Florida A&M is planning to display how its faculty, staff and students are “innovating today for a better tomorrow” at its innovation showcase Friday from 4-7 p.m.
The “iShow” will highlight researchers’ high and low-tech developments in agriculture, human resources and the natural, health, environmental and social sciences.
One high-tech innovation to be displayed is a system that directs a vehicle to find an available parking space, park the vehicle and direct it to return to pick up its passengers.
Rose Glee, the interim director of the office of technology transfer, licensing and commercialization, said the iShow serves not only to showcase these innovations but also to attract potential sponsors.
“We hope that investors and/or entrepreneurs will opt to provide support needed to take the items to market or to create a business around some of the developments,” Glee said. “Because we have a very diverse portfolio that ranges from very low-tech items to extremely high-tech developments, there should be something at the showcase for everyone.”
According to Interim President Larry Robinson, FAMU has produced a large number of patents, trademarks, trade secrets and copyrights within recent years.
“We are convinced that some of these novel developments by faculty, staff and students at FAMU will contribute significantly to the health and well-being of this country by stimulating start-up businesses that generate new jobs,” Robinson said.
One patent is a topical formulation used to establish remission of severe hand eczema, which, according to the National Eczema Association, affects 10 percent of the population.
Karam Soliman, professor emeritus of basic pharmaceutical sciences and one of the inventors, said he is excited to get the word out about the all-natural topical formulation.
“Hopefully we’ll get any help from the community to make sure that they know about it,” he said. “And once they know about it, I think we can market it, and it goes not just in this country but all over the world.”
Soliman discovered a type of medication that will stop the progression of Parkinson’s disease. It, too, will be featured in the iShow.
The free show is open to the public. It will take place at the FAMU Foundation Building on 625 East Tennessee Street.