UM workshop targets entrepreneur

ORONO – The University of Maine Student Innovation Center, in partnership with the National Collegiate Innovators and Inventors Alliance, is bringing the alliance’s Invention 2 Venture conference to campus.

The event will be from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 9, at Buchanan Alumni House.

The keynote speaker is Guilford native and MIT graduate Dale Flanders, CEO and founder of Axsun Technologies, a manufacturing company with Massachusetts and California operations that specializes in advanced miniature optical systems.

The workshop will focus on the basics of technology entrepreneurship. It is intended primarily for college and university students, but also is open to anyone who wants to know more about the topic. The cost is $10 for students, faculty members and staff, and $75 for others.

Presentations will focus on venture capital, marketing, intellectual property, business plans and related topics.

The workshop will introduce inventors and entrepreneurs to the steps necessary to turn ideas into successful business opportunities from protecting ideas to finding money, according to the UMaine Student Innovation Center.

The workshop also will provide networking opportunities. Participants will be able to learn about the commercialization process in order to gain a better understanding of the needs of clients in the technology field.

Sponsors include UM, the Maine Technology Institute, Verrill Dana and the University of Maine Credit Union.

For information, call Abbe Jacobs at 866-6500 or send an e-mai to:l abbe.jacobs@umit.maine.edu.