Milennium Teams with Belgian Company
Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Cambridge has entered into an agreement with UCB Pharma's Celltech Antibody Research Centre of Excellence of Brussels, Belgium, in which they will collaborate on research, development, and commercialization of new antibody therapeutics. UCB Pharma will be responsible for development activities and related costs while Millennium retains the option to co-develop and co-commercialize products with UCB Pharma under a cost- and profit-sharing arrangement. Additional financial details were not disclosed.

Media Lab Europe Closes Its Doors
The board of directors of MIT's Media Lab Europe (MLE) has announced that the lab would be closing due to a shortfall in financing. Launched in 2000 by the Irish government and MIT, MLE was a research and innovation laboratory in the field of digital technologies. The lab also participated in a number of European Union-funded research collaborations. Initial funding for the lab came from the Irish government; however it was expected to gradually become self-financing through securing corporate funding for its research activities. MIT officials said the economic climate of the past four years proved extremely difficult for the lab to succeed.

Cabot Launches Ventures in China
Cabot Corp. of Boston recently announced the formation of a new joint venture with Shanghai Coking and Chemical Co. to be called Cabot Chemical (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. Cabot Tianjin will initially invest $28 million to build a new world-class carbon black facility in Tianjin. Cabot also broke ground on a new fumed silica manufacturing facility in Jiangxi province, China.

Australian Firm Purchases Eukarion
Proteome Systems of Sydney has purchased Eukarion Inc., the Bedford-based pharmaceutical company. Eukarion markets several families of topical, injectable, and potentially oral forms of pre-clinical antioxidant drugs. Proteome is a biotechnology company that specializes in the emerging field of "proteomics" which the company defines as the comprehensive study of proteins and their interactions.

Swiss Firm Opens Boston Office
WISeKey of Geneva opened a new office in Boston in January 2005 to serve as the headquarters of WISeKey USA. It is dedicated to exclusively serve the U.S. market and international corporations and organizations with headquarters in the U.S. Boston was chosen for its proximity to Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. WISeKey provides a variety of Internet security management services and products.

Softscape Opens Hong Kong Office
Wayland-based Softscape Inc. has opened its Asia Pacific headquarters in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong office will expand Softscape's operations to the Asia-Pacific region and provide localized sales, marketing, consulting, implementation, and support to customers in the area. Softscape provides integrated management solutions to companies and government agencies.

Charles River Buys Australian Firm
Charles River Associates (Asia Pacific) Pty Ltd., the Australian subsidiary of Charles River Associates Inc., has acquired Network Economics Consulting Group Pty Ltd. of Canberra. Network Economics provides regulatory and economic consulting services in the Asia Pacific region to clients in the energy, telecom, transportation and other industries. Charles River Associates is an economics, finance, and business consulting firm based in Boston.

Chase Corp Buys British ConCoat
Chase Corp. of Bridgewater has signed a letter of intent for Chase to acquire Concoat Holdings of Camberley, Surrey, England subject to definitive agreements and any required regulatory approvals. The deal does not include the equipment portion of the Concoat business known as Concoat Systems. Concoat will be linked together with HumiSeal USA and will be part of Chase Specialty Coatings group.

Bain Capital Buys Italian Company
Boston-based Bain Capital LLC , a global private investment firm, has acquired TeamSystem S.p.A., of Pesaro, Italy, a leading company in the development and marketing of financial management software products for tax, payroll, accounting, budgeting. TeamSystem employs more than 450 people.

State Exports Could Hit Record
According to the Alliance for the Commonwealth, an affiliate of Associated Industries of Massachusetts, Bay State exports surged to a record annual pace in the first three quarters of 2004, up 18.8% from the same period in 2003. This puts the state on a pace to surpass the record set in 2000 of $20 billion. The state's percentage increase also surpassed the nationwide figure for the same period of 13.8%.

Danish TV Chooses Avid
Tewksbury firm Avid Technology Inc. has entered a multi-million euro agreement to modernize The Danish Broadcasting Corp.'s Programme Production Unit for digital postproduction facilities. Avid will also provide the professional consulting and training services required for the transition to a tapeless production environment. The installation will begin in early 2005 and is expected to be completed by mid 2006.

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