Advancements in biosensors and electronics are making real-time disease monitoring and detection easier and safer, with new sensors capable of detecting single biomolecules in complex mixtures—a feat that was once unheard of.  

For patients with diabetes, creating a non-invasive and long-lasting wearable sensor capable of monitoring blood glucose levels and perhaps even administering insulin based on its readings would replace the need for hypodermic needles, which can be unpleasant, even painful for some.  

When COVID-19 turned the world upside-down, businesses of every size and stripe had to adapt, and fast. Some changed their product offerings to respond to an urgent need: for face masks, hand sanitizer or low-contact grocery shopping. Others, affected by stay-at-home orders and instant shifts in consumer demand, had to come up with a totally new way of doing business: With restaurants, gyms and coffee shops closed, business owners got creative with curbside pickup, e-commerce and virtual workouts.

In my role as advisor and mentor to many new entrepreneurs, I often find myself suggesting that they think bigger. I’m a techy at heart, and I love to see real innovation, but too often I see just “copycat” proposals, or at best incremental thinking. For example, I’m not sure the world needs one more social media niche site, or another dating site, or yet another flavored drink alternative.

Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com

Scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder have made a huge breakthrough which could change the shape of wearable technology in the next 5 to 10 years. The researchers have developed a low-cost wearable that uses thermoelectric generators to draw power from the human body, as published in peer-reviewed journal Science Advances.

Image: Image credit: Xiao Lab / University of Colorado Boulder

Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is initiating an ambitious innovation effort to create American jobs while tackling the climate crisis, which includes the launch of a new research working group, an outline of the Administration’s innovation agenda, and a new $100 million funding opportunity from the U.S. Department of Energy to support transformational low-carbon energy technologies. The announcements kickstart the Administration’s undertaking to spur the creation of new jobs, technology, and tools that empower the United States to innovate and lead the world in addressing the climate crisis.

Quantum computing is part of the prescription for technology-led advancement in Greater Washington, writes Brian Darmody.

Image: Brian Darmody is CEO of the Association of University Research Parks. JOANNE S. LAAWTON

(WEST LAFAYETTE) – Startup leaders from Purdue University and across the state of Indiana will provide insights into technology transfer during a virtual panel event on February 18th.

The Frameworx Tech Transfer in Indiana panel also will feature startups from Indiana University and the University of Notre Dame. BioCrossroads, which released a report on tech transfer in Indiana, is hosting the event.

The year 2020 did not turn out as we planned. Unemployment rates in the U.S. are close to twice what they were in February of 2020, and the number of people furloughed is still towering over February averages. Plus, with the profound shakeup of our daily lives, a lot of folks are asking, What do I really want to do with my life, given that everything else seems to be up in the air?

If there’s any beauty that’s come from this pandemic, it’s that we’re reorganizing our priorities to honor what really matters to us. And for many, “career” is top of the reboot list. But letting go of what we always thought we could count on, like a five-year plan, can be painful and leave us feeling like we’re floundering.

This is the web version of Term Sheet, a daily newsletter on the biggest deals and dealmakers. Sign up to get it delivered free to your inbox. 

IPO investors seem to think they’ve found a true match with dating app company Bumble.

Image: From video on page.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has unveiled the research areas for the first phase of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program in fiscal year 2021. The projects are required to validate and address NIST technical program areas associated with research topics under the program, the agency said Wednesday.

In August 2018, I wrote an opinion piece in Livemint, ‘The Rise of Late-Stage Venture Vapital’. In it, I shared a snapshot of the large inflows of private capital into successful late-stage technology companies. Sources of this capital have either been the venture capital (VC) funds from the stables of SoftBank, Sequoia Capital, General Catalyst, among others, or the venture arms of large diversified investors like pension funds and institutional investors. At that time, mega funding rounds of $100 million-plus were becoming increasingly popular, giving the companies ample runway to stay private for longer. While this was a conducive environment for companies, it did not leave the VC funds with many options to monetise their sizable holdings in private companies.

Duke University was one of higher education’s coronavirus success stories in the fall. Less than 1 percent of its students tested positive during the semester, and just before Thanksgiving, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a report on how the university minimized spread, written by Duke scientists.

Now, three weeks into the spring term, the university has had more students test positive than it did all fall — 182, as of Tuesday, compared to 126 in the fall.

Image: JARED LAZARUS, DUKE UNIVERSITY

Even before the spread of COVID-19 necessitated a series of large-scale government interventions, there has been a long-simmering sense that the public sector needs to up its game. The tech industry needs a regulatory overhaul. The urgent problem of climate change requires new infrastructure and public works programs at grand scale. The pace and complexity of issues like food security, economic inequality, and workforce displacement—not to mention coordinated pandemic preparedness and response—all require governments that are better, smarter, stronger, and faster than the ones we have now.

Image: Source photo: Caleb Perez/Unsplash - https://www.fastcompany.com

TORONTO, Feb. 11, 2021 /CNW/ - Shifting global power dynamics, the "shecession," and the rapid adoption of remote work: Canada's economy is reeling from a host of changes that have been accelerated, disrupted, or created by COVID-19. Yesterday's Gone: Exploring possible futures of Canada's labour market in a post-COVID world, a new report from the Brookfield Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (BII+E) at Ryerson University, sets out to understand the breadth of potential changes ahead so that we can better prepare workers and employers for the future of Canada's labour market.

Image: Illustration by: Salini Perera (CNW Group/Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship)

This article is part of the On Tech newsletter. You can sign up here to receive it weekdays.

In the past few weeks, conventional cars have been put on the endangered list.

The electric carmaker Tesla turned its first full-year profit in its history. News broke that Hyundai has been negotiating with Apple to manufacture a driverless car. Start-ups like Rivian and Lucid are racing ahead with entirely novel ways to make vehicles. And General Motors said that by 2035, it would stop selling gasoline-powered cars.

Health and wellness technology has received a big boost from venture capital.

“VC deal activity within this space has spiked significantly,” with $8.3 billion worth of venture capital deals in 2020, PitchBook analysts said in a new research report. That’s 70 percent more than enterprise-oriented companies within enterprise health and wellness received in 2019 — and the most venture funding they’ve obtained in at least a decade, according to the report. 

Image: https://www.institutionalinvestor.com

Paul J. LeBlanc remembers the day, about a decade ago, when a public research university in New England announced that it was starting an online M.B.A. Southern New Hampshire University, where LeBlanc is president, had just rolled out its own ambitious online program and started its rise from undistinguished private institution with a few thousand students to today’s online-education juggernaut with more than 92,000 undergraduates enrolled.

Image: https://www.chronicle.com

There is no clear demarcation between anyone’s public and private worlds. What goes on in our personal life affects our professional life, and vice versa. As problems crop up in either sphere, it can often feel like a quagmire, leaving many of us unsure what to do about the predicament.

Image: https://knowledge.insead.edu

U.S. drug maker Emergent BioSolutions began speeding up its acquisition of drug supplies beginning early last year, as the coronavirus outbreak was erupting in China. In addition to producing drugs like the opioid overdose-reversing Narcan nasal spray, the firm develops vaccines and antibody therapeutics and had scored lucrative contracts for key biodefense medicines over the decades. 

Image: https://www.cbsnews.com - Video Cover Image

The pharmaceutical industry is undergoing rapid change to meet increased global competition and the demands of its customers. As science advances, pharma’s focus has shifted from developing and making a limited number of large-volume “blockbuster” drugs to manufacturing a large number of varied therapies (e.g., personalized medicines) targeted to individual patients, patient groups, and global markets.