Dr. Gunnar Weikert, chairman of Inventages Venture Capital Investments, will be the keynote speaker at the Big Bang! Business Plan Competition kickoff event at UC Davis on Wednesday, Oct. 26.

In a talk, titled "From Therapy to Prevention: The End of the Traditional Pharma Industry," Weikert will offer his perspective on the pharmaceutical industry's increasing focus on direct-to-consumer preventive medication. His venture capital firm makes investments in cutting-edge life sciences and health sciences research and technologies.

Weikert's talk will begin at 5 p.m. at the University Club, followed at 6 p.m. by the launch of the sixth annual Big Bang! Business Plan Competition.

The Big Bang! competition, organized by MBA students at the Graduate School of Management, promotes entrepreneurship, innovation and hands-on learning across the campus. During the next seven months, the competition will include workshops on finance, marketing, intellectual property and legal issues, and business-plan development. Finalists will present their plans in May, at which time $15,000 in prize money will be awarded.

Tuesday's event will include a mixer to help connect students, researchers and others interested in forming teams to enter the competition. For more information about Big Bang!, see http://bigbang.gsm.ucdavis.edu.

Weikert's keynote lecture is presented by the UC Davis Office of Research, the management school and UC Davis CONNECT. Attendees and members of the media are asked to R.S.V.P. to ortia@ucdavis.edu.