Cook Enters Global Partnership With Swiss Company

Bloomington-based Cook Medical has formed an alliance with Switzerland-based LMA Urology Ltd. for the treatment of stone disease, reports Inside INdiana Business. Under terms of the global partnership, Cook will market and distribute a device from LMA designed to break down stones. Cook says the deal will help ensure an effective medical treatment option is available for people with urinary stones.

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International Design Symposium

Designers, critics, scholars, manufacturers and dealers are participating in a two-day symposium at the Indianapolis Museum of Art in conjunction with the "European Design" exhibit on display 8 March through 21 June.

"Shaping a New Century: An International Design Symposium" will be held 6 and 7 March at the IMA to examine the present and future of European decorative and industrial design.

Four sessions will focus on creating, making, judging and designing.

Registration information is online. Cost is $150 for students and $250 for the public.

UPDATE:

Costs have dropped! It's now $50 for students and $100 for the public for both days!

Participants also have been announced. They are:
* Alberto Alessi (Director of Marketing Strategies and Design Management, Alessi s.p.a. – Italy)
* Jurgen Bey (Creative Director, Studio Makkink & Bey– Holland)
* George Beylerian (CEO & Founder, Material ConneXion - New York)
* Juli Capella (Director, Capella Arquitectura & Design, s.l. – Spain)
* matali crasset (industrial designer, matali crasset productions – France)
* Beatrice de Lafontaine (Director, when objects work – Belgium)
* Michele De Lucchi (architect, aMDL-architetto Michele De Lucchi Srl– Italy)
* Sylvain Dubuisson (Dubuisson Associes - France)
* Rolf Fehlbaum (Chairman, Vitra – Switzerland)
* Nasir Kassamali (Owner, LUMINAIRE® – U.S.)
* Eero Koivisto (Co-Founder, Claesson Koivisto Rune - Sweden)
* Didier Krzentowski (Owner, Galerie kreo – France)
* Susan Grant Lewin (President, Susan Grant Lewin Associates - New York)
* Catherine McDermott (Professor, Kingston University - United Kingdom)
* R. Craig Miller (curator, Indianapolis Museum of Art – U.S.)
* Cedric Morriset (independent journalist, curator and design consultant – France)
* Cilla Robach (curator, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm – Sweden)
* Jerszy Seymour (designer, Jerszy Seymour Design Workshop – Germany)
* Penny Sparke (scholar, Kingston University – United Kingdom)
* Dr. Josef Strasser (senior curator, Die Neue Sammlung--The International Design Museum Munich – Germany)
* Richard Wright (Director, Wright – U.S.)

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Dow AgroSciences Partners with Swiss Company

Indianapolis-based Dow AgroSciences has entered into a new research and development agreement with Switzerland's Syngenta, reports Inside INdiana Business.

The companies will work together to evaluate current and future Dow AgroSciences compounds for incorporation into Syngenta's seed treatment portfolio.

Swiss Firm Moves from Bartholomew to Johnson

Inside INdiana Business reports that groundbreaking ceremonies were held yesterday for a new $15 million facility for Georg Utz. Inc. in Johnson County.

They note the Switzerland-based company is relocating operations from Bartholomew County, creating about 40 new jobs by 2011. The company designs and manufactures reusable, plastic storage containers and custom packaging.

Nestlé to expand new Anderson plant

Just three months after Nestlé USA began ramping up production at its new plant in Anderson, the company said that it will spend an additional $200 million on an expansion, reports the Indianapolis Business Journal.

Nestlé will add 135 workers to the 300 who will staff the initial, $359 million project, the Indiana Economic Development Corp. said. The state offered Nestle $1.4 million in incentives for the expansion. The site manufactures Nesquik and Coffee-mate drinks.

The company is an arm of Nestlé S.A. of Vevey, Switzerland.

It's Swiss Days at Berne This Weekend

Discover Switzerland in Indiana during Swiss Days at Berne 24-26 July.

On the schedule are polka dancing, children's activities, factory tours, quilt show, steintoss, horse pulling contest, craft vendors, sidewalk sales, parade, musical entertainment on the downtown stage and high school auditorium, sports competitions and Swiss foods. (That's the Hank Haller Band in the photo.)

New in 2008: champion yo-yo performer and showcase open to all performing with locally made wooden, Amish yo-yos. Swiss Days Furniture Frenzy back by popular demand for second year with $1,000 grand prize.

More information on the website, or call 260:589-8080.

Acoustics and Engineering Meet Biomedicine

American and European experts in acoustics and bio-engineering will present novel approaches on the emerging biomedical field of audible acoustic measurements and analysis during a symposium 8-9 September at Purdue University in West Lafayette.

According to the report from the Purdue News Bureau, breakthroughs in the field of sonic measurements and analysis are leading to new medical treatments in critical care; heart-related issues; sleep disorders; orthopedic and sports injuries; ear, nose and throat maladies; hearing problems; and speech disorders.

The conference will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day at the Martin C. Jischke Hall of Biomedical Engineering.

Presenters include researchers from Canada, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, as well as key universities in the United States, including Purdue, Dartmouth College, Boston University, Binghamton University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Chicago.

While the symposium's registration is free, students and researchers are asked to register before a 15 July deadline. Deadline for abstract submissions of poster presentations is 1 July.

Valpo Students Travel to Switzerland

Members of a research team from Valparaiso University's College of Engineering will travel to Switzerland next month with a solar reactor they've designed to test it at one of the world's premier solar energy research institutes, reports Inside Indiana Business.

The school's solar energy program was launched in 2006 with a $300,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to study a process that has the potential to make large storage and transportation of the sun's energy practical.

Presentation on International Health

Otmar Kloiber M.D. (left), will speak on "Ethical Perspectives in Medicine, Health and Science" during a 3-4 p.m. presentation 26 February on the campus of Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis. Dr. Kloiber is Secretary General of the World Medical Association based in Geneva, Switzerland.

He will address a number of critical ethical and policy issues in international health and health research including: global efforts in TB resistance, health and human rights, and the next revisions to the Declaration of Helsinki. His presentation takes place in Conference Room 110 of the Health Information and Translational Sciences Building at 410 West 10th Street, Indianapolis.

For information and reservations, contact Eva Jackson, IU Center for Bioethics, 317:278-4034.

The World Medical Association is the independent confederation of national medical associations from more than 80 countries and represents more than eight million physicians. Acting on behalf of patients and physicians, the WMA endeavours to achieve the highest possible standards of medical care, ethics, education and health-related human rights for all people.

International Copyright Law

A United Nations agency has recruited an Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis professor to do a study that could affect libraries and copyright laws around the world. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has commissioned Kenneth Crews (right), the Samuel R. Rosen Professor of Law at IU School of Law-Indianapolis, located on the IUPUI campus, to conduct a worldwide study of copyright statutes related to libraries and library services, according to the IUPUI News Bureau. The study will encompass the laws of more than 180 countries that are members of WIPO, which is based in Geneva, Switzerland. A final report is due in March 2008. Crews's work should help identify policy issues that national governments may need to address in the near future. Professor Crews is director of the Copyright Management Center at IUPUI.

Swiss Independence Day is August 1!

But members of the Swiss Club of Central Indiana will be celebrating a little early.

They're gathering from 2-6 p.m. tomorrow at the Westfield home of the Honorary Swiss Consul tomorrow for an independence celebration.

If you'd like more information, call 317:217-1645.

Roche expands

Roche Group has spent $600 million to buy full ownership of BioVeris Corp. of Gaithersburg, Md., gaining control of BioVeris' diagnostic technology, reports The Indianapolis Business Journal.

The Swiss company's U.S. subsidiary, Indianapolis-based Roche Diagnostics, had licensed the electrochemiluminescence technology in machines it sold to hospitals and commercial laboratories--but was limited to diagnosing human diseases.

The acquisition, which is expected to close in the third quarter, allows Roche Diagnostics to expand sales of the equipment for veterinary applications as well as to human drug discovery and clinical trials.

Foreign Firms Invest More in Indiana

Inside INdiana Business reports today on two new international connections for Indiana companies.

In the first item, it says that Switzerland-based Leman Cardiovascular subsidiary Hancock Jaffe Laboratories is partnering with Bloomington's Cook Medical to develop products in the field of tissue engineering and processing for minimally invasive cardiovascular products.

The second notes that CTS Automotive Products in Elkhart was awarded a production program by a Korean based vehicle manufacturer for its Seat Belt Tension Sensor (BTS). With production starting in the spring of 2007, the CTS Seat Belt Tension Sensor will be integrated in seat belt assemblies for small SUVs built in Mexico for sale in North America.