Chemical Angel Network investor gives industry tips at UD ‘Lunch and Learn’ event

Chemical companies can no longer be passive about technology.
That’s the word from industry expert Judith Giordan, who spoke to University of Delaware students and leaders in the field Jan. 21 during a “Lunch and Learn” program.
Giordan — vice president and managing director of ecosVC, a venture development firm; cofounder of the Chemical Angel Network; and chief technology officer of Qteros — discussed the commercialization of technology in the rapidly changing field of chemicals.
Commercializing science and technology are not the same as they used to be, she said. The most successful companies are well equipped and have funding to do research, she added.
“It changed in the ’90s. We got good jobs with lots of money. But then came smaller academic budgets and smaller corporate R&D budgets,” Giordan said during her presentation. “Why it changed in the late ’90s? If we as a country did not put our money where our mouth was, corporate R&D was not going to happen.”
Giordan also discussed the need for more students and young entrepreneurs to test their research and ideas sooner.
“There are people who argue you can’t create an entrepreneur. I think we can train students who see it through the lens of science,” Giordan said. “This is the holy grail. There are hundreds of millions in grants and thousands of students and professors.”
After Giordan’s presentation, she opened the floor to questions. A UD senior engineering student — who said he has been researching and testing his own ideas — asked Giordan what he could do while still in school.
“Learn to do something right now,” she told the student. “One hundred percent of zero usually remains zero. Use your time left to use the resources you have right here.”
The “Lunch and Learn” event was hosted at the Horn Program in Entrepreneurship’s Venture Development Center, in partnership with the Delaware Sustainable Chemistry Alliance.