The 23rd Gateway Entrepreneurship Research Conference

April 20-22, 2012, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO

Primary sponsorship comes from the Kauffman Foundation with scholarship support from the Coleman Foundation and additional support from the Kern Engineering Entrepreneurship Network.

Since its start in 1987, Saint Louis University's Gateway Series for Entrepreneurship Research has promoted advances in scholarship on entrepreneurship and related disciplines. At the Gateway conference, a general foundation is laid by the keynote speaker. The keynote address starts the meeting and provides a common frame of reference and point of departure. Then work will take place in small to medium sized groups exploring research and techniques applicable to the theme. The goal is to create an environment that maximizes opportunity for informal group discussion and provides connections and research opportunities for the participants. Other than the keynote speaker, no other Gateway participant needs to submit a paper to attend the conference.

THEME: The topic for the 2012 conference is: Technology Commercialization: Have we learned anything? Keynote address will be given by Kathleen Allen, of the USC Marshall School of Business.

Economic growth happens when innovation meets entrepreneurship. With the passage of the Bayh-Dole Act in 1980, universities were permitted to commercialize their federally funded research. But it wasn't until the mid-1990's that universities began in earnest to develop programs to facilitate commercialization and technology entrepreneurship. Despite this effort, today we still have not figured out how to best move more of our research into the market to benefit society. In fact, the private sector struggles with many of the same issues as universities do. What have we learned? What is the role of education in facilitating technology entrepreneurship, commercialization, and economic development? Where are the gaps in research and where should we focus our efforts now? The entrepreneurship teaching and research communities have vital roles to play in the economic growth of any region and every country. We will identify what those roles are and how we can accelerate more effective technology commercialization going forward.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Kathleen Allen, PhD, is a professor of entrepreneurship at the USC Marshall School of Business and founding director of the Marshall Center for Technology Commercialization. Allen works with scientists and engineers to identify markets and applications for their technologies, develop commercialization teams, and prepare them to seek funding. She is on the advisory boards of the USC Center for Scientific Translation, the USC Regulatory Science Program, and the USC-CHLA Center for Technology and Innovation in Pediatrics. She is the author of more than 15 books in the field of entrepreneurship and technology commercialization including the leading texts Launching New Ventures, 6th Ed. and Entrepreneurship for Scientists and Engineers. Her personal entrepreneurial endeavors include two successful companies in commercial real estate brokerage, development, and investment, and two technology-based businesses. She is president and co-founder of N2TEC Institute, a nonprofit organization that was inspired by work she conducted under an NSF grant to develop a model for a technology commercialization ecosystem. The institute focuses on driving the launch of new technology ventures, particularly in life sciences and medical devices in rural and underserved regions of the U.S. Allen serves as an advisor to two life sciences companies, is entrepreneur-in-residence at a major aerospace company, and is director of a NYSE company.

For doctoral students and faculty facing travel hardships, there are scholarships available from the Coleman Foundation. Those who need a formal role in order to receive institutional support can serve as facilitators or correspondents. If either of these apply to you, please contact us as soon as possible to make arrangements.

REGISTRATION: If you have questions about the registration process or Coleman scholarship, please contact Jeanne Rhodes: rhodesja@slu.edu or 314-977-3850. If you have questions regarding conference content, please contact Conference Organizers Jintong Tang (jtang3@slu.edu), Sridhar Condoor (condoor@slu.edu) or Jerome Katz (katzja@slu.edu)