Leaders and entrepreneurs from across the country, including some of WVU’s most prominent alumni, will join federal, state, local and University officials Friday (Sept. 9) on the campus of West Virginia University to discuss strategies that will promote innovation, job creation and U.S. competitiveness in a global economy.
The 10 a.m.-1 p.m. dialogue at WVU’s National Research Center for Coal and Energy will be led by WVU President Jim Clements, who says participation at the forum is “essential to getting at the heart of important matters affecting our state, nation and higher education system.” Clements is the only university president on the Innovation Advisory Board, established by the 2010 reauthorization of the America COMPETES Act. The board is a 15-member group is working with the U.S. Department of Commerce to prepare a national report about the factors that affect America’s capacity for innovation and economic competitiveness.
WVU graduate Ray Lane, former Oracle CEO and a current partner in a venture capitalist firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, will provide a brief keynote message. Among others slated to participate include: Anne Barth, executive director of TechConnect West Virginia; George Bennett, CEO and co-founder of Symmetrix and Health Dialog; Johnathan Holifield, chief executive officer of the Urban League of Greater Cleveland; Gene Irisari, director of government relations at Texas Instruments and chair of the Task Force on American Innovation; Christina Gabriel, president of the University Energy Partnership in Pittsburgh; and Charles Vest, president of the National Academy of Engineering and president emeritus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
WVU Provost Michele Wheatly will offer a summary of the discussions, and Clements will offer concluding remarks. He will share feedback from the forum with the Innovation Advisory Board during its next meeting in Boulder, CO, later this month.
For more details or to reserve a space, go to: http://universityevents.wvu.edu/innovation.
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bl/09/07/11
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