The latest in a series of Science, Technology and Entrepreneurial Partnership events offered by the Center for Entrepreneurship and Outreach (CEO) at the University of Missouri-Rolla is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 28, in the Meramec and Ozark Rooms of UMR’s Havener Center.

The latest in a series of Science, Technology and Entrepreneurial Partnership events offered by the Center for Entrepreneurship and Outreach (CEO) at the University of Missouri-Rolla is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 28, in the Meramec and Ozark Rooms of UMR’s Havener Center.

"The seminars are designed to assist today’s entrepreneurs and researchers with the challenges of developing commercially viable technologies," says John Parfet, technology business development director at CEO. "We want to educate them about the steps involved in commercialization of innovations."

BioMetAccess Co. of Springfield, Mo., is one technology-based company that has participated in past seminars.

"At the beginning, our relationship with UMR’s CEO was simply a research effort to find funding for some of the projects we originally considered," says Nat Sprague, vice president, chief operating officer and chief technology officer for BioMetAccess.

But Sprague says the CEO also facilitated contact with people helpful in the production and development of new business ideas in the field of biometrics, a term used to describe the analysis of physical features in human eyes and fingerprints.

"Networking is a catalyst for entrepreneurial endeavors especially in a rural area such as Rolla," says Amy Light Mills, CEO executive director.

Like Sprague, Laura Cyr of Eyes of the World in Rolla was eager to network with other business leaders and tap UMR’s resources.

"Since our inception, we have worked with various departments and individuals at UMR," says Cyr, president of Eyes of the World, a growing company that produces implants for vision correction in humans and animals. "We hope that the future will allow us to work together to a greater extent in an effort to bring new technologies from the research lab to the manufacturing floor."

The Feb. 28 CEO event begins at 3:30 p.m., when speakers from the Ft. Leonard Wood Regional Commerce and Growth Association, the Meramec Regional Planning Commission and Missouri’s Department of Economic Development will present information. The last speaker is scheduled for 4 p.m. A reception will immediately follow.

"I urge UMR faculty and staff, small-business owners and the general public to attend if they would like to explore the business potential of an invention or innovation," says Dr. Arlan DeKock, dean of UMR’s School of Management and Information Systems.

CEO is a partnership of UMR and the University of Missouri Extension in conjunction with the Missouri Small Business Development Center, the Missouri Federal and State Technology program, the Missouri Procurement Technical Assistance Centers and the Economic Development Administration’s University Center program. The Small Business Administration’s Rural Outreach Program at CEO is a seminar sponsor.

Admission to the seminar and reception is free but online registration is encouraged: www.umrceo.net/step.html. For more information, email umrceo@mst.edu or call (573) 341-4690.