MINNEAPOLIS U of M hires marketing firm
The University of Minnesota has hired a private firm to quicken the often sluggish process of bringing the university's technology and patents to the marketplace.
The university reached a deal in September with V2R Group Inc., which will review the school's inventions, license the technology and then within two years provide initial capital and managerial talent to build a company.
"Universities are the greatest source of knowledge," said Bahram Yusefzadeh, founder and chairman of V2R. "The challenge they have is how to convert this into revenues for the university. It takes a real professional business to identify business opportunities and leverage it."
WASHINGTON Consumer spending
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slows down
The growth in consumer spending slowed to a crawl in September as shoppers, worried about a deepening housing downturn, stayed away from the malls.
A different gauge of manufacturing activity slipped close to recession levels last month.
The latest economic data is likely signaling that a sharp slowdown is under way over the next two quarters as the housing slump, this summer's severe credit crunch and now rising energy prices take a toll on economic growth, analysts said.
DETROIT GM posts sales increases
Despite California wildfires and continuing problems in the housing market, General Motors and its Asian rivals posted U.S. sales increases in October and Toyota continued its drive to replace Ford as the No. 2 U.S. automaker, according to sales results released Thursday.
The month was generally flat compared to last October, with some new models like the Cadillac CTS - which saw sales up 75 percent - bucking the trend, said Jesse Toprak, chief economist with the auto information site Edmunds.com .
Chrysler to cut 12,000 jobs
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Chrysler LLC said Thursday it plans to cut up to 12,000 jobs, or as much as 15 percent of its workforce, as part of an effort to slash costs and match slowing demand for some vehicles.
The automaker will cut 8,500 to 10,000 hourly jobs and 2,100 salaried jobs through 2008. The company already had begun cutting 1,100 temporary workers Wednesday. It will eliminate shifts at five North American assembly plants and cut four vehicle models from its lineup.
- Associated Press
