OCTOBER 20, 2005
DR AGENOR MAFRA-NETO HONORED WITH ENTREPRENEURIAL EXCELLENCE AWARD BY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, RIVERSIDE, BOURNS COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

Dr Agenor Mafra-Neto was honored with the Entrepreneurial Excellence Award by the University of California, Riverside (UCR), Bourns College of Engineering at the 7th Annual Industry Day and Research Review Awards Banquet on October 19, 2005.

Dr Dennis Rice, UCR Assistant Dean for Planning and Industrial Relations, who read the award presentation speech, said : “Living in an important agricultural region, we are pleased that the Bourns College of Engineering is part of this entrepreneur’s strategy for growing ISCA Technologies and fueling the knowledge-based economy of the Inland empire. He conducts collaborative research with faculty in the Bourns College of Engineering, as well as the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, and he hires student interns from Engineering … For his interactions with and support of the Bourns College of Engineering, and his entrepreneurial successes, I am delighted to present Dr. Agenor Mafra-Neto with tonight’s Entrepreneurial Excellence Award!”

Here are excerpts of Dr Mafra-Neto’s acceptance speech :

“Passion is important but not enough, what has been critical to growing the business is the dedicated and talented people that have guided me through the world of business and entrepreneurship, for which I consider myself very fortunate to have worked with. I’d like to take the opportunity to thank several of these people. This award would not be possible without the outstanding competence and dedication of ISCA’s employees. I would particularly like to highlight Dr Reginald Coler. Reg has been a superb manager who has followed through on many of the product visions that we have, and developed and championed them to the point that they are ready for commercialization.

Several key people have generously guided me though the years as mentors and advisors : William Frankenberger, Alan Lewis, Thuyen Nguyen, William Saito and the people at the Inland Empire Small Business Development Center.

One of the reasons that we chose to locate ISCA in Riverside is our access to a wealth of talent across a wide range of disciplines from UCR, and particularly those from 3 of its renowned schools : the Department of Entomology, College of Engineering and the School of Management. Over the years, ISCA has hired more than 20 UCR interns, several of whom are now our employees. The Bourns College of Engineering several years ago established and continues to support the CEO forum. Amongst its objectives, the CEO Forum aims to promote the Inland Empire as a desired destination for technology companies. I believe that I can speak for the members of the CEO forum to say that it has been a very valuable forum for us to network and confide with one another about the challenges of managing and growing our companies.

The research and development of many of our innovative products would not be possible without the funding and the dedication of the people from the federal agencies that have funded these R&D efforts. These agencies are the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Standards and Technology, the National Institutes of Health, the US Army, the United States Department of Agriculture, and special mention to the Center of Commercialization of Advanced Technology, based at CSU San Bernardino, who provide funding and assistance for a an important niche : the development of our prototype products into commercialized products.

I’d like to thank Alisa Pettey Torres – for her involvement in organizing this event and being our UCR contact person for this event; and all the people who selected me for this award, thank you very much.”

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