May 16, 2005 — The seventh annual Edison Conference and Innovation Showcase will be held Wednesday May 18 and Thursday May 19 at the University of Utah, with the goal of helping inventors and researchers successfully commercialize their technologies.

The public is invited to kick off this year’s conference with a free preview reception of the Innovation Showcase from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. May 18 in the ballroom of the Olpin Union Bldg. Exhibitors will display leading-edge technologies for the future.

News media are invited to cover the Innovation Showcase on May 18 as well as the Edison Conference from 8 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. May 19. The conference will be held in the Olpin Union Bldg. Ballroom and surrounding rooms.

The showcase and conference are hosted by the university’s Utah Engineering Experiment Station. Highlights include:

• After a welcome and introduction beginning at 8 a.m., the work of this year’s Pathfinder Award winner, H. Tracy Hall, will be outlined by his son, David Hall, at 8:20 a.m. H. Tracy Hall invented the process that allows commercial production of synthetic diamonds.
  
• At 8:40 a.m., a panel discussion will be held on “How to Build a Successful Management Team.”
  
• At 10:15 a.m., a panel discussion will be held on “How to Prepare a Business Plan.”
  
• An awards luncheon will begin at 11:45 a.m., featuring a keynote speech by Fraser Bullock, founder and managing director of Sorenson Capital and former president and chief executive officer of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. Also, winners of the third annual Stoel Rives Utah Innovation Awards will be announced, and the Pathfinder Award will be presented.
  
• At 1:30 p.m., Innovation Showcase participants will present brief “elevator speeches” designed to promote their innovative technologies.
  
• The conference will end after a final panel discussion at 2:45 p.m. on “Obtaining Seed Capital and Other Funding.”

Other than media representatives, those wishing to attend the May 19 conference, including the awards luncheon and workshops, must register and pay a fee of $95 per person, or $50 for students and seniors. For information and registration, please go to www.utah.edu/uees or call (801) 581-6348.

Pay parking is available in the visitor’s lot due east of the Olpin Union Bldg. Free parking is available farther north in lots north of Alumni House.