VP and Assistant General Counsel, Pfizer, Inc. They discussed post grant review systems, first to file and patent administrative reforms.
Media Coverage: San Diego Daily Transcript

President Obama calls upon Congress to create Small Business Lending Fund

President Obama calls upon Congress to create Small Business Lending Fund Obama called on Congress to enact legislation creating a Small Business Lending Fund, aimed at increasing community banks' small-business lending.

According to the proposal, the fund would be financed with $30 billion transferred from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and would offer funding assistance to banks with assets of less than $10 billion under terms providing “strong incentives” to increase their small-business lending.

The President’s remarks can be found here.

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs offer funding for image-guided cancer innovation

he NCI SBIR and STTR are currently offering two grant opportunities to eligible small businesses for the development and commercialization of products to help treat, diagnose, and prevent cancer. To learn more click here.

MEMBER NEWS

By Moya Gollaher, Executive Vice President, CONNECT

T. Denny Sanford donates $50 million donation to Burnham Institute for Medical Research

Sanford has made a second donation to the now Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute of $50 million. With his latest gift to Sanford-Burnham it brings his total philanthropic investment in San Diego to $100 million. Read full press release here. For pictures of this event click here.
Media Coverage: SDUT

Roth Capital Partners completes $21.4 million offering for Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ACHN)

For more information please click here.

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, (PwC) and the California Healthcare Institute (CHI) release report on biomedical industry in California

The 2009 Report on California’s Biomedical Industry provides an overview of employment trends, wages, product development pipeline, opportunities and challenges for the industry in California. Read full press release here.

Solekai Systems announces CONNECT Vice Chair Marco Thompson as new chief technology officer

Thompson is currently a Managing Partner at Express Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm, which has funded eight San Diego companies. In addition, Thompson is Vice Chair of CONNECT, founder and Vice Chairman of Connect Sport and Entertainment Innovators, and past Chair of CommNexus San Diego. “This is our fourth opportunity to work together over 30 years, and I am looking forward to the collaboration,” said Solekai President, Martin Caniff, a CONNECT CEO Strategy Forum Member. To learn more click here.

Rady Business Journal prepares to release next annual publication “20/10 Vision”

The journal is an annual publication that is a collaboration of work written by students and faculty on current issues. Reservation and ad space deadlines can be found here.

Biogen Idec enters into first clinical trial for multiple sclerosis

Biogen Idec has begun the first stages of the first clinical trial ever to potentially regenerate the protective coating around the nerves that are damaged in people that have multiple sclerosis. Read more in Xconomy.

Qualcomm jumps into social media

Qualcomm has rolled out their own blog called OnQ, and begun interacting with those already on Facebook and Twitter to educate consumers about telecommunications. Read more at SDNN.

Lee Hecht Harrison, The workplace economy, updates readers on the current economic situation Read More Here

Scott Huennekens speaks with Thomas Kupper of The San Diego Union Tribune about Volcano Corporation.

Read more at SDUT.

FUNDING RESOURCES

Taylor Peterson, Director, Innovation Programs

Venture capitalist investing reset

A new survey shows that venture capitalist investing has reset. Read more at Xconomy
For more information: PricewaterhouseCoopers and TCAs’ take on venture capital investment in Los Angeles Times

Department of Energy now accepting proposals for Energy Innovation Hubs

The Department of Energy has launched three Hubs to advance highly promising areas of energy science and engineering from the early stage of research to the point where the technology can be handed off to the private sector. To learn more click here.

CONNECT SCRUBBED DEALS

By Ruprecht von Buttlar, Director, Business Creation and Developmen, CONNECT

Aubrey Inc., soon to be springboard graduate, receives FDA approval for Advanced Wound Bioengineered Alternative Tissues (AWBAT) product.

To read more, click here.

ecoATM pilots first automated ecycling station that pays consumers directly in cash for used phones

Read full press release here.

Numinus, currently in Springboard and its NuLED™ Orion LED track light prototype in testing for Energy Star Approval

Approximately 200 million incandescent track lighting fixtures are providing general lighting in U.S. retail and food service locations. Both because of economics and regulatory edict, virtually all of these fixtures will be replaced with solid state lighting (SSL) in the next five to 10 years. Read more about Numinus.

Springboard Graduate Freedom Meditech presents data at international conference in England

People with diabetes or who are at risk – now estimated at over 400 million globally - could reduce complications, improve quality of life and reduce healthcare costs by using new non-invasive technology to screen for and monitor the illness, according to a presentation by Freedom Meditech at the 6th Annual Diabetes and Diabetic Retinopathy Conference in London, England. To learn more about Freedom Meditech click here.

2010 Life Science Venture Roundtable scores high marks from presenters and actively investing VCs

The 2010 Venture Roundtable was attended by approximately 30 venture capitalists who listened to presentations by: Ridge Diagnostics, Kalos Therapeutics, GlySens, Inc., Medipacs, Novelix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and U P Laboratories. “I found a number of the companies of interest and I am likely to follow-up with one or two. It was a worthwhile experience,” said Ken Widder, Partner at Latterell Venture Partners. Many of the presenters have multiple follow-up meetings set up with investors.

PARTNER NEWS

San Diego Software Industry Council presents Shark Tank – Inside the head of an investor

This forum will allow entrepreneurs insight into what seasoned investors are thinking while presenting their pitch. For more information click here.

Round 3 EvoNexus applications are due February 15

For consideration in their 1Q 2010 selection process and for more information, please click here.

Save Time! Sign up for San Diego International Airport construction e-mail alerts

Beginning in March, travelers to/from San Diego International Airport will notice construction activity in front of Terminal 2 related to The Green Build, the largest project in the airport’s history. To accommodate construction activity on the dual-level roadway at Terminal 2, some parking will be temporarily relocated and the pedestrian bridges will be removed. Frequent shuttles will transport travelers from relocated parking areas to the terminals. The Airport Authority has set up several ways to receive timely information about activity that could potentially impact travel time to the airport. To receive e-mail alerts, please complete the online form http://www.san.org/sdcraa/airport_initiatives/green_build/default.aspx. Or, you can follow the airport on Twitter (@SanDiegoAirport http://twitter.com/SanDiegoAirport) or become a Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/San-Diego-International-Airport/73431222903 fan.

The Green Build will bring a number of long-awaited upgrades for passengers traveling in and out of San Diego International Airport. All travelers – whether visiting San Diego County on vacation, traveling on business or headed out of town on holiday – will reap the benefits of these improvements. Travelers can expect to take advantage of the finished facilities in 2013. You can find additional information about The Green Build at www.san.org, or call our construction hotline at (619) 400-2288 and someone will respond within one business day.