Getting to the top is tough.  Staying there is tougher.  How do you keep your edge over the competition?  How does your company continue to grow?  How can you differentiate yourself and your company from the competition?  Is your R&D group continuing to produce innovative product ideas and is your company flexible enough to implement them?

The information age is upon us.  Intellectual property is built into every product, service, system and culture doing business today.  The secret to business success is discovering your intellectual property and leveraging it for sustainable competitive advantage.

This secret has three components:

1.  Discovery.  Analysis frameworks identify intellectual property.  Examples:  Path to Profits Value Matrix, Technology Scamming.

2.  Harvesting.  Database tools harvest intellectual property.  Examples:  knowledge management systems, assessment tools, scenarios for intuitive processes.

3.  Leveraging.  Strategy leverages intellectual property for personal or professional gain.  Examples:  patents, business method patents, publishing, services to set standards.

Learn how best practices in management of technology apply to each of these components. 

About the Speaker:

LORI LORENZ is Lori Principle's Co-Founder and Technology Strategist.  Her eighteen years or information technology experience and active research in the management of technology generates profitable strategies for managing intellectual property.  Her experience spans corporate life at Providian Corporation in Louisville, Kentucky as an information technology consultant, to entrepreneurial life as a web designer and business consultant in Minneapolis.  She also has experience transforming business processes in a variety of industries such as newspaper publishing, book publishing, uranium foundry financial/insurance industry, computer retail, network infrastructure, photography and fashion.

Lori Lorenz is currently focusing on developing assessment tools for business that convert intuitive processes into measurable and explicit knowledge.  Lori's MS in Management of Technology is from the University of Minnesota's Center for the Development of Technological Leadership.

Location: 

The meeting will held at The Center for Development of Technological Leadership (CDTL) offices in Suite 150, 1300 S. 2nd St, Minneapolis, MN.  The CDTL facilities are secure, so upon entering the building you will need to check in at the guard desk.  Follow the posted signs to room 150 where the presentation will be held.  There is off-street parking ($) available in the lot adjacent to the building.  Do not attempt to park in the nearby garages.  

From the North:  on 35W, take the Washington Avenue exit (Exit 17C); turn right --West-- onto Washington Avenue (see "From Washington Avenue" below).

From the South: on 35W, take the University of Minnesota exit (Exit 17C).  There are several lane options once you exit.  Choose the "Washington Ave/U of M/West Bank" lane and then turn left -- West -- on Washington Ave  (see "From Washington Avenue" below).

From the East: on I-94, take the "5th Street" exit (Exit 234B).  Turn right at the Metrodome, cross Washington Avenue, turn right on Second Street, and continue to 1300 South 2nd Street.

From the West: on 394, there are two options.  Exit on I-94 East to 35W North (see "From the South" above).  Or take the downtown exits following the "4th Street" exit until you see the "3rd Ave N/Washington Avenue" exit (Exit 9C).  Take this exit, and turn right -- East -- on Washington Avenue (see "from Washington Avenue" below).

From Washington Avenue:  If you are traveling east on Washington Avenue, turn left on 11th Avenue.  If you are traveling west, turn right on 12th Avenue.  Turn right on Second Street to the "University of Minnesota" building or 1300 South Second Street.

Cost:

Free for EMS members and non-members attending for the first time; $10 otherwise.  Refreshments will be provided. 

Agenda:

6:30-7:00 Welcome, food, EMS business and networking.
7:00-8:30 Presentation and Questions

Registration:

Please pre-register , if possible, on or before Noon on Tuesday, April 27, 2004  (so we know how much food to bring) by using the online registration form at:

 http://www.tc-ieee-ems.org/meetingregistration.htm