Last call to register for Innovation Summit 2015

If you want to turn your great idea into the next big thing in the marketplace, you have one last chance to register for the Innovation Summit 2015.

“We encourage anybody who wants to become a successful innovator to come to the Innovation Summit,” said Chris McKinney, associate vice president of Innovation Commercialization at GRU. “This is a great chance for you to learn from successful people who have already walked that path. It’s a path that you can walk, too.”

There’s no cost to attend the summit, as the event is fully sponsored by the Office of Innovation Commercialization, the Georgia Regents Research Institute and the Hull College of Business at Georgia Regents University and the Savannah River National Laboratory.

“We wanted to give back to the community not only by helping people become innovators but by also doing so for free,” McKinney said.

Experienced innovators speaking at the event will share trends, strategies and advice and can assist in transforming big ideas into great products and services. Key speakers include:

• Retired Brig. Gen. Stewart Rodeheaver, owner and CEO of ViziTech USA, a company that develops 3-D and interactive and augmented reality technology for educational purposes. In 2012, ViziTech was named Georgia’s “Coolest Technology Company,” and Rodeheaver was chosen technology “Entrepreneur of the Year” by the Technology Association of Georgia.

• Jordan Eisenberg, founder and president of UrgentRx, a company that produces powdered medications that come in credit-card-sized packets. Eisenberg has extensive experience with innovation, including the creation of a web company with more than 100,000 users across the globe and collar stays that come in credit-card-sized wallet cards.

Innovation Summit 2015 also features more than a dozen “short takes” talks — brief and dynamic pitches of less than eight minutes each — highlighting innovations and routes to market taken by successful innovators. The summit will also have a shark tank with five companies pitching to investors right in front of the audience.

The summit will take place from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Oct. 6 at the Salvation Army Kroc Center at 1833 Broad St. in Augusta. You must register in advance at http://gru.edu/oic/summit/ to attend the summit. Breakfast and lunch are included.

For more information, visit http://gru.edu/oic/summit/ or contact Rachel Solomon in the Office of Innovation Commercialization at RSolomon@gru.edu or (706) 721-0153.