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Woods Hole, Mass., May 31, 2007—The first RTDC Summit on Marine and Environmental Sciences was held at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Woods Hole, MA on Wednesday, May 30th. The Summit was attended by a standing room only crowd of over 150 interested investors, scientists, state/local political leaders and economic development advocates. The Summit’s agenda focused on the emerging technology development occurring at a number of prestigious Woods Hole based scientific institutions and how the new effort led by the RTDC to commercialize this technology will create new job opportunities and add diversity to the employment base on Cape Cod. Cape Cod business leader Bill Zammer, Chairman of the RTDC, moderated the session which included opening remarks from Greg Watson, Massachusetts’ Assistant Secretary for Clean Energy and Technology followed by presentations by Dan Steumer, Ph.D, VP of External Relations, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Gary Borisy, Ph.D,. Director and CEO, Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory and John Holdren, Ph.D., Director, Woods Hole Research Center. Scientists and faculty members from the University of Massachusetts-Boston , Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the National Oceanographic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) spoke about their organizations research and initiatives in marine and environmental sciences. The Regional Technology Development Corporation’s CEO, Robert A Curtis, Pharm.D. described the process being used to pro-actively identify technology and commercialize the products designed to stimulate company and job creation on Cape Cod. Dr. Curtis announced the appointment of five nationally recognized executives from the marine science industry who will serve on the Innovation Accelerator Advisory Board led by Steve Withrow, Marine Sciences Project Manager, RTDC. The Advisors named were James Glynn, Vice President of Marine Sciences - Physical Sciences, Inc., Justin Manley, Ocean Exploration Technology-Lead Applied Coastal & Environmental Services, Battelle, Hugh Murphy, Ph.D., Director, Purvis Systems, Inc., Gregory Trauthwein, Associate Publisher/Editor, Marine Technology Reporter, New Wave Media, Inc. and Michael Vogel, Oceanographer, Shell International Exploration and Production, Inc. These marine science experts will review new technology and identify the core platforms for new company formation on the Cape. Mark Forest, Congressman Bill Delahunt’s Chief of Staff, closed the Summit by sharing with the attendees that Delahunt and State Senate President Therese Murray support RTDC’s mission and are committed to the marine science technology industry recognizing it as a viable source for new alternative energy programs. About the Regional Technology Development Corporation (RTDC): The Regional Technology Development Center of Cape Cod is a not-for-profit economic development organization located in Woods Hole, MA. In April of 2007 the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative’s John Adams Innovation Institute awarded an Innovation Grant to the RTDC to develop an “innovation accelerator” – a scalable process for translating the world-class marine science and technology research from affiliated Woods Hole institutions into new business formation and job creation on Cape Cod. RTDC CEO, Dr. Robert A. Curtis recently announced The Innovation Accelerator for Marine Science (IA/MS) which will be the first in a series of proposed “accelerators” for the development of technology-based companies on Cape Cod. It will serve as a bridge between basic academic researchers with commercially promising, but developmentally early, technology and a group of scientific and business executives with marine science industry experience who have developed and marketed products from the bench to the marketplace. For further information on the RTDC, please call (508) 540-2333, or send an email to: info@regionaltechcorp.org. |
