Company Announcements Hichrom announced in March the acquisition of the Partisil and Partisphere HPLC column consumables product line from Whatman, a division of GE Healthcare. In March, Novasep completed a €310 million ($410 million) recapitalization, including €30 million ($40 million) from Fonds Stratégique d’Investissement (see IBO 11/15/11). Product Introductions Thermo Fisher Scientific launched the Thermo […]

In April, Turkey’s Minister of Science, Industry and Technology Nihat Ergün announced a TRY 1 billion ($540.4 million) plan to create 81 science centers in the country. The Project on the Establishment of Science Centers aims to create centers in all metropolitan cities within two years and in every city within five years. The High […]

According to a survey conducted earlier this year by biotechnologie.de for the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the number of German firms focused solely on biotechnology grew 2.6% in 2011 to 552. The number of employees at such firms grew 5.3% to 16,300. Revenues were also on the upswing, increasing 10.5% to €2.6 billion […]

A Federation of Korean Industries survey revealed that Korea’s 600 biggest businesses intend to increase spending 12.1% to an all-time high of KRW 140.8 trillion ($123.9 billion) in 2012. Facility spending is projected to grow 10.9% to make up 80% of total spending, and R&D spending is slated to grow 16.9% to account for 20%. […]

As metals prices fall and production costs rise, mining firms are expected to pursue more acquisitions. In May, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto Group announced cuts to capital spending plans due to the weakening global economy and rising costs. Acquisitions have become more attractive as valuations have decreased due to indications that the height of […]

Venture capital (VC) funding for biotechnology (defined as biomedicine) is changing, according to an analysis of data from Dow Jones VentureSource. Fewer VC firms are investing in early-stage companies. In 2011, only 194 VC or corporate VC firms were involved in biotech financings, down from 313 in 2007. Funding for innovative companies declined 34.0% between […]

New product development is the primary goal for R&D efforts this year for 41% of the 409 food and beverage processors that responded to the annual Food Processing R&D survey, which was conducted in March. Product line extensions and existing-product improvement are most important for 16% and 14% of respondents, respectively. Cost control was the […]

San Diego, CA 5/17/12—Accelrys has acquired the Hit Explorer Operating System (HEOS), including supporting personnel, from drug discovery and development firm SCYNEXIS. HEOS is a Software-as-a-Service workspace that streamlines collaborative drug discovery. “As many of our customers move to multi-site, multi-collaborator projects to accelerate innovation and reduce costs, we look forward to broadening the applicability […]

Tokyo, Japan 5/24/12—Hitachi High-Technologies has announced an agreement to acquire SII NanoTechnology from Seiko Instruments for an undisclosed amount. Hitachi High-Technologies stated that the acquisition will enhance its core technologies, including X-ray, thermal analysis, ion optic and physical measurement technologies, as well as create synergies. SII NanoTechnology’s fiscal 2011 revenues increased 2.3% to ¥15,576 million […]