Developing Open Innovation Connectivity

Robert Lowe is the CEO of Wellspring Worldwide. Rob was previously the Director of Enterprise Creation at Carnegie Mellon University, a position created to provide management advice and assistance to the university’s many start-up companies. He was also a professor of entrepreneurship and corporate strategy at Carnegie Mellon University and has authored over a dozen academic papers on technology commercialization and start-ups. As a recognized expert in technology commercialization, Rob has been interviewed by and quoted in a wide range of media, including Forbes, BBC Radio, Inc. Magazine, and MIT Technology Review. Prior to his academic career, Rob worked for the Boston Consulting Group where he advised clients in pharmaceuticals, consumer products, and industrial automation. He also worked for the University of California’s Office of the President as a Special Projects Consultant to develop metrics, performance evaluation software, and policy analysis related to the University of California’s over 200 start-up companies.

Mr. Culver is a senior member of the Innovation Advisors group at RTI International, a leading global non-profit research institute. He has 19 years of innovation management and technology commercialization experience, combined with 12 years of industry experience in advanced technology development. He has delivered Open Innovation solutions for Fortune 500 companies (e.g. PPG Industries, General Mills, Medtronic, Becton Dickinson, Newell Rubbermaid, Kraft, PepsiCo) and large government clients (e.g. NASA, NIST) finding and evaluating technology and business opportunities. He has developed, organized, and taught nationwide workshops on technology scouting and market intelligence, in addition to writing about and serving as an invited speaker on Open Innovation topics.