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Community Corner

Start Up Secrets - How to Leverage NJ's Entrepreneurial Eco-System to Your Advantage

If you are thinking of starting a new business, exploring ways to leverage a new invention or develop an innovative idea, you will want to be in attendance at Scotch Plains Public Library on Thursday, January 23 at 7:00PM for a program given by Judith Sheft and Dr. Michael Ehrlich, co-directors of the NJ Innovation Acceleration Center at NJIT.

During this program, the third in the Library’s NJ Business and Innovation series, attendees will learn about the resources available to help NJ entrepreneurs quickly launch a business. They will find out what it takes to get an idea off the ground in terms of human and financial capital. Michael Ehrlich and Judith Sheft will talk about investors are looking and how to get them to fund your start up idea.

Dr. Michael Ehrlich had an international business career before joining NJIT’s School of Management as assistant professor of finance. Ehrlich’s research focuses on financial markets and institutions, with an emphasis on market failures. Ehrlich participates in NJIT’s small business incubator program, the Enterprise Development Center (EDC). He works with start-up companies. Ehrlich holds a Ph.D in Economics (Finance) from Princeton University and a  BA in Economics from Yale University. This fall he co-presented a program on financial bubbles at the library.

Judith Sheft is the associate vice president of technology development at New Jersey Institute of Technology, where she is responsible for managing the university’s Office of Technology Transfer and Development. She develops programs and policies focusing on patent creation, intellectual property valuation, strategic use and protection of IP assets. She is also involved with entrepreneurship and economic development in the Newark Innovation Zone, having responsibilities for management of the university’s high technology business accelerator/incubator, the Enterprise Development Center, and the Defense Technical Procurement Center.  Sheft holds BS and MS degrees in mathematics from the University of Illinois and an MBA in international business from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Registration for this program is recommended.  Interested participants can sign up for the presentation by calling the library at (908) 322-5007, ext. 204, by email to library@scotlib.org,  or via the Events tab on the library web site,  www.scotlib.org.
Scotch Plains Public Library programs are free and open to the public. The Scotch Plains Library is located at 1927 Bartle Avenue, one block from Park Avenue in the center of town.

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