joining the faculty at Tuck and launching DEN to connect students with the resources needed to realize their entrepreneurial dreams. He says that DEN is expanding to sites in business hubs throughout the U.S., such as Boston, Los Angeles, and Seattle.
Dartmouth Regional Technology Center — This 32,500-square-foot tech and life sciences incubator in Lebanon was opened in 2006 through a partnership among Dartmouth and state and local economic development agencies. The building, which is fully occupied, hosts biotech startup Adimab and the R&D labs of Boston-based biofuel firm Mascoma, among others.
Tillman Gerngross — Gerngross, an MIT-trained professor of engineering at Dartmouth, has co-founded Lebanon-based biotech firms Adimab and GlycoFi (with more companies in the works, he says). Drug giant Merck acquired GlycoFi for $400 million in 2006, making Gerngross an instant darling of venture capitalists in Boston and beyond.
GlycoFi/Merck — Whitehouse Station, NJ-based Merck has recently revealed that it plans to expand the operations of GlycoFi, which specializes in protein drugs, to focus on follow-on biologics. Merck has kept the operations of GlycoFi in Lebanon since it purchased the firm, and Gerngross says that the expansion will be mean more jobs for scientists and a more permanent presence for the big pharma firm in the area. (Here’s a story about Merck’s plans from the Star-Ledger newspaper.)
Dartmouth College — It’s the most obvious factor, of course. Deserving special mention are the Tuck School of Business and the Thayer School of Engineering, which have been major talent and intellectual-property engines for the local innovation ecosystem.
