January 2, 2012 | Innovation Excellence

If I had to characterize the year 2011 in the world of university technology transfer, I would describe it as a year of “wait and see.” Of course several notable events happened — for example, patent reform and a Supreme Court case that clarified limitations on university patent ownership. But my sense was that this year’s big events will make their true impact felt over the longer term. With no further ado, here’s the short list.

January 1, 2012 | USA Today/Detroit Free Press

Tender boutique in Birmingham, Mich., were trying to find a way to draw their social-media friends into the store this year. So they created an offer. They would sell their private-label Tender tights for $15 a pair — a bargain at a store that sells $1,500 messenger bags and $300 designer dresses. "We sold out thousands of pairs in a few days," Cheryl Daskas said. "Blasting it on Twitter really drove it home. It was a lot of fun."

December 27, 2011 | IP Watchdog

Several weeks ago, on December 11, 2011, U.S. Commerce Secretary John Bryson set out his vision for how the Department of Commerce can best partner with the business community to support President Obama’s jobs agenda. If the past is any indication of the future, President Obama and it senior team will do whatever they can leading into the new year to jump start the economy and get Americans back to work.

December 27, 2011 | Genetic Engineering News

The four states with the nation’s largest biotech clusters, California, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Maryland, showed that they too were not immune to challenges common to most U.S. regions seeking to build their life science presence. Hurdles included a capital squeeze particularly for early-stage biopharmas, the reality of the industry’s international growth, and the need to attract new businesses and retain existing ones.

December 31, 2011 | Huffington Post

For venture capital, 2011 was a year of recovery. Investors in venture funds (called Limited Partners) wryly pointed out in 2010 that venture capital had not produced returns in the past decade. 2011 may have corrected that, but investors still continue to shy away from VC. But let's start with the good news first.

George Lipper, Editor

Both Lipper Current Weekly and (the daily web report) LipperCurrent.com will go silent for a couple of weeks in early to mid-January. We anticipate that the weekly newsletter will not be published on January 10th and 17th while the web site will not be updated from January 6th thru January 16th. We appreciate your loyalty and sincerely look forward to renewing our visits as the days start getting later this month Cordially, George Lipper