Advisors

Eric von Hippel
Eric von Hippel is the T Wilson Professor of Management, MIT Sloan School of Management. He is known for his pioneering research into the emerging view that users are at the center of the innovation process, rather than manufacturers. In his most recent book, Democratizing Innovation (MIT Press / April 2005), von Hippel shows how communities of users are becoming powerful innovation "engines." His research into how "lead users" are often the developers of breakthrough new products and services is now triggering a major rethinking of how the innovation process works, leading to major changes in company business models and also in government policymaking on innovation.

Eric is a graduate of Harvard College (BA), MIT (MS) and Carnegie Mellon University (PhD). He is a recipient of an honorary doctorate from Ludwig-Maximillians University in Munich, was a fellow at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, and served as Sir Walter Scott Distinguished Professor at University of New South Wales in Australia.

Henry Chesbrough
Henry Chesbrough is the executive director of the Center for Open Innovation at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. His research focuses on managing technology and innovation. His new book, Open Innovation (Harvard Business School Press, 2003), articulates a new paradigm for organizing and managing R&D, in which companies must access external as well as internal technologies and take them to market through internal and external paths. This book was named a "Best Business Book of 2003" by Strategy & Business magazine, and the best book on innovation in 2003 on NPR's All Things Considered. Scientific American magazine named him one of the top 50 technology and business leaders for 2003 in recognition of his research on industrial innovation.

Henry's work has been published in Harvard Business Review, California Management Review, Sloan Management Review, Research Policy, Industrial and Corporate Change, Research-Technology Management, Business History Review and the Journal of Evolutionary Economics. Prior to his academic career, Henry spent ten years in product planning and strategic marketing positions in companies including Quantum Corporation, a Silicon Valley-based Fortune 500 hard disk drive manufacturer and Bain and Company. He holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration from Berkeley, an MBA from Stanford University, and a BA from Yale University, summa cum laude.

Merrill Brenner
Merrill Brenner is now an independent consultant after 31 years in a variety of increasingly important roles at Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. At Air Products, Merrill led a frequently benchmarked a 16 FTE Business and Technology Intelligence organization that performed analyses and guided decisions to start new platforms, change business strategies, select new offerings, choose technologies, and more. In addition, he produced information offerings including company profiles, market screens, landscapes, and other critical information delivered for risk assessment, regulatory compliance, litigation, patent filing, market entry, and other key decisions. Merrill has been published in peer-reviewed journals concerning technology planning, technology scouting, R&D partnerships, and intelligence. He was a member for several years of an invited, elite Intelligence Leadership Forum of 20 senior corporate intelligence officers. Earlier in his career, Merrill held positions of increasing responsibility for R&D planning and analysis and process technology development and engineering. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University and the University of Michigan, respectively.

Kent Richardson
Kent Richardson is a Managing Director at Constellation Capital LLC., an investment fund providing financial returns with patent risk management. Prior to Constellation Capital, Kent was Vice President of Intellectual Property at Rambus, an established provider of interface solutions to leading chip and system companies. At Rambus, Kent managed a team of engineers, lawyers and marketers to develop and implement best practices for developing and monetizing intellectual property. Prior to his tenure at Rambus, Kent served as Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary at Numerical Technologies, where he was responsible for closing patent license agreements with industry-leading companies. Kent's direct negotiations, or patent marketing support, has resulted in more than $600M in patent license bookings. Before joining Numerical Technologies, Kent provided strategic patent counsel as an attorney at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. He holds bachelor's degrees in Computer Engineering and Law from the University of Alberta, is a registered patent attorney, and a member of the State Bar of California.

Suzanne Harrison
Suzanne Harrison is a co-founder of ICMG, a consulting firm specializing in helping companies extract value from their innovations. In 2004 ICMG affiliated with LECG LLC to provide intellectual asset management consulting services. Since 1988, she has been helping companies leverage their intangible assets into value. Suzanne is a convener of the ICM Gathering and the IP Forum, a group of 40 companies who have been meeting since 1995 to define, create and benchmark best practices around ICM and IPM. Suzanne is the recipient of the Licensing Executives Society North America Fellowship. She holds an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of California at Davis, and an MBA from the University of Chicago. Suzanne has written numerous articles and is a frequent speaker about how companies can extract value from their innovations. She is the co-author of Edison in the Boardroom published by John Wiley & Sons in 2002, and of Einstein in the Boardroom published by John Wiley & Sons in 2006. Suzanne is a visiting Lecturer at UC Berkeley teaching an MBA course on Intellectual Property Management.