Innovation Objectivity and Routes to Success

The meeting will feature Rick W. Diehl, the founder of Strategic Technology Group (STG) in Wilton, Connecticut which discovers "below-the-radar" young company market-ready technology that brings competitive advantage to larger corporations.

RICK DIEHL has more than 40 years experience in all aspects of the development of new businesses that leverage new technologies. Mr. Diehl specializes in bringing proprietary advances in new materials, devices and processes to market. His experience is in identification and structuring of industrial alliances for the more rapid commercialization of new technology in the United States. His focus is to establish market pull-through by creatively combining the market developments made by the advanced technology company.

In 1982 Mr. Diehl founded Strategic Technology Group (STG) in Wilton, Connecticut to originate and structure large industrial corporations' exclusive access to the power of game-changing innovation found in young U.S. technology companies. STG is unique in its success in discovering "below-the-radar" young company market-ready technology that brings competitive advantage to the larger corporation. STG's distinctive competence is in knowing when a technology can bring sustained advantage in the key emerging markets of today, and in attracting cooperation across companies and from investment capital.

During the past 20 years, Mr. Diehl has been successful in conducting cross-company insertion of new materials, materials process and device technology in structuring, negotiation and integration work with over 40 Fortune 500 Industrials and over 50 small businesses and mid-cap firms, including Textron, United Technologies, Union Carbide, GE, Olin Corporation, Engelhard, TRW, Lockheed Martin, Rohm & Haas, Occidental Chemical, General Dynamics, Rockwell, 3M, Owens-Corning, Armstrong World Industries, Fluor Daniel, ICI America, ABB, Lubrizol, Uniroyal, Exxon/Mobil, Allied Signal, Goodyear, Champion International, Black& Decker, Parker Hannifin, ITT, EDO Corporation and Rogers Corporation.

Following U.S. Navy Line Officer duty at sea during the Cold War, Rick Diehl served in management for 22 years in aerospace materials, device & systems research (National Research Corporation), computer systems (EDS) and as corporate head of New Business Development and Technology Development for The Continental Group, a F50 firm that in the 1970's was the world's largest packaging company. He has since co-founded several technology companies and serves as officer/board member/advisor for seven technology firms in power generation, energy storage, flat panel displays, computer work station development, experimental aircraft, RF/Microwave power semiconductors and amplifiers, electronics thermal management, advanced electromagnetics, smart materials & devices, low noise/high-frequency oscillator and high-density optical interconnect developments. He is Co-Chair of the Missile Defense Agency Standing SBIR Review Board and serves on the National Science Foundation SBIR Review Panels. He is also a founding member of the Board of Directors of the large regional incubator, Hudson Valley Center for Innovation, www.hvcfi.com, headquartered in Kingston New York. Mr. Diehl graduated from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

Listen to the presentation