Networking in Las Vegas for the Week Ending May 31, 2014 (Hemmers, Miller, Startup Grind, Ruvo Center, TMA, InNEVation Center, Ellis & SciTech)

Joined Oliver Hemmers, PhD for lunch. Oliver is running UNLV's Linear Accelerator Center. The center was setup after the donation of several accelerators from Varian Medical Systems, the M-6 and a K-9. Senator Harry Reid assisted with the donations. A linear accelerator is similar to the unit in a micro-wave oven except many times stronger. This center can be used for research, training and working with companies. Oliver attended the American Nuclear Society meeting - Las Vegas chapter, last Thursday. The speaker was a Dr. Jerry Cuttler, Past President of the Canadian Nuclear Society. He talked about how a certain low level amount of radiation will engage the body's immune system which will help it fight off disease. He gave an example of an apartment building in China that ended up being built with steel that was radioactive. When the Chinese authorities discovered the problem, they wanted to understand the magnitude of the problem. What they found was that the incidence of cancer was lower at this apartment building as compared to apartment buildings around it. Oliver is also working closely with the Nevada Alliance Foundation which is focused on converting research into commercialization.

Stopped by Pictographics and visited with Craig Miller, the president. Craig was hosting the Vegas Inventors Group for their monthly meetup run by Daniel Braisted. Pictographics takes digital images and puts them on anything and everything in a very spophistaced and colorful way. Much of their work is seen around the valley; some examples - party in the pint graphics on Fremont Street, Coca Cola bottle on the side of the Coke building, pictures of rock starts in the Hard Rock hotel, various building and vehicle wraps and numerous booths at conventions. At the time I was visiting they were preparing for the licensing convention. Above all else, Craig and his crew, are inventors. They have numerous projects from indoor GPS for indoor UAVs, friend or foe sensors, sophisticated identification software and many other items.

Attended the Startup Grind featuring George Moncrief at Raster Media. The Las Vegas chapter of Startup Grind was founded by Michael Terpin. Michael also had his own successful startup called Market Wire, which was the first company to use the internet for press releases. Michael specializes in public relations for tech companies and has worked with 500 to 600 startup companies: companies like Earthlink when it had three employees or Motley Fool when it had two employees. Besides tech companies, he is now working with bitcoin companies and is the President of Bitcoin Angels. Michael knows startups and he is always the one that is interviewing the guests at these events.

George Moncrief was the guest tonight. He was one of the co-founders of Raster Media, along with Micheal Smith, in 2000. They were working on websites, user interfaces, CRM and other areas. In 2008 they went full force into Mobile apps - I-phones, androids, IOS and became a mobile development shop, the first in Las Vegas. In March 2014 the Vegas Tech Fund asked George to be their Entrepreneur in Residence. His job is to help evaluate companies. The Vegas Tech fund only looks at companies that have gone through a business incubator and have been referred to them by someone else. Even with those restrictions, they have more companies to look at than they can handle. The Vegas Tech Fund is looking for companies that have products that people will buy or use. George said too many inventors make products and then look for customers. He stressed that inventors need to get feedback from potential customers as they make the product in order to make changes that the market wants. One of the goals of the Vegas Tech Fund is to create a tech eco system in Las Vegas. Part of that process is to make Las Vegas a stimulating and fun place to work. He noted that the Downtown project breaks down each month into four weeks: 1st week - Art and Music with First Friday, 2nd week is technical with speakers from Tech Cocktail plus workshops, 3rd week is Fashion - Stitch Factory speakers and the 4th week is creative with mini-Ted talks.

Over 50 attended the meeting, including Sonya Levy, Andy White, Anthony Hurtado, Michael Smith, Brea Silva, Steve Miller, Nathan Rowe and others.

Attended the Lunch & Learn at the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health featuring Dr. Dylan Wint on Brain Imaging. Essentially, brain images help doctors make a better diagnosis. Dr. Wint covered three types of imaging. The first was CT Scans - Computed Tomography which is based on x-rays and creates an image like a detailed X-Ray. The next was Magnetic Resonance Imaging - MRI. This technique reads characteristics of tissue - hydrogen atoms. The images are captured in three dimensions. The system uses high powered magnets, up to 30,000 gauss (earth has .5 gauss). Some of the problems with MRIs are that the magnets might turn off one's pacemaker, it takes time and one has to be very still. The third type of imaging was nuclear medicine imaging. Radiation is injected into the body and then measured from the outside such as Positron Emission Tomography (PET) or Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT). PET & SPECT give the best resolution of imaging. The challenge is that patients have to be injected with medical isotopes which can be in short supply at times. About 40 attended.

Attended the Father Max Advisor panel meeting with Mike Bonner, Gian Brown, Michael Buckley, Susan Sullivan, Jeanne Hamrick, Marlene Richter, Bob Brown and Father Max. This board assists Father Max with his ministry in Las Vegas. Father Max gave us a brief talk on his activities including classes, services and his writing. Bob Brown suggested that Father Max lead a men's retreat. It will follow Father Max's book, The Masculine Spirit, which can be found on Amazon. Father Max is finishing a book on the Ten Commandments. Father Max Oliva has a website called Ethics in the Marketplace.

Attended the Turnaround Management meeting at the Las Vegas Country Club. The event featured a panel presentation and discussion from three prominent Nevada-based economists, John Restrepo with RCG Economics, Bill Anderson, State of Nevada DETR and Marcus Conklin, Strategies 360 and formerly of the Lied Institute for Real Estate Studies at UNLV. Bill Anderson talked about how the state has been adding jobs since the recession: 11,000 in 2011; 19,000 in 2012; 30,000 in 2013 and an expected 40,000 in 2014. He said that the governor had promised 60,000 new jobs by the end of his term. John Restrepo said that the economy is not that strong and that wages in these jobs are lagging below their previous rates. Many of the new jobs are retail jobs which generally lower paying jobs. He said that consumers need to have money to buy things which creates demand which then pushes the creation of supply. Marcus Conklin was the great simplifier. He brought things down to earth on issues and trends that were effecting people and the economy. It was a lively meeting with lots of questions to the panelists. Jason Thomas, CPA is the president. Leonard Wright, CPA and commentator on Financial Fridays was there along with Bruce Isaacson, Richard Hanseen, CPA; Debra Baez and 50 others.

Left to attend the Funding Post event at UNLV; unfortunately, I could not find the room at UNLV. My phone had died and I could not pull up the email with the room number.

Joined Bob Ellis for lunch. He always invites a lot of people to lunch. At this lunch was Henderson Mayor Andy Hafen, UNLV Alumni Director, Jim Ratigan; former UNLV Athletic Director Jim Livengood, former Mayor Jim Gibson; Senator Majority Leader, Mo Dennis; State Senator Rubin Kihuen, County Commission Candidate Michael Schneider, Scott Lien, Constable Earl Mitchell, former US Senator Richard Bryan and many others.

Attend the Up Global luncheon at the InNEVation center. Adam Kramer of the Innovation Center was hosting a group from Up Global. Up Global supports entrepreneurship around the world and in the US with events such as the Startup Weekend. In attendance was Dave Williams, Rob Nielson, Mike Mehr , Warren Whitlock, Daniel Braisted and many others. Ran into Michael Walsh and Chris Zunis of the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance on the way in and on the way out, talked with Jonas Peterson of LVGEA.

Attend the SciTech Mixer at Nacho Daddy featuring Al Trivelpiece, former director of Oak Ridge National Laboratories. Ran into Robin Cresiski, NSC; Zach Miles, UNLV; Rich Helfrich, Rob Nielson, UNLV; Danny and Kathy Bax of Elutin, Chandler Mars, Jeff Saffer and Vick Burnett of Quertle; Allan Palmer and Kathleen Frantz from the Atomic Testing Museum and many others.