VisualShare, a 2007 Governor's Office of Economic Development Center of Excellence Licensee awardee, recently presented and participated in the 2008 Sorenson Inventor's Showcase at the Little America Hotel in Salt Lake City. The Sorenson Inventor's Showcase is Utah's premier networking event for inventors, Universities and the business community that focuses on showcasing technologies and encouraging collaboration between Utah inventor's and the Utah business community.
The Sorenson's Inventor's Showcase has undergone a transformation of the Showcase from a two day event to a commercial focused half day event that brings inventors together with business decision makers in Utah. The focus this year was on bringing inventor's from all of Utah's Academic centers statewide, together in a business development forum to showcase technology development - from prototype to product.
In 2008, the Sorenson Showcase added an new component, the "Speed Pitch Session" that provided an opportunity for Utah inventor's to give a ten minute business pitch to investor's attending the conference. The Speed Pitch allowed potential investor's to get a high level overview of the presenting company's product or service, go to market strategy and potential business plan.
The addition of the Speed Pitch sessions, in addition to the traditional exhibits, elevated the event to a bonafide forum for deal flow and validated the commercialization aspects for many of Utah's investors.
The 2008 Sorenson Inventor's Showcase was sponsored by MountainWest Capital Network, Governor's Office of Economic Development, USTAR and the Sorenson Center for Discovery and Innovation.
Comments (2)
The Sorenson Inventor's Showcase provided VisualShare the opportunity to connect with longtime collaborators and establish new connections with new collaborators.
The Company took advantage of the Speed Pitch opportunity in many ways: 1) we were only allowed 10 minutes to present or 'pitch' the business opportunity, 2) we focused on the value proposition and 3) there were investors present that were face to face with us. Overall, the Speed Pitch was a great addition to the event.
Posted by Patricia Goede | May 2, 2008 7:29 AM
Posted on May 2, 2008 07:29
The Sorenson Inventor's Showcase is the second showcase VisualShare has presented at. Despite its modest size -- increasing every year -- it always seems to result in new opportunities. Additionally, the Showcase is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the success of Utah's inventors and entrepreneurs.
I am always amazed at the inventions coming out of Utah that go on to become a national and global success. A case in point is the recently late James LeVoy Sorenson who is the inventor and entrepreneur of such wide ranging things as the disposable surgical mask and video compression /decompression software that is behind much of the video we watch on the Web.
The State of Utah Governor's Office of Economic Development and the State's Universities deserve a round of applause for their support of Utah's inventors and entrepreneurs.
Posted by Chris Cochella | May 7, 2008 6:13 PM
Posted on May 7, 2008 18:13