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Colorado Entrepreneurial Ecosystem flourishes

Brad Bernthal, Silicon Flatirons Entrepreneurship Initiative
1355_ 2/27/13 - Brad Bernthal is Associate Clinical Professor of Law Technology Policy but, he is also the Director of the Silicon Flatirons Center Entrepreneurship Initiative where they are doing so many things impacting entrepreneurs. Brad told us, "With respect to Silicon Flatirons Center, what we do is create conditions where innovation is likely to occur." With a degree of modesty Brad recognizes he is a law professor and not an innovator and what they do at SFC is not the core engine of innovation. But, innovation comes out of certain scenes. "When we're on our game at Silicon Flatirons, we create a scene in which innovators can connect, ideally find some value through a series like our Crash Course Series for Entrepreneurs, with the Entrepreneurs Unplugged Series which brings serial entrepreneurs to campus, and the New Tech Meetup. All of which helps build out networks and helps create a scene that's sticky, where you get the innovators, new technologists, people with big ideas consistently getting together, making connections, sharing information and good things happen." Larry points out, Silicon Flatirons Center brings great speakers and presenters - and we're talking experience here not just people who talk. We are the beneficiaries of the same rich ecosystem here in the front range, it's a world class place to start a business. We are lucky to have a spirit of getting involved and giving back, that is throughout the startup ecosystem. People coming up... Ken Tuchman who has built a billion dollar business in TeleTech is going to be the guest for Entrepreneurs Unplugged [March 7th]. Looking out a little bit further the annual Entrepreneurship Conference on March 21st, taking on the Future of Entrepreneurial Finance. Larry asked Brad what he saw as the biggest challenges entrepreneurs would want to address today? "In terms of interesting challenges that I'm seeing entrepreneurs, especially in the front range, taking on, the 'makers movement' This is something to watch. This pushing software down increasingly into hardware. That plus.." Listen for more...
RELATED LINKS: Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship || Crash Course, Bootstrapping || Integrate || Economy Builders || Mastering Change || KEYWORDS: Silicon Flatiron Center, Brad Bernthal, Crash Course Series for Entrepreneurs, Entrepreneurs Unplugged, New Tech Meetup, Entrepreneurship, > bytes=4118050
LISTEN TO: Brad Bernthal, Dir. SFC Entrepreneur Initiative

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Dozens of leaders share success secrets

Software at its best and the inside secrets
1354_ 2/22/13 - Here are just a few of the stars that we have interviewed...Seth Levine, Ryan McIntyre, Terry Gold, Nancy Philips, JB Holston, Ariel Garten, Dave Leonard, Jim Franklin, Eric Norlin, Bob Newman, Dave Jilk, Theresa Szczurek, Vic Ahmed, Rich Liner, Paul Berberian, Gary Gaessler, Adam Wilson, Monte Robertson, Kristin Russell, Bill Swords, Ray Hutchins, Steve Foster, Jason Mendelson, Phil Weiser, Brad Feld...and many, many more!

All these topics are covered and more... The line between the digital and physical worlds has blurred... It was the first time I worked on a holiday too, so welcome to the life of the entrepreneur... Based in downtown Denver, this company is eight years old, with about 150 folks at this point, highly profitable and growing quickly... It's just what it sounds like, it is the ability to interact with content directly with your mind!!! It's all about the customer's peace of mind - they don't have to worry about their most valued applications... They announced they have raised $21.6 million in a Series B financing round... Supporters on the crowdfunding site can be the first to obtain the products... A SaaS model software company and services behind it that helps organizations manage employee misconduct through the use of technology... It processes up to 300 gestures, it works in a variety of different platforms... In the past, utilization prompted faint images or ideas of algorithms designed to sort, classify, and analyze data for application in finite areas such as product design and consumer relations... For entrepreneurs, lawyers and other professionals, work-life balance is often a topic that individuals plan on thinking about when they have time... Read stories, listen to interviews of dozens of leaders talk about the winning secrets in the software business. Whether you are a techie, business owner or an industry leader you'll enjoy the selection.
RELATED LINKS: Software Channel 2013 || Software Channel 2012 || w3w3® Blog || w3w3® PodCast Directory || KEYWORDS: Seth Levine, Ryan McIntyre, Terry Gold, Nancy Philips, JB Holston, Ariel Garten, Dave Leonard, Jim Franklin, Eric Norlin, Bob Newman, Dave Jilk, Theresa Szczurek, Vic Ahmed, Rich Liner, Paul Berberian, Gary Gaessler, Adam Wilson, Monte Robertson, Kristin Russell, Bill Swords, Ray Hutchins, Steve Foster, Jason Mendelson, Phil Weiser, Brad Feld - Feature / Software Channel by Larry Nelson, w3w3® Media Network

Daniels College of Business, Entrepreneurship

Stephen Miller, Sr. Director of Entrepreneurship, Daniels College
1351_ 2/21/13 - Stephen Miller, senior director of Entrepreneurship, Daniels College of Business, has been working with entrepreneurs for the last 8-10 years. Working first with the CTEK group and then opening the CTEK Stapleton Incubator Denver Ventures. That entity today is about 35 companies in a broad range of technologies, over the course of about 5 years. Part way through that time frame we started talking to the National Renewable Energy Lab as well as the South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce. They were looking at starting an incubator as well as a clean tech open and we're working with the folks out in California to do exactly that, and talking with NREL about being their incubator. So those forces came together and we did exactly that. We were talking about entrepreneurship more generally. This last year the opportunity to join Daniels presented itself. And the opportunity to work with Dean Riordan and her fine team led him here. Stephen said, "I think, entrepreneurship is not only live and well, but it's growing in many ways. Colorado has traditionally been known as a tech hub - and entrepreneurship has been focused more in the technology areas and Boulder to an extent has lead that charge. And of course CU has been very involved in that as has CSU and the Colorado School of Mines as well. A lot of the innovation we've seen out of Mines has been energy related both traditional and renewable. In Denver, we've seen a tremendous kick-start by leaders such as Jim Deters at Galvanize and Vic Ahmed at Innovation Pavilion. We have a former Mayor who was an entrepreneur in the beer business and the current mayor who is very entrepreneurship friendly. And it doesn't hurt that Paul Washington is head of economic development, has a history in startups as well." The University of Denver has looked at entrepreneurship as a focus for ten years or more. A lot of professors, Paul Bauer and others, and now with the leadership of Dean Riordan it's finally come to a critical mass. Alumni who are successful entrepreneurs in their own right and board of trustee members...listen for more...
RELATED LINKS: Daniels College Business || Stephen Miller || Social Entrepreneurship || Mastering Change || KEYWORDS: Stephen Miller, Sr. Director Entrepreneurship, Daniels College of Business, National Renewable Energy Lab, NREL, South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce, Clean Tech, bytes=9156130
LISTEN TO: Stephen S. Miller, Daniels College

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Emotional connection to customer and brand

Charles Patti, Ph.D., Daniels College of Business, Customer Experience
1350_ 2/14/13 - It hasn't been the norm to find universities teaching customer experience courses. At the University of Denver, Daniels College of Business, it is a big deal. We're talking with Charles Patti, Ph.D. and Senior Associate Dean and he tells us "Customer experience is a relatively new idea in the world of business and it is certainly even newer in the university setting. We started, about four years ago, developing a program, at the graduate level, in customer experience, primarily behind the impetus of the Cox family (Cox Cable) in Atlanta, Georgia. But, it has become very important to companies as they begin to see that their businesses depend not just on delivering service, but a total experience for their customers, which ends up translating to an emotional connection between the customer and the brand. Customer service also became very important about 15-20 years ago. But, in our mind, customer experience embraces many more attributes of doing business with a company than just the service component." Asked if and how companies measure customer experience, Dean Patti says, "We've been encouraging companies to do that. Many engage in customer satisfaction surveys. But at least 75% of what they measure in customer satisfaction, is only about the functionality - how well the product performs. Customer experience embraces many other aspects than just the functionality. We've been encouraging companies and working with companies to measure the other important dimensions like how they communicate. If it's a retail place, what the look and feel of the organization, and the culture and quality of the employees. When you look at all four dimensions you begin to measure the entire customer experience." Chuck's advice, "First would be for new employees to understand the difference between customer service and customer experience. To have them completely understand the four dimensions of customer experience and get them committed to measuring the financial return on the investment in a customer experience initiative that a company might take. The ability to measure what is the financial return, off of any kind of investment, is key." Listen for more...
RELATED LINKS: Daniels College of Business || Charles Patti || Social Entrepreneurship || Blog || KEYWORDS: Charles Patti, Ph.D., Daniels College of Business, Customer Experience, Customer Service, Cox Cable, Four Dimensions of Functionality, > bytes=5506510
LISTEN TO: Charles Patti, Sr. Associate Dean, Daniels College of Business, University of Denver

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Daniels ranked among the top business schools in the world

Dr. Christine Riordan, Dean, Daniels College of Business, Leadership
1348_ 2/12/13 - Most recently Christine was elected to the International Society for Accrediting Business Schools (AACFC) and that was an international election. Since Dean Riordan assumed the leadership role, Daniels has been ranked among the top business schools in the world by Business Week, U.S. News & World Report, The Aspen Institute’s Beyond Grey Pinstripes and the Financial Times. Dr. Riordan, Dean of the Daniels College of Business is also Professor of Management and we're talking about leadership. "Leadership requires mental toughness" Larry asked her to tell us a little about this. Talk about some of the elements and why they exist. Chris went onto explain, "There's a great parallel between business today and sports. A lot of what we do with sports is we train our athletes to have a mental toughness, an attitude and ability to adapt. When we think about what business has been through in the last five years, the same concept applies to business leaders today. Thinking about being an executive in today's business environment is very tough. There's a lot of change that's rapid. There are massive amounts of information. There's a need to think differently. So 'mental toughness' is a concept that business leaders should apply every single day and to their own personal lives as well as their organization. It includes things like flexibility. Are you flexible enough to adapt your plays within your company? To change business as you need to change business? Are you responsive to the demands of the game of business? Do you have the courage to make some pretty tough decisions? Do you have the resilience to get back into the game when things don't go your way? Are you a good sportsman trapping the game of business? So when we talk about mental toughness, it's really taking some of the concepts that they use in sports and applying them in business." They went on to discuss How can leaders avoid making decisions based on overconfidence?...and other leadership issues...listen for more...
RELATED LINKS: Daniels College Business || Christine.Riordan || || Social Entrepreneurship || Mastering Change || KEYWORDS: Christine Riordan, Daniels College Business, DU, Leadership, Mental Toughness, Change, Hiring, Executives, Decision Making, Overconfidence, bytes=7665688
LISTEN TO: Christine Riordan, Dean, Daniels College of Business, University of Denver

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TTO Covers Entire CU System

Funding biotech technologies with matching funds for startup companies
1333_ 1/11/13 - We're back with Tom Smerdon, Interim Associate Vice President of the University of Colorado Technology Transfer Office in Boulder. We are starting the new year with a look at some metrics for the past year as well as a look at the coming year. The Tech Transfer Office covers the entire Colorado University system, with campuses in Boulder, downtown Denver, the Anschutz Medical Campus and the Colorado Springs campus. The bulk of the research dollars are going into the Boulder as well as the medical campus and most of the inventions are going to be coming out of that research from those campuses. But there is still a significant amount of research going on in Colorado Springs and some in downtown Denver in terms of funded research. Tom said, "Last year we had 226 invention disclosures on a system wide basis. That was down from the year before, but still a very healthy number. Applications were a little above last year, we filed 261 applications and executed 47 option license agreements [in line with and greater than past years] but we'd certainly like to get that number up as well as the number of exclusive licenses which tend to be the real revenue generators. Last year we had 32 of those. In terms of startups, , there were ten spun out of the university system - split pretty evenly between Boulder and Denver with a couple out of Colorado Springs." This has been very steady, over the past 8 or 9 years, they've averaged about 10-11 each year. Tom is very pleased to tell us, "Most of those companies...listen for more ...
RELATED LINKS: CU Technology Transfer Office || CU TTO Channel || TTO Blog || Proof of Concept Programs || The Start-up Process || KEYWORDS: Tom Smerdon, Interim Associate Vice President, Tech Transfer Office, University of Colorado, Technology Transfer, Invention Disclosures, Start-ups, Funding, Biotech Technologies, Bio Science Discovery, Evaluation Grant Program BYTES=6922974
LISTEN TO: Tom Smerdon, IA VP, TTO University of Colorado

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Technology Transfer Process...

Looking at industry alliances and collaboration
1324_ 12/13/12 - When we last spoke with Tom Smerdon he was manager/director of Licensing & New Business Development; today he is Interim Associate Vice President, University of Colorado Technology Transfer Office. In his humble way, Tom tells us, "In the wake of Dave Allen's departure, I inherited Dave's position here." Although they've not filled his former position, so Tom's a busy man, still doing a little bit of what he used to do. But mostly Tom is doing the AVP job and thoroughly enjoying it. We asked him to tell us about his new position... "Basically it's more of a management position. Tech Transfer Office is a system office. So we cover the Boulder Campus, Anschutz Medical Campus, Downtown Denver as well as the Colorado Springs Campus. and we have a satellite Tech Transfer Office in connection with Anschutz Medical campus as well as the main office here which includes the administrative staff. We have close to 20 full time employees. And in addition to the case managers, the professionals that work on evaluating technologies, working with perspective licensees and helping to do the deals as well as managing the patenting process, we have a very top notch administrative staff that handles marketing and communication. Lindsay Lennox, Kathe Zaslow, working on a number of service agreements, materials transfer agreements, confidentiality agreements, different collaboration agreements. Last year we completed over 800 of those types of service and related agreements that are technically licensed to draw options." Tom talked about the great job other team members are doing. Larry asked, "What's going on now?" Tom replied, "Well, we're trying to maintain our performance of the past. Last year we received a little over 225 invention disclosures. So we're continuing to work on the challenges that are evaluating technologies that are disclosed to the office and then getting them licensed. Beyond that one of the initiatives we've been working on to work with the campuses to pursue ways of promotion industry alliances. There is a concern that the level of federal funding, which last year on a system basis, was $815 Million in total funding support, most..." There's more, listen now...
RELATED LINKS: CU Technology Transfer Office || CU TTO Channel || TTO Blog || CUTTO General Administrative Office || KEYWORDS: Tom Smerdon, Interim Associate Vice President, Tech Transfer Office, University of Colorado, Technology Transfer, Lindsay Lennox, Kathe Zaslow, Tara Dressler, Rick Silva, Kate Tallman, CU TTO > bytes=6271376
LISTEN TO: Tom Smerdon, Interim Associate Vice President
Tech Transfer Office, University of Colorado

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8:00 pm RMT - Global Discussion - Join Us!

Join us tonight for the CSEdWeek Global Twitter Conversation For the first time, Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek) has assembled a group of more than two dozen experts and thought leaders in the field of computer science to engage in a worldwide conversation. Check out a few of the many people advocating for CS education: Brad Feld (@bfeld), Managing Director at Foundry Group Clay Shirky (@cshirky), Associate Arts Professor, ITP/NYU Kimberly Bryant (@BlackGirlsCode), Founder of Black Girls Code Dr. Debra Richardson (@deandebra), Professor of Informatics and founding dean of the University of California–Irvine's Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences (ICS), 2010 & 2011 CSEdWeek Chair Vivek Wadhwa (@Wadhwa), academic, researcher, writer and entrepreneur Join us and thousands of stakeholders at 6:00 p.m. EST tonight and be sure to pledge your support at CSEdWeek.org. Just follow and use the #csedweek hashtag. To learn more and to add this event to your calendar, please go to http://csedweek.eventbrite.com/.   Meet CSEdWeek Partner … National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) NCTM is the public voice of mathematics education, supporting teachers to ensure equitable mathematics learning of the highest quality for all students through vision, leadership, professional development, and research.   From the desk of CSEdWeek Vice Chair Alison Derbenwick Miller … Read Alison’s blog about the coordinated effort that must occur in order to bring about the change that is needed in computer science education.   What's your number? 2,549? 3,817? Or maybe even 6,999?! Have you pledged yet? The CSEdWeek pledge counter is climbing, but we know there are thousands more people celebrating CSEdWeek – and we want to know about it. We want to hear from everyone participating! It just takes a minute. Go to www.csedweek.org Take the pledge to participate in and support computer science education Encourage your colleagues, friends and family to take the pledge Already pledged? If you are hosting an event or activity – or simply attending one – please remind ALL participants to pledge so we can reach our goal!   Thank you for your support. One more person to help us reach our goal and one more person spreading the word about CSEdweek!   Other ways to stay connected: ‘Like’ CSEdWeek on Facebook Follow CSEdWeek on Twitter   Post videos on YouTube   Network with CSEdWeek on LinkedIn About CSEdWeek Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek) is the major annual awareness program of the Computing in the Core Coalition. CSEdWeek is a call to action to raise awareness (particularly in the K-12 environment) about the importance of computer science education and its connection to careers in computing and other fields. Join with parents, students, teachers and others who are participating in CSEdWeek activities and events.

 

Computer Science Education = Opportunities

 

Did you know that Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek) is just around the corner?

Since we know that an increase in computer science education creates opportunities to increase the diversity of people who pursue computing, NCWIT is a major fan of CSEd Week. As a fan of NCWIT, we hope you will become a fan of CSEdWeek, too. To help stoke your fandom, we're going to tell you a few things about CSEdWeek and computing education that you may not have known.

• Did you know that CSEdWeek was born in 2010 when the 11th Congress passed House Resolution 1560, "Supporting the increased understanding of, and interest in, computer science and computing careers among the public and in schools, and to ensure an ample and diverse future technology workforce?
• Did you know that CSEdWeek takes place December 9-15, 2012, to coincide with the birthday of visionary computer scientist. Admiral Grace Hopper, who was born on December 9, 1906?
• Did you know that only 9 states allow computer science to count as a math or science graduation requirement, and did you know that the number of high schools offering AP computer science has fallen 35% since 2005?
  
• Did you know that the lack of computing education in schools especially impacts girls, because girls get fewer informal opportunities to experience computing outside of school?
• Did you know that computing education is a BIG DEAL, because the Department of Labor projects that there will be 1.4 million computing-related job openings by 202 but the U.S. is producing only enough computing graduates to fill 61% of these jobs?
• Did you know that pledging your support for CSEdWeek costs nothing, takes two minutes, and is easy as pie?
• Did you now that you can join CSEdWeek celebrations around the country (like cake to honor Grace Hopper's birthday, a Scratch Day in NYC, a Robotics Explosion, and an ITPalooza), or plan your own?
• Did you know that there's a CSEdWeek Twitter conversation on December 11 at 6 PM ET?
• Did you know that there's no excuse for doing nothing - when an all-ages activity like CSUnplugged is fun and free - and that there are loads more ideas at the CSEdWeek website?
  

Pledge and plan today. Get started at www.csedweek.org. Follow CSEdWeek on Twitter. Visit CSEdWeek on Facebook.

HCI - Human Computer Interface

Brace yourself for the HCI Revolution...
1323_ 12/4/12 - Here at Defrag/Blur Conference 2012, we are talking with the director of the IDIA Lab, aka, the Institute for Digital Intermedia Arts at Ball State University, and keynote speaker here at the Blur Conference, John Filwalk. We asked for an overview of what the IDIA Lab does. "IDIA is an interdisciplinary lab at the University. We work with architects and computer scientists, artists and designers - basically on 3D simulation of virtual reality projects." They do a combination of working with screen based technologies - something you would work with on computer. But also we are working with some technologies where you actually wear a headset and some more immersive virtual reality, like you've seen in the movies - that sort of thing. John says one of the things they're investigating is making it more scalable and accessible. "So, we're working with a couple of game engines, mainly the ones that we're most excited by are the ones that actually work with standard Internet browsers / web browsers. So that way the accessibility and being able to be immersed in the virtual worlds is much easier." John said, "We live in a 3D world and we find it makes more sense to be able to take information when you're teaching/learning, training, things like that, and have them happen in a three dimensional space as well. We're used to working in two dimensional space but even though we're used to it, it is more abstract to us then something like this where we are sitting at a table right now. We understand that spatially and that's a very different type of engagement. The truth is that we stand on the verge of a major revolution in the models of Human Computer Interaction (HCI). A revolution that will fly right past academic and into a world of retail, medical, gaming, military, public event, sporting, personal and marketing applications. From multi-touch to motion capture to spatial operating environments, over the next 10 years, everything we know about HCI will change." There's more...
RELATED LINKS: IDIA Lab || Defrag/blur Info || In the News || w3w3.com Blog || KEYWORDS: John Filwalk, Ball State University IDIA Lab, Defrag, blur, Institute for Digital Intermedia Arts, Interdisciplinary Lab, Human Computer Interaction, 3-D World > bytes=3502814
LISTEN TO: John Filwalk, Director IDIA Lab, Ball State University

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