The region's entrepreneurial leaders will have a forum to share ideas and generate leads when the University of Nevada, Reno, hosts the state's first Invention to Venture workshop April 20 in the AT&T Auditorium at Legacy Hall.
Designed as an introduction to technological entrepreneurship, the workshop is targeted to students, faculty, investors and others in the business community. It will cover six industry segments: business and financial services, software, advanced logistics, advanced manufacturing, clean energy, and the life sciences.
Melodie Harney with UNR's Institute for Innovation and Informatics says the workshop is a boon for the area.
"Invention to Venture partners with the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance, and they have put on over 50 of these across the country at other universities and tech schools," she says. "This is the first to come to Nevada, so they are pretty excited about breaking into this region.
"The university is trying to get dialogue started about how the university can support what businesses need," she adds.
The workshop is sponsored by the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada, the Nevada Commission on Economic Development and the Nevada Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology.
Keynote speaker will be Sandy Baruah, U.S. assistant secretary of commerce for the Economic Development Authority.
Cost for the event, which runs from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., is $15 for students, $35 for faculty and staff, and $70 for the business community. 784-1214. NNBW staff
