Who needs venture capitalists when you can get millions from the government for free?

HemCon gets $15 million to develop patented bandages. Public funding of a project whose likely outcome will be the great enriching of Hemcon executives and a patent enforced lockout of similar projects. Public funding should result in public benefit.

"Oregon Medical Laser Center in Portland would receive $4 million for tissue replacement and repair for battlefield injuries that would revolutionize treatment of external bleeding." When will this be put to civilian use? National Security and patents could make the answer 20+ years from now.

I'm very glad to see tangible results of federal dollars going to interesting companies in my region. Its the intellecutal property that needs fixing.

Go Wyden and Smith. If they can write this into bills at will, isnt there tremendous incentive for these companies to schmooze them up as much as possible? Good thing political donations are public knowledge (aren't they??).

From the portland business journal:

Senate defense bill provides $103M for Oregon

The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee has approved at least $103.5 million in funding for defense-related projects in Oregon.

Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden and Gordon Smith said the funds are now included in the fiscal 2005 defense spending bill, which must now be approved by the full Senate.

The projects that would receive funding are:

* The Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute would receive $5 million to develop miniaturized tactical energy systems for a wide range of military applications, including portable power systems for use by military personnel in the field and power systems for remote autonomous censors. ONAMI would also receive $5 million for developing nanomaterials and nanomanufacturing methods to meet the military's simultaneous need for high-performance materials, protecting human health and minimizing harm to the environment.
* Oregon Aero of Scappoose would receive $5 million for improved body armor.
* HemCon of Tigard would receive $15 million for the further development of its chitosan hemorrhage control dressing.
* Oregon Medical Laser Center in Portland would receive $4 million for tissue replacement and repair for battlefield injuries that would revolutionize treatment of external bleeding, which the Army cites as the leading preventable cause of death on the battlefield. Wyden and Smith were able to secure $16 million last year for both the hemorrhage control dressing and the tissue replacement and repair research and development programs.
* Freightliner, based in Portland, would share in $15 million to continue its program of replacing M915 line haul tractors.
* Oregon Iron Works, with operations in Clackamas, would share in $13 million for the completion and continued testing of a Sealion cascading vehicle capable of supporting a variety of missions, including mine identification and deactivation, clandestine surveillance of shore side and seaborne activity, reconnaissance, and target interdiction.
* Advanced Navigation and Positioning Corp. of Hood River would receive $12 million for transportable transponder landing systems to improve the safety, accuracy and reliability of air force operations.
* The Metals Affordability Initiative Consortium would receive $10 million for research, testing and development of technologies to improve military war fighting capability while increasing the cost-effectiveness of such technologies. The consortium's presence in Oregon includes Oremet, a division of Allegheny Technologies located in Albany; Pacific Cast Technologies, a division of Ladish located in Albany; and Boeing's Portland machining operation and PCC Stucturals Inc. division.
* Macsema, an Oregon-based subcontractor of Intermec Corp., would share in an $8 million grant for a tracking system to monitor location and usage of military equipment in the field.
* Siga Technologies Inc. of Corvallis would receive $7.5 million for the research and development of a system for rapid detection and diagnosis of potential bioterrorism agents.
* Hydration Technologies of Albany would receive $7 million for the operation and maintenance of forward osmosis technology to provide safe fluids for consumption from available contaminated surface water.
* American Blimp Corp. in Hillsboro would also receive $6 million for a project to deliver an airborne platform and system that can assist soldiers in urban environments by aiding them in identifying and defeating targets.
* AVI BioPharma in Portland and Corvallis would receive $6 million for the development of technology to test for and find therapeutic agents for viruses, including the Ebola and Marburg viruses. The company will also receive $4 million for the development of technology to test for and find therapeutic agents for the anthrax and ricin toxins.
* The University of Oregon's Brain, Biology and Machine Science Initiative would receive $6 million for interdisciplinary research related to cognitive neuroscience, genetics research and informatics.
* Flir Systems in Portland would receive $5 million to upgrade its thermal imaging systems. Flir would also receive $4 million to improve the thermal imaging systems on its UH-60 MEDEVAC aircraft.