Dr. Kathy Allen, Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Greif Entrepreneurship Center of the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California, will head a list of speakers at the “Invention to Venture” workshop on Saturday, May 1, at California State University, Fresno.

The workshop is sponsored by the Lyles Center for Innovation and

Entrepreneurship at Fresno State. The workshop will be held in McLane Hall, room 121, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Registration is $65 for the general public and $25 for students.

Backed by the National Collegiate Inventors & Innovators Alliance and the Kauffman Foundation, this event is one of a national series of workshops for science and technology students and faculty. In addition to Allen, it will feature speakers from around the region.

The workshop will focus on technology commercialization, and provides an opportunity for participants to learn technology entrepreneurship basics, plus build their networks and develop plans for moving their ideas forward.

The national Invention to Venture series has been established to tap the entrepreneurial ambitions of students and faculty on college campuses across the United States. Participants discover how to turn an idea into a new product venture,

and connect with the local people and programs that can help them turn their ideas into a reality.

“We work on funding and supporting collegiate entrepreneurship across the country,” said Phil Weilerstein, executive director of the National Collegiate Inventors & Innovators Alliance. “We think there’s particular entrepreneurial promise at Fresno State and in the surrounding region. We’re thrilled to be working with Fresno State to help put together the Invention to Venture event.”

Allen, who will speak on “Idea Validation and Opportunity Assessment,” is the author of several leading entrepreneurship texts including Bringing New Technology to Market and Launching New Ventures, 3rd Edition as well as several trade books.

As the director of the USC Technology Commercialization Alliance, a collaboration of business, engineering and medicine, Allen is leading the effort to develop the resources and infrastructure to transfer and commercialize technology developed at the university. As an entrepreneur, Allen has successfully started three ventures and is a director of a NYSE company.

Other speakers and topics will be:

• Building the Right Team(s)-Finding the Right Friends. Micah Siegel, Ph.D., president and CEO of Concept2Company, a venture backed enterprise that helps professors, researchers, staff or graduate students who wish to start technology companies without leaving their present jobs.

• Intellectual Property & Licensing. Riley Walter and Greg Powell, attorneys with Walter Law Group.

• The Perfect Business Plan, Slide Show, and “Elevator Pitch.” Scott Lenet, founder and managing director of DFJ Frontier, a Draper Fisher Jurvetson affiliate and early stage technology venture capital fund focused on investments in the Central Valley and Central Coast of California.

• Finding the Money. Amy Chubb, director of the University Business Center;

Alan H. Pierrot, M.D., founder of the Fresno Surgery Center and Chairman and

CEO of FSC Health Inc.; and Jon Gregory, co-founder and president/CEO of the

Golden State Capital Network (GSCN) since its inception in late 1999.

Also addressing the conference will be David Spaur, president/CEO for the Economic Development Corporation Serving Fresno County and Timothy M. Stearns, director of the Lyles Center for Innovation Entrepreneurship and the Coleman Foundation Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurial Studies in the Craig School of Business at California State University, Fresno.

Parking for the conference will be relaxed in lots M and D. For more information contact Genelle Taylor at the Lyles Center, (559) 294-2045 or go to http://www.invention2venture.com/.

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