Conference will promote investment in innovation

THIS CONFERENCE HAS JUST BEEN CANCELLED. ANYONE WHO HAD SOMETHING TO SAY OR PROMOTE, OR WANTS TO HAVE ANOTHER GO: PLEASE GET IN TOUCH WITH DR TOM SHELLEY Email Dr Tom Shelley Britain abounds with clever engineers and physicists, whose brilliant ideas have too often, in the past, not resulted in UK employment. The Engineering Physics Group of the Institute of Physics is sponsoring a conference to help professional scientists and engineers to get together with business and finance experts, with the intention of assisting the development of profitable enterprises. It is based on the knowledge that science and engineering Innovations can generate profitable businesses and resulting employment, but often require amounts of risk capital to bring the ideas to market, which can be sometimes hard to find. The Physics & Engineering Industries Conference for Innovation, Investment, Growth and Finance, (P & EI 2005 for short) will be held in the Faraday Building in Birmingham's Aston Science Park on Wednesday November 16th. The Science Park is located in the heart of the city on a 65 acre campus which it shares with its neighbour and partner Aston University, The conference programme will include presentations by Professor Chris Hendry of the Cass Business School in the City of London, as well as speakers from venture capital, business angel and funding agencies as well as technical presentations. Eureka's group technical editor, Tom Shelley, will also contribute and explain why invention and innovation is the UK's greatest asset and its best hope for continued future prosperity. The Engineering Physics Group of The Institute of Physics' has members with a physics background but who often practice as engineers. The committee member running the event through his company, Kogan Communications, and whose idea it was is Dr Roger Hill, a former reader in Engineering Physics and Finance and a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Scientific Instrument Makers. He said that in developing the idea, he drew on his own experiences in physics and engineering research, his experience and frustrations in commercialising this research and discussions with venture capitalists, business angels and bankers within the City of London. The chairman of the Engineering Physics Group Committee is Professor Alison McMillan, who is one of the most innovative engineers at Rolls-Royce, with two granted patents and her name on 11 applications in 2004 alone. Rolls-Royce is, of course, a supreme example of a large successful technology based engineering company, operating to exploit a British technological innovation. The event aims to assist the science and engineering community to understand more clearly the process of focussed research and innovation leading to investment, product development and market growth. It will be held in what is still the heartland of Britain's manufacturing and engineering community and will focus on SMEs and individuals interested in the process of innovation, investment and growth as well as being a gathering of scientists and engineers working in high technology fields, research scientists and engineers interested in commercial opportunities, financiers and bankers, business analysts and angels, and venture capital fund managers. Opportunities for networking will exist. Sponsors include the institute of Physics, Engineering Physics Group and the Physics in Finance Group, as well as Advantage West Midlands. The general theme of the event is to be "Energy, Business and Innovation". The price of attendance is modest. More information can be found at www.PhysicsandEngineering.co.uk and from kogan.ventures@virgin.net. Physics and Engineering Conference Email Kogan Ventures