Carnegie Mellon University Professor Tsuhan Chen spent the early part of the week in Taipei, Taiwan, showcasing his ready-to-commercialize security technologies.

Dr. Chen has developed a software "toolbox" that, used with off-the-shelf security or surveillance cameras, can provide a do-it-yourself blueprint to track anything from cars in parking lots to home intruders.

The second technology, also developed in conjunction with his Taipei-based research partner, Shiaw-Shian Yu, is a motion sensor, which by using an algorithm can be trained to monitor and track the location of objects -- such as computers or suitcases -- and notify the owner when they are misplaced or stolen.

Both technologies were developed last year at the Industrial Technology Research Institute, a Taiwanese government-affiliated research center. Dr. Chen said the technology is ready to be sold on the market, but wouldn't say whether he'll launch his own company or license the technology to another firm. "At this point, I'm leaving all options open," he said.

Also this week, a slew of local biotech executives crammed into a conference room at the Hazelwood-based Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse to talk to Sen. Rick Santorum and Rep. Melissa Hart about what Western Pennsylvania's growing life sciences industry needs.

Besides the obvious -- capital, which insiders say isn't so hard to come by in these parts -- reimbursement from Medicare for their medical devices or drug therapy products top the list.

"The reimbursement climate is very tricky," said Greenhouse executive-in-residence Lisa Parr. "These companies' viability is really based on whether or not they are able to get a third-party payer -- health insurers -- to reimburse them." The hardest part, she said, is trying to anticipate the type of clinical data a biotech company might need to support their case for reimbursement.

Greensburg-based medical device firm CardiacTelecom chief Lee Erhlichman concurred: "It's very hard to survive when costs are going up and reimbursements are going down." Other firms on hand to get face time with their federal representatives were Downtown-based BodyMedia, Marshall-based Renal Solutions, North Side-based Red Path Integrated Pathology and Braddock Hill-based MedSage Technologies.

Jim Rock, chief executive officer of South Side-based Akustica Inc., said the firm is fine-tuning a new product, a "top-secret" enhanced version of its super-tiny micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) digital microphones used in consumer electronics such as cell phones and laptop computers. Akustica is already shipping two versions of its specialized microphones, which will be seen in stores by April or May. Mr. Rock was very tight-lipped about Akustica's customers and the details of the product-in-development, offering only that it will be launched by the end of 2006. There are at least two studies simultaneously holding a looking glass to the local entrepreneurial community.

A study commissioned by the Heinz Endowments has Beth Siegel, of Boston area-based consulting group Mt. Auburn Associates, talking to members of the local tech community to examine how local development groups that Heinz funds -- such as, but not limited to, the North Side-based Technology Collaborative and Oakland-based Idea Foundry -- are "performing and perceived." A Heinz spokesman said such assessments are routine and will not be made public.

And of course, there is the previously reported Battelle Technology Practice and Milken Institute study, charged with building a "roadmap" and "vision" for technology growth in the region. This project was commissioned by the Greater Oakland Keystone Innovation Zone, a designated area around Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, that is eligible for tax breaks and grants to promote tech-based economic development.

And speaking of successes -- while we are figuring out how best to make our tech sector grow -- the University of Pittsburgh announced that it had spun out 10 start-ups in 2004, a solid number for $558.9 million spent in research by the University that year. As a result of that story, I received a slew of phone calls and e-mails wondering why Pitt would not release the names and locations of these fledgling upstarts. Dr. Marc Malandro, who heads Pitt's technology transfer office, assured me that he would be able to provide more specifics on these start-ups next week. And the region awaits . . . The Pittsburgh Technology Council and South Side-based tech-focused GSP Consulting teamed up on Wednesday night to raise more than $40,000 for Lousiana-based technology companies affected by Hurricane Katrina. The event, held at the Pittsburgh Glass Center in Friendship, also yielded the donation of 20 laptop computers from the Tech Council.