USF ranked 9^th among universities and 269^th among the 300 top patenting organizations in 2010, according to the count compiled by the IPO. Last year, USF researchers and students were granted 83 patents. Thirteen American universities and university systems and one university in China comprised the collection of leading higher education innovators.

 http://www.ipo.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Top_300_Patent_Owners&template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=29856

Congratulations to our Spring 2011 Graduates!

If you are graduating this term, please feel free to join us for a small beach picnic celebration

at Caddy’s in St. Pete Beach, Florida on Saturday, April 30th, 2011 at 12Noon.

Both students and alumni are welcomed to attend.

Please RSVP via our BNFE Facebook page.

2011 Florida Medical Device Symposium

May 2 – 3, 2011
St. Petersburg, Florida

Symposium Agenda At-A-Glance

On May 2nd-3rd, Florida’s medical device industry will convene in St. Petersburg, Florida for the 2011 Florida Medical Device Symposium – Florida’s premier event for medical device manufacturing firms, featuring nationally recognized speakers, expert panels on regulatory issues and industry trends, legislative updates and quality networking opportunities.

Cash Prizes include:

1st Place $7500, 2nd Place $5000, and 3rd Place $2500.

Submission Deadline is May 10, 2011 by 5PM.

Please click below for more details.

Join the Association of Corporate Growth (ACG) Orlando in celebrating this year’s award winning
companies at the 5th annual SMART Awards.  Companies, headquartered in Central Florida with
annual revenue of $10 million to $1 billion, within the following industries will be recognized.

• Financial Services
• Healthcare &Life Sciences
• Information Technology
• Manufacturing & Distribution
• Real Estate
• Services Other
• Tourism & Hospitality
• Simulation & Training

Wednesday, May 25th, 2011

2011 SMART Awards Luncheon

11:30 AM – 1:30 PM

Speaker(s): Teresa Jacobs – Orange County Mayor

Location:     DoubleTree by Hilton Downtown Orlando
60 South Ivanhoe Boulevard
Orlando, FL

407-425-4455

TO REGISTER, Please click on link below:

http://www.acg.org/orlando/events/event.aspx?F_d=05%2f25%2f2011&F_y=2011&F_m=5&EventId=3031&

TBTF coolTech 2011

Friday, June 10th, 2011
Museum of Science and Industry
9:00 am – 3:30 pm

coolTECH is the largest gathering of techies, industry leaders, and innovators in the region with over 650 in attendance last year. If you develop, sell, use, or support the technology industry, this is a must attend event!

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Now in its fourth year, coolTECH is the premier showcase of industry changing products and cutting-edge innovations. Attendees will have the chance to learn about emerging technologies in mobile, renewable energy, biotech, and much more. Informative sessions will explore new technologies and trends while the keynote presentation will showcase a true internet pioneer.

FEATURING KEYNOTE BY CRAIG NEWMARK, founder of CRAIGSLIST.ORG

The keynote lunch is sure to sell out, so don’t delay – reserve your space today! The Keynote Luncheon is sponsored by GrayRobinson.

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2011 EXHIBITORS
5LINX/GLOBALINX, Altorr Corporation, Autonomous Unmanned Air Vehicles, The Casey Group, Chevrolet, Claro Scientific, Draper Labs, Electronic System Innovators, Euro Cycles of Tampa Bay, Exertron, Infrax Systems, LEDnovation, Lumens Integration, Lions Eye Institute, Melius Mascular Therapy and Sports, MoboFetch, National Forensic Science Technology Center, The Nielsen Company, Plasma-Therm, Raytheon, Research in Motion, Savtira Corporation, Steelcase, Suncoast Electric Vehicles, Tour Wrist, University of Central Florida, University of Florida, and USF Health Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation.

SPONSOR COOLTECH
Sponsorship opportunities are available for coolTECH 2011.

Super Regional Leadership Conference

Thursday, April 28 – Friday, April 29, 2011

Tampa Convention Center

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Staying the Course

The Tampa Bay Partnership and Central Florida Partnership are once again hosting the

Super Regional Leadership Conference, April 28-29, 2011 at the Tampa Convention Center.

Last year, over 400 business and community leaders from Tampa Bay to

Daytona Beach came together to work on strategies to leverage the shared assets

in our Super Region to become more globally competitive.

The leaders of Florida’s Super Region have shown that there are real opportunities

if we can connect our two resource rich regions.  This is not a short-term proposition,

but one that requires long term vision, discipline and investment.

Join us as we continue to work closely together, build relationships and develop

the strategies to change the way we live and do business.

*** RSVP by April 17th for discounted registration rate for BNFE club members only.  ***

Send email to contact_us@bnfe.org for more details on unpublished members rate.

Guest Speaker, SBDC Director Eileen Rodriguez will conduct an abbreviated seminar for women and minority-owned companies looking to obtain certification for governmental contracts.

SBDC Workshop on Certification for Gov't Contracts

Thursday, March 17th, 2011

Presented by Tampa Bay Business Journal and Tampa Bay Technology Forum (TBTF)

The summit will begin with an expo at 9 a.m. that features exhibitors providing products and services in areas such as software, hardware, consulting, IT, telecommunications, web services, mobile applications, and more. There are breakout sessions before the luncheon. The first one at 9:30 on the pros and cons of mobile apps versus web apps is presented by Veredus.

During the luncheon at 11:30, there are 41 finalists recognized in these categories:
• Innovation of the year
• Best website for generating business and leads
• Best collaboration (between a technology firm and client)
• Best use of social media
• CEO of a technology company

http://www2.bizjournals.com/tampabay/event/36981

Women in Entrepreneurship is a division of BNFE.

Women in Entrepreneurship (WIE) is a division of BNFE.