Enterprise Forum helps funnel ideas into community

by Wendy Y. Lawton

The Brown Venture Forum turns 20 this year. For its birthday, it got a new name - the Brown Enterprise Forum - and a new mission.

Charles Kingdon, associate vice president for technology partnerships and lead organizer of the forum, said the old name suggested that the forum's main purpose was to attract venture capital dollars for new start-up companies. But there's more to creating new companies than nailing down dollars, Kingdon said. There is a management team to pull together, support services to secure, legal issues to navigate.

Kingdon said the new name also reflects a broader vision for entrepreneurial activity in Rhode Island. Innovative ideas don't always get funneled into new start-up companies, he said. Faculty can license their idea or invention, which can be used by an existing company. And, in some cases, Kingdon said faculty discoveries can be pumped out to the public without regard for profit.

"There is a lot of knowledge created on campus - public health research or education policy for example - that can get translated for the good of the community," he said. "The forum can also help get this done."

Kingdon not only wants to expand the forum's focus, but also its reach.

Brown Enterprise Forum events this year will not only be held on campus but in Newport and at the University of Rhode Island campus in Kingston as well. The forum's kick-off event, a conference on nanotechnology, was held at the Westin Hotel in Providence last month.

Kingdon also hopes to draw more industry leaders and faculty members to forum events. The reasons, he said, are obvious. Industry leaders need new ideas and products to grow their businesses. And researchers are precisely the people who can meet those needs.

To pull these audiences in, forum events have been planned months in advance so that folks can get them onto their calendars.

Kingdon said one thing about the forum will not change: Events will still act as idea incubators, bringing innovators together with industry leaders, funders, lawyers and managers. The end result of this networking - business expansions or new companies or public programs - will not only help the community, Kingdon said. It will also help Brown.

"If we can communicate a sense of excitement about the research here, create a buzz, we can attract more international foundation research dollars," he said.

For meeting locations, speaker lists and other details, call 863-2780 or visit the organization's Web site.