Press Release



Contact: Robert Caudle
CED Public Relations Manager
rcaudle@cednc.org

Phone: (919) 549-7500 ext.107
FAX: (919) 549-7405
www.cednc.org


CED Uses Technology to Promote Technology

Wiki for Tech 2006 Conference Attendees is Live

September 26, 2006, Research Triangle Park, NC– The Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED) has launched a wiki allowing people planning to attend the Tech 2006 Conference to share ideas in an online collaborative environment and help determine conference topics prior to the conference. A wiki is a type of Web site that allows anyone to easily add content or make changes.

Tech 2006, CED’s 16th annual conference, will showcase innovative technologies from entrepreneurial companies, university groups, corporations and research institutions while uniting creators of exciting, novel technologies with the industry’s top business influencers. It will begin on Oct. 10 at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center in RTP with the “Un-Conference Kick-Off” and networking reception, concluding with more traditional conference sessions and keynote speakers on Oct. 11 at North Carolina State University’s McKimmon Center in Raleigh.

“For this year’s Tech Conference, we wanted give our demo participants and attendees the opportunity to interact and collaborate with each other before the actual conference,” said CED President Monica Doss. “We launched the wiki to allow attendees to begin their discussions online. When people get to the conference, they’ll already know who they most want to meet and the topics they want to continue discussing.”

Attendees at the Un-Conference will gather in-person to talk about topics they will have brainstormed beforehand via the wiki (www.cednc.org/unconference). Using collaborative Web 2.0 technology, the Un-Conference wiki will generate fluid and interactive conversations prior the conference as well as drive discussion about technology being featured in this year’s demos. Suggested discussion topics at the Un-Conference include peer production, alternative energy, wireless and software as a service.

CED has also created a wiki page for Tech 2006 demo participants to post information about their unique technology. This interactive site (www.cednc.org/demo_wiki) will create an archived resource for demos to post executive summaries, elevator pitches and audio-recorded interview podcasts.

In addition to the Un-Conference and demo wikis, CED’s Tech 2006 will offer keynote presentations and interactive panel discussions on Oct. 11 at the McKimmon Center in Raleigh. Colin Angle, CEO and co-founder of iRobot Corporation; David Bonderman, founder of Texas Pacific Group (TPG) and Newbridge Capital; Marc Lautenbach, general manager of IBM Americas; and Jim Steele, president of Salesforce.com headline the second day of the conference. Executives from BD Technologies, Eaton Corporation, Lenovo, Red Hat and RTI are among the featured panelists. More information about Tech 2006 can be found at: www.cednc.org/tech.

About CED: The Council for EntrepreneurialDevelopment (CED) is a private, non-profit organization formed in 1984 to identify, enable and promote high growth, high impact entrepreneurial companies and to accelerate the entrepreneurial culture of the Research Triangle and North Carolina. CED is the largest and oldest entrepreneurial support organization in the nation with more than 4,000 members representing over 1,100 entrepreneurial companies, financiers and professional firms. In July 2005, Wilmington’s Coastal Entrepreneurial Council merged with CED to create CED-Coastal, a divisional office focused on entrepreneurial development in Wilmington and throughout North Carolina’s entire coastal region. CED provides education, mentoring and capital formation resources to new and existing high-growth entrepreneurs through annual conferences, seminars, workshops and programs on entrepreneurial management and finance. www.cednc.org

###

What Members are Saying

"CED, as one of the largest and oldest entrepreneurial organization of its kind in the US, provides important expertise and valuable networking resources to early-stage high-growth companies." -- Christy Shaffer, President and CEO, Inspire Pharmaceuticals