Several venture capital firms are mulling over the idea of investing in one, or potentially several, breakthrough technologies unveiled at The University Research & Entrepreneurship Symposium 2011. The URES is an invitation-only one-day conference established to bring world-class research universities to Boston and to showcase them before a group of New England’s top entrepreneurs and venture capitalists.

It featured breakthrough technologies in three focus areas – information technology, life sciences and clean energy. Each presenting university had 15 minutes to describe their research and then venture capitalists would ask a number of questions.  Some presentations included: safe and effective treatments for cough from Johns Hopkins University to diagnostic technology for diabetes and its complications from Harvard University.

The URES is presented by three leading venture capital firms ~ Flybridge Capital Partners, Atlas Venture, and General Catalyst Partners and is sponsored by Goodwin Procter. The one-day symposium has been designed to explore the challenges and opportunities faced by entrepreneurs and start-up companies commercializing university-owned technology while at the same time exposing New England’s top venture capitalists and entrepreneurs to leading research universities beyond the Boston area.

The conference, held at The Charles Hotel in Cambridge,  hosted more than 250 university researchers, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs at URES 2011.

BostInno interviewed two of the VC firms there:

Jon Karlen, General Partner at Flybridge Capital Partners, Interviewed at University Research

Bilal Zuberi, General Catalyst Partners, University Research & Entrepreneurship Symposium