April 26, 2010
First Homewood Technology and Innovation Showcase set for May 3
Aiming to foster fresh connections between university researchers and the businesspeople who can help move their projects into the marketplace, a Johns Hopkins University advisory board has organized its first Homewood Technology and Innovation Showcase. The event, spotlighting current faculty and student breakthroughs, will be held Monday, May 3, in the Glass Pavilion on the Homewood campus.
Alumni and friends of the university have been invited to attend the event, which begins at 6 p.m. with dinner and an opportunity to meet faculty members and students who have produced inventions and research advances that may provide opportunities for investment and commercialization. These showcase participants are affiliated with the university’s Whiting School of Engineering and Krieger School of Arts and Sciences. Their projects include applications in biomedical and computer science and innovations in materials science and electronics.
Nicholas P. Jones, the Benjamin T. Rome Dean of the Whiting School, will welcome the event’s guests. At 7 p.m., attendees will hear remarks from Edward D. Miller, the Frances Watt Baker, M.D., and Lenox D. Baker Jr., M.D., Dean of the Medical Faculty at the School of Medicine and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine.
The showcase has been organized by the Johns Hopkins Homewood Technology Commercialization Advisory Board, a panel of about 40 alumni and university friends who are assisting the university’s technology transfer staff in channeling Johns Hopkins’ intellectual property to the commercial sector.
The board’s inaugural chair is Phil Garfinkle, a successful technology businessman and Whiting School parent. Garfinkle, based in Washington, D.C., is managing partner of Planet Cotton and managing director of Navig8. In addition, he is a venture adviser for Gabriel Venture Partners. He recently sold Trust Strategy Group, in which he was managing partner. He holds many technology-related patents and serves as a board member for a number of technology companies.
Anyone wishing to attend the May 3 showcase should contact Allison W. Baker at 410-516-6721 or abaker@jhu.edu.