A final reminder that early registration for the BIF-5 Collaborative Innovation Summit on October 7-8 ends today. Register now to save 20% off regular registration. The line-up includes some heavy hitters from the digital media / info tech space, including:

--Bill Buxton, principal researcher at Microsoft Research, a 30-year technology veteran and author of Sketching User Experiences: Getting the Design Right and the Right Design
--Kris Halvorsen, chief innovation officer, Intuit
--Jeff Jarvis, author, journalist, and blogger at Buzzmachine.com, his book, What Would Google Do? was published in January, 2009 to wide-acclaim
--Neri Oxman, an architect and researcher at MIT. Her work is at the intersection of architecture, engineering, computation and ecology.
--Don Tapscott, chairman of nGenera Insight, is the author of 13 books, including Wikinomics, the best selling management book in the U.S. in 2007, and his latest book, Grown Up Digital
--Ethan Zuckerman, co-founder of Global Voices, an international media network that offers training in podcasting and videocasting and founder of Geekcorps, a technology volunteer corps that pairs volunteers with businesses in emerging nations

See the full line-up and register at: http://www.businessinnovationf...

Join us at the Business Innovation Factory on June 25 at 5:30pm for a summer wine tasting and meet and greet for BIF’s newest teammate, Chris Finlay.  We yanked Chris away from NYC a month ago to run BIF’s new Student Experience Lab.  Come say hello.

Thanks to Andrea Sloan at Best Beverage / FJN Fine Wines, LLC we’ll be sampling summer whites,chilled reds and whatever else these wine wizards are serving this summer. Andrea will be here to introduce the wines and give you some tips on what to look for in a killer summer wine. 

We can only accommodate 50 peeps, so RSVP is necessary (melissa@businessinnovationfactory.com).

See you there.

Author and outside.in creator Steven Johnson returns to Providence on March 16 to discuss his latest book The Invention of Air. Reception and conversation will at Business Innovation Factory HQ on March 16 at 4pm,  60 Valley Street, Unit 25. 

In the Invention of Air, Johnson explores how ideas emerge and spread through a unique historical lens that retells the story of Joseph Priestly, an 18th century scientist and philosopher who played key roles in the invention of ecosystem science, the discovery of oxygen, and the intellectual development of the United States.

Free, but registration required.

37signals CEO and founder Jason Fried, hacker and personal technology innovator Joshua Klein, tech writer and thinker Clay Shirky, and electronic drum pad and MIDI standard inventor Dave Kusek are among those ITDM storytellers participating the Business Innovation Factory’s BIF-4 Summit on October 15-16. Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh, Marc Ecko and Richard Saul Wurman will also be there, along with many others.

BIF is offering registered RI Nexus users 25% off regular priced registration at http://www.businessinnovationfactory.com/bif-4/nexusregistration.php You must use this special link to claim the RI-Nexus discount. The discounted rate will expire on August 15 when the regular registration rate of $1,200 goes into effect.

Co-hosted by BusinessWeek Assistant Managing Editor Bruce Nussbaum and “Mavericks at Work” author Bill Taylor, the BIF-4 Summit will feature more than two dozen innovators who have 15 minutes on stage to share a personal story about how they turned an idea into an innovation.

In 2007, the sold out BIF-3 Summit hosted participants from 174 organizations, 65 percent of whom were CEOs, presidents, founders or senior leaders within their organizations.

This year’s line-up of BIF-4 storytellers includes:

• John Abele, leader of the Grunion expedition and the founder of Boston Scientific Corporation
• Steve Bendt and Gary Koelling, founders of Best Buy’s Blue Shirt Nation
• Dave Berry, principal at Flagship Ventures and MIT Technology Review’s 2007 Innovator of the Year for his work developing renewable petroleum from microbes
• Ruby Bridges , educator and activist and first African American child to desegregate an elementary school
• Deborah Brooks, co-founder of the Michael J. Fox Foundation
• Joseph F. Coughlin, founder of the MIT AgeLab
• Marc Ecko , who heads a global lifestyle and entertainment empire
• Jason Fried, founder and CEO of 37signals
• Tony Hsieh, Zappos.com CEO
• Jeffrey Hollender, president and chief inspired protagonist of Seventh Generation
• Joshua Klein, technology principle at Frog Design
• Dave Kusek, MIDI standard inventor and electronic music master.
• Cat Laine, Deputy Director of the Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group helps developing countries get affordable access to energy, sanitation and clean water.
• Jacqueline Novogratz, founder of Acumen Fund, uses entrepreneurial approaches to solve problems of global poverty
• Lewis Gordon Pugh, explorer, environmentalist and first person to undertake a long distance swim at the North Pole
• Richard Satava, visionary surgeon who co-developed the first surgical robot
• Clay Shirky, writer on the social and economic effects of Internet technologies
• John Wolpert, former head of IBM’s Extreme Blue business innovation incubator
• Richard Saul Wurman, Author and information architect now is working on “19.20.21”--an attempt to standardize information about 19 cities that will reach 20 million inhabitants in the 21st century
• David R. Yaun, VP of Corporate Communications for IBM and director of IBM’s innovation and technology leadership programs

Held at Trinity Rep in Providence, R.I., BIF-4 is limited to 300 participants.
Get the full list of storytellers, more information on registration and details at www.businessinnovationfactory.com/bif-4. To receive the RI Nexus discount remember to register here: http://www.businessinnovationfactory.com/bif-4/nexusregistration.php.

Planning for the Business Innovation Factory's BIF-4 Collaborative Innovation Summit is heating up. BIF-4's storyteller lineup features a host of info-tech and digital media heavyweights including:

• Marc Ecko, Designer and Entrepreneur
• Jason Fried , Founder and CEO, 37signals
• Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com
• Clay Shirky, Author, Writer, Consultant and Teacher
• David Yaun, VP, Corporate Communications, IBM

Early registration discount expires soon. See full line-up and get more info at www.businessinnovationfactory.com/bif-4 or contact Melissa at mwithers@businessinnovationfactory.com.

The Rhode Island Science and Technology Council (STAC) has debuted a new statewide collaborative research website that creates a one-stop-shop where researchers, entrepreneurs and community leaders can learn about research and development in Rhode Island, register for events, apply for programs and access a searchable database of research equipment and shared facilities.

The web portal was created by the Rhode Island Research Alliance, a STAC-led program to promote collaboration across Rhode Island's research institutions, attract additional federal R&D investment into the state and accelerate Rhode Island's effort to create a knowledge-based innovation economy. Among other things, the Research Alliance oversees the Collaborative Research Grant Awards, which in 2008 included ITDM players like Bay Computer and Bionica.

Earlier this spring STAC presented its plans for expanding the Research Alliance and announced that Brown University and the University of Rhode Island both had contributed $25,000 to support the next phase of Research Alliance activity. Expansion of the Research Alliance and support for activities that promote greater collaboration across institutions was also designated as an economic development priority in the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation's 2008 Economic Growth Plan. The plan, a roadmap of economic development activities for repositioning Rhode Island's economy and creating more high wage jobs.

Check it out at www.stac.ri.gov