Massachusetts' MedTech IGNITE gets $50K grant; Could device firms flock to Toronto?;

> The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center has awarded a $50,000 grant to MedTech IGNITE, a business-coaching program. The grant will allow the MedTech IGNITE Program to expand to new areas of Massachusetts, including the Pioneer Valley, Merrimack Valley, South Coast and Worcester regions, and help nurture more medical device entrepreneurs in the early stages of their companies' development. Release

> Toronto could become extremely attractive to U.S. device firms, especially with the looming 2.3% sales tax under the healthcare reform act. The tax is a "jobs killer and a driver for the industry to seek lower cost sites for production," says a study by The Boyd Company location consultants of Princeton, NJ, and could benefit Toronto, as well as places like Sioux Falls, SD, where no corporate income tax applies. Report

> DFINE has agreed to pay the government $2.39 million to resolve allegations it paid kickbacks to physicians. Article

> Vention Medical will buy the ATEK Medical Group in a deal that is expected to close within the next month. The ATEK Medical Group is a leader in medical device assembly, packaging and injection molding. Vention release

> IBM's Watson beat Harvard Business School and MIT Sloan School of Management teams in a recent Jeopardy! match. But IBM has even bigger goals for Watson, including becoming an aid in medical diagnosis. Story

> Rhythmlink has scored its first patent for the new Disposable Webbed EEG Electrode. It is the only flat, disposable EEG electrode available on the market, according to the company. Rhythmlink release

> ClearCount Medical Solutions has received approval to affix the CE mark to its SmartSponge and SmartWand-DTX products. The SmartSponge product line is the first RFID-based surgical safety and efficiency technology bearing a CE mark, the company says in a release. ClearCount release

And Finally... Rock on! The Who's Roger Daltrey and Aerosmith's Steven Tyler are among those who have contributed to a project to develop a gel that can vibrate up to 200 times a second--replicating the action of human vocal cords and helping the damaged voices of singers. Report