With an aim to highlight and broaden the participation of European industry and researchers at the inaugural IEEE World Technology Summit, EURAXESS North America shares the following piece by Dr. Bruno Iafelice, CEO of the TVLP Institute, IEEE senior member, and WTS committee member.
An always hot topic is technology transfer. According to the European Innovation Council, the European Commission included in the 2024 work program funding opportunities of over €94 million to turn research results into innovation opportunities. The classic approach in the scientific world is "the researcher identifies a research theme considering the state of the art in his field, and the industry seeks research results that can transform into new products."
The research seeks economic support in the industry, possibly transferring some of its findings to the market. This model is well known to the technology transfer centers of several universities and research institutions and to industry people involved in identifying new technologies and scientific findings to turn into new products. Is this the best (and only) way to create innovation?
The entrepreneurs know that the starting point of any new venture is not technology but rather an unmet need many people have. And since big problems also bring significant prospective users of their innovative solution, they are linked to substantial market opportunities.
Starting from a market need well known to the industry rather than the research itself would have better innovation results for the research-to-industry process. In other words, if the industry could suggest research topics, the researcher's knowledge of the state of the art and the market could impact the innovation process in academics and research centers and help find research topics with a prospective higher market impact.
The IEEE World Technology Summit (WTS) employs this model. Planned for November 2024 in the heart of Silicon Valley, California, it is the first conference (if we can call it "conference") where some of the world's largest companies, such as Google, Intel, Microsoft, and Samsung, suggest the discussion topics. Researchers are invited to participate by presenting their solutions and research to identify problems with high entrepreneurial potential.
Companies and researchers will come together to solve the technical challenges in creating the latest competitive products and services, focusing on artificial intelligence, its applications from medicine to entertainment and food, and everything ancillary for large-scale implementation, such as energy production systems or cooling for data centers. The primary sponsor for WTS is the Industry Engagement Committee of the IEEE, which launched this initiative so that the industry could describe complex technology issues involved in creating products and engage researchers in finding ways to respond to those issues.
In addition to engineers interested in planning future products and those working in the academic technology transfer sector, expected participants are members of product development, marketing, and support communities, making WTS a forge of future innovations and a place for dialogue among innovation players. European companies and researchers should attend to network with their transatlantic peers and find opportunities to develop innovations in critical fields such as generative artificial intelligence (AI), space, and semiconductors, and so take advantage of the funding opportunities of the EIC work program 2024.