About this Event
You've built something worth protecting. But when does IP strategy actually enter the picture — and how do you use it to your advantage rather than just check a legal box?
Join Elina Conley (Azenity Consulting) and Mark Polyakov (Wood Phillips) for an evening that bridges two perspectives that rarely sit in the same room: innovation strategy and intellectual property law. Whether you're exploring white space, iterating on existing products, structuring licensing deals, or evaluating acquisitions, the decisions you make — and when you make them — have real IP consequences.
This is not a lecture. It's a conversation, and you're part of it.
WHAT WE'LL EXPLORE
- White Space Innovation — How do you read the IP landscape before committing to a new direction?
- Incremental Innovation — When does improvement become protectable, and how do you build a defensible IP position over time?
- Licensing — How to structure licensing as both a revenue stream and a competitive moat.
- Acquisition — What IP due diligence really looks like, and what red flags to watch for.
WHO SHOULD ATTEND
This event is designed for:
- Founders and CEOs navigating growth decisions
- Product and R&D leaders responsible for innovation pipelines
- Business development and strategy professionals exploring licensing or M&A
- Anyone who has wondered "when do I actually need to worry about IP?"
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Elina Conley | Founder & Managing Director, Azenity Consulting
Elina brings more than 20 years of hands-on experience spanning National Laboratories, startups, and global manufacturers, with a track record of aligning cutting-edge R&D with market needs and driving innovation from concept to commercialization. At Argonne National Laboratory, she worked directly on technology licensing, circular-economy initiatives, and the DOE SBIR/STTR portfolio — and co-authored multiple publications and patents in advanced materials processing. She went on to hold senior product management and business development roles at EMD Electronics and Great Lakes Crystal Technologies, leading global cross-functional teams and building strategic industry and defense partnerships. Elina is also a co-founder and former COO of a sustainability-focused startup, serves as the Entrepreneur in Residence at Innovation DuPage, and holds an MBA (candidate) from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from UIC, and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.
Azenity Consulting works with innovation-driven companies to translate technical and R&D capabilities into market strategy, sustainable growth, and competitive advantage — from early-stage product development through licensing and commercialization.
Mark Polyakov | Partner, Wood Phillips
Mark is a partner at Wood Phillips, where he focuses on intellectual property matters in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology fields. He has extensive experience with U.S. and foreign patent and trademark procurement, freedom-to-operate and infringement opinions, and strategic IP portfolio management aimed at maximizing long-term business value. Prior to joining Wood Phillips, Mark served as an IP associate at Athersys, a biotechnology company, giving him rare insight into IP strategy from the client side. He is admitted to the Illinois and New York bars and to practice before the USPTO, and is a member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association and the Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago.
Wood Phillips is a Chicago-based IP boutique with a distinctive edge: attorneys who have sat on the client side of the table, so they approach every engagement through a business lens, not just a legal one.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Innovation DuPage, 535 Duane Street, Glen Ellyn, United States
USD 0.00
