VA Tech to Transfer More Tech

According to the Roanoke Times, Virginia Tech is significantly expanding their tech transfer capacity, in anticipation of increasing the number of inventions that Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties (VTIP) licenses and doubling revenue in the next few years.

John Fraser, past president of the Association of University Technology Managers, is quoted as saying that "perhaps 12 of the more than 200 technology transfer offices in the U.S. are self-sufficient", a near-term goal for VTIP. Virginia Tech is a member of ALCOVe, the Academic Licensing Community of Virginia.

Google and Apple

According to c|net news, Google was founded when the Stanford effort to license the intellectual property found no serious takers. Luis Mejia, of the Stanford University Office of Technology Licensing, mentioned this at the recent California Clean Tech Open. Stanford did keep an equity stake in Google, which they eventually sold for $336 million.

Apple Computer's story is similar, with Hewlett Packard giving up rights to the work of their temporary employee, Steve Wozniak. This week marks the 30th anniversary of the first Apple computer. For more history, see Wired, CNN's Grouchy Geek, eWeek, and an interview with the Woz.

Insmed Inc. Sells Shares

Richmond's Insmed Incorporated (NASDAQ: INSM) announced today that it has obtained agreements from investors to purchase approximately 20 million shares of its common stock at a price of $0.90 per share. Insmed Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and approval of drugs for the treatment of metabolic diseases with unmet medical needs. In March 2007, Insmed settled a patent litigation suit with Tercica, Inc. and Genentech, Inc.

Insmed Inc. was founded on technology licensed from pharmaceutical research performed at the University of Virginia by Dr. Joseph Larner, who was Chairman of the Department of Pharmacology, and Director of the UVA Diabetes Center. Insmed COO Ronald D. Gunn received his Masters degrees from Virginia Commonwealth University.