Transformative Leaps Begin with Investment in Technology
Rapidly evolving technology has profound and far-reaching effects on how we communicate, how we use and conserve energy and how we live safer, healthier lives.
Death rates due to cancer, heart disease, stroke, hypertension, pneumonia and diabetes (6 of the 15 leading causes of death in the U.S.) have decreased significantly with advancements in treatments. LASIK eye surgery has been reshaping corneas and correcting vision for almost 20 years now. Fifty years ago, the average life expectancy at birth was 69.9 years compared with 78.3 years projected for 2010. Breast cancer mortality rates have dropped 2 percent per year since 1990.
Can you imagine what our lives
are going to look like in 10 years?
At Ben Franklin Technology Partners (BFTP), we have a unique vantage point on evolving technology. On a daily basis, we are looking far into the future through the eyes of the visionary entrepreneurs poised to bring the next transformative technology to market. We have the great fortune of being in contact on a daily basis with members of our strong and growing network of alumni companies. These companies have reshaped entire industries and in turn transformed the way we go about our lives–in large part due to the financial, business and technical assistance we provided to them during their early stages.
In this issue of Keynotes, we feature four
Pennsylvania companies that are poised
to become truly transformative.
Digestive Care‘s Pancrecarb products are changing the lives of cystic fibrosis patients. Begun as a research organization, today Digestive Care is a fully integrated pharmaceutical company dedicated to developing unique pharmaceutical products to alleviate complications and symptoms of gastrointestinal disorders.
QR Pharma is a specialty pharmaceutical company founded to develop novel drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer ‘s disease and Down Syndrome. QR Pharma has clinical-stage technology licensed from NIH/Torrey Pines and is developing therapeutics for both early- and late-stage Alzheimer’s.
The entrepreneur–whether starting in a garage or in the labs of a world-renowned university–has a long road to travel to get from concept to commercialization to impact. Smart investment in technology and the company leaders that can bring their ideas to life is a recipe for growth and for continuing to improve our quality of life.
Epiphany Solar Water Systems has groundbreaking technology that utilizes solar energy to distill unclean water in a way that is simple, inexpensive and sustainable. Epiphany’s simple, low-cost sustainable water purification is ideal for both the developing world and any community or organization with a need for clean water.
Applied Computational Technologies helps medical professionals determine the best course of radiation treatment for cancer patients. The company developed ProACTive, a dose calculation software engine that reduces the margin for error and ensures proper dosage.
The ultimate impact of companies
like those featured in this issue
is rarely known at the start.
For example, OraSure, which started in the Ben Franklin Business Incubator in the late 1980s as Solar Care Technologies, first set out to develop a sunscreen towelette. Today, they are the world’s leading provider of rapid HIV and hepatitis testing, providing a valuable tool in the battle against these preventable diseases.
Morphotek launched in 2001 with a $50,000 BFTP investment. In 2007, the company was bought by Eisai, a Japanese pharmaceutical company, for $325 million. Today, they have 140 employees, and construction is underway on a 60,000-square-foot manufacturing facility adjacent to their current location in Exton.
These and other transformative advances
don’t happen in a vacuum.
The entrepreneur–whether starting in a garage or in the labs of a world-renowned university–has a long road to travel to get from concept to commercialization to impact. Smart investment in technology and the company leaders that can bring their ideas to life is a recipe for growth and for continuing to improve our quality of life. Challenges abound. Technologies with the potential to overcome hurdles are being brought to market right now.
At Ben Franklin Technology Partners, we seek out the best ideas, the smartest leaders and the most cutting-edge technologies that have the potential to make a real impact for our neighborhoods and the Commonwealth and yield untold benefits to society as well. The types of companies BFTP invests in, mentors, nurtures and advises on a daily basis just might hold the key to our next transformative leap forward.
Terry Singer
Director, Statewide Affairs
Ben Franklin Technology Partners
BFTP is an initiative of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development and is funded by the Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority.
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