PICMET is coming up, and I am planning to give a talk…

http://www.picmet.org/new/conferences/2013/

Talk Title: Students for a Smarter Planet

The best way to predict the future is to inspire the next generation of students to build it better.  The management of engineering and technology (MET) is a field that helps prepare student to build a smarter planet.  Closely related to MET, IBM is encouraging the development of new tightly interconnected fields such as service science, data science, and urban science.   The common characteristic of all these emerging fields is their boundary spanning nature.   This talk will review IBM Smarter Planet strategy, the rise of these new boundary spanning fields, and the transformation of education towards a challenge-based curriculum in which student teams guided by faculty from multiple disciplines, working with industry and government, are re-defining professional development in the 21st Century, and giving rise to more T-shaped service innovation professionals who understand the benefits of complex service system platforms for scaling the benefits of new knowledge globally and rapidly.  In addition, this talk will describe eleven innovation trends that will transform all major industries and the planet over the next two decades.

Speaker Bio: Dr. James (“Jim”) C. Spohrer is IBM Innovation Champion and Director of IBM University Programs (IBM UP). Jim works to align IBM and universities globally for innovation amplification.  Previously, Jim helped to found IBM’s first Service Research group, the global Service Science community, and was founding CTO of IBM’s Venture Capital Relations Group in Silicon Valley.  During the 1990’s while at Apple Computer, he was awarded Apple’s Distinguished Engineer Scientist and Technology title for his work on next generation learning platforms.  Jim has a PhD in Computer Science/Artificial Intelligence from Yale, and BS in Physics from MIT. His current research priorities include applying service science to study nested, networked holistic service systems, such as cities and universities. He has more than ninety publications and been awarded nine patents.