Newswise — Recently, a vice president of research and senior fellow of Gartner suggested that IT innovation would be a key factor in helping the U.S. emerge from a recession. To quote a recent Gartner report: "Never before has IT enabled thousands, hundreds of thousands, even millions of people to create simultaneously and collaboratively."
One of the ways that businesses can best answer this call is through "open innovation," an idea that posits that in order to be successful in an information-driven world, companies must be receptive to discoveries that occur outside their business, and that intellectual property should be out-licensed, even to competitors. From potential cancer cures to the next big computer gizmo, many if not most new discoveries are generated not from internal corporate R&D departments, but America's diverse network of thousands of independent laboratories and university-affiliated research facilities. How might big business tap into this vast and robust reservoir of knowledge and innovation?
We would like to offer an interview with an expert on open innovation, Dr. Clifford M. Gross. Dr. Gross—author, owner of eighteen patents, and former professor at New York University and University of South Florida—is CEO of UTEK Corporation, the first publicly traded open innovation services company. Dr. Gross can address the following FAQs:
"¢ What is open innovation?"¢ How can open innovation help companies access externally developed discoveries from across the globe?"¢ How can open innovation expand sales while reducing R&D expenditures?"¢ What are some open innovation success stories?"¢ Why does open innovation become vitally important during a recession?
Expert BiographyClifford M. Gross, PhD, Chief Executive OfficerDr. Gross serves as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors of UTEK Corporation. Dr. Gross previously held the appointment of Research Professor and Director of the Center for Product Ergonomics at the University of South Florida. In 1984, he founded the Biomechanics Corporation of America and served as its CEO until 1995. Before this he held positions as Acting Director of the Graduate Program in Ergonomics and Biomechanics at New York University and Chairman of the Department of Biomechanics at New York Institute of Technology. Dr. Gross has received eighteen patents and has produced numerous publications. His most recent book, co-authored with Joe Allen, entitled Technology Transfer for Entrepreneurs (Praeger Publishers, 2003) describes how companies can utilize federal laboratory innovations to invigorate their product offerings and strengthen their core technology. Dr. Gross received his Master's and PhD degrees from New York University, is a Fellow of the Institute of International Licensing Practitioners, and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Technology Transfer Society.
About UTEK CorporationUTEK® is a leading open innovation services company. UTEK's services enable clients to become stronger innovators, rapidly source externally developed technologies and create value from their intellectual property. UTEK is a business development company with operations in the United States, United Kingdom, and Israel. For more information about UTEK, please visit its website at http://www.utekcorp.com.
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