Information About

James Conley Clinical Professor of Technology Industry Management Kellogg School of Management Courtesy Appointment, Mechanical Engineering Courtesy Appointment, Industrial Engineering   Center for Research in Technology & Innovation Northwestern University 5249 Jacobs Center 2001 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208, USA TEL: 847-491-4814 FAX: 847-467-5505 j-conleya@northwestern.edu Center for Research in Technology & Innovation Kellogg Webpage BS Nuclear Engineering, University of Virginia(1983) PhD Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University(1987) MM Management, Kellogg School of Northwestern University (1992)

Honors and Awards

• Invited Keynote Speaker, United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization Conference on IP Management, GOA, India, March 11 - 13, 2007
• Invited Keynote Speaker, United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization Conference on IP Management, Geneva, Switzerland, Sept. 11 & 12, 2006
• Invited Keynote Speaker, United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization Conference on IP Research and Education, Rio de Janiero, Brazil, May 10, 2006
• Keynote Plenary Speaker, PATENTE Conference, October 5, 2005,  Frankfurt, Germany,  organized by Management Circle
• Selected as 2004  Professor of the Year,  Master of New Product Development Program, Northwestern University.
• Invited, keynote author presenting  paper entitled "Scaling from Prototype to Production:  A Managed Process" at the NSF/Dept. of Ed. sponsored conference addressing "Conceptualizing Scale-up:  Multidisciplinary Perspectives" held November 3rd and 4th, 2003 in Washington D.C.  This conference was organized by the Data Research and Development Center at the University of Chicago.
• Invited to deliver the "Heinz-Nixdorf" lectures at the WHU in avllendar, Germany in 2003 through 2009.   
• Invited Speaker,  Annual Meeting of German Academic Society for Innovation Management, Vallendar, Germany, 10/25/01
• Invited Speaker, Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society  Annual banquet, Spring 2001 
• Keynote Speaker, 9^th Engineering Foundation Conference on the Modeling of Casting, Welding, Solidification Process, Aachen Germany, August 2000 (see publication #36)
• Literati Award Winner 2000, MCB University Press awarded annually to best paper in Rapid Prototyping Journal (see publication #6)
• Best Paper Award, American Foundry Society, Division 7, 1999 Congress  (see publication #13)
• Selected as 1998 Recipient of Ralph R. Teetor Educator Award, SAE International 
• Invited Speaker, Stanford University Center for Turbulence Research, June 1997
• Appointed  as Pentair-Nugent Professor of  Business Leadership,  NU MMM Program, 1996
• Ministry of International Trade and Industry Invited Speaker, JETRO Japan Manufacturing Investment Conference, Chicago, November 1995. 
• Invited Speaker, Japan Light Metals Assoc. Prototyping Conference, Sendai, JAPAN August ‘95
• Appointed General Electric Foundation Professorship, NU McCormick School, ‘94-’95
• Popular Science, “BEST OF WHAT’S NEW”, Grand Award Winner, Fall 1993  
• Invited speaker, Osaka University 1989 International Engineering Symposium
• Best Paper, 1987 John E. Hilliard Memorial Symposium, N. U. Materials Sci. Department
• Alpha Sigma Mu, American Society for Metals National Honor  Society, 1985
• Walter P. Murphy Graduate Fellowship, Northwestern University,  1983-84
• Best Paper, 1983 American Nuclear Society Conference, Nuclear Fuel Cycle Division
• Alpha Nu Sigma, Nuclear Engineering National Honor Society,  1983
• Institute of Nuclear Power Operations Scholar, 1981-83

Teaching and Research: Innovation and Invention

Professor Conley’s research investigates the strategic use of intangible assets and intellectual properties to build and sustain competitive advantage. Additionally, he engineers product design and development technologies and studies the impact of computer automation on product realization. Research sponsors have included the National Science Foundation, NASA, FAA, NIST, the Department of Defense, Motorola, Daimler-Chrysler, the OECD, WIPO of the United Nations, INCS of Japan and others.

Professor Conley teaches courses on Innovation Process Management, Intellectual Capital Management, and other related subjects to both graduate student and executive education audiences. Beyond Kellogg and Northwestern, he serves on the visiting faculty of Kellogg partner institutions such as the Otto Beisheim Graduate School of Management at the WHU in GERMANY, the Recanati Graduate School of Management at Tel Aviv University in ISRAEL, the Schulich School of Business at York University in CANADA, and at the Keio University Business School in JAPAN.

In June of 2004, he received the Professor of the Year award from the Master of Product Development program at Northwestern University.

He has served as the General Electric Foundation Professor and the Pentair-Nugent Professor of Manufacturing and Business Leadership from 1994 to 1999. Additionally, his publications have been recognized with “Best Paper” commendations from the American Foundry Society, the Society of Automotive Engineers, The Rapid Prototyping Journal and others. In November of 2003 he delivered the Heinz-Nixdorf Lecture at the WHU in Germany on the subject of Intellectual Capital Management.

Professor Conley’s scholarship is informed by professional practice. In 1994, he founded Syndia Corporation together with the late Jerome Lemelson and entrepreneur Roger Hickey. In addition to being an inventor (7 issued US patents and others pending), Conley through Syndia has grown and acquired a portfolio of intellectual properties that Syndia licenses to many entities in Asia, North America and Europe. Additionally, he serves as a Principal at Chicago Partners, LLC.

Before joining Northwestern in 1994, he spent seven years at the Ryobi Limited Group of companies in JAPAN with management responsibility in product engineering and product development. There, he led substantial Ryobi product innovation programs for both automotive and consumer durable products. He is conversational in the Japanese language.

He is happily married to his kindergarten classmate Sally and they have 5 children.

In the classroom

Professor Conley teaches an array of courses for the engineering students including IDEA 395 Innovation and Invention, MPD 458 Intellectual Property Strategy for Product Development, IE497-15 Intellectual Property Strategy in Manufacturing and  IE497-05 Rapid Product Realization.

Selected publications

S. Bordas, J. G. Conley, B. Moran, J. Gray and E. Nichols, A Simulation-based design paradigm for complex cast components, accepted for publication in Engineering with Computers, Fall 2006, available online at http://www.springerlink.com/content/820536351w516858/?p=c17145cd93164b7d9e0e4b26c8a99136&pi=0

D. Orozco and J. G. Conley, The “Longer Walk” after eBay v. MercExchange, accepted for publication in Les Nouvelles, Journal of the Licensing Executives Society, Fall 2006.

Market Innovation and Branded Differentiation,  Custom publication for Microsoft Executive Website, February 2006., see http://www.microsoft.com/business/executivecircle/content/article.aspx?cid=2069&subcatid=300

Market Pricing and the Sandwich Strategy,   Custom publication for Microsoft Executive Website, February 2006, w/ Dipak Jain, see http://www.microsoft.com/business/executivecircle/content/article.aspx?cid=2068&subcatid=402

J. G. Conley, Using Brand Identity to Reinforce Market Value, IDSA Innovation Journal, Winter 2005, available online at http://www.idsa.org/webmodules/articles/articlefiles/Conley_winter05.pdf

J. G. Conley, Trademarks, not Patents:  The Real Competitive Advantage of the Apple iPod, Core77 webzine, December 2005.

J. G. Conley, Patents Come and Go – Trademarks are Forever,  Executive Counsel Magazine, Spring  Innovation and Invention: A guide to Patents for Engineers and Managers, Kellogg Technical Note, distributed through HBS, version 1.0, October 2006, w/ David Orozco.

Creative and the Zen Patent, A and B,  Kellogg Case Series, Version 2.0, 10/2006, Case Documents, Teaching Note, Powerpoint slides, Guest Speakers,  J. G. Conley editor.

The Value of a Patent to the Entrepreneur:  ttools faces a formidable foe,  case series A and B,  Kellogg Case Series, Version 2.0, 10/2006, Case Documents, Teaching Note, Powerpoint slides, Guest Speakers,  J. G. Conley editor.

3M ESPE AG: Intellectual Property  Strategy in the Dental Impressions Market,   Kellogg Case Series, Version 2.1, 9/2006, Case A and B Documents, Teaching Note, Powerpoint slides, Guest Speakers,  J. G. Conley editor.

The Purple Pill:  Astrazeneca and Prilosec, Kellogg Case Series, Version 4.0, 11/2006, Case Document, Teaching Supplement entitled Ground Rules are not the Rules of the Game,  Teaching Note, Supporting Articles, Annotated Powerpoint slides. R. C. Wolcott, J. G. Conley editors.

Intellectual Property:  The Ground Rules, Kellogg Technical Note, distributed through HBS, version 1.0, September 2005, w/ David Orozco.

J. G. Conley, Manejando la propriedad intellectual en el Mercado global,  Strategy and Negotiations Magazine (in Spanish Language), Spring  2005.

J.G. Conley, E.Andros, P. Chinai, E. Lipkowitz, D. Perez, Game Over:  Emulation and the Video Game Industry,  Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property, volume 2, Spring 2004

J. G. Conley and J. Szoboscan, Snow White Shows the Way. Managing Intellectual Property Magazine, June 2001.

J. H. Lemelson and J. G. Conley, Synthetic diamond overlays for gas turbine engine parts having thermal barrier coatings, United States Patent #6099976, August 8, 2000.

J. H. Lemelson and J. G. Conley, Synthetic diamond coatings with intermediate amorphous metal bonding layers and methods of applying such coatings,, United States Patent #6083570, July 4, 2000.

J. G. Conley and J. H. Lemelson,  Synthetic Diamond Layers Having Wear Resistant Coatings Formed in situ and Methods of Applying such Coatings, United States Patent #5,786,038,  July 28, 1998.

J. G. Conley and J. H. Lemelson,  Synthetic Diamond Layers Having Wear Resistant Coatings Formed in situ and Methods of Applying such Coatings, United States Patent #5,786,038,  July 28, 1998.

J. H. Lemelson and J. G. Conley,  Synthetic Diamond Overlays for Gas Turbine Engine Parts Having Thermal Barrier Coatings, United States Patent #5,714,202, February 3, 1998.

J. H. Lemelson and J. G. Conley,  Method of Depositing Synthetic Diamond Coatings with Intermediate Bonding Layers, United States Patent #5,688,557, November 1997.

J. G. Conley and J. H. Lemelson,  Method of Applying a Wear Resistant Diamond Coating to a Substrate, United States Patent #5,616,372, April 1997.

W.Wang, J. T. Scarry and  J. G. Conley,  System and Method for Ameliorating Subcontracting Risk,  United States Patent Application #0087380 A1, July 4, 2001