UT launching “Innovations and Commercialization Workshop Series” this week
Two University of Tennessee (UT) organizations are launching a seven-session workshop series on entrepreneurship for faculty and staff interested in commercializing their inventions.
The first session in the “UT Innovations and Commercialization Workshop Series” starts this Thursday with a two-hour “Intellectual Property Primer.” The entire series, which runs weekly through November 1, is co-sponsored by the UT Research Foundation (UTRF) and the Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ACEI) in the UT Knoxville College of Business Administration.
Dave Washburn, UTRF Vice President, emphasized the series was limited to faculty and staff.
“We have moved the series that we launched last year to the main campus to make it easier for more faculty to participate,” he said. “We have a commitment to commercializing more UT inventions, and we hope this series will help our faculty better understand the processes and the opportunities.”
The sessions run from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in Room 435 of the Min Kao Engineering Building. Lunch is provided.
The inaugural session this week will feature Bob Lauf, a local Patent Agent who is also an investor in and consultant to start-up companies.
Topics and speakers for the remaining weekly sessions are:
- September 27 – “Impact of Commercialization on Research,” Dr. Michael Zemel, retired UT Professor and Chief Scientific Officer for NuSirt.
- October 4 – “Anatomy of a License Agreement,” Washburn.
- October 11 – “Start-up Entity Types,” Lynn Youngs, ACEI Executive Director.
- October 18 – “The Wind-up and the Pitch,” Shawn Carson, Director, Center for Entrepreneurial Growth at Tech 20/20.
- October 25 – “The Capital Continuum,” Ken Woody, Partner in Innova.
- November 1 – “How to Pursue SBIR/STTR Funding,” Chuck Witkowski, Chief Executive Officer, Hubble Telemedical, Inc.
Questions about the series should be directed to UTRF.
