1:00 – 1:45
Warren Tuttle United Inventors Association
What Inventors Really Want to Learn: How to monetize IP and get their product to market

1:45 – 2:45
Sean Wilkerson, Dennis Forbes USPTO Inventor Outreach
USPTO Building Tour

2:45 – 3:00
Break

3:00 – 3:30
John Calvert Executive Director, United Inventors Association
The Stronger Patents Act Explained

3:30 – 4:00
Adrian Pelkus United Inventors Association and US Inventor Boards
On the Ground: Real club challenges and group insights

4:00 – 4:45
Stephen Key & Andrew Krauss IGA CoFounders
Strength in Numbers: Bringing the inventor club community together

4:45 – 5:00
Andrea Hence Evans United Inventors Association
Recap and closing remarks

5:00
Head to conference dinner, begins at 5:30
Laporta’s Restaurant
1600 Duke St. Alexandria, VA 22314

Joseph Matal formerly served as Acting Director of the USPTO from June 2017 until President Trump appointed Andrei Iancu as Director of the USPTO in February 2018.

As an Associate Solicitor in the USPTO’s Office of Solicitor, Matal briefed and argued appeals of patent and trademark decisions before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the U.S. District Court, and assisted in the development of legal positions taken by the U.S. Solicitor General in patent and copyright cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Matal recently served as acting Chief of Staff for the agency, and has advised the director on legislative matters.

Matal has a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University, and a law degree from the University of California at Berkeley.

Andrea Hence Evans, Esq. is a member of the Texas bar, a registered Patent Attorney, and a member of the US Supreme Court Bar. Having worked at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for approximately 5 years as both a patent examiner and a trademark examining attorney after graduating from law school, she then launched the intellectual property law practice, The Law Firm of Andrea Hence Evans, which currently represents independent inventors, entrepreneurs, small, medium, and Fortune 100 clients in multiple states and multiple countries with patent, trademark and copyright issues.

Andrea is a 2002 graduate of The George Washington Law School in Washington, DC. She is a graduate of Spelman College and Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) in Atlanta, Georgia, where she obtained a Bachelors of Science in mathematics and a Bachelors of Civil Engineering, respectively. Attorney Evans is also the owner of KidGINEER, LLC, a hands-on STEM program for children.

Adrian Pelkus, a multiple award winning new product developer with fifteen issued U.S. Patents, has created and developed over 300 different electronic products and high technology processes.

As Founder, CEO, COO and CTO Mr. Pelkus has helped startup several technology companies including A Squared Technologies, Inc. the home of California Product Developers, 8th Sense and in 2005 reorganized the San Diego Inventors Forum a 501c3 to help startup entrepreneurs.

An active Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) at CONNECT and member of the national Inventor Groups of America (IGA) Mr. Pelkus also serves on the BoD’s of both United Inventors Association of America (UIA) and US Inventor (USI), organizations dedicated to assisting and educating inventors.

Andrew Krauss is an expert on licensing products ideas for passive income. He has been helping creative people around the world bring their concepts to market with less risk and more success for nearly 20 years as a cofounder of inventRight, the one-on-one coaching program. During his tenure as president, he grew the Bay Area Inventors’ Alliance group into one of the most active and well-established associations in the country. In addition to advising the White House on innovation, he has been featured as a speaker at USPTO conferences and on NPR’s Science Friday. He attends trade shows throughout the year to stay up to date on the latest trends in open innovation.

In 2017, he cofounded Inventors Groups of America, a not-for-profit, with other leaders in the inventing community. IGA’s purpose is to teach individuals how to best commercialize their product ideas, and strengthen and support inventor groups throughout the nation.

Many years of technology development, company formation and financing experience. An inventor, a founder of two companies, a patent attorney and have served on the executive management teams of five start-up companies (Acclarent, Neotract, Vibrynt, Moximed, Nuelle). Serve on the Alliance for U.S. Startups & Inventors for Jobs (USIJ) Advisory Committee. Previously, I was Director of Intellectual Property West Coast Operations at Guidant Corporation where I directed a 9 member team involved in litigation and the strategic development of over 1300 patent and trademark applications related to the Vascular Intervention, Cardiac Surgery and Endovascular Solutions divisions as well as handling legal issues for Guidant Japan and the Compass Group, the unit responsible for Guidant’s venture capital and merger and acquisition activities. An inventor on eight U.S. issued patents with others currently pending. Hold M.B.A.s from Columbia University and University of California, Berkeley, and Juris Doctorate and B.S. in Mechanical Engineering degrees from the University of Oklahoma.

James Edwards, Ph.D., has worked on intellectual property and health policy since 1989. The Founder and CEO of ELITE Strategic Services, Edwards advises clients on IP and health care matters, including related business strategy. He has founded, led, advised, or mentored more than 60 companies and organizations.

Dr. Edwards plays leadership and strategic advisory roles on IP, particularly patents. He consults to IP-oriented corporations and trade associations, advises investors, and mentors start-ups and early-stage companies, many in the med tech space. He is Co-Director of the Inventor’s Project, which coordinates with the bipartisan Congressional Inventions Caucus, which Edwards helped to form. He participates in the Medical Device Manufacturers Association’s Patent Working Group. Edwards contributes articles to IPWatchdog.com and is involved in a number of IP-centric projects.

Arthur Daemmrich is the Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Director of the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation at the Smithsonian Institution. Located in the National Museum of American History, the Lemelson Center carries out historical research into invention and innovation, develops educational programs to inspire the next generation of inventors, and creates exhibits that engage some 4.5 million museum visitors annually.

Daemmrich’s scholarly work analyzes the emergence of technology-based industries, explores the relationship between regulation and innovation, and compares innovation systems internationally. He is the author of Pharmacopolitics: Drug Regulation in the United States and Germany and has published over 50 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and teaching cases in science and technology studies; the history of science, technology, and medicine; and health and business policy.

Before coming to the Lemelson Center, Daemmrich was an associate professor at the University of Kansas School of Medicine, an assistant professor at Harvard Business School, a visiting professor at the China Europe International Business School, and a research fellow and director of contemporary history at the Chemical Heritage Foundation. He holds a PhD from Cornell University in Science and Technology Studies and a BA from the University of Pennsylvania in the History and Sociology of Science.