by Tony Chen

Well, I'm about to get on a plane back to lovely Chicago after 4 days here enjoying the above-freezing weather in San Fran. A few things I heard in the last few days:

"Steve Case launching RevolutionHealth is like Napoleon invading Russia"

"The Bayh-Doyl act has made universities like crack addicts getting their crack using those small-minded tech transfer offices" - Former Senator Bayh quoting some criticism about his landmark legislation.

Overall, the conference was a blast. There is definitely better ways for me to do the tech transfer part of my job - more thoughtful marketing, more informed patenting decision-making, better relationships with industry, and more innovative thinking about new modes of collaboration.

For me, the most crucial time at these conferences is immediately after. After receiving mountains of more generic information, the trick is to boil it down, connect the dots, and synthesize seemingly-unrelated information to change my day-to-day approach and tactics. more on that later...