By Gwen Green (gagreen@ualr.edu)
Aug. 11, 2010
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Researchers, students and entrepreneurs who have technologies with commercial potential can learn how to tap into that potential at Advanced Invention to Venture, or AI2V.
The highly acclaimed four-day workshop is being offered in Arkansas for only the second time Sept. 28-Oct. 1 at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's Jack Stephens Center.
Sponsored by the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance, the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center and the UALR College of Business, AI2V offers budding high-technology companies the opportunity to receive guided instruction and real-time feedback on their commercialization plans. A previous AI2V participant called the experience "a four-day MBA for scientists." The workshop is also an excellent way for student teams to prepare for the annual Donald W. Reynolds Governor's Cup business plan competition.
Participants undergo rigorous exercises and receive expert coaching as they develop their investor pitches and strengthen their marketing strategies. On the final day of the workshop, all participants will present their pitches before a panel of investors and receive constructive feedback.
Carlisle's Brian Stack, co-founder of software company Unityware, Inc., attended AI2V in 2008. "The course has helped me build my management team and provided tools to fully define business objectives and understand how to make them obtainable," he said. "It's like having rails on which to run from the here-and-now to a future which is no longer just a dream."
Sharon Ballard, an expert on growing science-and-technology-based ventures into successful companies who teaches entrepreneurship across the country and in Europe, will serve as AI2V instructor. One reason she is a highly sought-after coach is her own success as an entrepreneur. Ballard has held management positions at multiple high-tech companies and provided the required leadership to help companies win hundreds of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awards; her own firm won more than 30 SBIR awards, with three spin-offs purchased by venture-backed companies.
"Scientists and engineers tell us what is possible, but I really enjoy helping them turn what is possible into business realities," Ballard says. "I am convinced that some of the best entrepreneurs are actually scientists and engineers who make the decision to learn the language and science of business."
Details about the Arkansas AI2V workshop can be found on the NCIIA website at invention2venture.org/arkansasai2v. Interested workshop participants must register and pay through the site. Registration is required. Seating is limited, so interested participants are encouraged to register as early as possible.
For questions about the AI2V workshop, contact ASBTDC's Rebecca Norman at rxnorman@ualr.edu, (501) 683-7700 or (800) 862-2040 (Arkansas only).
The Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center, a partnership of the U.S. Small Business Administration, the UALR College of Business and other institutions of higher education, serves new, existing and innovation-based small businesses through a statewide network of seven offices. Learn more at asbtdc.ualr.edu.
###
