Have a great idea? Are you a garage inventor or a lab rat? Have you been laboring in academia, but just itching to get your products or technologies adopted by the masses?
Do you want to make gobs of cash? Many people have succeeded; many more have not.
Bringing an innovation from the idea stage to the marketplace is a daunting process, full of expense, heartache, unexpected turns, and sometimes rich psychic and financial rewards.
This program will feature innovation and invention expert Elizabeth Pierotti and panelists Eric Howard (Northeastern University), Daniel Holmander, JD (Patent Attorney), Alan Schinazi (Product Designer, Engineer), and Kas R. DeCarvalho, JD who have been through the innovation wars, and will address your visions, hopes, and fears, as you negotiate your own way through the process.
Elizabeth Pierotti is an inventor, strategic product developer, educator, author, and public speaker. As a multiple patent holder, she has designed and developed product innovations that have collectively generated more than $100 million in sales for Fortune 500 companies and small businesses. Having “been there and done that” for more than 30 years, she has given workshops and presentations to thousands, and mentored hundreds of creative individuals and startGups on what it takes to transform ideas into commercially viable products. Through her company, The Inventing Life, Elizabeth helps serious innovators strategize their path to the marketplace, do their due diligence, and evaluate their prospects before investing in costly patents, prototypes, and other product development services.
Panelists:
Kas R. DeCarvalho is a Partner with Pannone Lopes Devereaux & West LLC and a member of the firm's Corporate & Business Team. He also serves as Director of International Development for LCF Group, representing American business interests in anti-corruption and ethical compliance matters in emerging markets. Attorney DeCarvalho has more than 15 years of experience as a corporate attorney and business leader. His practice focuses on corporate and transactional law, financing and mergers and acquisitions, commercial real estate, intellectual property, international business ethics and compliance, arts and entertainment law and education law. His clients include private businesses, individuals and nonprofit organizations.
Attorney DeCarvalho is an active community volunteer and presently serves on the boards of several nonprofit and business development organizations, including the Quonset Development Corporation, the Providence Economic Development Partnership, United Way of Rhode Island, the Greater Providence YMCA, Providence Athenaeum and Progresso Latino. He is also a member of the Rhode Island Commission on Judicial Tenure and Discipline, the Providence Ethics Commission, the Rhode Island Commodores and is a 2004 graduate of Leadership Rhode Island. Attorney DeCarvalho was a founding board member of the International Charter School, Inc., and is on the Board of Directors of The Metropolitan Career and Technical Center (The MET School). He is the founder of Original Innovative Concepts LLC, a product development and licensing venture, and a co-founder of Rhode Island Martial Arts, Inc.
Alan Schinazi is a professional technical problem solver with 20 years’ experience of converting loose concepts into functioning devices for start-ups and large corporations. His consulting firm, Solution Nexus in Providence, serves situations where creative engineering needs to lead the design charge.
Daniel Holmander is a partner at Barlow, Josephs and Holmes, Providence, one of the oldest intellectual property firms in the U.S. He specializes in patent, software, unfair competition, and trade secret law including patent, trademark and copyright protection.
Eric Howard is the Corporate and Outreach Manager at the NSF Center for High-rate Nanomanufacturing at Northeastern University, Boston, carrying out basic research and accelerates the creation of commercial products and a new generation of nanotechnology applications.
The evening includes light refreshments, networking, panel discussion, and a question and answer session. Cost: SNEEF event non-member $25, Alliance members $15, SNEEF members and students free. Register at www.SNEEF.org.
