PennVention and Wharton Business Plan Competition Information Session

Friday, November 6
1:30 - 2:30 pm
Weiss Tech House - Levine Hall

Come hear about the 2010 PennVention competition. We will be hosting this information session in association with the Wharton Business Plan Competition so you'll have an opportunity to learn about two great competitions at once!

About PennVention
PennVention is the annual student inventors’ competition at the University of Pennsylvania that takes students through the processes of bringing an idea from conceptualization to commercialization. We provide the tools and resources necessary to help students create, develop and commercialize innovative products or services. Through three distinct rounds, participants will receive intensive business, legal, and technical mentoring services – and vie for a chance to win a portion of the $60,000 in cash and in-kind services awarded at the final invention fair

Innovation Week

Monday, Nov. 2 | 5:00-7:00 PM | Levine Hall Lobby

ReDesign Challenge

A Philadelphia native, Michael J. Hagan started his entrepreneurial career building Collegeweb.com, Facebook's largest competitor in 2Q of 2004. Now serving as Chief Operating Officer for SCVNGR, Inc. a real world mobile gaming platform, he focuses driving revenues and building an incredible team of ROCKSTARS. Employees do one of two things at SCVNGR, they either BUILD or they SELL. At an early stage tech company many entrepreneurs fall into the trap of focusing on non mission critical items. SCVNGR is a finalist is Businss Week's 2009 Start-up of the year and Michael will share some key insights to their break out year and path to $1M in year one revenues.

Tuesday, Nov. 3 | 7:00-8:00 PM | Huntsman Hall 240

Alex Mittal, CEO of Innova Materials

Alex Mittal (M&T ‘07) will discuss his career as an entrepreneur and how he took advantage of the entrepreneurial resources at Penn. Mittal founded two companies, Crederity and Innova Materials, and started Penn Engineers Without Borders. Mittal and a group of engineering students devised their thesis project around developing a low-cost water pipe that kills water-borne bacteria using off-the-shelf equipment. Mittal founded Innova Materials in 2007 to commercialize their antimicrobial technology. Raffle prizes include an antimicrobial yoga mat and antimicrobial Hydros water bottles. Food will be served.

Wednesday, Nov. 4 | 12:00-1:00 PM

Lunch Discussion with David Hsu on Generating Venture Ideas

Weiss Tech House
Come join David Hsu, Associate Professor of Management and Associate Faculty Director of the Weiss Tech House, for lunch and a talk on new venture ideas. One of the most significant challenges to new venture development is coming up with these ideas. This session addresses this issue through a discussion of where venture ideas come from and through an in-session exercise. A catered lunch will be served. RSVP here.

Steinberg-Dietrich Hall 1206
Lynn Hochberg, Director of Product Development at Wawa
Lynn Hochberg has been with Wawa, Inc. for 13 years and is currently the Director of Product Development. She oversees the development of Wawa’s brand items including packaged goods and foodservice products that are created by her team of culinary experts. More than 100 new, original items are considered each year with more than three quarters becoming a part of the permanent offer.

Thursday, Nov. 5 | 12:00-1:00 PM | Weiss Tech House

Lunch Discussion with Jenny Buck on Innovation & Design

Come join Jenny Buck, Associate Director of Penn's Integrated Product Design program, in a lunch discussion on the importance of design in developing and commercializing innovative products. From the Segway, Apple's iPhone, Proctor & Gamble's Swiffer, and Amazon.com's Kindle, design is reshaping the way technology companies approach innovation and product development. A catered lunch will be served. RSVP at www.penniweek.com.

Friday, Nov. 6 | 12:00-1:00 PM | Weiss Tech House

TCP Communication Workshop

Learn to communicate highly technical ideas to those without a science background (investors, coworkers, younger students). Technical Communication Program fellows will critique the style, structure, and form of students' oral and written presentations. All students are welcome to join us for this valuable workshop! A catered lunch will be served.

Dinner with Michael Hagan

Thursday, October 29th

Michael J. Hagan
Chief Operating Officer - SCVNGR, Inc.

A Philadelphia native, Michael J. Hagan started his entrepreneurial career building Collegeweb.com, Facebook's largest competitor in 2Q of 2004. Now serving as Chief Operating Officer for SCVNGR, Inc. a real world mobile gaming platform, he focuses driving revenues and building an incredible team of ROCKSTARS. Employees do one of two things at SCVNGR, they either BUILD or they SELL. At an early stage tech company many entrepreneurs fall into the trap of focusing on non mission critical items. SCVNGR is a finalist is Businss Week's 2009 Start-up of the year and Michael will share some key insights to their break out year and path to $1M in year one revenues.

October 28th
Wednesday

6-7:30 PM
JMHH 265

John J. Calvert Talk About Intellectual Property

Thursday, October 28th, 6-7:30 PM, JMHH 265

John J. Calvert
Supervisory Patent Examiner, Technology Center 3700
United States Patent and Trademark Office

Intellectual Property Strategy: What You Can Do To Protect Your Valuable Intellectual Property

Do you have an idea?
How do you protect your idea?
What is the difference between a copyright, trademark or patent? When should I use what?

Listen to John Calvert tell you everything you need to know about intellectual property. This will be his third year speaking at Penn and his talks are overwelming successful. John is knowlegdable and gets his point accross with out being dry.

John has been responsible for supervising as many as 21 examiners in the area of textile technology in Art Unit 3765.John graduated from North Carolina State University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Textile Technology in May 1971. He worked for Milliken and Co. and J. P. Stevens in various management positions including Division Director of Human Resources Development before returning to N.C. State University to pursue a Master of Science Degree in Textile Management. In February of 1990, John joined the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as an examiner in Group 240 specializing in textile technology. In February 1995, John became a Primary Examiner. Since then he has worked on detail as a Petitions Examiner. John also was selected for work assignment in the Search and Information Resources Administration where he worked in PALM as liaison between the Office of Patent Legal Administration and SIRA instituting changes reflective of changes in patent rules and formulating changes in the manner in which OIPE communicates with the customer. He also served as Sr. Project Manager for the Office of Electronic Patent Application Processing dealing with changes in the patent application format bringing a standard application format into compliance with US practice, the Patent Law Treaty and PCT.

As the former Acting Director for the Office of Independent Inventor Programs, John remains actively involved with the ongoing campaign to educate inventors about invention promotion firms and will continue to expand the outreach initiative to the inventor community.

Come meet Dr. Modassir Choudhry and David Pakman from Venrock!

Wednesday, October 7th
2-4pm, Weiss Tech House

Venrock is one of the country’s premier venture capital firms with offices in Palo Alto, New York, Cambridge, MA and Israel. Venrock entrepreneurs have charted new advancements in cancer, anti-infective and auto-immune therapies, powered semiconductors and the digital era, created top technology innovations, secured our information technology infrastructure, pioneered on-line advertising, delighting consumers, and most recently, are generating power through alternative means. Venrock has invested $2.4 billion in 437 companies resulting in 124 IPOs and 129 M&A exits over the past 40 years and stays true to the Rockefeller tradition of funding entrepreneurs and establishing successful, enduring companies. For more info, visit venrock.com.

DAVID PAKMAN
David joined Venrock in 2008 as a Partner. Previously, he was the CEO of eMusic, the world’s leading digital retailer of independent music. Prior to joining eMusic, Pakman was Co-Founder of Myplay, Inc., the broadband application services company that introduced the “digital music locker” and pioneered the locker category, later sold to Bertelsmann. Before Myplay, he was Vice President at N2K Entertainment, which created the first digital music download service. He also was the co-creator of Apple Computer’s Music Group. Pakman is a graduate of and a member of the Board of Overseers at University of Pennsylvania's School of Engineering and is an avid musician and songwriter. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the First Growth Venture Network whose mission is to identify high potential entrepreneurs and to surround them with the network they will need to support their growth.

MODASSIR CHOUDHRY
Modassir joined Venrock in 2007, focusing on healthcare. He is a board-certified surgeon and completed his cardiothoracic surgery training at the Massachusetts General Hospital-Harvard Medical School. Modassir trained in general, trauma, and cancer surgery at The New York Presbyterian Hospital-Cornell and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He brings clinical insight and experience in the fields of cardiovascular disease, trauma, critical care, and oncology. A recipient of a National Cancer Institute research fellowship, he performed basic science and clinical research at Sloan Kettering and the Rockefeller Institute, and is an author of multiple publications in peer-reviewed journals. Prior to joining Venrock, Modassir was with TVM Capital in Europe and was actively involved in life science investments throughout Europe and Asia. Earlier during his surgical career, he served as an advisor to venture capital and hedge funds in their private and public investments in the life sciences.

PENNVENTION 2009 FINALS ON FRIDAY, APRIL 10

Friday, April 10th
12-6pm - Wu and Chen Auditorium, Levine Hall

Watch this year's finalists + Win a Nintendo Wii!

Watch this year's PennVention finalists as they pitch their ideas for innovative products/services and compete for over $60,000 in prizes!
This year's teams:

• ChronoWake
• DIGITAG
• FlyBy
• Pink Foam
• RecWave
• StealthRowing
• Synerscribe
• TBM
• UTurn

Sustainability Consulting with Blu Skye

Wednesday, April 1st
6pm - SHDH 350 (Steinberg-Dietrich Hall)

Join us on Wednesday, April 1st as John Whalen, a partner at Blu Skye Sustainability Consultants talks about his career, his company, and how Blu Skye is helping to transform business models to address today's societal and environmental issues.

John Whalen is a Principal at Blu Skye Sustainability Consulting, where he focuses on helping companies use the lens of sustainability to discover new sources of business value. Corporations today exist in a fast-changing world where environmental and social factors increasingly shape the basis of competition, and Blu Skye believes that this matrix of factors – broadly defined as “sustainability” – represents the single biggest business opportunity of the 21st century. But taking advantage of this opportunity requires seeing the world, seeing business, and seeing opportunity through an entirely new lens. It requires a “whole systems view” that is very different from the traditional view of business. Blu Skye’s specialty is bringing together business executives, their value chain partners, and a broad range of social and environmental stakeholders to create a “whole system” perspective that illuminates new opportunities for collaborative innovation that creates value for the business and value for society. Applying these tools, John and his colleagues at Blu Skye have helped companies realize radical efficiency improvements in materials and energy use, ensure sustainable supply of essential resources, build more transparent and responsible supply chains, and create better, healthier products that differentiate them in the marketplace. Integrating this perspective into the company’s strategy and operating model creates multiple benefits, including attracting and retaining top talent, building a more resilient and efficient supply chain, and creating brand value. As part of the Blu Skye team, John has worked for four years with Wal-Mart on their pioneering sustainability effort, is supporting the US dairy industry in developing a 10 year sustainability plan, and has supported the Applied Sustainability Center at the University of Arkansas in becoming one of the preeminent academic centers of applied research in sustainability. Prior to working with Blu Skye John was a founding partner of Sustainable Value Partners. He has over 20 years of management consulting experience in strategy, operations, and organizational change, working with dozens of companies across a variety of industries, including Verizon, American Express, Pfizer, Lucent Technologies, Cable & Wireless, and Target.

Motion Capture and 3-D Animation with GIANT Studios
 Co-Sponsored by Integrated Product Design program

Tuesday, March 31st
6pm - Berger Auditorium in Skirkanich Hall

Matt Madden of Giant Studios will be speaking in Berger Auditorium on Tuesday, March 31st. Giant Studios is one of the leaders in Motion Capture and 3-D animation for the motion picture and video game industries. Films that Mr. Madden has worked on include I Am Legend, Iron Man, and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and he is currently working as the Motion Capture Supervisor on James Cameron's Avatar.

Matt Madden: Vice President of Production & Development, Giant Studios

Mr. Madden has led all aspects of the Giant Studios production pipeline since co-launching Giant Studios in 1999. Mr. Madden has also led the deployment of Giant's research and development since beginning work on the underlying technology in 1993. Today Giant Studio is widely acknowledged to be the world leader in motion capture and Virtual Production; a groundbreaking production process that provides interactive control of environments, cameras, lighting, characters, and props within a 3D scene. Mr. Madden and his team's accomplishments were recognized in 2005 with a Technical Achievement Academy Award.

Mr. Madden is currently serving as Production Supervisor on Steven Spielberg;s Tintin, and Motion Capture Supervisor on James Cameron's Avatar. He has also served as Motion Capture Supervisor on The Polar Express, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Night At The Museum, Day After Tomorrow, Prince Caspian, I Am Legend, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Mummy 3, as well as a motion capture consultant on The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and King Kong.

Mr. Madden attained his Master's Degree in Biomechanical Engineering from St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, and Bachelor of Science in Biomechanical Engineering from the University of South Carolina.

This event is co-sponsored with Integrated Product Design program.

Product Development on a Student Budget

Wednesday, March 25th
6pm - Weiss Tech House

Do you have an idea and don't know how to make it happen? Do you want to learn the best resources on a student budget?

Come listen to Kevin Galloway's personal experiences in defining, prototyping, testing, protecting, and marketing the products he has helped develop as a student. Kevin is a Ph.D. candidate in mechanical engineering under Dr. Mark Yim. As a member of Modlab (a section of GRASP lab), he has several years of mechanical design and prototyping experience. Some of his past and current projects include MuscleMorph (1st place WBPC, 1st place PennVention 2006), Radiosonde Recovery (1st place PennVention 2007), Traffic Safety Glove (GAPSA-Provost's Award 2007, 2nd place PennVention 2008), and SnackCaddy (QVC PennVention Prize 2008), which will make its market debut in late-April. He currently has 3 patents pending. In his most recent project he was the lead mechanical designer for the development and manufacture of RespondBot RDK, a robotic legged locomotion platform available through Sandbox Innovations.

SPEC and Weiss Tech House Present: Spring Design Challenge!

Sunday, March 22nd
2pm - JMHH G65

Come join us for a few hours of innovation! Recruit a team of thoughtful thinkers and smart strategists to help devise some ideas to help with crowd control during Spring Fling. Your idea will not only help the community but the first place winner will get 4 free tickets to Akon!

Improve your elevator pitch skills with Meltwater representatives.

Meltwater representatives, including a principal in Meltwater's corporate investment arm, will be present to work with students to help them shape their own elevator pitch. This is a great opportunity to focus your ideas in preparation to apply for PennVention or the Meltwater Scholarship, "What Would You Do With $30,000?"

Last year hundreds of Penn undergrads played Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs' (WEP) trivia contest, "Venture a Guess!" Many became winners too. This year the prizes are bigger (iPod Touch, plane tickets, Sixers tix) and there more chances to win. "Venture a Guess" is a fun way for Wharton and Penn students to learn how entrepreneurship impacts our lives.

John has responsibility of the Inventor Assistance Program, which includes inventor outreach and university outreach initiatives. The USPTO has made outreach and education a high priority due to the increased interest in intellectual property both by business and education.

Prior to being named Administrator, John has been responsible for supervising as many as 21 examiners in the area of textile technology and in the area of absorbent products. He also served as Acting Director for the Office of Independent Inventor Programs.

John graduated from North Carolina State University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Textile Technology in May 1971. He worked for Milliken and Co. and J. P. Stevens in various management positions including Division Director of Human Resources Development before returning to N.C. State University to pursue a Master of Science Degree in Textile Management. In February of 1990, John joined the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as an examiner in Group 240 specializing in textile technology. In February 1995, John became a Primary Examiner. He has worked on numerous details and work assignments.

Mr. Calvert has received numerous achievement awards, including the Department of Commerce Bronze Medal for superior Federal service and the United States Patent and Trademark Office Exceptional Career Award. Mr. Calvert completed studies in the Syracuse University, Maxwell School certificates program of Advanced Public Management and completed the Executive Development Seminar sponsored by the Office of Personnel Management.