Topic – ‘Disruptive Innovation: A Smarter and a More Secure State’ – A “Smart State” is a governing entity with modern critical infrastructure to enable effective and efficient functioning of that state in the key areas of governance, economic development, communication, energy management, and education. In 2006, New Hampshire was already proposed as a unique state in the Union for homeland security pilot projects (Bliss, 2006). In addition, New Hampshire enjoys a position one of the most innovative states in the USA (Gittell, 2010). These two factors, among others, contribute to position New Hampshire as a strong candidate to become the first “Smart State” in the Union. This concept is being realized using two paradigms: (i) “Disruptive Innovation” (Christensen, 1996), and (ii) “Service Innovation” (Spohrer, 2006).

Prof Andrzej Rucinski – represents a growing category of “transatlantic professors” defining the role of academia in the global engineering era and developing global innovation, technology, and education solutions. He was educated both in Poland and the former Soviet Union and has conducted his academic career in both the United States (University of New Hampshire, USA), Europe (France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine), and Asia (India, Kazakhstan).  His service has been with high tech industry, NGOs, ranging from state (National Infrastructure Institute) to a global level (NATO, United Nations Organization). He is a member of the Executive Committee (Innovation Chair) of the IEEE Computer Society’s Design Automation Technical Committee.  At the University of New Hampshire, he is the founding Director of the Critical Infrastructure Dependability Laboratory, the Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Space Science Center. He was the Member of the US State Department/Fulbright National Screening Committee, a Visiting Professor at the Gdansk University of Technology, a Professor of the Indo-US Coalition of Engineering Education (IUCEE), and he has been the Fulbright Senior Specialist.