So What? Who Cares? Why You?

The Cade Museum Cultivates Entrepreneurial Thinking in Florida with So what? who cares? why you?®

Partnership brings innovative entrepreneurial programming to support Florida’s scientists, inventors and artists in the commercialization of ideas

 

April 6, 2010 - Ottawa, Ontario, Canada & Gainesville, Florida, USA – The Cade Museum for Innovation and Invention is pursuing its mission of inspiring and promoting a culture of creativity and innovation by “injecting entrepreneurial thinking into the DNA” of inventors and innovators of all ages. In partnership with wendykennedy.com inc., The Cade Museum will deliver innovative training and education programs based on the So what? who cares? why you?^® commercialization methodology, which has been adopted globally by organizations seeking to increase the success rate of commercialization and to prepare inventors and entrepreneurs to speak the language of business. 

 

The art and skill of commercialization is often the missing link why a great invention never reaches the market and the consumer. Inventors and innovators are usually not aware of the complexities of bringing their ideas to the end customer. Through this partnership, the Cade Museum will provide an additional resource to innovators in academic institutions, technology companies, government laboratories, artistic circles and the general public by introducing a formula for entrepreneurial thinking. This will enable innovators and inventors of all ages to answer critical questions about their ideas and inventions – questions that must be answered if an idea is to be transformed into a successful commercial product.

 

Richard Miles, Executive Director of the Cade Museum, said: “The gap between a great invention or discovery and a commercially viable product is wide and difficult to navigate.” Through its partnership with wendykennedy.com, The Cade Museum will bridge that gap. So what? who cares? why you?^® provides a structured program platform for instilling a commercialization and entrepreneurial mindset into our state’s most promising innovators.”

 

He added, “It strengthens our ability to sow the seeds of entrepreneurial thinking that will prepare a new generation of company builders and commercially savvy scientists, engineers, and researchers. It also puts us in touch with a global network of resources engaged in commercialization and entrepreneurship.”

 

The first of the programs to be delivered under the partnership is an intensive training workshop incorporated into the Cade Prize for Innovation. A $50,000 cash prize, along with start-up business support, will be awarded to the winning Florida-based innovator. Entrants who are selected as semi-finalists will participate in the day-long So what? who cares? why you?^® commercialization training workshop at the Gainesville Technology Enterprise Center (GTEC) Incubator in Gainesville on April 23^rd, 2010.

 

Training in the So what? who cares? why you?^® methodology – which is used globally by scientists, researchers, inventors and technology entrepreneurs – will prepare the competitors to clearly define and articulate the commercial or business opportunity that their invention, science or artistic idea represents. Finalists will use the So what? who cares? why you?^® concepts and templates to prepare effective venture capital presentations to a panel of expert judges.

 

Wendy Kennedy, President of wendykennedy.com inc. and creator  of So what? who cares? why you?^®, said: “There are many factors that go in to turning a great idea into a commercial success.  At the early stages, the most important of these is being able to engage backers and supporters in understanding the commercial opportunity for the idea.  So what? who cares? why you?^® gives inventors and innovators a framework to discover and articulate the commercial value of their ideas so they can communicate effectively with investors, potential partners, and other key stakeholders in the process of taking an idea from concept to customer.”

 

The Cade Museum and wendykennedy.com will collaborate to design and deliver numerous innovative commercialization programs in the future. Scientists, engineers, artists, and other creative thinkers, young and old, will have the opportunity to acquire the tools and frameworks needed to transform their ideas into useful and helpful products. These programs will span education outreach, innovation competitions, conferences, workshops and more, and will be conducted at various locations around Florida until The Cade Museum building opens in 2014.

 

About The Cade Museum for Innovation and Invention

The Cade Museum for Innovation and Invention – located in Gainesville, Florida – is named for James Robert Cade, the physician, musician, researcher and inventor best known for leading the University of Florida team that created Gatorade. The mission of the Cade Museum is to promote a culture of creativity and innovation. The museum’s programs include:  workshops for inventors of all ages to highlight the inventive process from idea conceptualization to commercialization, from the the laboratory to the marketplace. We will also provide guest speakers and networking opportunities, innovation-themed traveling exhibits (beginning in 2011), a Virtual museum (Brain Science of Creativity), a Volunteer group – “Leading Edge” and the Cade Prize for Innovation (annual program) and Kids’ Programs: Camp Invention® for at-risk children, “Florida Caders" a biweekly innovators club for elementary school kids, LEGO Robotics and Club Invention®, Science Fair Camps (Fall 2010), Junior Cade Prize for Innovation at regional and state science and engineering fair (annual).

http://www.cademuseum.org

 

About Wendy Kennedy’s So what? who cares? why you?^®

So what? who cares? why you?^® is a commercialization methodology and tool set used globally by scientists, researchers, inventors and technology entrepreneurs to identify and articulate the commercial opportunities their ideas represent. It has been adopted by leading organizations across nine countries, including incubators, governments, universities and more and has a global community of more than 10,000 users.   So what? who cares? why you? is packaged as a platform with support tools tailored for incubation, research commercialization, and entrepreneurship.  To learn more about So what? who cares? why you?^® visit:  http://www.wendykennedy.com

 

About the Cade Prize for Innovation Competition

The Cade Prize for Innovation competition was open to Florida-based innovators who are taking their first steps towards commercialization. More than 100 abstracts were received on a wide variety of topics including the environment, biomedical, education and much more. 

Updates will be posted and winners will be announced on Facebook  and Twitter

For more information about how to participate in the So what? who cares? why you? commercialization workshop and other Cade Museum Programs contact Dr. Monika Oli, Program Director, Cade Museum Foundation, moli@cademuseum.org. http://www.cademuseum.org/experience/education.aspx

BT Ireland Selects So what? who cares? why you?® Commercialization Methodology for Pioneering Program

Commercialization and entrepreneurship methodology provides platform for new BT Business of Science & Technology Programme

March 2, 2010 - This week, BT Ireland will kick off an innovative program focused on giving 53 of Ireland’s top student performers the entrepreneurial experience of a life time. The students, award winners from the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition, will take part in four days of training and mentoring to experience the process of translating innovative science and technology into compelling commercial value propositions.  The So what? who cares? why you?^® methodology provides the program’s core structure and entrepreneurial training platform.

 

William McAuliffe, Business Development Manager, BT, said: “BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition has a long and iconic history in Ireland of fostering scientific thinking among high-school students. This year we are expanding our scope to ignite entrepreneurial thinking in our future science and technology stars, and to expose them to the process of translating scientific innovations into commercial opportunities. So what? who cares? why you?^® has made this possible, with a unique methodology for commercialization, and tools tailored to inspiring young scientific and technical minds about entrepreneurship.”

 

The BT Business of Science & Technology Program rewards top performers from the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition with exposure to the process of identifying the commercial opportunities inherent in scientific ideas and inventions. The selected students receive input from prominent Irish executives, mentorship from BT experts in business and marketing, as well as structured training in entrepreneurship based on the So what? who cares? why you?^® methodology, which also underpins several youth entrepreneurship programs underway in North America.

 

Larry Taylor, Marketing Manager, BT,added: “Working with Wendy Kennedy on design of the BT Business of Science & Technology Programme has been incredibly rewarding. She has given us a great amount of support, time and guidance to develop this product and was the driving force behind our approach to using real-world case studies from within Ireland to deliver the program.”

 

Working in teams as simulated start-up companies, the students will learn how to identify, articulate and demonstrate the commercial opportunity that their assigned scientific idea represents. Industry experts will also provide the students with perspective and real-world experience throughout the three days. The program culminates with each student team making a formal presentation to a panel of executives serving as a mock group of investors.   Top-performing teams from the week will be invited to participate in summer internships with an Irish university.

Wendy Kennedy, President of wendykennedy.com inc. and architect of So what? who cares? why you?^®, said: “These young people represent tomorrow’s leaders, and by sewing the seeds of entrepreneurial thinking at this early age we can prepare a new generation of company builders and commercially savvy scientists, engineers, and researchers.”

 

For more information:

BT Science & Technology Exhibition website: http://www.btyoungscientist.com/

BT Business of Science & Technology Programme web page: www.btyoungscientist.com/all-you-need-to-know/biz.php

 

Information about Wendy Kennedy and So what? who cares? why you?^®:  www.wendykennedy.com

Join Wendy @ The National Association of Seed and Venture Funds

This year’s NASVF conference will feature a keynote address by Wendy Kennedy.  Wendy will share her recipe for commercial success, including a roadmap for investors, economic development professionals, research park managers and others to discover and ignite ideas with great commercial potential. Wendy will also participate in a panel discussion on the topic of “Translating Science to Business when Funding is Tight”.

The conference takes place September 14-16, 2009 in Oklahoma City, OK to an audience of more than 300 investment professionals, economic development executives, federal lab directors, and others.

If you're planning to attend, be sure to track me down and say hello.

 

Dedicated to your commercialization success!

Wendy

^{www.wendykennedy.com}

Purdue Entrepreneurship Academy -- The Future is Bright!

It's become a right of passage into summer -- every year around this time, I head to Indianapolis and jump on the I65 North to Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.  I'm at Purdue to work with some of the brightest minds of our future -- 47 high schools students demonstrating achievement in science and math -- the type of bright young minds that will solve the world's biggest problems in the future and we are here to inject a bit of entrepreneurial juice into their DNA.  What an amazing experience to be with these future cardiologists, engineers, medical doctors, scientists, and who knows what else!  The energy and excitement in the room is infectious and I can only hope that others are as fortunate as I am to have an opportunity like this.

The Purdue Entrepreneurship Academy is 5 days in the life of an entrepreneur -- a boot camp with a twist. You can read about the program details here. Students are organized into startup teams upon arrival on Sunday and for the remainder of the week they work together as the founding team of a science or technology idea.  The end game -- pitch their business proposition to a panel of investors and get the loot!  As you guessed, my role is to help them answer the So what? who cares? why you? for their ideas and get these answers wrapped into their investor presentation.

Just when I think it can't get much better, it does.  Our future is bright with these young minds percolating the next big ideas.

Check out the Purdue Entrepreneurship Academy, Class of 2009 on Facebook.

A Gift from Me -- Your Commercialization Success Roadmap

Yesterday I got a slap on the wrist from a loyal customer of mine.  He was upset that he had to 'dig around on my web site' to find the commercialization roadmap I recently developed.  So, here it is in big bold visual print -- it's available as a wall poster, 24 x 36" and in cubicle size at 18 x 24".  I hear from many folks it's a powerful tool to ignite new thinking on their technology commercialization activities. 

Click here to see a larger version and get some for your office:  http://www.wendykennedy.com/roadmap.html

Enjoy!

Dedicated to Your Commercialization Success!

Wendy
www.wendykennedy.com