Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS March Meeting 2013
Volume 58, Number 1
Monday–Friday, March 18–22, 2013; Baltimore, Maryland
Session 1A: Industrial Physics Forum: Innovation and Entrepreneurship |
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Chair: David Seiler, National Institute of Standards and Technology Room: Ballroom IV |
Sunday, March 17, 2013 2:30PM - 3:06PM |
1A.00001: DARPA Loves Its Physicists Invited Speaker: Robert Colwell DARPA's Microsystems Technology Office, MTO, conceives and develops a wide range of technologies to benefit the US warfighter, from exotic GaN transistors to high-power fiber lasers, highly efficient embedded computer systems to synthetic biology. MTO has world class electrical and mechanical engineers, but we also have a cadre of extremely capable physicists, whose complementary skillset has been absolutely essential to identifying promising technological avenues for the office and for the agency. In this talk I will explain the DARPA model of technology development, using real examples from MTO, highlighting programs where physics-based insights have led to important new capabilities for the Dept of Defense. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, March 17, 2013 3:06PM - 3:42PM |
1A.00002: NASA technology investments: building America's future Invited Speaker: Mason Peck Investments in technology and innovation enable new space missions, stimulate the economy, contribute to the nation's global competitiveness, and inspire America's next generation of scientists, engineers and astronauts. Chief Technologist Mason Peck will provide an overview of NASA's ambitious program of space exploration that builds on new technologies, as well as proven capabilities, as it expands humanity's reach into the solar system while providing broadly-applicable benefits here on Earth. Peck also will discuss efforts of the Office of the Chief Technologist to coordinate the agency's overall technology portfolio, identifying development needs, ensuring synergy and reducing duplication, while furthering the national initiatives as outlined by President Obama's Office of Science and Technology Policy. By coordinating technology programs within NASA, Peck's office facilitates integration of available and new technology into operational systems that support specific human-exploration missions, science missions, and aeronautics. The office also engages other government agencies and the larger aerospace community to develop partnerships in areas of mutual interest that could lead to new breakthrough capabilities. NASA technology transfer translates our air and space missions into societal benefits for people everywhere. Peck will highlight NASA's use of technology transfer and commercialization to help American entrepreneurs and innovators develop technological solutions that stimulate the growth of the innovation economy by creating new products and services, new business and industries and high quality, sustainable jobs. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, March 17, 2013 3:42PM - 4:18PM |
1A.00003: Innovation Driver Nanoelectronics Invited Speaker: Hubert Lakner When addressing the global societal challenges most solutions will require $\it{Nanoelectronics}$ and $\it{Smart Systems}$ - therefore innovation today is mainly based on nanoelectronics which has become one of the most important key enabling technologies and innovation drivers. Nanoelectronics has been extended by other microtechnologies. This results in additional functionalities. The combination of analog and digital electronics, the integration of sensors and actuators, of power devices and rf components on wafer level makes it possible to shrink shoebox sized systems to the size of a matchbox. But there is no innovation without research. Europe (Germany) is top in invention but poor in commercialization - many good ideas fail when going from research to production within the so-called Valley of Death. To overcome this, a clear strategy is necessary. Silicon Saxony, the big Saxonian cluster on micro- and nanoelectronics is presented as a best practice example: clear focus, addressing whole value chains and establishing joint technology platforms has led to a remarkable commercial success in the Dresden area. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, March 17, 2013 4:18PM - 4:54PM |
1A.00004: Physics and Entrepreneurship: A Small Business Perspective Invited Speaker: Jason Cleveland |
Sunday, March 17, 2013 4:54PM - 5:30PM |
1A.00005: Physics and Innovation: A Large-Company Perspective Invited Speaker: Robert Doering With regard to its influence on \textit{innovation} (i.e., creating new commercial technologies), physics continuously faces the challenge of ``keeping ahead of engineering'' and ``moving on'' to new concepts as well as to potentially new roles with respect to industrial research. For most large companies, the R{\&}D model has undergone significant transformation over the past three decades. This has been driven, in part, by the increasing cost of continuously developing new technologies upon which to base state-of-the-art products. Part of this challenge is to select which new concepts and ``emerging technologies'' to pursue. A poor decision at this point wastes development resources and can be very difficult to overcome later. Therefore, a key feature of many new R{\&}D models is collaboration with entities outside of the corporation. Such partnerships reduce both the cost and risk of exploring multiple lines of research which may lead to new technologies. One flexible approach to organizing R{\&}D partnerships is via the establishment of a consortium. The semiconductor industry has successfully used research consortia since the founding of the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) in 1982 and SEMATECH a few years later. The automotive industry has also used the consortium approach for many years since the formation of the United States Council for Automotive Research (USCAR) in 1992. In the case of the SRC, the principal operating methodology is for the members to create requests for proposals leading to the collective funding of university research. This is often done in partnership with federal agencies. For example, the Focus Center Research Program (FCRP, an SRC subsidiary) is co-funded with DARPA. Another SRC subsidiary, the Nanoelectronics Research Initiative (NRI) is jointly supported with the NSF and NIST. This NRI-agency partnership has partly been enabled by the National Nanotechnology Initiative's Signature Initiative on ``Nanoelectronics for 2020 and Beyond.'' Within the SRC portfolio, the NRI research is particularly ``physics intensive''! Of course, in addition to consortia, the new models typically include external R{\&}D through consulting arrangements, IP licensing, and acquisition of smaller companies that have developed useful new technologies, supported in some cases by SBIRs and other forms of government investment in growth of the economy. [Preview Abstract] |
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