Time & Location

Program Session & Speakers

8:00am-8:30am

Official Welcome & Opening
Kesh Narayanan, NSF, Ivory Fisher, DOD, Maurice Swinton, SBA and Janice St. Onge, Conference Committee Chrmn., VT Dept. of Economic DevelopmentFeatured Remarks by: Daniel M. Fogel, President, University of Vermont

8:30am-9:40am

SBIR/STTR 101: A general program overview will be given, explaining the basics of the SBIR and STTR Programs and providing general information that applies to all agencies.
Presenters:
SBIR Program Managers: Lee Eiden, Dept. of Education and JoAnne Goodnight, NIH

9:40am-10:00am

Program Update: Brief presentation on the status of the program, recent legislation and directions that could affect your application and/or awards.
Presenter: Maurice Swinton, SBA

10:00am- 10:30am

Break

10:30pm-12:30pm

Agency Overviews: This session will provide each of the ten (10) participating Agencies with approximately 10 minutes to highlight their topic areas and basic program information to help you identify which Agencies you are most likely to want to talk to in more detail at the afternoon Expanded Sessions or Networking Opportunities.

12:30pm-2:00pm

Networking Walk About Lunch
Build your own lunch, Walk around and visit the exhibits, with other attendees & representatives.

2:00pm-7:30pm

Networking Room: Exhibits & One-on-One Tables Open
Agencies, organizations, companies and resources are available during the afternoon and through the Reception.

2:00pm-6:00pm

Expanded Agency Presentations: Select the Agencies most closely aligned with your technology or area of interest. Presentations will focus on unique agency aspects and commercialization issues. You will gain the perspective of each agency on the key factors they see in getting your product/service to market. This session is presented in two (2) concurrent tracks.

6:00pm-7:30pm

Networking Reception

Join everyone in the Networking Room for refreshments and conversation. Meet the Agency SBIR Program Managers and other Exhibitors.

Time & Location

 Program Sessions & Speakers                  

8:00am-9:15am

Homeland Security/Bio-Defense
Moderator:
Michael Fisette, General Dynamics
Presenters:
Suzanne Milchling, US Army, SBCCOM
Charlie Ward, General Dynamics, ATP
Don Montgomery, Combimatrix

Agriculture/Aquaculture/Forestry
Moderator:
Charles Cleland, USDA
Presenters:
Ernie Schmidt, Wyoming Sawmills, Inc.
Ellen Campbell, NECi
Michael Timmon, Cornell Univ., Dept. Of Biological Environmental Engineering

9:15am-9:30am

Break

Track #1                  Program Sessions & Speakers                  Track #2

9:30am-10:45am

Information Technologies
Moderator:
Ian Rutherford, Technology Strategies Group
Presenter:
Edmond Cooley, Dartmouth College, Thayer School of Engineering

Environment
Moderator:
James Gallup, EPA
Presenters:
Jeffrey Ambs, Rupprecht & Patashnick Co., Inc.
Kimberly Kelly-Wintenburg, Atmospheric Glow Technologies
Sid Nelson, Sorbent Technologies, Corp.

10:45am-11:15am

Break

11:15am-12:30pm

Photonics
Moderator:
Bud Hippisley, Photonics Industry Assoc. of New York
Presenters:
Bill Parker, Diffraction Ltd.
Dave Gibson, X-Ray Optical Systems, Inc.
Keith Butters, MTL Systems, Inc.
Dr. Paul D. Willson, US Army Picatinney Arsenal

Biotech/Bioengineering
(Assistive/Nanotechnologies)
Moderator:
Jo Anne Goodnight, NIH
Presenters:
Lawrence Thomas, AVANT Immunotherapeutics, Inc.
Gualberto Ruano, Genaissance Pharmaceuticals
Steve Arms, MicroStrain, Inc.
Akbar Khan, Edgewood CB Center, Army

12:30pm-2:00pm

SBIR Conference Luncheon with Guest Speaker Mr. Steven Caney , Steve Caney Designs.
His presentation, Practical Creativity and Invention, is very relevant to success in business and the SBIR Program.

General Sessions: Forming Strategic Alliances
How do you work with Universities and Colleges? How do you approach corporations? These two afternoon sessions are designed to give you the basic know how for identifying which is your best option, how to approach these potential partners, and what you can reasonably expect from these alliances.

2:00pm-3:15pm

Working with Academia
Over 400 start up companies were formed from academic institutions in FY 2000, and over 4300 licenses were signed, proving that it is a fertile ground for funding technology. This workshop will discuss the in's and out's of dealing with academia, including a discussion of the cultural difference, policies, and expectations. The panel is made up of a University technology transfer manager, a venture capitalist who has funded numerous companies from academia, and an entrepreneur who has successfully developed academic technology via SBIR grants.
Moderator:
Todd Keiller, Univ. of Vermont
Presenters:
Joe Lovett, Saturn Life Sciences
Mark Allegretta, BioMosaics.

3:15pm-3:45pm

Networking Break

4:15pm-5:30pm

Treating Technology as an Asset, not a Product: Business Options for SBIR Awardees to Realize Value from What They Own.
The "New Economy" is not about unsustainable stock prices or dot-coms. It is about structural changes in how business gets done. While raising money has become more difficult, these changes have also created important, and potentially lucrative, new business opportunities for appropriately qualified small firms. Are you positioned to become a New Economy firm, OR, are you still playing by the old rules?
Presenter: Ann Eskesen, Innovation Development Institute

Time & Location

Program Session & Speakers

8:00am-4:00pm

Track #1                  Program Sessions & Speakers                  Track #2

8:00am-10:00am

Business Planning and Commercialization Strategies
Learn how to get your innovations to market with less risk and greater reward. Successful commercialization planning and strategies.
Moderator:
Patrick Martin, Maine Technology Inst.
Presenter:
Tobin McGregor, Avant Garde Corp.

Note: This session is repeated in the 10:30am to 12:30pm time.

Leveraging on Intellectual Assets for Bottom Line Impact
It is estimated that the collective value of the Intellectual Assets of SBIR Awardees may be $45-$50 Billion. The challenge to each and every firm is how to define and to extract that value - a fundamental business development question that should underpins every commercialization decision. For the approximately 4-5% of SBIR-involved firms which present the profile for Going Public or Being Acquired, some (major) part of their latent value is achieved from that Liquidation Event. What are the options for the other 95% of SBIR Awardees?

In a free-wheeling, Open Discussion format led by a leading SBIR advocate, several speakers with quite different perspectives on this and related issues will address this basic, important question.

Moderator:
Ann Eskesen, Innovation Development Institute

Discussants:

• Dr. Eugene Buff, Foresight Science & Technology, Inc.
• David B. Eisenhaure, SatCon Technology Corporation
• Lawrence J. Gestaut, Giner Electrochemical Systems LLC
• Stefanie A. Hansen, Pfizer Global Research and Development
• Thomas E. Hunt, ipCapital Group, Inc.
• Joseph S. Iandiorio, Iandiorio & Teska

10:00am-10:30am

Networking Break

10:30am-12:30pm

Business Planning and Commercialization Strategies
Learn how to get your innovations to market with less risk and greater reward. Successful commercialization planning and strategies.
Moderator:
Patrick Martin, Maine Technology Inst.
Presenter:
Tobin McGregor, Avant Garde Corp.

Note: This session is repeated in the 8:00am to 10:00am time.

Commercialization with Limited Resources
Businesses located outside high technology corridors face unique challenges. Come learn how successful companies overcame obstacles on their road to commercialization success!!
Moderator:
Bob Dean, Synergy Innovations, Inc.
Presenters:
George Markowsky, Trefoil, Inc.
Linda D'Antonio, D'Antonio Consultants Int'l (DCI, Inc.)
Richard Kretschmann, Millivision, Inc.
Steve Arms, MicroStrain, Inc.

12:30pm-2:00pm

1:15pm-2:00pm

Networking Lunch and Informal Topic Discussions
Networking lunch available in the Networking Room

State Opportunities Briefings: Representatives from New England States will present a briefing on the opportunities and resources available for small businesses. Whether you live in one of the states participating in the briefing or not, you may be interested in what types of programs/services are offered.
Moderator:
Joseph Henebury, Dept. of Transporation
Presenters:
Don Kelpinski, Vermont SBDC
Janey Yancy-Wrona, Maine Technology Institute
Marcene Sonneborn, Central New York Technology Development Organization
Bob Ebberson, New Hampshire SBDC
Bob Kispert, Massachusetts Technology

2:00pm-4:00pm

Asking Customers to Pre-Pay for Value
Would you pre-pay for the local paper delivered to your door every day? Would you pre-pay for economical long distance service? What would entice a customer to pre-pay for your innovation, or your service? Find out how businesses are launched using customer "capital."
Moderator:
Betsy Walkerman, Headwater Strategy, LLC
Presenter:
Terry Allen, Terry's Tips

Financing Opportunities: A Roundtable Discussion
What are the various stages of financing a company? Walk through this "soup to nuts" overview process with our panel of experts and see when it is appropriate to use seed money, look for angels, contact venture capitalists or go to the bank.
Moderator:
Jeffrey Sohl, Univ. of NH, Whittemore School of Business Economics
Presenters:
Matt Harris, Village Ventures
Jonn Noto, Scientific Solutions
Michael Robinson, Mass. Procurement Technical Assistance Center
Susan Whalen, Banknorth VT