Thomas Lau

Friedrich Bornikoel, managing partner for TVM Capital's Information & Communications Technology group, sees a recovery in German venture capital - but still no boom.

Retina Implant AG has developed an electronic chip that is implanted in the eye under the retina and could restore partial vision for the blind – and is now looking for funding from investors to take the product to the market next year.

BioXell, an Italian spin-out from Roche, said it has raised €10.5 million in funding from an extension of its Series C round which was first closed in October, 2004. TVM Capital, one of Germany’s biggest venture capital funds, led the financing.

There’s just one problem with the idea of a European Institute of Technology – some of the businesses and universities it’s supposed to benefit don’t want it.

Sarissa Biomedical, a spin-out from the University of Warwick, that has designed a sensor to give an early warning of fetal hypoxia during birth, is looking for investors to strike licensing agreements.

Philippe Pouletty is a man with a mission - to make France synonymous with biotechnology. He has his work cut out...

JADO Technologies, a spin-out from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, is developing small molecules that target cell membrane receptors, opening up a potential new avenue for drug delivery.

The University of Cambridge named a Chicago-based venture capitalist and technology transfer specialist, Teri F. Willey, to head its technology commercialisation business and to implement a controversial new patent policy.

The time is not right to breathe back life into the European software patent, says Francisco Mingorance from the Business Software Alliance. Thomas Lau investigates.