From Crowdsourcing to Marketing with Social Media, UA’s Innovation Day Offers Insight 

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – There may be “strength in numbers” as the axiom goes, but there’s also money. Business owners, managers, entrepreneurs and others looking for tips on crowdsourcing and using social media for marketing are invited to attend The University of Alabama’s Innovation Day, Wednesday, April 16, in the Bryant Conference Center on UA’s campus.

The event, which begins at 9 a.m. in the conference center’s Rast Room and is hosted by UA’s Office for Technology Transfer, will also showcase multiple University of Alabama start-up companies.

Featured speakers are Dr. Craig Armstrong and Susan Fant. Armstrong, a UA associate professor of management in UA’s Culverhouse College of Commerce with expertise in entrepreneurship, will present “How to Fund Your Idea Through Crowdfunding,” beginning at 11 a.m.

Following lunch, Fant, president of Castle Sands LLC, a marketing firm for website and social media development, will present “Social Media Marketing for Your Business.” Fant, who is an adjunct instructor in UA’s Manderson Graduate School of Business, will begin her talk at 1 p.m.

Sandwiched around the speakers are guest panelist discussions and brief presentations by student and alumni entrepreneurs highlighting UA start-up companies and technologies.

The Office for Technology Transfer, a part of UA’s Office for the Vice President of Research, works with innovators to assist in bringing technologies created at the University to the commercial market place for public benefit.