ACS Hosts Entrepreneurial Summit

Nearly 200 attendees gained insights into how to translate chemistry ideas into successful technologies, products, and services at the third annual ACS Entrepreneurial Summit on Sept. 17–18. Participants came from diverse backgrounds, including research, corporate, entrepreneurial, investment, government, and nonprofit groups.

After opening remarks from ACS Innovation Counsel Kenneth Polk, ACS President Diane Grob Schmidt, and ACS Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer Thomas Connelly, attendees listened to a keynote address by Rita Gunther McGrath, a professor in executive education at Columbia Business School. In her talk, titled “An Entrepreneurial Mind-set Is Not Optional,” McGrath told the audience that entrepreneurs should prepare to be wrong about some of their ideas and assumptions, and that it’s okay to be wrong—just as it’s okay to be wrong in the lab.

After lunch, Connelly delivered a keynote address titled “Core Concepts for Successful Innovation in Chemistry.” In addition, the summit featured its first-ever day of “TED-like” talks called Corporate Spotlights—speeches from industry leaders that sought to inform and empower aspiring chemical entrepreneurs on ways to be more successful in partnering with industry.

On the second day of the summit, a series of panel discussions covering various facets of the innovation process gave chemistry entrepreneurs practical ideas on how to turn the inspiration they received on the first day into successful innovation.

On the basis of summit outcomes and attendee feedback, the ACS Entrepreneurial Resources Center hopes to continue this event in future years. As one attendee put it, “For someone examining the idea of becoming an entrepreneur, it is a great setting and menu of ideas.”