Recent developments in drug discovery, delivery and diagnostics have put nanotechnology on the front lines of the war against disease, yet the pharmaceutical industry has been slow to adopt nanotechnologies. So, is nanotech the future of pharma?

Chair: Griff Kundahl, Socha, Perczak & Anderson
Speakers: William Bosch, Director for Nanosystems; Elan Richard Shanley, Partner, Deloitte; Robert Beardsley, CEO, Kereos; Mostafa Analoui, PhD, Senior Director, Pfizer Global Research and Development

Angels to IPO: Is the Current Financial Model Broken?
Location: Financial Center Ballroom (2nd Floor)

Many emerging nanotech companies are beginning to experience various barriers to entry, at each level into the current financing model for startups and early-developing companies. While based on decades, if not centuries of experience, perhaps nanotech companies require a different model for success. The high startup expenses and long term to payback offer challenges to financiers at each stage, as well. An open discussion with some of the most controversial thinkers in our industry, that promises to be exciting and eye-opening.

Chair: Darrell Brookstein, The Nanotech Company, LLC
Panel Participants: Scott Livingston,Lehman Brothers; Vincent Caprio, NanoBusiness Alliance; Stuart Pulvirent, Think Equities; Ed Cabrera, J Giordano Securities; Ed Moran, Deloitte

PLENARY PANEL: Nano Firsts
Location: Grand Ballroom (3rd Floor)

As in anything, trails must be blazed by pioneers. In this session, some of the entrepreneurs who were the first to reach important milestones (the first company to have a nano-enabled formula approved by FDA, the first to …) discuss their experiences.

Chair: Chinh Pham, Partner, Greenburg Traurig
Panelists:   Ed Ludwig, VP of Business Development, Nanophase; Michael Reidlinger, CEO, NaturalNano; Cynthia Kuper, CTO, Micromem Technologies; Scott Rickert, President and CEO, Nanofilm

PLENARY PANEL: Systems Integration
Location: Grand Ballroom (3rd Floor)

Nanotech products are rarely stand-alone: they are integrated into other systems. For nanotech companies, integrating their products into other systems is often as big a challenge as getting the product ready in the first place. In this session, business leaders from some of the largest end users of nanotechnologies talk about the state of systems integration, roadblocks and bottlenecks in the pipeline, and the outlook for the future.

Chair: Sharon Smith, Director, Lockheed Martin Corporation
Panelists: Dan Rardon, Manager, Nanotechnology, PPG Industries; Iga Hallberg, Director of Business Development, Nanotechnologies Inc; Michael Connolly, CEO, Integrated Nanotechnologies; Steve van Fleet, EPCglobal  

Security and Nanotechnology
Location: Grand Ballroom (3rd Floor)

Security and defense are early adopters of advanced nanotechnologies and a plethora of companies are already providing products to DoD, DHS and even foreign military and civilian security forces. In this session, some of these companies present their businesses and products, from encryption, to biodetection and weapons systems.

Chair: Dan Ratner, “Nanotechnology and Homeland Security”
Speakers: Robert Cordery, Pitney Bowes; Robert Gelfond, MagiQ Cedric Loiret-Bernal, NanoInk; David Reisner, President and CEO, Inframat Corporation

Strategies for Monetizing Nanotech Patents
Location: Financial Center Ballroom (2nd Floor)

The nanotech patenting flurry continues to grow at exponential rates. But how does a university or a company actually make money from their intellectual property? This session gets away from legal nuts and bolts of IP to focus on the business side, with speakers from both the university nanotech licensing arena and large corporate patent departments.

Chair: Leon Radomsky, Foley & Lardner
Panelists: Nathan Tinker, The Nanotech Company; Jeffrey Nixon, Interactive Capital Partners, Nanoholdings LLC; Dr. Marek T. Michalewicz, Quantum Precision Instruments; Peter Pritchard, Office of Technology Commercialization, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute