There is a (gradual) changing of the guard at the University of Minnesota’s Venture Center. Beginning last July, director Doug Johnson trimmed his work schedule to three days a week, allowing associate director Russ Straate to assume more responsibilities.

In the end, Matt Kramer’s departure from the University of Minnesota was a lot more low key than his hiring less than a year ago.With great fanfare, the school had hired Kramer in July 2009 to run what was then known as the Academic and Corporate Relations Center. The university had good reason to crow: [...]

Tim Mulcahy’s eyes lit up as the thought suddenly seized him.“Here’s what we can propose,” said Mulcahy, vice president of research at the University of Minnesota. “Perhaps the university is too risk averse in our assessment” of potential startups.“We will make any of those technologies and potential companies that we pass on immediately available for [...]

Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-St. Paul) has good reason to feel a fresh spring in his step these days.He helped pass long overdue tax credits for angel investors and research and development spending, a feat that earned him a prime spot (second from the left) behind Gov. Tim Pawlenty when the presumed Republican presidential candidate signed [...]

The Minnesota House and Senate Monday overwhelmingly approved a five-year, $50 million tax credit designed to spur early-stage investment in high tech start-ups, including biotechnology and medical devices.Minutes after the House passed a jobs bill, which included the angel credits, 112-20, the Senate followed suit, 58-3. The lopsided vote capped an epic, seven-year struggle to [...]

Quantity or quality?Like most things in life, that’s not always an either/or question. Most people would prefer both. But as the University of Minnesota starts to shop its intellectual property a little more aggressively to investors, as evidenced by its first Life Sciences Showcase event at University Enterprise Laboratories Thursday morning, it’s something to think [...]

VitalMedix Inc., a promising drug company spun out of the University of Minnesota, has shut down and will liquidate its remaining assets, according to sources and documents filed with U.S. District Court in Minneapolis.The company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy Monday because it could not attract enough investors, said CEO Bill Brown, blaming a weak [...]

The Office for Technology Commercialization (OTC) will present the three unnamed start-ups to potential investors at its inaugural Life Sciences Showcase March 4 at the University Enterprise Laboratories in St. Paul.

Politicians, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs have long criticized the school for inhibiting innovation rather than creating it. But that criticism is getting old, or at least it should be. Under Jay Schrankler and Doug Johnson, the school’s tech transfer program has made enormous strides.