Battelle CEO Jeff Wadsworth to Discuss Innovation at Potomac Institute Event

WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwire - Dec 13, 2011) - Battelle and the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies will co-host "Effective Innovation: Keeping America on Top" on Dec. 15. In addition to keynote speaker R. James Woolsey, former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Battelle President and CEO Jeff Wadsworth and Michael Swetnam, Chairman and CEO of the Potomac Institute, will address participants. Wadsworth will provide closing remarks.

Other speakers at the event will include leaders in science, academia, the armed forces, business and the arts. The 1-6 p.m. program will include talks and panel discussions on effective social and cultural innovation, effective business and economic innovation, and effective science and technology innovation. The event will serve as the kickoff for a series of future events also focused on fostering innovation. It will take place at the Smithsonian American Art Museum's McEvoy Auditorium (entrance at 8th and G Streets NW).

In the American Art Museum, Battelle has sponsored "The Great American Hall of Wonders" exhibition, organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum in collaboration with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The exhibition is on view through Jan. 8, 2012 and is a celebration of the uniquely American spirit of innovation and investigates questions that are still critical today. Americans invented many important, world changing new items in the 19^th century. It was this historic, innovative time in the United States that gave rise to the ambitions of Battelle's founder Gordon Battelle (1883 - 1923), who established the nonprofit trust to use science and technology to help mankind -- one of the first contract R&D businesses in America.

Battelle was founded in 1929 and continues to develop some of the world's most innovative solutions and products. Wadsworth has led Battelle since the beginning of 2009 and is by training a metallurgist who is a world-renowned expert on Damascus Steel, a legendary sword making material. He also is widely known for his leading research in the specialized field of superplasticity. Among his many other honors, Wadsworth serves on President Obama's National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

As the world's largest independent research and development organization, Battelle provides innovative solutions to the world's most pressing needs through its four global businesses: Laboratory Management; National Security; Health and Life Sciences; and Energy, Environment and Material Sciences. It advances scientific discovery and application by conducting $6.5 billion in global R&D annually through contract research, laboratory management and technology commercialization. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Battelle oversees 22,000 employees in more than 130 locations worldwide, including seven national laboratories which Battelle manages or co-manages for the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and a nuclear energy lab in the United Kingdom.

Battelle also is one of the nation's leading charitable trusts focusing on societal and economic impact and actively supporting and promoting science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education.