Boston-area entrepreneurs unveiled their inventions for optimizing decision-making, delivering drugs to the bladder, and providing a “check-engine light” for the human body. Investors shrugged off the bitter economy and talked about their future plans to create new tech companies. Inventor and educator Dean Kamen delivered an inspirational speech on ways to train the coming generation of inventors and entrepreneurs. Indeed, there were plenty of signs that the innovation economy is on the mend yesterday at XSITE, The Xconomy Summit on Innovation, Technology, & Entrepreneurship.
Hundreds of innovators came from all over New England for the all-day summit at Boston University’s School of Management. The tagline of the event was “The Recovery Starts Here,” which rang true throughout the day as startup leaders, entrepreneurs, and investors shared their ambitious plans and terrific accomplishments in the fields of energy, education, life sciences, and technology.
Before we highlight some of the themes of the day, let’s cover the several breaking news announcements made:
Tech entrepreneur and investor Vinit Nijhawan announced the launch of the Boston University Kindle Mentorship Program, which aims to unite mentors from the innovation community with aspiring entrepreneurs to drive the creation of startups and retain young talent in the Boston area. [The name has nothing to do with the Amazon Kindle reading device, by the way—it’s all about kindling mentorship, according to BU.] The program is already supporting three startups, including Novophage, a new developer of anti-infective treatments to combat antibiotic resistance, which has mentors such as MIT inventor Bob Langer and his BU counterpart Jim Collins. “I believe that startups will solve any human problem we have,” said Nijhawan, who joined the BU faculty last year as an executive-in-residence.
Two stealthy startups made their public debuts at XSITE. First, we heard from technology veteran Christian Heidelberger, who is chairman of Brown University spinoff Dynadec. Founded by Brown computer scientist Pascal Van Hentenryck, Dynadec has developed optimization software to enable dynamic decision-making. “I’ve got a lot of experience in bringing operations from zero stage to revenue, and this is the most exciting venture I’ve ever been involved in,” said Heidelberger. (Here is Wade’s recent story about how Providence, RI-based Dynadec wants to help companies make better decisions faster.)
Ever heard of Taris Biomedical? Christine Bunt, co-founder and chief operating officer of Lexington, MA-based Taris (formerly Certus Biomedical) gave her first public presentation of the stealthy developer of a drug-device product for the bladder. Bunt announced that venture-backed Taris—which Xconomy first described in detail a few weeks ago—plans to begin clinical trials this year of its device for delivering lidocaine into the bladders of patients with interstitial cystitis, or painful bladder syndrome.
We heard from many of the top startups and leaders in the New England innovation economy, including a scene-setting talk by well-known speaker and Biotechonomy CEO Juan Enriquez on why the economy is still in danger—and how Boston can supply the brains to save it—as well as an inspiring keynote speech by famous inventor Dean Kamen that brought the packed amphitheater at BU to their feet for a standing ovation. Here are some of the main themes and highlights from the summit:
—Invest in smart kids. Kamen talked passionately, at times appeared a bit choked up, about FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), what has grown into an 11-country robotics competition for high school and grade school students to get them exciting about science and technology. “The only shot we have [at paying for the government’s current layouts for economic recovery] is creating wealth, and the only shot we have at creating wealth is having lots of innovators,” said Kamen, whose Manchester, NH-based operation DEKA Research has developed such innovations as a robotic prosthetic arm, the Segway two-wheeled transporter, and a
