Connecticut Venture Group Conference Spotlights Yale Spin-off Companies

Several local companies whose technologies are an outgrowth of Yale research will be featured at TechComm III - The 3rd Annual Technology Commercialization Conference & Exhibition to be held Thursday, December 8, from 8:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Omni New Haven Hotel at Yale.

The program will be keynoted by Roger Longman, a Managing Partner at Windhover Information Inc., who has been involved with the health care industry for more than 20 years. Experienced in providing qualified information on innovative technologies, start-up companies, and the latest investment trends, he will speak on trends in technology commercialization and challenges for Connecticut.

“It is exciting to see the acceleration of technology moving from the Yale ‘benchtop’ to local commercial success,” said Jon Soderstrom, managing director of the Office of Cooperative Research at Yale.

Panel sessions will focus on “Early Stage Development – Strategies for surviving from Eureka! through product development” and on “Later Stage Development – Product development through partnerships.” Exhibits by sponsoring and featured companies will be available beginning at the break between panel sessions.

The first panel will include Mark Velleca, M.D. Chief Scientific Officer of CGI Pharmaceuticals in Branford, a drug discovery company whose products are based on technology developed with Ira Mellman, Sterling Professor and Chair of Genetics at Yale. It will also feature Sean Glass, the Chief Marketing Officer of Higher One, a company at 25 Science Park at Yale founded by Yale College students to provide refund management services to higher education institutions.

Achillion Pharmaceuticals, located at 300 George Street, New Haven, will be represented in the second panel by Michael D. Kishbauch, its President and CEO. Achillion was founded in 2000 as an outgrowth of technology developed by Yung-Chi (Tommy) Cheng, Henry Bronson Professor of Pharmacology at Yale to develop treatments for infectious disease.

A complete program of the conference is available online at http://www.yale.edu/ocr/ocr_new/news.fall05.events.html#events or by contacting Catherine Koh at catherine.s.koh@yale.edu or 203-785-3141. Registration (at http://www.cvg.org/Dec82005.asp) is free to students and faculty, members of Yale, UConn, CVG, CURE, CCAT staff; and by reservation and with a fee for others.