Past Events
2019 Lens of the Market
Stage One: September 16th, 2019 and December 9, 2019
Stage Two: January 22 - 24, 2020 and June 2020
The Knight Campus and the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation teamed up to support the 2019 Lens of the Market program. This program aims to provide participants with market awareness stemming from their own fundamental science pursuits to enhance the impact of their research and address global challenges. The program provides professional development in innovation to participants in the context of UO science research themes.
2018 Lens of the Market
Dates: January - December 2018
The 2018 Lens of the Market research platforms included a variety of functional molecules, materials, and devices that can be applied in applications ranging from the environment and agriculture to medical devices and biotechnology.
In the first few months of the spring quarter, faculty held informational gatherings to generate interest in the program. From those meetings four teams came together in the following areas: emissive organic molecules and materials; functional organic molecules and materials; fractal materials as bio-inspired interconnects; and functionalized inorganic/metal-oxide (nano)materials.
Stage One: The one-day Stage One "Research2Innovation" workshop on May 31, 2018, provided a rapid introduction to the vocabulary, skills, tools, and road map needed to engage in successfully translating research into innovations.
Stage Two: The Stage Two "Innovation2Market" workshop series ran for six months beginning with a three-day set June 19-21 and ending on Dec. 10. This series provided the participants with the skills and confidence to validate the market for their innovations, define market aligned value propositions and differentiators, and build effective R&D plans to meet market. The teams will report out mid-term on their evaluation of "star markets" related to their research platforms. Stage 2 will conclude with final presentations by the teams on Dec. 10 in which the teams present their market analysis findings and R&D plans.
An Introduction to Innovation
Lead Faculty: Andrew Nelson, Professor, Lundquist College of Business and Associate Vice President for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Dates: Part 1: Wednesday, December 6 | Part 2: Thursday, December 7
This all-day workshop explored how promising ideas can be transformed into widespread innovations. Through a series of engaging mini-lectures and hands-on exercises geared especially towards science Ph.D. students, participants learned:
- Key innovation and business concepts and vocabulary
- The difference between “technology push” and “market pull” ideas
- How to define a “value proposition”
- The key steps to building a product and a company
The Science Story: Basic skills and techniques for communicating your research
Lead Faculty: Mark Blaine, Senior Instructor, School of Journalism and Communication
Dates: October 30 and November 6
This two-part workshop explored the basics of effectively communicating science to a wide range of audiences, and benefitted students in the sciences and established researchers. Key skills that were addressed were the basics of visual communication, simple narrative structures, and application of narrative to a variety of media platforms — from in-person presentation to social media. Particular emphasis was on integrating storytelling into presentations and how those can be a platform for further communication.