Training Helps Researchers Get On the Fast Track

Wednesday, Apr 29, 2009

A new technology by itself doesn't constitute a company. To succeed, entrepreneurs must develop a strong team, acquire capital, understand the market, and attract customers.

On April 16th and 17th, researchers convened at the Bailey Alumni Center on the campus of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock to learn these vital skills. The event was lead by Ms. Sharon Ballard, a highly experience consultant certified in FastTrac® TechVenture™ curriculum, a product of the Kaufman Foundation. This specialized curriculum helps researchers translate their discoveries into business opportunities.

The special two-day seminar/workshop is designed to help new entrepreneurs define their target customers, develop business and marketing plans, determine the financing needed, where to access it, and how to build a management team.

The event was hosted by the Arkansas ASSET Initiative, and is one in a series of workshops to provide these skills through a grant to the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC).

“It caused me to ask myself the hard questions and think through my concept differently,” said Doug Chenault of ClickNation, one of the participants at the seminar.

Participants commented on the ease at which the material was presented, as well. “All of the information presented was done so in such a subliminal manner,” said Vicki Malpass of Winrock International. ” I didn’t even realize I was learning so much!”

Additional events have already been planned. SBDTC will repeat this special series of educational events in May and in June. The focus will be to provide training in the necessary skills and understanding of building a business from intellectual property developed in the laboratory.

The upcoming events will be open to all researchers either free or for a small fee. These remaining FastTrac® TechVenture™ workshops will be held on two EPSCoR participating campuses: Arkansas State University and the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.

The next workshop will be held May 15-16 on the ASU campus, and June 18-19 on the UAF campus. More information is available at www.ArkEPSCoR.org.