PennVention recruits some of the world's most respected leaders in industry to judge the ideas and inventions submitted by participating teams. Judges are volunteers from various walks of life and include inventors, venture capitalists, lawyers and entrepreneurs.

For the 2007 competition more than 28 PennVention judges reviewed student submissions carefully and critically. They determined the top teams and offered constructive feedback and guidance and thoughtful analysis to all the teams. All of the participating students will be able to use this feedback to improve the submitted invention itself, or move it forward into the patent or licensing arena.

PennVention would like to thank the following judges for their time, dedication, effort and support of invention:

Judges review submissions carefully and critically and offer constructive feedback and thoughtful analysis to student teams during the Achievement Round. PennVention provides judging criteria to help judges determine the top ten teams that will advance to the final Invention Fair.

No judge will participate in more than one round. Hence, if a judge reviews submissions in the Achievement Round, that judge will not participate in the Invention Fair. It is critical to ensure a fresh set of perspectives at each phase of the judging process. This policy is also essential in order to guard against any conflicts of interest that could emerge if judges had preexisting relationships with student participants. In addition, to further minimize any potential conflict of interest, assigned mentors are not able to serve as judges for any round of PennVention.

Judges should understand the sensitive nature of confidential invention submissions, ideas and materials and should respect the intellectual property rights of the student teams. Conflicts of interest should be brought to the attention of PennVention by emailing pennvent@seas.upenn.edu.

PennVention organizers will publicize the names and associations of all judges and mentors who participate in each round of the competition at the end of the competition. PennVention organizers will not, however, provide contact information for individual judges. The organizers will not reveal the identity of judges that read any particular submission. See Rules for more information on the Confidentiality policies of PennVention.

For a list a of past and current PennVention mentors and judges visit the Industry Expert page.

The PennVention Mentoring Program is designed to provide students with access to the expertise of successful inventors, seasoned entrepreneurs and business leaders. Mentors assist student teams in all aspects of creating, developing and commercializing their inventions, including, but not limited to patenting, licensing, product design, manufacturing and marking. Mentors provide assistance to student teams that are participating in any phase of PennVention

Mentors may include (but are certainly not limited to):

• Entrepreneurs who can troubleshoot and focus an invention
• Inventors
• Attorneys
• Accountants
• Consultants
• Venture capitalists

This year PennVention welcomed the support of several mentors, many of whom met with students on campus, held office hours on campus, and even hosted workshops. PennVention would like to thank the following individuals for their time, dedication, effort and support of invention.

Mentors will respond to the questions and concerns of the teams, but they will not be expected to steer the development of the invention. Mentors must commit at least one hour to the team either by phone or in person. Mentors are allowed and encouraged to spend as much time with the team as they are willing.

Mentors should understand the sensitive nature of confidential invention submissions, ideas and materials and should respect the intellectual property rights of the student teams. Conflicts of interest should be brought to the attention of PennVention by emailing pennvent@seas.upenn.edu. In addition, to further minimize any potential conflict of interest, assigned mentors are not able to serve as judges for any round of PennVention. See Rules for more information on the Confidentiality policies of PennVention.

If you are interested in being a PennVention mentor or judge contact Anne Stamer at stamer@seas.upenn.edu.