Innovation Park at Pennsylvania State University Adopts "So what? who cares? why you?^®: The Inventor's Commercialization Toolkit"

Wendy Kennedy's Methodology and Book Provide Scientific Staff, Faculty and Students with Step-by-Step Toolkit for Idea Commercialization

Ottawa, Canada, November 27, 2006 - Wendy Kennedy, a seasoned technology industry executive, award-winning professor and author, today announced the adoption of her methodology and book, "So what? who cares? why you?^®: The Inventor's Commercialization Toolkit," by Innovation Park at Pennsylvania State University (Penn State). Innovation Park at Penn State (Innovation Park) is incorporating the book and accompanying resources to help propel its scientists, researchers, faculty and students to self-educate on the business value for commercializing ideas.

Innovation Park co-branded Kennedy's book to reflect its "Cool Blue" theme for innovation and its mindset and philosophy of creating ideas for the future. "The Cool Blue Lab Journal" is being distributed throughout Innovation Park and sponsor organizations including: Ben Franklin Technology Partners, Centre County Industrial Development Corporation, Chamber of Business and Industry Centre County, iTech 99, Keystone Innovation Zone and Life Sciences Greenhouse of Central Pennsylvania. Innovation Park worked with its sponsors to share costs, expand distribution to local audiences and further promote the model of working in partnership with economic development groups to cultivate ideas to the marketplace. Further information can be found at www.wendykennedy.com/PennState.

"'So what? who cares? why you?' solves a specific problem for those of us in the commercialization field," said Dan Leri, Director of Innovation Park. "That problem is the gap between good ideas and great commercial opportunities. Wendy's methodology and book provides a step-by-step toolkit for faculty, students and local entrepreneurs to assess and articulate the business value of their leading-edge ideas. In my 20 years in the field, it is the first book I have seen that shows you how to construct the answers versus just asking the questions."

"So what? who cares? why you?" is a proven methodology developed for - and with - inventors, scientists and technology entrepreneurs to evaluate scientific and technical ideas. In addition to the book, Innovation Park and its sponsors will have access to "The ToolShed", an online knowledge portal that supports the methodology with tutorials, downloadable templates, narrated walk-thru examples and annotated reference materials.

"Innovation Park is a rich community of scientific staff, faculty, students and local economic development organizations working to extend their value propositions from education to application in the marketplace," said Kennedy. "Thousands of new ideas never get past the drawing board and become commercial successes because often there is a disconnect between scientists and business entrepreneurs. No matter how good the ideas are, investors and other business backers often cannot easily see the business opportunity that they represent. 'So what? who cares? why you?' aims to close this gap."

About Wendy Kennedy
Best described as an "entrepreneurial professor," Wendy has spent more than 20 years working with high-growth technology companies, universities, research labs and industry associations on the commercialization of ideas. She was a business school professor for 13 years and has worked globally to implement So what? who cares? why you?^® to assist organizations with bringing ideas from lab to life. Her book is one of a series of supporting services, which include workshops, seminars and consulting. She is a frequent speaker at many industry conferences and organizations such as MaRS, Young Inventors International, National Research Council of Canada, The Innovation Council, Alliance for Commercialization of Canadian Technology (ACCT) and the Technology Transfer Society.

Please visit www.wendykennedy.com/PennState for further information.

About Innovation Park at Penn State
Innovation Park at Penn State is the catalyst for collaboration and growth between the University and private sector companies. Innovation Park's "Be Cool Blue" is a mindset and a philosophy for fusing scientific discovery and entrepreneurship at Penn State to move technologies into the marketplace. Innovation Park provides a full range of business support services, as well as access to Penn State researchers and facilities, to help companies transfer the knowledge within the University to the market place and foster economic development. Innovation Park at Penn State is situated on 118 acres designated for business development, including incubating start up companies through mature corporations. http://www.innovationpark.psu.edu/

Contacts:
Wendy Kennedy
"So what? who cares? why you?"
613-851-6621
wendy@wendykennedy.com

Courtney Hurst
Metis Communications
617-236-0500
courtney@metiscomm.com