VCU to host workshop to teach business concepts to scientists, entrepreneurs

By Lorraine Cichowski
VCU News Services

VCU will host a one-day workshop on July 31 to teach researchers and entrepreneurs business planning skills to help them more effectively compete for funds from the federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program and bring their ideas to market.

The commercialization workshop will be held from 7:30 a.m. - 5:10 p.m. in the University Student Commons on the Academic Campus. It will be the first instructional event of its kind in the country involving the SBIR, which awards grants through several federal agencies for high-risk, idea-to-prototype research projects that are of interest to the federal government and which have potential for commercialization in the areas of defense, health, energy, transportation, commerce, agriculture, environment, basic science and space.

Faculty from the VCU School of Business will teach sessions on finance, building a management team and all aspects of marketing, from segmentation and targeting to pricing. Industry experts from Richmond and elsewhere will run sessions on product development, commercialization strategies and intellectual property.

Dr. Marsha Torr, VCU vice president for research, is the workshop host and will make opening remarks. She also will introduce Dr. Michael Sesnowitz, dean of the VCU School of Business.

"The Commercialization Workshop is organized for the purpose of equipping small high-tech firms in Virginia with the business concepts and methods essential to sound planning for new high-tech products and for company growth," Torr said. "The meeting is an excellent opportunity for anyone interested in becoming involved with SBIR programs."

The luncheon speaker is Dr. Charles Wessner, director of the Program on Technology and Innovation of the National Academy of Sciences. Wessner leads a congressionally mandated study of the 21-year-old SBIR program in five federal agencies and will brief the workshop on the evaluation.

The cost is $70 in advance by check and $75 in advance by credit card. The cost at the door will be $85.

For more information, see www.research.vcu.edu/ott/Commercialization_Workshop.pdf or contact K.C. Das at kcdas@msn.com or (804) 897-0454.