Co-founder and chief technology officer of Intellectual Venture Edward Jung gave a talk titled “The Evolving University Role in Innovation Networks” as part of the Mindlin Lecture series Tuesday evening.

The Mindlin Lecture Series is part of this year’s Engineers Week, and a number of Washington University faculty members and undergraduates gathered to hear Jung speak about the vision and purpose of Intellectual Venture.

Jennifer Ra | Student Life

Edward Jung, the founder and chief technology officer of Intellectual Ventures, presents a lecture entitled “The Evolving University Role in Innovation Networks.”

Jung’s professional experience includes being a former chief architect and advisor to the executive staff at Microsoft Corporation. He holds 700 patents in areas such as biomedicine, computing and material science, and has more than 1,000 patents pending.

Intellectual Venture (IV) aims to solve major problems in the world, such as energy and agriculture, by connecting innovative groups to potential investors and buyers around the world. One example of IV’s success that Jung brought up is his company’s involvement with Benemilk Ltd, a Finnish company that created a new type of feed for cows that increases milk yields.

Jung also made mention of the role that universities play in the global innovation network, arguing that the professional arena now places much more value in abilities to innovate, lead and organize.

Colleges, Jung said, do not specifically try and instill these traits in students, but they do create environments that come with opportunities to develop them. Universities are also able to put students in contact with local investors who value and support student ideas and innovations.

Junior Chelsea Branson, president of the Engineering Council at Washington University, noted that, as robotics and powerful computation become more prominent, much of human labor can be replaced, and so an innovative and essential workforce is in high demand.

“I think this year we are really thinking about a theme of innovation…While we are here it’s possible to invent things; it’s possible to get on teams and work together and it is not too early,” Branson said.

She also noted her surprise at the cooperative nature of the start-up industry.

“I was kind of surprised by how much the start-up community feeds itself in a kind of way,” Branson said. “Like the angel investors and all of this money that comes from the start-up industry gets repeated through the start-up industry.”

Freshman Nan Baker was impressed by Jung’s career accomplishments.

“Honestly, I was amazed about how Mr. Jung was able to structure his companies and investments to last ten, twenty or thirty-plus years,” Baker said. “His ability to spread risk over dozens of companies over many years was a very innovative strategy that reflects his view on information sharing and information networks.”