May 16, 2002  at the UTD Conference Center
5:00 pm - Reception with wine and light buffet
6:30 - 8:00 pm - Program presentation
Admission with $35 donation ($25 for MIT Club of DFW members, $10 for students) . 
For reservations call Mary Langford at 972-377-4554, or email to mitforum@juno.com

Tech Transfer: New Opportunities for Licensing & Entrepreneurship

Introductions: 

• Michael G. Cameron, registered patent attorney, Jackson Walker L.L.P., and the moderator will be 

Moderator:

• Dennis I. Robbins, Ph.D., founder and managing partner, Techpiphany, Inc.

Panelists:

• Da Hsuan Feng, Ph.D., vice president for research and graduate education, and professor of physics, UTDallas; 

• Steven P. Nichols, P.E., J.D., director of the Clint W. Murchison Chair of Free Enterprise , and associate vice president for research, The University of Texas at Austin; 

• Tom Turpen, Ph.D., president and chief scientific officer, Eliance Biotechnology, Inc.; 

• Terry A. Young, assistant vice chancellor for technology transfer, and executive director, technology licensing office, The Texas A&M University System.

Program:

The May 16 program for the MIT Enterprise Forum of Dallas-Fort Worth, Inc. will be a panel discussion on technology transfer issues. The program, Tech Transfer: New Opportunities for Licensing & Entrepreneurship, will be at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTDallas) Conference Center. There will be a reception with a light buffet at 5 p.m., and the program will begin at 6:30 p.m. The cost for attendance is a $35 donation, $10 for students. All donations are tax deductible to the extent allowed by the IRS for 501(c)(3) organizations.

Reservations can be made at mitforum@juno.com, or by calling 972-377-4554. More information is available at www.mitforum.com. Attendees should enter UTDallas via University Drive, off of Campbell Road, east of Waterview in Richardson, to get a parking pass.

The program is being presented to address the challenges of taking research discoveries from universities and turning them into viable commercial products. In the inner sanctums of university research labs, new technologies await - ripe for further commercial development and ready to be presented to the world by entrepreneurs. But somehow, commercial development is not as forthcoming as it could be.

The challenge to universities lies in educating their faculties to the culture and opportunities of commercialization. The challenge to would-be entrepreneurs and those who want to negotiate licenses lies in navigating the complexities of university regulations and policies.

A panel of technology transfer leaders and officers from top universities will discuss current and future opportunities for universities and entrepreneurs to benefit from university research discoveries. The panel assembled to discuss these issues includes: Da Hsuan Feng, Ph.D., vice president for research and graduate education, and professor of physics, UTDallas; Steven P. Nichols, P.E., J.D., director of the Clint W. Murchison Chair of Free Enterprise , and associate vice president for research, The University of Texas at Austin; Tom Turpen, Ph.D., president and chief scientific officer, Eliance Biotechnology, Inc.; and Terry A. Young, assistant vice chancellor for technology transfer, and executive director, technology licensing office, The Texas A&M University System.

Introductions will be by Michael G. Cameron, registered patent attorney, Jackson Walker L.L.P., and the moderator will be Dennis I. Robbins, Ph.D., founder and managing partner, Techpiphany, Inc.

Some questions to be answered include: How are universities educating their faculties about commercialization? What happens when scientific discoveries are reconfigured by business people to solve problems that were not intended when scientists created their innovations? What are their pricing and licensing practices? Are these practices having the desired impact on universities? What changes are needed? How have the most successful universities shaped their technology transfer practices?

How are entrepreneurs overcoming the barriers to acquiring licenses for new technologies? What are those barriers? What technologies are in highest demand? How have successful entrepreneurs discovered and negotiated their technology acquisitions?

The bottom line is that when science can be reconfigured by business principles, solutions to problems appear, universities prosper, and jobs and revenue are created.

For more information visit http://www.mitforum.com or call 972-377-4554.