Geomagic’s Ping Fu selected to join National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Congratulations to SculptCAD partner Ping Fu, founder of Geomagic, for being named to the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Following is the text of the press release from the United States Department of Commerce announcing the advisory council. Click on the link for the entire list of council members.

Locke Announces National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship Members

Council will advise the president on ways to foster entrepreneurship and transform laboratory ideas into new businesses and jobs

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke today announced the members of the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, a group that will support President Obama’s innovation strategy by helping to develop policies that foster entrepreneurship and identifying new ways to take great ideas from the lab to the marketplace to drive economic growth and create jobs. Locke made the announcement at a U.S. Department of Commerce University Innovation Forum at the University of Michigan, where participants discussed the role of universities in innovation, economic development, job creation and commercialization of federally funded research.

“America’s innovation engine is not as efficient or as effective as it needs to be, and we are not creating as many jobs as we should,” Locke said. “We must get better at connecting the great ideas to the great company builders. The National Advisory Council will help the administration develop a broader strategy to spur innovation and enable entrepreneurs to develop breakthrough technologies and dynamic companies, and to create jobs all across America.

“I want to extend my gratitude to the leaders selected to The National Advisory Council. Their work will be a key component of America’s economic recovery.”

Throughout U.S. history, basic research in public and private sector research labs has spawned new technologies and inventions that led to new businesses. And those entrepreneurial businesses have been important drivers of job creation. Firms less than five years old have accounted for nearly all net new jobs in America over the last 30 years. Yet, as a share of gross domestic product, American federal investment in the physical sciences and engineering research has dropped by half since 1970.

Since taking office, the president has taken significant steps to turn this trend around. The Recovery Act included $100 billion to support groundbreaking innovations in diverse fields, from healthcare IT and health research to smart grids and high speed trains. Last fall, the president announced a National Innovation Strategy, which called for doubling the budgets of agencies including the National Science Foundation, to better support basic research at our nation’s universities. And the president’s 2011 budget – while freezing domestic discretionary spending overall – increases funding for civilian research and development by $3.7 billion, or nearly 6 percent.

The National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship will help build on this aggressive agenda. Members of the council include serial entrepreneurs, university presidents, investors and non-profit leaders. Steve Case, Mary Sue Coleman, and Desh Deshpande will serve as Co-Chairs.

Congrats to Geomagic’s Ping Fu

Ping Fu, founder of Geomagic, a SculptCAD partner, was named one of the 100 most creative people in the June 2010 issue of Fast Company. Congratulations!

A sample from the Fast Company link:

Her latest technical feat, introduced last year, easily converts any physical object, from a human foot to a golf course, into a 3-D model. This “direct intent modeling” allows designers to bypass complex algorithms and focus on the task at hand, be it customized shoes or golf courses that drain more efficiently. The next step, Fu hopes, is to create a cloud-based store where designers can use third-party apps developed for everything from turbines to dental implants. “Digital models help us design for the next level and enjoy our lives.”