SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 20, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Key executives from Chevron, Toyota, iRobot and SRI International, along with leading venture capital investor Vinod Khosla and Silicon Valley visionary Bill Joy are among the line-up of keynote speakers featured at this year's Emerging Ventures Conference -- produced by Dow Jones VentureWire -- October 17 and 18, 2006, at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose.
Emerging Ventures, now in its second year, provides a national showcase for 50 technology entrepreneurs and the investors and corporations actively pursuing innovative ideas. The two-day event will feature compelling panel discussions on the current financing and liquidity landscape for entrepreneurial early-stage companies, the prospects for companies seeking to partner with local, state and federal government, and the big issues to be solved via emerging technologies.
Among the featured keynote speakers is Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems and a longtime partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, who recently founded his own firm, Khosla Ventures. Mr. Khosla will talk about the opportunities -- and challenges -- in building an ethanol economy, in investing in solar and in backing brand new technologies.
Another Sun Microsystems co-founder, Bill Joy, will be featured in a keynote interview on "green technology," conducted by the Wall Street Journal's Lee Gomes. Mr. Joy will discuss how he and his firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, are looking at energy and natural resources issues and seeking ways to solve them.
Two keynote speakers will be speaking about alternative energy. Jim Davis, president of Chevron Energy Solutions, will be discussing the future demand for alternative energy technology and the role emerging companies may play in his company's expansion. Bill Reinert, national manager of the advanced technology group at Toyota Motor Sales USA, will talk about his company's efforts, post-Prius, to change the modern automobile.
Another keynote features Helen Greiner, co-founder and chairman of iRobot, who will sit down with Barron's West Coast Editor Eric Savitz, to talk about the future of robotics and the continuing effort to bring projects into the mainstream. In addition, Curtis R. Carlson, president and CEO at SRI International, will discuss the link between innovation and creating what customers' want, at a luncheon keynote and networking session.
Attendees of Emerging Ventures also are invited to attend The Wall Street Journal Innovations Award and Dinner to be held on the evening of Oct. 17.
For more information or to register, call (866) 291-1800 or go to http://emergingventures.dowjones.com/.
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Through its Financial Information Services group, Dow Jones produces focused, sector-specific online databases, newsletters and industry events for the private equity, venture capital and diversified markets. Newsletters published include Private Equity Analyst, VentureWire Professional and Daily Bankruptcy Review. In addition, Dow Jones & Company (NYSE:DJ) (www.dowjones.com) publishes the global Wall Street Journal with its international and online editions; Barron's; the Far Eastern Economic Review; Dow Jones Newswires and Indexes; MarketWatch; and Ottaway newspapers. Dow Jones co-owns Factiva with Reuters and SmartMoney with Hearst. Dow Jones also provides news content to CNBC and U.S. radio stations.