UC Davis Innovation & Technology Commercialization has implemented a new simple, streamlined intellectual property agreement for startups. The Foundational Access for Startup Technology (FAST) Agreement replaces the Inventor Advantage Program and offers university founders participating in the Venture Catalyst Smart Toolkit for Accelerated Research Translation (START^TM) program the opportunity to enter into a low-cost intellectual property agreement that permits their startup company to evaluate the commercial potential of the technology, develop a business strategy, and explore initial funding opportunities before executing an option or license agreement. During the term of the agreement, the technology will be held exclusively for the startup company to make progress on business objectives and negotiate the terms and conditions of an option or license agreement with InnovationAccess that grants rights for the startup company to use the technology and practice the intellectual property.

The Sacramento Region Innovation Awards program is accepting nominations through July 19 for companies, entities, or individuals involved with innovative products or services. The program recognizes the area’s vibrant innovation community — from startups to established companies — and their breakthrough creations.

UC Davis researchers are taking part in clean energy grants totaling almost $4.5 million recently announced by the U.S. Department of Energy. A grant of just over $1 million to Zymochem, Inc., in collaboration with professors Shota Atsumi and Louise Berben in the UC Davis Department of Chemistry, will fund development of processes that use electricity and novel metal catalysts. Professor Justin Siegel, also in the Department of Chemistry, will work with Han Li, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at UC Irvine, on a $1.8 million project converting carboxylic acids to fuels and products. A third grant of $1.6 million was awarded to a team led by Patrick Shih, assistant professor in the Department of Plant Biology, College of Biological Sciences, for a “team approach” to making fuels with microbes.... Read More

UC Davis professor of structural engineering and co-director of the UC Davis Climate Adaptation Research Center, Michele Barbato, is using engineered mud to build affordable homes that can withstand fire. In addition to engineering building materials, Barbato is a principal investigator on a grant, “Assessment and Mitigation of Wildfire Induced Air Pollution,” from the UC Office of the President. The project features collaborators from two national laboratories, a non-governmental organization and multiple UC campuses. Part of the project includes quantifying the carbon dioxide and other emissions released when homes burn.... Read More 

The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, or APLU, honored UC Davis for its response through Healthy Davis Together (HDT) to the coronavirus pandemic. HDT is a campus-city partnership that employs a range of activities to fight the pandemic, including COVID-19 testing, contact tracing and vaccine clinics, resources for quarantine housing and isolation, and support for local businesses..... Read More

UC Davis named Richard Corsi, a dean and professor of engineering and computer science from Portland State University, as the new dean of the College of Engineering and Estella Atekwana, a dean and geophysicist from University of Delaware, as the new dean of the College of Letters and Science.

A Covid Test as Easy as Breathing (New York Times)

Cristina Davis, professor in the department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, was featured in New York Times regarding her work on sensor innovations used in detecting a wide range of diseases in the human breath and how it could be applicable to detecting the SARS-CoV-2 virus.... Read More

Wall Street Wins Signal the Start Of a Synthetic Biology Revolution (PitchBook) 

The field of synthetic biology has been gaining momentum in the last decade as the development of the CRISPR technology has been fueling new applications from agriculture and environmental to pharma and biopharma. Now, with the falling prices, companies involved in synthetic biology, have been seeing fresh demand from clients, which has sparked new interest from venture capital firms.... Read More

U.S. IPOs Hit Annual Record in Less Than Six Months (Reuters) 

U.S. initial public offerings for the first half of 2021 have already totaled $171 billion, about $3 billion more than 2020, according to data from Dealogic. This spike is driven by Federal Reserve's low-interest rates and the series of stimulus packages due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to increase in companies going public via the traditional route, special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) have also gained popularity.... Read More

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) awarded Energy Program for Innovation Clusters (EPIC) funding to ten incubators and accelerators across the country that will harness regional ingenuity and resources, develop pipelines for energy technology to reach the market, and stimulate the formation of new businesses to reach the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal of a net-zero carbon economy by 2050.... Read More

The Coalition of State Bioscience Institutes (CSBI) Life Sciences Workforce Trends Report provides a national snapshot of the most pressing current and anticipated talent needs of the nation’s dynamic life sciences industry. The life sciences industry continued to be a leading driver of employment across the country, employing 1.87 million across 101,000 companies. The industry also continued to generate job growth through 2020 despite declines in the overall private sector.... Read More

UC Davis Venture Catalyst supports the development of new ventures fueled by university research and technology. Venture Catalyst offers several innovative programs that bridge the gap between early-stage research and commercialization and provide entrepreneurs the resources, support, and connections needed to successfully form and grow technology-based startups. With a focus on accelerating technology-led economic development in the Davis-Sacramento region, Venture Catalyst also works closely with partners in the regional innovation and economic development ecosystems. 

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