BOSTON, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Nearly 400 constituents of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) will convene in Boston April 5-7 for the Sixth Annual Conference. The conference will feature keynote speeches by Andrew H. Hirshfeld, U.S. Commissioner for Patents, Lisa Seacat DeLuca, IBM's most prolific female inventor, and H. Robert Horvitz, Nobel Laureate and professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The meeting also will include the NAI's inaugural Student Innovation Showcase.
The theme of the NAI's sixth annual conference is "Recognizing Pillars of Academic Innovation," and the program features presentations on topics such as Changing the Academic Innovation Landscape, Issues Relating to Public Policy and Entrepreneurship and Commercialization Drive the Future of Innovation. Presenters include academic luminaries among the NAI's members and Fellows as well as university leaders, government officials, and student innovators.
The NAI will induct the newly elected Fellows on April 6 at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, where Hirshfeld will deliver a keynote address.
"It is an honor to once again participate in the NAI's Annual Conference and the induction of some of our nation's most esteemed academic inventors," Hirshfeld said. "It is extremely gratifying to watch the NAI grow into one of the leading organizations that promotes invention by emphasizing the role of patents. I look forward to honoring the newest class of NAI Fellows and their vital contributions to society."
Among all NAI Fellows there are now 94 presidents and senior leaders of research universities and non-profit research institutes, 382 members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 31 inductees of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, 45 recipients of the U.S. National Medal of Technology and Innovation and U.S. National Medal of Science, 28 Nobel Laureates, 216 AAAS Fellows, 126 IEEE Fellows, and 116 Fellows of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, among other awards and distinctions.
Collectively, the Fellows hold more than 26,000 issued U.S. patents, which have generated more than 8,500 licensed technologies and companies and created more than 1.1 million jobs. In addition, over $100 billion in revenue has been generated based on NAI Fellow discoveries.
The meeting will conclude with NAI's first-ever Student Innovation Showcase. The showcase offers a unique platform for students to demonstrate world-changing inventions to the highest caliber of innovators. Six interdisciplinary student teams from prestigious research universities, including Arizona State University, Dartmouth College, University of Delaware, University of Florida, University of Massachusetts Amherst and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, have been invited to exhibit their inventions to a panel of prolific inventors.
"The NAI fills an important need within academia not only by recognizing the tremendous accomplishments of faculty inventors but also by providing mentorship opportunities for the next generation of innovators," Michael J. Cima, MIT Professor, 2016 NAI Fellow, and Student Innovation Showcase Judge said. "It is an honor to be distinguished as an NAI Fellow and a pleasure to serve as a judge for the NAI's inaugural Student Innovation Showcase."
"Boston, one of the nation's greatest innovation hubs, is an ideal setting for the Academy's Sixth Annual Conference," NAI President, Paul R. Sanberg, said. "We have an exciting program packed with presentations and panels on important topics in academic innovation, the induction of the NAI Fellows, and for the first time, the Student Innovation Showcase. I am delighted to welcome our attendees to three exciting and productive days of networking and learning."
A detailed agenda is available at http://academyofinventors.org/conference/docs/nai-agenda-2017.pdf. Invited papers from the conference will be published in the NAI journal Technology and Innovation.
About the National Academy of Inventors
The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit member organization comprising U.S. and international universities, and governmental and non-profit research institutes, with over 3,000 individual inventor members and Fellows spanning more than 240 institutions, and growing rapidly. Our mission is to recognize and encourage inventors with patents issued from the USPTO, enhance the visibility of academic technology and innovation, encourage the disclosure of intellectual property, educate and mentor innovative students, and translate the inventions of its members to benefit society. Learn more at www.AcademyofInventors.org.
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SOURCE National Academy of Inventors