KANSAS CITY, Mo., Sept. 27, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, along with the Technology Transfer Society, will convene a three-day conference, Advancing Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Sept. 28-30, at Kauffman's Kansas City headquarters. The conference proceedings will be posted on a special Web Blog at www.kauffman.org/innovationblog.
The conference will feature leading authorities who have pioneered major breakthroughs in advancing university-based innovations. In attendance will be more than 175 top academicians and economic development and technology transfer officials in the area of innovation policy and entrepreneurship.
Among the keynote speakers are: Professor Josh Lerner, Harvard University, on Our Broken Patent System; Professor David Mowery, University of California at Berkley, on Bayh-Dole After 25 Years; Dr. Orna Berry, Gemini Israeli Funds, on A State of Innovation; and Professor Paula Stephan, Georgia State University, on The Entrepreneurial Puzzle: Exploring The Gender Gap.
Topics will include: Entrepreneurial Universities; Entrepreneurship and Innovation Policy; The Role of Universities in National Innovation Systems; Technology Transfer and Regional Economic Growth; Women in Science and Women Entrepreneurs, among others.
The objective is to better educate faculty to recognize opportunities for innovations and to develop models that will foster cross-university and university-industry collaborations, which, according to conference organizers, is a pressing need for many schools.
"University laboratories hold great promise for spurring breakthrough discoveries that will positively impact our world, but they are not reaping the full benefits of their research efforts," said Carl Schramm, president and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation. "We all have an interest in seeing that the potential of university research is fully realized. And we at Kauffman want to see that, as a result, entrepreneurship is cultivated to the greatest extent possible."
The Kauffman Foundation, aided by an advisory panel of noted experts in advancing innovation, has conducted research over the past two years, which suggests that many innovations residing in universities remain dormant for far too long.
"Discoveries and inventions that could lead to new therapeutic drugs, new medical devices and other life-saving or life-enhancing technologies are either being overlooked in university laboratories or, in other cases, languishing in a system that is intended to move them into practical use, but is instead inhibiting their success," said Lesa Mitchell, vice president of Advancing Innovation at the Kauffman Foundation.
Despite an overall increase in innovation activity from university laboratories since 1980, when the Bayh-Dole Act opened the doors for universities to patent and license the results of research done with federal funds, the Kauffman Foundation assessment reveals signs of chronic underperformance at most of the institutions studied.
"In a global economy, where researchers around the world are gaining on American universities and companies, we must do more to rapidly and efficiently advance innovations developed by university researchers," said Mitchell.
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City is a private, nonpartisan foundation that works with partners to advance entrepreneurship in America and improve the education of children and youth. The Kauffman Foundation was established in the mid-1960s by the late entrepreneur and philanthropist Ewing Marion Kauffman. Information about the Kauffman Foundation is available at www.kauffman.org.