I4J -- what's that

I4J or "Innovation for Jobs" -- a catchy little logo, and a group that organized a two-day seminar this week called "International Summit on Innovation for Jobs".  A 'special invite' group of seventy-five met at SRI to discuss, lament, and debate possible approaches to an insistent problem -- the problem of an apparent economic recovery, but one without jobs.

The meeting, held under Chatham House rules (which decrees that no one get tagged in a quote), featured some truly well-connected folk, versed in these topics, and concerned enough to want to partake in erstwhile solution designs.

For those that don't know, here is the Rule:

When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under Chatham House Rules, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.

On the other hand, the group, and the announcement of the meeting, is on the web, at iiij.org
where it notes that the advisory committee includes Vint Cerf, chief evangelist of Google (and co-creator of the InterNet); Curt Carlson (CEO of SRI); Irwin Jacobs (Founder and Chairman of Qualcomm); and Dave Stangler, Kauffman Foundation.  David Nordfors, the peripatetic leader of the Innovation Journalism program at Stanford was the organizer.   So some of the info is public.

What a stimulating conference, and what a privilege for InnovaScapes Institute to be invited to participate.   Our focus on Intrapreneuring was relevant to be sure, but so was the wider effort we do in terms of advocating better visual understanding of 'big data' and better graphical mathematics.  Such topics as semi-log plots were not lost on this crowd, even as most students in America's graduate business schools don't have a clue about this "Eighth Wonder of the World" acc. to Einstein.

I'll summarize some of the information in subsequent blogs.  Some amazing conversation happened; this group was impressive.

Caltech and UIDP

UIDP, kinda rolls off the tongue, ehh?

UIDP stands for University-Industry Development Partnership, a consortium fashioned with a number of leading universities who have watched Silicon Valley emerge around the nexus of Stanford and Berkeely, or the Boston experience with Harvard and MIT.

Wayne Johnson, a peripatetic leader with time at HP and Microsoft as University Relations VP or Director, has been at Caltech for three years, spearheading their increasingly significant industry interactions.   Johnson shares our belief that while entrepreneurship is the current buzzword, that a sizable share of the truly important problems facing science and technology are better served in established corporations, provided that they can keep a spark of innovation going.

Ah, ha!  That's the question, right?  How do you do that?

Johnson has invited InnovaScapes Institute to present the opening Keynote address on April 16 for this august body of 150, who will spend three days at Caltech and its agenices (including world-famed JPL, and the Curiosity robot on Mars).

For the keynote, I plan to use the social network diagrams that we did at Media X (Martha Russell's fine work) to show the networks around Stanford, MIT, Berkeley, and Harvard, and how each has strengths and weaknesses.  Then contrast that with some data from the Presidential Roundtable and the Competitiveness Council -- data that curls your hair in terms of feeling good about American business leadership.  Close with some variant of the new thesis being promoted by Robert Atkinson at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, tying it to Judy Estrin's impassioned "Closing the Innovation Gap"

Should be a fun day.... and week.

Quite a privilege actually.  ISI is fortunate to have this opportunity.

Forums -- Start with COFES

InnovaScapes Institute has been fortunate of late, getting invitations to several events of consequence.

We're giving the Sunday benediction April 14th at the COFES meeting in Scottsdale.  COFES is the Congress on the Future of Engineering Software, now in its 14th year.  This is a seminal conference, small with a themed focus each year.  I've been a participant and keynoter in past events, and now a session organizer for the wrap-up day.

Since COFES is a bit clandestine, let me share some background from their website:
COFES was founded on the idea that one-on-one interaction and the building of community are the most valuable functions of an industry forum. COFES eschews the distractions of a trade show floor and the formality of executive presentations for a comfortable, causal atmosphere consisting of large and small group discussions with the most influential players and most innovative minds of the software world.

The three founders of COFES, Evan Yares, Dr. Joel Orr, and Brad Holtz, originally became friends through industry conferences. The idea for COFES was a desire to assemble the presidents of CAD firms in such a context, provoking a free exchange of ideas among people who have both the vision and the connections turn ideas into reality.

The result was the November 1999 Summit on the Future of Engineering Software, a first-of-its-kind meeting to which the founders assembled 64 decision-making industry leaders in CAD. "The first summit was unlike any event I'd ever experienced,” recalls Yares. “Here people who normally would be standing in front of the room giving speeches were instead relaxing and talking openly to one another about their visions and concerns for the future.”

In May 2000, the organizers held the follow-up event among palm trees and swimming pools in Scottsdale, Arizona. The Congress on the Future of Engineering Software, COFES 2000, invited 164 CAD industry leaders – this time including editors, analysts, and consultants. As with the Summit, the goal was to bring together people of influence and vision in the CAD industry for the opportunity to freely talk in a relaxed, open environment, a enjoyable retreat from the everyday pace of business.

“It’s remarkable what can happen without the circus-midway atmosphere typical of many conferences and trade shows,” says Yares. “At COFES, people who normally would be pitching their company’s products get the chance to relax, enjoy themselves, and walk away with great contacts and great ideas.”

What do I plan to do for COFES?  Well, stay tuned