Technology Transfer Brown Bag Luncheon Series
Cafritz Conference Center/The Marvin Center
George Washington University
800 21st Street, NW (Room 309)
November 9, 2006
12:00 PM - 2:00 PM

Co-organizers:
Tech Transfer Society, Washington Chapter
George Washington University - Council of Entrepreneurial Tech Transfer & Commercialization
Northern Virginia Tech Council
TEDCO

Topic:
A Cutting Edge Business Model for Technology Transfer

Speaker:  
Charles Brez, Nine Sigma Corporation, VP, Innovation Alliances

Who should attend:
* Entrepreneurs looking for IP from university and federal labs for their companies
* Angel, VCs, PE investors
* Economic Development officers
* Tech transfer officials
* Government employees
* University and fed lab researcher
* Post-docs
* Graduate students
* Faculty
* Researchers

Registration: Free, but registration is required. To register, email:
mshazier@gwu.edu or call 202 994-5827. For more information, see
http://seas.gwu.edu/cet2c

Presentation Abstract:

The old NIH, Not Invented Here, model of Research and Development is not sustainable.   A new model of PFE, Proudly Found Elsewhere, is gaining momentum in the industrial technology sector.   Innovative companies like Procter & Gamble and Air Products and Chemicals Inc.  are leading the way with branded "open innovation" approaches to business development.   P&G calls their research strategy "Connect & Develop" while APCI has branded "Identify & Accelerate" as their bold approach.   Many other leading industrial companies are practicing this outreach approach to speeding products to market.   The trends and driving forces that are shaping new technology transfer principles will be discussed.

The external collaboration movement started in earnest several years ago and was popularized by Harvard Business School Professor Henry Chesbrough's book "Open Innovation".   Now just about every company that wants to remain globally competitive has adopted some measure of "open innovation".

NineSigma introduced a cutting edge, new service to the science and technology based industrial manufacturing industry about five years ago. NineSigma partners with Global 1000 companies to transform their innovation capabilities by connecting them with the very best innovators from around the world.  A proprietary process for Open Innovation enables companies to dramatically improve speed to market while lowering product development costs and reducing risk in decision making.  NineSigma's open network of innovators is the largest of its kind and spans industries, geographies, and technical disciplines. Examples of real-world, unobvious, cross-boundary connections that create real value will be described.

Many industry leading companies from around the world have adopted these services as an important part of their technical external collaboration efforts to build new innovation capabilities that leverage research and innovation globally to deliver greater value to their customers.

Also, a powerful, new "reach and reward" innovation network expanding approach will be described.   This creative Innovation Alliance Program involves well connected individuals and organizations into a global social network.

The Speaker:

Charles J.Brez is currently Vice President, Innovation Alliances for NineSigma, an innovation-sourcing firm.   At NineSigma, Brez works closely with Fortune 500 clients to implement open innovation strategies and with innovation provider communities to collaborate with technology seeking companies.

Brez has more than 30 years of corporate management, commercial and technical experience.   Prior to joining NineSigma, Brez worked with ABB Automation, its predecessor Bailey Controls Company, and Monsanto Company.   Brez has been Senior Vice President/General Manager of the $100 million US chemical and pharmaceutical business unit for ABB, Vice President/General Manager of the process business unit for Bailey Controls and Vice President of the $250 million global sales organization for Bailey Controls Company.   At Monsanto and their Fisher Controls subsidiary, Brez spent more than twenty years in executive level positions working in all aspects of the product life cycle from idea inception to commercialization to obsolescence.   In addition to the roles above, specific responsibilities included strategic planning, business development, acquisitions and product management.

Brez is a Director of the AIChE Management Division and served on the Advisory Board for the 2005 AIChE Management Conference on Innovation. He is a principal organizer, moderator and speaker for a one-day workshop on Open Innovation at the Licensing Executive Society Annual Meeting in September, 2006. He will be a keynote speaker on Business Models for Technology Transfer at the European Union Innovation Relay Center Network's 10th Annual Meeting in Estonia in September, 2006.   He will speak on innovation and technology transfer at an industry sponsored forum in October, 2006 in Chile.   He was one of three presenters for a half-day workshop on New Product Development Innovations at a Frost & Sullivan event in June, 2006.   He has delivered talks to the European Commission Conference on Technology, Innovation and Industrial Information in Budapest in May, 2004; the Royal Society of Chemistry Management Group conference on Creating Business through Trading Technology in London in April, 2004; on Innovation and Entrepreneurship to Case Western Reserve University MBA students and local chapters of the American Chemical Society ("Sourcing Innovative Solutions") and the Product Development and Management Association ("Web-enabled Innovation").

Brez holds bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from St. Louis University.