On Wednesday May 15th, Knobbe Martens hosted the final panel for Springboard company nPruv, showcasing the progress the company has made and the great potential it holds. The company’s MO is to be the “Match.com for clinical trials.” They are a Health IT company that enables patients, physicians and sponsors/CROs to “Find>Match>Share” clinical trial opportunities.Congrats nPruv!

More about nPruv:

For life science and pharma companies, the #1 hold-up in drug development and regulatory approval is the process of finding, matching and enrolling quality patients for clinical trials.  In fact, 81% of clinical trials are delayed 1-6 months at a cost of $600K to $8M per day due to limitations of patient recruitment (McKinsey & Co.). Leveraging the power of electronic health records, health IT and social networks, nPruv reduces the time and cost of patient recruitment for sponsors/CROs while increasing revenue and reducing workflow for the physicians hosting the trials.

Earlier this month, experts with varying backgrounds came together for a CONNECT and UC San Diego event aimed at addressing the current state of Advanced Manufacturing in the United States. The experts specifically discussed strategies on how to bring manufacturing jobs to the United States while still enabling companies to remain competitive. If you were not able to attend the event, check out the full coverage to hear the captivating discussion hosted by UCSD’s Peter Cowhey between Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs, Vizio CEO William Wang, former Gateway CEO Ted Waitt, and journalist James Fallows.

Experience the CONNECT Springboard success story at this summer’s most prestigious innovation showcase, Connect with CONNECT. Minz Levin will be hosting the June 20th event where you can make your way through the Showcase Zones exhibiting 40+ of CONNECT’s hottest Portfolio Companies. These up and coming companies represent the latest in Digital Life, Action & Sports, Life Sciences, Cyber & Robotics and Cleantech & Energy.Register now and come network with more than 700+ business leaders from San Diego’s most innovative industries!

The winners of the 2013 MIT Tech Fiesta have been determined! Thirteen of San Diego’s hottest, up-and-coming companies faced off in a pitch competition Wednesday, May 8th, and the winners are:

“Company I Want to Have a Beer With”
TapHunter

“Coolest Company Ever”
Rock My World, Inc.

“Company Most Likely to be Acquired by
Dr. Evil in His Plan for World Domination” 
MetraLabs Automation, Inc.

“Company Most Likely to Develop a Cult Following”
Blurtopia

“Company I Want to Hear More About”
Perminova

Congrats to all!

9 May: Saving energy, many light bulbs at a time

SDG&E has announced their latest list of local companies named as champions for energy efficiency and conservation. Awardees include CONNECT membersUCSD, Biomed Realty Trust, and Kaiser Permanente. A big congrats to UCSD, who earned the honor of being Grand Champion.

Those five companies are DrivAd, EFinancial Communications, Portable Genomics, RockMyWorld, and Santech.  “Their success is a testament to their dedication, hard work and the entrepreneurship spirit of San Diego,” said Ruprecht von Buttlar, vice president, Business Creation and Development for CONNECT.

As a CONNECT strategic partner, Plug and Play SD continues to work closely with CONNECT and the Springboard program, leveraging Springboard’s established mentor base and process.

Silicon Valley’s Plug and Play Tech Center was founded in 2006, but the most recent group of eight San Diego winners were the first to come out of Plug & Play SD.  The San Diego division was established in late 2012 and, moving forward, it will develop two classes every year.   The winners from each group will follow in the footsteps of the initial group, spending about three months conducting work and receiving coaching in San Diego before attending the 10-week Startup Camp.  While there, the startups will be immersed in the Silicon Valley environment and work on fine-tuning their business plans through workshops, speaker series, mentorship sessions, and coaching.  Ultimately, all participants will have the opportunity to present their newly enhanced ideas to investors.

The Rock Stars of Innovation Summit (previously the La Jolla Research & Innovation Summit) was originally introduced by CONNECT CEO Duane Roth in 2009 during the recession as a showcase event for local startups to present to out-of-town VCs and serve as a reminder that innovation was still very much alive in San Diego. The Summit is now the premier life sciences and technology industry conference in Southern California for bridging the gap between scientific research and venture capital.

This year’s Summit will open with keynote presenter Chris Anderson, former WIRED editor-in-chief, CEO of 3D Robotics, and author of best-selling book The Long Tail: Why The Future of Business is Selling Less of More and Makers: The New Industrial Revolution. Napoleone Ferrara, molecular biologist, the senior deputy director for Basic Sciences at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, and Breakthrough Prize in Life Science honoree will be the closing keynote.

Partnering for the second time on the event, Xconomy joined Connect in revamping the premier event, which will be held April 12 at San Diego’s Hard Rock Hotel, and preceded the previous night by a VC jam session and networking event.
Read more in Xconomy.
For more information and to register, click here.

As part of the annual San Diego Festival of Science and Engineering, this fun, engaging and educational event opened students up to the possibilities of science in sports and highlighted the relationship between innovation and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). Thank you to all the companies that participated in the event!

Ron Taylor co-founded Pyxis Corporation in 1987. What started as a small start-up company grew to a highly-profitable, publically listed company with more than 1500 employees. Under Taylor’s leadership, Pyxis set a new standard for the safe and accurate delivery of drugs through its Medstation: an automated drug distribution technology and service systems platform. The Pyxis Medstation was originally created for the safe delivery of narcotics, but the system proved to be so effective, its use expanded to distribution of medications and supplies of all kinds. By implementing the Medstation, nurses and clinicians experienced accurate, streamlined workflow, leading to reduced manual error, time and cost. The system modernized safe medication management, transforming the care process at both the patient and clinician level.

To read more, click here and read more in Xconomy.