IRI's 2009 Annual Meeting

May 18-21, 2009
Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers
 Boston, MA

Thank you for joining us in Boston.

Annual Meeting Quick Facts:

• 280  Registered Individuals
• 177 Organizations represented
•  67 First-Time Attendees

R&D Under Pressure: Solutions

• Global Environment
• Open Innovation/Partnering
• Leadership/Culture
• Modern R&D Trends & Drivers

R&D organizations are under pressure to restructure their organizational and technological capabilities in key areas. Learn how successful companies are providing their R&D units with tools to manage the rapidly changing R&D environment.

Key take-aways:

• Learn techniques to manage your corporate R&D strategy in uncertain economic times
• Hear solutions from your R&D industry peers
• Explore ideas for operational effectiveness in a global environment
• Learn to prosper, lead and manage pressure to your advantage
• Network with top-level R&D professionals
• Take advantage of daily dialogue exchanges and hand-on sessions
• Learn how to innovate out of the pressure

Top executives and confirmed Keynote presenters include:

• William Banholzer, EVP & CTO, The Dow Chemical Company -  View Presentation
• William C. Harris, President and CEO, Science Foundation Arizona
• Dr. Claude R. Canizares, Vice President for Research and Associate Provost, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Dr. Uma Chowdhry, Senior Vice President and Chief Science & Technology Office, DuPont  View Presentation

2009 IRI Award Winners:

• Norman Augustine, 2009 IRI Medalist, Retired chairman and CEO of the Lockheed Martin Corporation

• Ashok V. Joshi, PhD, 2009 IRI Achievement Award Winner, President, Ceramatec

Additional Speakers:

• Dr. Daniel Abramowicz, Executive Vice President, Technology & Regulatory Affairs, Crown International
• Dr. Richard C. Bingham, Technology Planning Manager, E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company
• Alan R. Fusfeld, President, Chief Executive Officer, The Fusfeld Group
• Dr. Steven Goers, VP Open Innovation, Kraft
• Dr. Pamela Henderson, Chief Executive Officer, NewEdge, Inc.
• Dr. Terrence Heng, Chairman of the Board, Gridline Communications Holdings
• Dr. Michael Maccoby, President, The Maccoby Group
• Stewart Mehlman, Director, Licensing, Alliances & Emerging Technologies, Praxair, Inc.
• Dr. Marc H. Meyer, Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies, Director, High Technology MBA Programs, Northeastern University
• Gregory E. Poling, Vice President, W.R. Grace, President, Grace Davison
• Philip Russell, Director, Innovation Process & Project Management Office, Weyerhaeuser Company
• Dr. Kenan Sahin, Chairman and CEO, TIAX
• Dr. Ram Shenoy, Managing Director, Schlumberger
• Bradley Short, Controller, IBM's Research Division
• Tony Singarayar, Chief Operating Officer, SmartBrain Technologies
• Robert Stahl, Director HR Business, Research, Philip Morris International
• Dr. Starnes Walker, Director of Research, Department of Homeland Security, Directorate for Science and Technology
• Dr. Susan K. Ward, President & CEO, ITECS
• Dr. Ray Yourd, Director, Bayer MaterialScience LLC

New this year:

• IRI Book Club and Book Exchange (Tuesday, May 19) - attendees can meet and discuss books related to R&D, innovation, leadership, or other pressing topics. Exchange information, recommend reading material and bring a book to exchange with a colleague!
• Lunch & Learn (Wednesday, May 20) - short presentations and discussion sessions open to all meeting attendees during lunch.  Explore issues and ideas related to annual meeting theme.

• The Power of Innovation Discipline - Learn how to innovate using technologies that may not be part of your in-house expertise through systematic, functionally-structured, open innovation;
  - lower risk, achieve increased outcome predictability, and improve time-to-market through a systematic approach to innovation
  - learn how to base product innovation not only on Voice of the Customer, but also on unexpressed user needs as reflected in projected trends of  technological evolution;
  - simplify product designs for increased sustainability

• Unlocking Innovation in a Sea of Information – Learn how research professionals at Fortune 500 companies can use "technology intelligence" and automated research to drive technological and business-focused discoveries and how this technology is changing the landscape for innovation by minimizing research time in locating ideas outside a company's four walls. 
  
  
• Creating a Winning R&D Culture – Learn from a case-study how to quickly and simply raise the creativity and innovativeness of an entire R&D organization (in less than one year), by understanding and applying the principles related to the genetic nature of creativity, while also understanding the need for training and coaching inherently creative people in business discipline. 

•  Leveraging Thought Diversity to Drive Innovation - Is managing the diversity of thought on cross-functional innovation teams a challengein your organization?  Do you want to understand how team dynamics and leadershipskills can promote innovation by leveraging your teams’ thought diversity?

• Depression Recession R&D Strategies for Success -This session explores the implications of a recent literature review of past studies and case   histories of R&D strategies in previous recessions and the Great Depression.

• Radical Innovation Network - Assess the level of interest among IRI members in creating an ongoing forum for the discussion of radical innovation.    Review key results from the original Radical Innovation initiative and discuss interest and possible formats for such a forum

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2009 Annual Meeting Tech Fair

Preliminary list of Tech Fair Exhibitors include:

Auckland Uniservices, Ltd.
BASF
Ceramatec, Inc.
Chemat Technology, Inc.
CPA Global
Gen3 Partners
iBridge Network
Illumin8 (Elsevier)
Invention Machine
ITECS
MIDOIR
NewEdge
OpenMetrik
Sagentia, Inc

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Here's what attendees told us they liked best about our 2008 Annual Meeting:

The relevance of the presentations to my business.
Technology Director, FMC Corporation

The overall quality and relevance of the presentations.
Manager of Electronics Miniaturization Lab, General Electric

Quality of speakers and content.
Director ACCE. Science Chair, BASF

Topics relevant to today's world outlook.
Senior Vice President, Research Division, ADM

I found the topics thought provoking. Some, frankly I had not considered before attending. So beyond the networking, it made me think about some other issues.
Technology Manager, BP

The collaboration spirit.
Chief Technology Officer, Metalsa

Inspiring speakers and recharging my efforts.
Technology Leader, Albany International

Networking opportunities & strategic level of presentations and discussions.
Science Director, Novelis

Great for networking, liked themes of plenary sessions.
Director, Business Development, NEC Laboratories

Liked the plenary sessions; I thought these were informative. I also liked the presentations from the awards winners. Very inspirational.
Group Manager, Novozymes Biologicals, Inc.

Networking opportunities, new contacts and presentations of award winners.
Chief Executive Officer, Innovation Insights

Presentation by the CEO's were outstanding.
Director, USG Corporation

Networking. New info on trends.
Director, Research Business Development, Alcatel-Lucent

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