MIT Entrepreneurship Prize Winners Announced

SteriCoat, Inc. was the Grand Prize Winner of the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition for its development of a superior coating technology for medical devices that significantly reduces the incidence of infections by preventing the formation of bacterial "biofilms" and actively killing bacteria. In the newly formed development category, CentroMigrante was the grand prize winner for offering clean, safe and affordable urban housing for impoverished, transient job seekers in developing countries such as the Philippines. Terrafugia attracted attention (and a business venture runner-up prize) for its Transition Personal Air Vehicle - a plane that can drive on any surface road, take to the air from most local airports, and park in a household garage. The MIT Entrepreneurship competition winners were announced on May 19th.

Sarbanes-Oxley Hitting Smallest Firms Hardest

Enterprise Bancorp, a $55 million company based in Lowell, MA saw its audit costs increase by 100 percent, from $140,000 to $280,000, the first year it was public, CFO Jim Marcotte told the "Boston Business Journal." Enterprise Bancorp's experience is consistent with that of other small business companies, which is why the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce filed a report to the SEC when the commission submitted its request for public comment on possible modifications to Sarbanes-Oxley to meet the needs of smaller firms. "Sarbanes-Oxley has become one more burden in the steep climb towards an initial public offering that is especially difficult for small companies," states the report.