The University of Houston and Texas Southern University have secured U.S. Department of Energy funding to conduct a six-week summer program to improve minority engagement in innovation and entrepreneurship in the energy sector. The collaborative summer program will be held June 4 – July 13, 2018 for undergraduate juniors and seniors. The program's curriculum will focus on providing the students with a comprehensive orientation of the energy industry, intellectual property, lab-to-market and business plan development. In addition, the students will participate in the Customer Discovery process, which is an iterative process of physically getting out of the building to interview potential customers and stakeholders to understand their problems and "pain points" in the market and in society.
Representatives from the Texas Regional Office will be working together with members of the Office of Education and Outreach at the USPTO headquarters to present a three-day dynamic and interactive workshop that covers the fundamental principles surrounding the field intellectual property. Program participants will then use knowledge gained to compete in an innovation challenge comprising the creation of a product prototype and video pitches to a group of faculty judges.
The "UH Innovation" site provides more information about The University of Houston's focus on the merge between entrepreneurship and technology commercialization.
For inquiries about the event:
please email texasregionalUSPTOEvents@USPTO.GOV (link sends e-mail), visit us at the Texas Regional Office home page, or call us at 469-295-9000.