By: » UGA’s “Entrepreneurs and Innovation” Summit Provides Insights into Economic Growth Terry Entrepreneurship

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 23:30:51 +0000

[...] Organizer Keith Herndon, President of Internet Decisions, LLC and author of Entrepreneurs and Innovation: Creating Value With Emerging Technology, kicked off Thursday’s event with an apt quote. The half-day summit, held at UGA’s Alumni Society’s Buckhead location, focused on the role that innovation plays in restoring economic growth, one entrepreneur at a time. UGA alums Karen Lennon, CEO, Beyond Z Interactive media and Alan Koenning, Fund Manager, UPS Strategic Enterprise Fund joined Chris Hanks, Director of the Entrepreneurship program at UGA’s Terry College of Business on a panel of experts. Attendees of the standing-room only event had an opportunity to listen to the panel’s insight into the innovation process, as well as hear general information about raising capital and leveraging existing resources. Ms. Lennon spoke of the need to keep employees motivated and offered tips on how to listen to your market. Mr. Koenning noted promising new trends in co-working, like the Advanced Technology Development Center’s (ATDC) “seed space” initiative, to provide entrepreneurs an affordable location to work that is in close proximity to available resources. Mr. Koenning also shared information about exciting opportunities like Shotput Ventures, a technology startup accelerator fund. Mr. Hanks focused on the importance of resonating with a target market so a firm is so closely aligned with that market’s needs it becomes “like a fingerprint.” After a Q&A session, John R. Harris, Partner at the Technology/Intellectual Property Group of Morris, Manning and Martin, LLC, gave a presentation on realizing value through legal services like patents. After a delicious lunch, Steven Stice, Ph.D., Director of the UGA Regenerative Bioscience Center and Chief Scientific Officer of Aruna Biomedical, literally wowed the crowd (“wows” quite audibly emanated from the peanut gallery) with his presentation of his work commercializing breakthroughs in ethically-sound stem cell research. A highlight of Dr. Stice’s presentation was footage of spontaneously uniting cells beating like a heart. Innovation was on display in more ways than one at UGA’s “Entrepreneurs and Innovation” Summit. Stephen Rosenberg @smrosenberg If Terry Entrepreneurship had a cousin, it would be Techdrawl.com. Check out Techdrawl’s coverage of the Innovations Summit here. [...]

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By: » UGA’s “Entrepreneurs and Innovation” Summit Provides Insights into Economic Growth Terry Entrepreneurship