Nano 101 & Nano IP Strategy

Welcome and Opening Remarks
Vincent Caprio, Vice President & Event Director, NanoBusiness Alliance

Nano IP Strategy:
Presented by Foley & Lardner

Nanotech Patent Landscape
Patent Application Process 
International Patent And Trade Secret Strategy 
Building and Overcoming A Patent Thicke
Preparing For Investor IP Due Diligence
Update On Recent Patent Case Law
Update On Patent Reform Legislation and Rules 

Welcome and Opening
Sean Murdock, Executive Director, NanoBusiness Alliance

Scientific Entrepreneurs: Defining Healthcare in the 21st Century

Moderator: Steve Rutt, Partner, Foley and Lardner
Chad Mirkin, Director International Institute for Nanotechnology and Founder, NanoInk & Nanosphere
Piotr Grodzinski, Director, Nanotech for Cancer, NCI
Sadik Esener, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Nano Engineering, and Materials Sciences at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD)
Jim Baker, Director of the University of Michigan's Center for Biologic Nanotechnology, Chief Scientific Officer, NanoBio Corp

Tools: Advancements in Characterization and Fabrication Machinery

Moderator: David Wallace, Partner, Chadbourne & Parke LLP
Jim von Ehr, Chief Executive Officer, Zyvex
Jim Hussey, Chief Executive Officer, NanoInk
Craig Prater, Chief Technology Officer, Anasys Instruments
David Holden, Technology Transfer Manager, Minatec

Advanced Materials: Scaling the Business to a Size that Matters

Moderator: Leon Radomsky, Partner, Foley & Lardner
Kevin Wenta, Vice President Marketing, Nanophase
Daniel Rardon, Senior Scientist & Manager Advance Technologies, PPG
Andrew Sherman, Chief Executive Officer, Powdermet
Fred Klaessig, Performance Solutions NAFTA
Inorganic Materials, Evonik Degussa
David Arthur, Chief Executive Officer, Southwest Nanotechnologies

Therapeutics: The Impact of Personalized Medicine on the Value Chain

Moderator: Jeffrey Rosedale, Woodcock Washburn
Bill Moffitt, Chief Executive Officer, Nanosphere
Amit Kumar, Chief Executive Officer, Combimatrix
Bill Perry, Senior Vice President, Nanomix

Display Emissive Layers

Moderator: Chad Wieland, Buchanan Ingersoll
Clint Ballinger, Chief Executive Officer, Evident Technologies
Peter Garcia, Chief Financial Officer, Nanosys
Daniel Button, Chief Executive Officer, QD Vision

Drug Delivery

Moderator: Peter Stewart, Partner, Curtis Mallet-Prevost Colt & Mosle, LLP
Sandra Glucksmann, Senior Vice President Research & Business Operations, Tempo Pharmaceuticals
James Hamilton, Vice President Medical Technologies, Arrowhead Research
Mostafa Analoui, Senior Vice President, Charlesson Pharmaceuticals
Larry Tamarkin, Ph.D., CEO and Co-Founder, CytImmune

Printed Electronics

Moderator: George Scalise, President, Semiconductor Industry Association
Henry Yan, Product Development Manager, Polyera
Brian Johnston, Director Kodak External Alliances, Eastman Kodak
Vik Pavate, Vice President of Business Development, Kovio

Biological Imaging

Moderator: Andrew L. Reibman, Partner, K&L Gates
Charlie Gause, Vice President Business Development, Luna Innovations
Brad Goldstein, Chief Executive Officer, Tursiop
Robert Beardsley, Chief Executive Officer, Kereos
Michael Weiner, Founder, Biophan

Transparent Conductors

Moderator: Ted Sabety, Principal, Sabety & Associates
Joe Piche, Chief Executive Officer, Eikos
Jon Brodd, Chief Executive Officer, CIMA Nanotech

OECD: a Critical Forum for Addressing Nanotechnology Innovation, Application and EHS Concerns

Introduction: Terry Medley (DuPont, co-chair of USCIB Nanotechnology Working Group)
Overview of OECD and BIAC: Richard Johnson (Arnold and Porter, co-chair of USCIB Nanotechnology Working Group
OECD Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials: its work: Peter Kearns (OECD)
OECD Working Party on Nanotechnology: its work: Christopher Palmberg (OECD)
OECD Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials: comment: Jim Willis (EPA, Chair of WPMN)
OCED Working Party on Nanotechnology: comment: Robert Rudnitsky (State Dept., Chair of WPN)

Q&A with audience: All

Solar Energy

Moderator: Ed Moran, Director, Deloitte & Touche
BJ Stanbery, Chief Executive Officer, Heliovolt
Richard Faubert, Chief Executive Officer, Amberwave
Kieran Drain, Chief Executive Officer, Nanogram
Dr. Amit Kumar, Chief Executive Officer, Combimatrix
Ted Sullivan, Lux Research

Water Treatment

Moderator: Paul Stimers, Policy Counsel of the NanoBusiness Alliance, K&L Gates
Keith Blakely, Chief Executive Officer, Nanodynamics
David Reisner, Chief Executive Officer, Inframat
Lisa Farmen, President, Crystal Clear Technologies

Future of Distributed Power Storage / Batteries

Moderator: John Roy, Ph.D., Senior Executive Director, Nanotechnology Research, Global Crown Capital
Kevin Maloney, Chief Executive Officer, QuantumSphere
Dr. Fred Allen, Chief Executive Officer, AlwaysReady
David Reisner, Chief Executive Officer,, US Nanocorp Inc.
Dr. Ganesh Skandan, Chief Executive Officer, NEI Corp

Thermal Solutions

Moderator: Andrew Braswell, Director of Research, INano Capital Markets
Dr. Rama Venkatasubramian, RTI International & Founder, Nextreme Thermal Solutions
Doug Smith, Chief Executive Officer, Nanopore
Scott Rickert, Chief Executive Officer, Nanofilm
Joe Grzyb, Chief Executive Officer, Reactive Nanotechnologies

Economic Development

Jim Mason, Executive Director, Oklahoma Nanotechnology Initiative
Skip Rung, President & Executive Director, ONAMI
Alexis Abramson, Executive Director, NanoNetwork
Anthony Green, Director, The Nanotech Institute

Spotlight on the UK

Steffi Friedrichs, Director, Nanotechnology Industries Association
Robert Santilli, Chief Operating Officer, AML
Dr. Daniel Lynch, Technical Director, Exilica Limited
Roger Carline, Chief Executive Officer, Eminate

EH&S

Colin Finan, Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies
Blake Biles, Partner, Arnold & Porter
Lynn Bergeson, Managing Partner, Bergeson & Campbell
Mark Mansour, Partner, Foley & Lardner

Spotlight on Oklahoma

Dave Arthur, Chief Executive Officer, Southwest NanoTechnologies
Charles Seeney, Chief Executive Officer, XetaComp and NanoBioMagnetics
Judy Hulsey, Vice President, Nano Ridge Materials
Rus Huffstutler, Vice President, ARC Outdoors

Nano 101

This tutorial track provides a broad overview of the science of nanotechnology and some of its applications. It covers the use of nanotech for advanced materials, tools, clinical applications, electronics and energy. In each case the tutorial will describe how nanomaterials add value, which applications are being targeted, what challenges the technology is facing and briefly surveys the key companies addressing that sector.

Nano IP

Intellectual property is the life-blood of any high-tech business. This is particularly the case in an emerging technology like nanotech. This tutorial will discuss what the current patent landscape looks like for various nanomaterials and where potential conflicts lie; walk through the process of applying for a nanotech patent and the challenges these applications face in comparison with other, older technologies; suggest strategies for how to create a defensible thicket of IP around a product; discuss how companies can avoid IP conflict by creating pools; and describe what steps a company can take if it feels its patents are being infringed.  This will also provide insight into the implications of the Patent Reform Act of 2007 for nanotech businesses.

Scientific Entrepreneurs: Defining Healthcare in the 21st Century

Cancer is the third leading cause of death in the United States. Because cancer cells  develop from those of our own body, detecting cancer early, imaging cancer cells, targeting them specifically and selectively destroying them are all significant challenges. The National Cancer Institute’s “Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer” has made ground-breaking progress in the areas of detection and diagnostics, drug delivery and targeting. The speakers on this panel have not only been the luminaries behind some of these leaps in cancer therapy, they have also exhibited a level of entrepreneurship in translating their science into life-saving products through the companies they have founded.  This panel will explore the journey of a scientist-entrepreneur and take a broad look at how nanotechnology is affecting Healthcare: what are the challenges to founding a company as a scientist? how does that relationship work in the long-term? what are the key areas of healthcare that nanotech has the greatest potential to impact? what are the most significant barriers facing that progress? what is the timeline for developing a cure to cancer?

Back to Top

Tools: Advancement in Characterization and Fabrication Machinery

In the same manner that the microscope revolutionized our understanding of science, the ability to see at the nanoscale and below is a powerful force for innovation. In areas like microchip fabrication where nanoscale defects can result in large financial losses or in materials development where research is focused on the behaviors of polymers at atomic or molecular levels, these tools are invaluable. In many cases, even the inspection of common place substances can result in new information about their structure and how to produce coatings, composites or new processes for manufacture that will alter them. Tools thus drive the area of designer materials. In particular, tools allow us to better characterize known or new materials and play a critical role in determining how we fabricate nanomaterials.

The nanotech tools industry has given rise to some of the most successful public nanotech companies. This panel will discuss the advancements that have been made in the ability to characterize and fabricate nanomaterials: What are the increasing resolutions of our visualization tools allowing us to do? What role do tools play in our effort to address EH&S issues with nanomaterials? How have tools allowed us to improve the process of prototyping and fabricating nanomaterials? What is the next frontier for visualization and what challenges does it pose?

Advanced Materials: Scaling the Business to a Size that Matters

Nanotechnology enabled advanced materials have tremendous potential to revolutionize the automotive, aerospace, displays and memory, construction and consumer goods industries. Carbon nanotubes, commonly used in composites, have a hundred times the tensile strength of steel, are a sixth of its weight, can act as metals or semiconductors based on their composition and retain their properties even when flexed, flattened or stretched. To realize the potential of these materials however, the businesses producing them must scale to meet the output, efficiency and reliability needs of the market.

This panel will discuss the challenges that present themselves when trying to take a material from lab-scale production to industrial-scale production: What intermediary steps are involved? How does a company choose a product-focus for the materials?
How do investors respond to this risk? How is market demand created for a material that is still in the lab?

Therapeutics: The Impact of Personalized Medicine on the Value Chain

Nano-enabled diagnostic devices make use of highly sensitive and accurate nanoparticle assays to create tests that, from a small sample, can quickly and accurately identify multiple diseases and conditions before they exhibit symptoms. Many of these devices are also simple enough to use that a lay-consumer can perform and interpret the tests themselves without sending samples to a lab. Given that today’s clinical value chain concentrates value in the treatment of diseases and conditions after onset or relatively late in their life-cycle, this technology will be revolutionary.

The panel will discuss how this impact: How will early detection transform the pharmaceutical industry? What is the impact of giving healthcare consumers the means to self-diagnose? How will a device that can test for multiple conditions in hours transform the economics of today’s diagnostic labs? How does the FDA deal with these devices as opposed to traditional diagnostic methods?

Back to Top

Display Emissive Layers

The brightness and resolution of the emissive layer in displays for mobile phones and screens is a deciding factor for consumers making decisions to purchase in a highly competitive market. Devices such as Amazon’s “Kindle” and similar “electronic paper” products are made possible by advances in the emissive layer. These advances drive LED technology and are also the key to highly-efficient, cool lighting solutions. Nanotechnology and in particular, the quantum dot, has the potential to enable the leading solutions in this space. This panel will explore the market for the emissive layer and its uses.

Drug Delivery

As we continue to develop a library of effective, active compounds for treating disease the challenge becomes getting these active compounds delivered specifically to the targets for which they are intended. Many new therapies rely on delivery mechanisms that stage the release of multiple compounds in a specific order. Delivery is crucial in that it determines the absorption of the drug, the “collateral” impact a drug might have on healthy cells and the interplay of different chemicals in a cocktail. Drug delivery systems also have the ability to rejuvenate expiring patents and inspiring new formulations. This panel will discuss the role of nanotechnology in drug delivery:

Printed Electronics

Moore’s law continues to push the cost of microchip fabrication along an aggressive and increasingly steep curve. Several electronics applications however do not require the speeds and complexity that silicon semiconductors provide or they require the ability to print a vast surface area of circuitry. Printer electronics promises the ability to use traditional roll-printing on flexible substrates (such as plastic) to print CMOS circuitry. This technology is a requisite for large-scale solar farms that seek to avoid using high-cost silicon or RFID chips that need to be extremely cost-effective to create. This panel will explore the economics of printer electronics and the challenges facing the technology:

Back to Top

Biological Imaging

Imaging soft-tissue or materials that are “in vivo” poses a set of very particular challenges. The most widely-deployed technology for biological imaging is currently the MRI. Nanoscience has the potential to enhance this technology through a variety of means including increasing the contrast of images viewed through an MRI, “lighting up” tumors and boosting the gain on the magnetic coils being used to create a sharper picture. These can result in significantly earlier detection of disease, particularly cancer, and can drive down the cost of using MRI and the cost of treating these diseases. This panel will explore the various nano-enabled solutions to enhancing MRI and the impact these will have on the healthcare industry.

Transparent Conductors

From ATMs to iPhones, transparent conductors which allow touch-sensitive screens are ubiquitous and continue to be incorporated into new applications. Currently the vast majority of these interfaces require Indium Tin Oxide for the layer that makes them both transparent and conductive. ITO however is in significantly short supply, subject to server competition and is mainly found in areas of the world that are politically unstable. Prices for ITO have gone from around $150 / kg in 2003 to almost $900 / kg today. Carbon nanotubes and inorganic nanowires when properly aligned in a film exhibit superior transparency and conductivity to ITO and promise to be a fraction of the price. This panel explores the economic drivers behind this technology and the market demand for transparent conductors:

Solar Energy: Investing in a Bright, Clean Future

Energy is the largest business in the world. The growing thirst for fossil-fuel based energy by developing economies in Asia, compounded by political strife in energy-rich areas of the world, has created an unprecedented demand and a volatile supply. Solar energy has long been recognized as a potential solution - 175,000 terawatts of solar energy hit the earth every day, three-thousand times the amount we would need to power the entire world. Nanotechnology is at the forefront of solar cell development from the mechanism from capturing light to the means to convert it into electricity and conduct the power to the devices that need it.

Water Purification: Quenching the Thirst for Clean Water

Over 40% of the world – 2 billion people – lack access to clean drinking water and this is a source of conflict in dozens of countries around the world. As noted by the Financial Times of London, "Water, like energy in the late 1970s, will probably become the most critical natural resource issue facing most parts of the world by the start of the next century."

The Future of Distributed Power Storage

When the issue of energy is discussed, the topic tends to center around power generation. However for renewable generated power to be useful in mobile or distributed applications, it must be stored in a portable power source. The demands on these power sources continue to grow as they are asked to power everything from cell phones and mp3 players to cars and heavy construction equipment. This panel looks at improvements in the battery and distributed power storage space at all scales – from the AA battery to the electric car.

Back to Top

Thermal Solutions

Heat is energy, however a tremendous amount of heat generated by us in the course of our daily lives is wasted or misused. We use energy to combat the heat from sunlight or use extra energy to make up for heat dissipated when a blowtorch is used for welding. Nanomaterials possess the ability to control thermal energy through a variety of techniques including concentrating thermal energy on very small surface areas, converting thermal energy to electricity or blocking the amount of thermal energy sunlight imparts. These techniques can be used for applications ranging from rocket propulsion and welding to window treatments that cut heating and cooling bills in half.

Economic Development

As the frontier of innovation, nanotechnology holds the promise of creating significant economic growth, new jobs and profound improvements to the quality of life. For this to occur however, the cutting-edge technology being developed in our labs must be commercialized and used to create products and start companies. This translation is complex and delicate to say the least. It requires the conjunction of technology, capital, business acumen, a favorable policy climate and a well educate consumer market. Bringing these elements together is the mandate of the various economic development organizations dealing with nanoscience in America. This panel explores the challenges they face, the solutions they have found and their thoughts on the future of the nanotech industry.

Working with Europe – Spotlight on the UK and Italy

Europe’s investment in nanotechnology matches and in some areas exceeds that of the U.S. Europe also represents a very different environment than America in terms of its regulatory policies and entrepreneurial culture. In addition to fostering their own innovations, several European companies are avid consumers of nanotech and have made investments or acquisitions of U.S. nanotech companies. This panel will explore the look and feel of the nanotech industry in Europe and the impact that the differing commercial climates have. It will also consider how Europe and the U.S. can cooperate on nanotech development and further develop alignment on key issues.

Environmental, Health & Safety Discussion

Environmental, Health & Safet (EH&S) is a critical component of responsible development for the nanotech industry. EH&S issues impact consumer confidence, regulations and trade and export of nanomaterials. For the industry to progress it is critical that the degree of uncertainty around these issues is reduced and a fact-based, data-driven approach is taken to deciding how to incorporate nanotechnology into the existing regulatory structure. This panel will cover what the key issues around EH&S are today, what solutions have been proposed and what their relative merits are. It will also discuss the ways in which industry can collaborate with government to ensure a balanced and informed dialogue on nanotech EH&S.

Back to Top