CONTACT:
Jacqui Fuller, Strategic Communications and Marketing Manager
[email protected] | 608.960.9881
Inaugural event to feature quick pitches, futurist keynote and Innovation Award winners
MADISON, Wis. – Industry innovators, researchers, investors, students and the public are invited to attend WARF’s first-ever Innovation Day on Wednesday, Oct. 17, at the Discovery Building on the UW–Madison campus (330 N. Orchard St.).
Beginning at 1 p.m., the event will highlight the critical importance of public-private partnerships and quick pitch presentations on some of the most exciting tech under development at UW–Madison. A keynote address by entrepreneur and author Byron Reese will follow.
At 4 p.m. the winners of WARF’s 2018 Innovation Awards will be announced. The two winning groups are selected by a panel of external judges who look for technologies with potential for long-term impact that present an exciting solution to a known problem and may benefit humankind.
The event is free and open to the community. Details and registration at warf.org/innovationday. Questions can be addressed to Lori Allen ([email protected]; 608-960-9873).
The full agenda follows:
1:00 p.m. | Welcome & Opening Remarks
Greg Keenan, manager of WARF’s Accelerator Program, will describe how industry partners, investors and researchers can work together to advance UW–Madison tech to the marketplace.
1:30 p.m. | Quick Pitch Presentations
Sneak peek: Hear from the investigators moving market-forward innovations closer to realization and learn how the WARF Accelerator Program is helping to de-risk their discoveries. Presentations will include:
- Advanced Protein Analysis for Improved Drug Development (College of Engineering)
- Innovative Process for the Production of Renewable Chemicals Used in Paints, Coatings and Adhesives (College of Engineering)
- Cosajaba Oil as a Growth-Promoting, Survival-Enhancing Feed Ingredient in High Value Fish Species (College of Agricultural and Life Sciences)
- Improving Cancer Therapies Using a Novel Micelle Drug Delivery Technology (School of Pharmacy)
- Energy Recovery and Foot Traffic Monitoring Using Powerboard Smart Building Technology (College of Engineering)
- Modular Multi-Source Electron Beam Scanner for 3-D Metal Printing Applications (Morgridge Institute for Research)
3:00 p.m. | Keynote Speaker, Byron Reese
The author of The Fourth Age: Smart Robots, Conscious Computers, and the Future of Humanity will provide a keynote presentation titled Technology and the Coming Golden Age of Humanity.
4:00 p.m. | WARF Innovation Awards
Nominees recognized and winners revealed!
The seven finalists for the WARF Innovation Awards are:
- Machine Vision for Seeing Around Corners (College of Engineering)
- Artificial Vascular Grafts Mimic Native Blood Vessels (College of Engineering)
- Improved Qubit to Advance Quantum Computing (College of Letters and Science)
- Inspired by Origins of Life, Peptide Synthesis Method Could Yield New Therapeutics (College of Engineering)
- Potential Cure Strategy for HIV Infection (School of Medicine and Public Health)
- Receptor Discovery Could Neutralize Common Cold (College of Agricultural and Life Sciences)
- Non-Invasive Method to Sort Cancer Immunotherapy Cells (Morgridge Institute for Research)
4:45 p.m. | Reception
Appetizers and drinks provided.
About WARF
The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) helps steward the cycle of research, discovery, commercialization and investment for the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Founded in 1925 as an independent, nonprofit foundation, WARF manages more than 2,000 patents and an investment portfolio of $2.7 billion as it funds university research, obtains patents for campus discoveries and licenses inventions to industry. For more information, visit warf.org.
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