RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL OF NEW JERSEY ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR 2000 THOMAS ALVA EDISON PATENT AWARDS

Denville, N.J., March 23, 2000 — The Research and Development (R&D) Council of New Jersey is now accepting applications for the 2000 Thomas Alva Edison Patent Awards. The purpose of these awards is to encourage creativity, technological, commercial and sociological leadership on the part of New Jersey organizations by recognizing their inventors.

The Patent Award Committee of the R&D Council has an evaluation procedure that allows for up to four awards — one in each category. Categories include Medical/Health, Consumer, Industrial/Defense and Emerging (patent submissions from companies with less that 250 employees). Last year's winners were Rutgers University (Medical/Health), Lucent Technologies (Industrial/Defense), and General Magnaplate Corporation (Emerging).

The R&D Council Patent Awards are open to any inventor or sponsoring organization of an invention without restriction on its subject matter. Submissions are not restricted to R&D Council members. Submission deadline is May 1, 2000. For more information and to obtain a nomination form, please call the Council office at 973-627-5330.

The Research & Development Council is a non-profit organization that works to cultivate an environment that supports the advancement of research and development activity throughout New Jersey.

The R&D Council has about 90 member companies.