I'm looking forward to welcoming you to my home in Texas for the AUTM Annual Meeting February 27 - March 2, 2013. And I'm sure you have heard--we do things BIG in Texas! And Houston is the home of BIG OIL! Just to be certain, I checked Forbes 2000 list, and confirmed that out of the top 20 biggest companies, 8 of the biggest companies were in the oil and gas industry. We are fortunate to have executive representatives from two of these companies (Chevron and Shell) in our oil and gas-- energy roundtable on Saturday morning, March 2 at 9:30am.
What has surprised me, was a comment from one of these companies, describing itself as a technology company that produces oil and gas. This is an industry that is moving unbelievably quickly in so many ways. The mix of companies is changing from what we traditionally know as big oil to NOCs or National Oil Companies -- Petrobras is one on the top 20 list. Then there are the service companies that help them with their business, Baker Hughes as an example, who will join us. And whether the work is upstream or downstream, service or production companies --all these factors affect the role and importance of intellectual property. And what is the role or effect of alternative energy? And how does big oil feel about it?
You'll be excited as I have been to know that these biggest and most profitable companies need exactly what we produce-- students (they each hire thousands of people each year) and disruptive technology. So please join me as we explore and describe the energy industry, their rapidly changing landscape, and how we can solve some of the world's most pertinent problems.