PROGRAM DESCRIPTION:

This webinar series is about how companies work or want to work with universities to create value for both themselves and the universities. The ecology of innovation is undergoing a profound change where a collaborative set of activities need to effectively connect academic institutions with the business community. Universities are becoming key sources of discovery and are playing an ever increasing role in how industry innovates. Global competition, rising R&D costs and thus the need to get more products to the market sooner are some factors forcing companies to reach out to research universities for new ideas and capability. Licensing, corporate sponsored research, consulting engagements, venture capital investment, gifts, and employment are just some of the ways used to build strategic relationships between industry and universities, and are becoming a regular part of the developing open innovation environment.


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COST: Free, but registration required.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE?: This series is online. You need a computer with web access for the visual/audio. Q&A is conducted by a chat box to the speakers.

WHO SHOULD PARTICIPATE IN THE WEBINAR?: These webinars are open to anyone interested in how universities and industry can better collaborate to commercialize R&D. In particular, we invite Global 1000, VCs, angel investors and university officials.

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Paul Cummings
(Principal, Honda Strategic Venturing)

Bio

Paul Cummings is a Principal of Honda Strategic Venturing (HSV), the corporate venture capital arm of Honda Motor Corporation based in Mountain View, California.HSV seeks investment opportunities in technology venture companies to establish the strategic foundation for collaborative partnership both to excel Honda's innovative R&D and to help technology venture companies succeed in Honda's product markets.Prior to joining Honda, Paul held various management positions with automotive tier 1 supplier Delphi; including, positions in mergers and acquisitions, business development and operations for a Japanese partnered joint venture.Paul also worked for Accenture in the Sydney, Australia office with the Strategy Consulting Practice.Paul holds an MBA from the University of Chicago, and BA from Michigan State University.

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Robyn Zander
(Project Manager, Southern California Edison)

Bio

Robyn Zander is a Project Manager in the Energy Efficiency Division at Southern California Edison ("SCE").SCE is one of the largest investor-owner utilities in the United States, serving 13 million customers across a 50,000 square mile service territory.For the last six years, SCE has partnered with its customers to save more electricity through energy efficiency programs than any other utility in the nation.Before joining SCE, Robyn worked 10 years at Boeing as a program manager in the contracts division and 5 years as a general partner of a manufacturing company.As a general partner, Robyn grew the business through product development, increased international distribution, and marketing.Her specialty was product development and reducing the commercialization process.While working as a general partner her team also invested in other manufacturing ventures in the automotive industry.Robyn joined SCE's Energy Efficiency Regulatory Group in 2006.Since joining the SCE team, she has been a major contributor in the development of the technology resource incubator outreach program (TRIO).This program nurtures upstream technologies through workshops and education that focus on doing business with utilities.She works with all levels of the energy efficiency industry, from university engineering students, venture capitalists and "angel" investors, as well as with manufacturers, trade associations, utilities, and state and federal government.Robyn participated as a Judge of the National Council of Entrepreneurial Tech Transfer.Robyn received her MBA from Pepperdine University and BS in Psychology from Oregon State University.

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Robert R. Gruetzmacher
(Director of Technology Commercialization, DuPont's Center for Collaborative Research and Education)

Bio

Dr. Gruetzmacher is the Director of Technology Commercialization in DuPont's Center for Collaborative Research and Education. During his career with DuPont, his responsibilities have included research, development, manufacturing, and marketing in the photopolymer imaging products and medical diagnostic businesses. He managed DuPont’s infectious disease diagnostics research group in Boston, co-managed a food quality assurance business venture, and helped lead development of DuPont's technology transfer group and intellectual assets business.

In his current role his responsibilities include managing the unrestricted grants program, leading DuPont’s efforts to find appropriate university partners for sponsored and collaborative research, negotiating agreements and seeks new business opportunities with the academic setting including startups, and advises company-wide on licensing-related matters. Most recently, he has been asked to take a lead in facilitating corporate-wide implementation of an “open innovation” R&D model.

Dr. Gruetzmacher holds a Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University, and was the recipient of a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellowship. He has served as a trustee of the Licensing Executives Society and participates in several international forums dealing with topics such as university/company transactions, knowledge management, and the management and valuation of intellectual assets. He has authored publications and is invited frequently to gives talks on these topics. He is a certified licensing Professional and a member of the Licensing Executives Society, the American Chemical Society, the Association of University Technology Managers, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is on the industrial advisory boards of the Larta Institute in Los Angeles, the Larta/USDA Commercialization Assistance Program and the Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering at Case Western Reserve University. He was recently elected to the University-Industry Demonstration Partnership (UIDP) board of directors.

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Val R. Livada
(Senior Lecturer, Sloan School of Business at MIT; Founder Weybridge Partners)

Bio

Val Livada founded Weybridge Partners in 1996 as a network of formal and informal associations of practitioners and organizations focused on the successful commercialization of technology. The network includes business and technology consultants, venture capitalists, academics, entrepreneurs, lawyers, etc in the US and abroad.

Val brings 30 years of consulting experience to his clients. He was a Director at Braxton Associates, an international strategy planning consulting firm, and a Vice President at Pugh-Roberts Associates, a technology management firm established by Prof. Ed Roberts from MIT. Prior to establishing Weybridge Partners, he was the leading practitioner in the area of innovation management for the PA Consulting Group. During his career, Dr. Livada has combined expertise in the areas of strategic planning and organizational dynamics, with a detailed knowledge in the areas of innovation, product development, and R&D management.

Through the years, clients have included Fortune 500-type companies such as: GM, Eli Lilly, Nokia, Hitachi and has recently founded an East Coast corporate venture capital network. Val sits on the Board of Directors for Monarch Antenna, a Delphi Automotive spinout, and Polynova Composites. He is an business advisor to Liquid Bits a 3D animation start-up, Vanguard Solar, a thin film photovoltaic company, LuminZ an MIT spin out in LED lighting, Porticus a voice printing company, and Rapport Inc. a multicore chip company in CA. In addition, he consults to another dozen emerging companies.

Dr. Livada is also active in efforts to stimulate activities between US and European/Far Eastern organizations. In Europe Val has worked with many firms in the UK, Switzerland, Germany and Scandinavia. He has been instrumental in establishing US operations for several established and emerging European companies, including Nokia Research and Pro2Kem. In the Far East, traditionally strong ties to South Korea, Japan and Taiwan are now being expanded into China.

Val received his undergraduate degree from MIT and his MA/ PhD from Tufts University. Currently he is Senior Lecturer, on Corporate Entrepreneurship, at the Sloan School of Business at MIT where he also served as Reaserch Affiliate and Guest Lecturer for the last 15 years. At MIT, Val is leading a joint research project, with the Wharton Business School, on Corporate Venture Capital, is a Catalyst at the Deshpande Center, and a consultant to the Cambridge University/MIT Institute on various aspects of Innovation and Corporate/University partnerships.