TYLER, TX (February 20, 2024) — Today, the Council for Innovation Promotion (C4IP) and the University of Texas at Tyler will host a roundtable event featuring special guest Congressman Nathaniel Moran, who represents Texas’ first district, along with local entrepreneurs, inventors, venture capitalists, and intellectual property experts.
The roundtable will center on how East Texas can continue to grow as a nationally renowned innovation and intellectual property hub. The panelists will discuss ways Congress can support and promote intellectual property rights, which drive innovation and entrepreneurship in the area.
“Our founding fathers laid the framework for protecting and promoting intellectual property as early as Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, knowing that innovators and creators are critical to economic development and a free market economy,” said Congressman Nathaniel Moran (TX-01), member of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet. “Robust intellectual property rights enable innovation by protecting and rewarding the ingenuity of the human mind behind that innovation. It is critical to East Texas and this nation’s businesses that intellectual property rights remain strong and protected.”
Featured speakers will include:
- Congressman Nathaniel Moran
- Andrei Iancu: Co-Chair, Council for Innovation Promotion (C4IP); Partner, Sullivan & Cromwell; Former Director, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
- Brandon Reynolds: Director, ETX Launchpad at UT Tyler
- Scott Martinez: President and CEO, Tyler Economic Development Council; CEO, Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce
- Phil Burks: Founder and CEO, Burks GenCore Co., Inc.
- Frank Cullen: Executive Director, Council for Innovation Promotion (C4IP)
“Today’s discussion will highlight the vital role intellectual property plays in supporting cutting-edge innovation and entrepreneurship in East Texas,” said Andrei Iancu, former USPTO Director and Co-Chair of C4IP. “Predictable, reliable, and meaningfully enforceable IP rights are critical to ensure a thriving innovation economy. I look forward to discussing the continued development of East Texas into a leading innovation and IP hub.”
Texas’ economy is the eighth largest in the world, and IP-intensive industries support more than one-third of private sector jobs in the Lone Star state. Strong IP legislation that encourages investment in Texas businesses and inventorship is needed to continue growing the state’s economy and workforce.
“UT Tyler is committed to encouraging entrepreneurship within our academic community,” said Kirk A. Calhoun, MD, FACP, President of UT Tyler. “Our ETX Launchpad program relies on IP rights to fulfill its vital mission to serve East Texas.”
About the Council for Innovation Promotion: The Council for Innovation Promotion is a bipartisan coalition dedicated to promoting strong and effective intellectual property rights that drive innovation, boost economic competitiveness, and improve lives everywhere.