sustainability

Top Technology Management Trends to Watch in 2017

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By Greg Holden, Business Writer & Social Media Manager, Industrial Research Institute

The research working groups at the Industrial Research Institute (IRI) take a good, hard look at how they, the practitioners, not academics or theoreticians, approach the everyday management of technology innovation management at large technology companies. These members are on the front lines, doing the real work of managing R&D at some of the world’s largest, most innovative companies. The scholars and subject matter experts who are attracted to IRI, and who volunteer their time to provide support to these working groups, are also interested in the practical applications of their theories at real companies. This is the IRI crowd, and it is vibrant. So when we at IRI see a trend in our web and content analytics, we pay attention. Based on 2016 data, a few trends stood out. Continue reading →

The Problem with our Transportation System is Us

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(The following throwback article appeared in the July 1967 issue of Research Management, the precursor to our award-winning journal, Research-Technology Management, and was written by James P. Romualdi for whom Carnegie Mellon University named its annual Civil and Environmental Engineering Award.)

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IRI2038: A Blueprint for Developing Africa?

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By Greg Holden, Business Writer & Social Media Manager, IRI

By planning for a possible future, do we inevitably allow for that future to come true? Take one of the foresight scenarios from the IRI2038 Futures Project. It’s called “Africa Leapfrogs Developed Markets” and it anticipates a time, 25 years from now, when the African economy will accelerate in growth and dynamism beyond the developed world at present. How could this happen given what we see from the African continent today?

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Sustainability: Leverage or Burden?

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By Ed Bernstein, IRI President, and Greg Holden, Business Writer

How one frames a question matters. Media pundits of all stripes can attest to this simple fact; the choice of words when framing your topic matters to how your message is received. Take, for example, the question of whether or not to pursue the implementation of sustainability best practices at your organization. How your organization’s leadership requests such an implementation matters to how it is received by those performing it.

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MIT study vindicates ‘Innovation Economy 2020’ initiative

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By Ed Bernstein, President, Industrial Research Institute

Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) came to DC last Friday to deliver a report covering their research into our manufacturing sector. So what did they find? Unsurprisingly, they identified gaping holes in our industrial ecosystem that need to be filled with the right talent, the right infrastructure and the right incentives to make our manufacturing sector healthy again. Closely in line with IRI’s Innovation Economy 2020 initiative and position statement, the report offered solid data matching what IRI member companies have discussed at our meetings for at least a decade now. So what else did the MIT report provide that made it intriguing? For starters, it offered a useful comparison.

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