ABOUT THE PRESENTER

Gene A. Merrell, (gmerrell@uidaho.edu) Ph.D., is Assistant Vice President for Research and Chief Technology Transfer Officer for the University of Idaho. Gene joined the university in 1999 aftering spending twenty (20) years in the chemical industry. Most recently, he was Vice President Research & Development with BetzDearborn, Inc. (now GE Betz). Gene received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Washington State University in 1979. Gene’s responsibilities at the University of Idaho are primarily associated with industry – university research collaborations, technology transfer, and intellectual property. Gene facilitates the transfer of the technology with the Idaho Research Foundation and ultimately to the the public benefit. Technology transfer is a major driver in his management oversight of the University of Idaho Research Park in Post Falls. Nigel E. Leavy (nigelleavy@msn.com) F.C.A, Oxford Corporate Management - His early career was spent in high technology instrumentation businesses mainly in the scientific and medical sectors on a multinational basis. During this period, he held both general and financial directorships including mergers and acquisition executive positions. In 1987, he formed his own corporate consultancy. Since then he has operated as a consulting interim executive having completed numerous assignments on behalf of venture capitalists and leading multi-nationals both at chief executive, managing and finance director levels. The management of change, restructuring, and corporate recovery have been his specialties together with extensive experience of corporate planning, mergers and acquisitions and post acquisition strategy implementation. He has a broad understanding and knowledge of, UK corporate financial institutions including venture capitalists, merchant banks, and debt/equity partners. John N. Dickens (John@dimuba.com)- John trained as an engineer and spent over 30 years with the COSWORTH group seeing its growth from 32 employees in 1964 at Northampton, England to over 1300 in 1995 with additional facilities at Los Angeles & Novi (USA), Worcester (England), Wellingborough (England). Much of this time was spent developing Quality Systems to suit the fast-changing engineering business, as it moved from exotic racing engines through contract manufacturing and ultimately to become a full service supplier of niche-volume engines to Automotive Manufacturer’s. As the ‘non-racing’ business evolved, John moved to Commercial Engineering. Later, as facilities grew to match demand, he negotiated many design programs around the world and complete engines were designed and manufactured. Dave Woolstencroft (dave@materials-technology.com) PhD. Dave is publishing Editor of Materials Technology, a journal read in over 30 countries globally. Dave was trained as a physicist and has over 30 years working experience in materials and business development roles. He spent a large part of his working life as an aerospace engineer involved in both materials & manufacturing development and project management on large international aerostructures projects. He has a number of publications to his name as well as national and international patents in the materials and related field. His latest involvement is with a company that has developed a new form of fire and heat protection for bolted steel framed structures and this has moved from the development to the commercialization stage recently and is now in the process of being exploited on an international basis.

Dates:
Sunday, March 14, 2004• 8:30am-5:00pm

Presented by:
Gene Merrel, University of Idaho
Nigel Leavy, Oxford Corporate Management
John Dickens, Dimuba
Dave Woolstencroft, Matrice

Fees:
Members $475, Non-members $560

Sponsored by: TMS Materials Processing
and Manufacturing Division

Who Should Attend:
This 1-day course is intended for managers, engineers, materials engineers, scientists, and any other people who are interested in gaining an understanding of the process and strategies availably for successful technology transfer and mechanisms for maximizing commercial exploitation for new developments.

Course Overview:
A wise man, it is said, learns from his experience - a clever man learns from the experience of others! There is a large amount of research and development undertaken, which never sees useful and productive exploitation. The one day course provides an opportunity for experts in modern materials processing and development from around the world to exchange ideas and experiences on the exploitation of intellectual property, commercials idea’s, licensing and listen to experts in the field of technology transfer.

In this extremely competitive world the commercial elements can gain from research work already undertaken to improve their product and processes and the academic element can gain from the funds that can be generated by this. A number of successful strategies exist to achieve this ranging from strategic alliances to spin off companies and the purpose of this conference is to consider these issues and learn from successful outcomes.

This one day event is designed to bring the experience of others in protecting and exploiting research & development and raising funds for further work and rewarding the innovators. Aspects such as Transferring Technology, Licensing, Strategic Alliances, and Raising Funds will be examined.

Other Short Courses:
Below is a list of the other short courses that are scheduled for the 2004 TMS Annual Meeting and Exhibition: