Colorado State Sponsors Â??innovation Monthâ?� in February for Entrepreneurs, Researchers

Colorado State University and CSU Ventures will co-host a series of events for university researchers, entrepreneurs and the Northern Colorado business community during February to encourage partnerships, startups and speed discoveries to the marketplace.

The events begin on Feb. 5 with a networking event and poster session at the Fort Collins Hilton, 425 W. Prospect Ave. All events are free and open to the public, but registration is required at www.csuventures.org.

CSU Ventures is the business enterprise created to support the university’s Supercluster – research areas such as infectious disease and cancer where the university excels and where global partnership opportunities exist. Two business divisions within CSU Ventures have been created thus far: MicroRx for infectious disease and NeoTrex for cancer.

"This series of events in February is an ideal opportunity for Colorado businesses to learn more about licensing and partnering opportunities at the university," said Mark Wdowik, president of CSU Ventures. "It’s also a chance for researchers to become more aware of the commercialization process, and learn when it’s appropriate to think about forming a start-up company as the preferred vehicle for taking new technologies to the marketplace. We want to create simple pathways for researchers to get their discoveries to people who need them on a global basis."

Sponsors include Colorado State’s Office for the Vice President of Research and Office of Economic Development, MicroRx and NeoTrex, Cochran Freund & Young LLC, Hamilton, DeSanctis & Cha LLP,  Snell & Wilmer L.L.P. and Hensley Kim & Holzer, LLC.

Events planned:

Feb. 5 – Networking event and poster session

5-6:30 p.m., Fort Collins Hilton, 425 W. Prospect Ave.

Feb. 7 – Intellectual property seminar

8 a.m. – 3 p.m., North Ballroom, Lory Student Center on the CSU-Fort Collins campus

Topics: Include intellectual property and disclosures, patent basics, prior art, plant patents, trademarks and copyrights

Feb. 14 – Entrepreneur and start-up success stories

8:30 a.m. – 1 p.m., North Ballroom, Lory Student Center

Speakers: Include Jim Keeton, CEO, Keeton Industries, Frank Ramirez, CEO, Ice Energy; Jeff Poore, VP/COO,  Numerica, Lou Bjostad, President, Brotica and Heidi Flammang, CEO, Camp Bow Wow

Feb. 18 – Startup tracks

8 a.m. – 3 p.m., North Ballroom, Lory Student Center

Topics: Startup and new business formation, naming and trademark issues, role of the business plan, SBIR/STTR financing, building an IP portfolio, licensing and the Rocky Mountain Innovation Initiative.

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