Talk: Fostering Technology Innovation in the University Environment
The modern research university research is an unparalleled resource for advancing society and producing solutions to the world's most pressing needs. The translation of basic research to useful applied innovation is a critical part of this process. Despite increasing focus and much interest, many promising ideas never make it out of the lab. For the past 11 years the NCIIA has been working with higher education to improve opportunities for scientists and engineers to learn how to navigate from idea to invention to product or venture. In this talk Phil Weilerstein, the Executive Director of the NCIIA, will discuss some key lessons learned through this work illustrated through the experiences of technology innovators and entrepreneurs in a variety of fields.
Phil Weilerstein began his career as an entrepreneur while still a graduate student at the University of Massachusetts. He, along with classmates and an advisor, launched a start-up biotech company which eventually went public. This experience, followed by several other entrepreneurial ventures, brought him a lifelong passion for entrepreneurship, which he has lived out through his work with the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance. Phil’s tenure at the NCIIA is marked by his skill for network-building and expert leverage of resources. He has a special talent for seeking out gifted educators and other important contributors and putting them to work for the betterment of invention, innovation, and entrepreneurship education in the U.S. and worldwide. As an entrepreneur in a not-for-profit organization, he has grown the NCIIA from a grassroots group of enthusiastic faculty to a nationally known and in-demand knowledge base and resource center.
