Invited Keynote Speakers
We are pleased that a number of prominent and knowledgeable speakers have agreed to give plenary talks at InnovationKT'2013.
The speakers and the titles of their talks are shown below.
Professor Mike Smith
ChairmanInstitute of Knowledge Transfer
- Innovation in the UK Health Service
- Future development of the IKT over the coming 5 years (after dinner talk)
Prof Cecilia Zanni-Merk
INSA Graduate School of Science and TechnologyUniversity of Strasbourg, France
- Research collaborations with SMEs in France
Dr Susan Whoriskey
Senior Vice PresidentModerna Therapeutics
- Do YOU believe it's important and it has never been done before? Then just DO it! Lessons from the Boston Biotech ecosystem.
Norman Crowley
Serial Technology Entrepreneur- Technology Entrepreneurship
Carol Keery
Director of Innovation, Research and TechnologyInvest NI
- Government support for Innovation and Knowledge Exchange
Dr. Harry Hatzakis
Founder & CEOBiotronics3D
- “Believe: it can be done”
Ciaran Duffy
Enterprise Ireland- “Research and Enterprise Funding from Horizon 2020”
Peter Walters
- “Collaborative ICT research towards H2020 - a personal view from a National Contact Point'”
Speaker Profiles
Professor Mike Smith
ChairmanEmeritus Professor of Medical Science
Chair of the Institute of Knowledge Transfer
Innovation in the UK Health Service
Abstract:
The process by which a new idea eventually becomes applied in practice is complex and sometimes specific within a particular sector. This is true for the health sector in general, and particularly so when a health service is organised at a national level such as the UK's NHS. In the health sector, the transition of a new innovation into widespread use will involve a range of disparate, but sometimes related activities. This innovation pathway will involve a range of activities including basic and applied research, product or application development, process reconfiguration, dissemination, evaluation, commercialisation, regulation, adoption and implementation. This presentation reviews the key issues of innovation in the NHS, concentrating on the complex mechanisms necessary for the development of new ideas by research or clinical experience through to their subsequent implementation into widespread clinical practice. A number of these activities will fall under the broad heading of knowledge transfer, and these components of knowledge transfer which are specific to a large centralise health service, as well as those which are relevant to the health sector in general, will be examined and discussed.
Biography:
Professor Mike Smith has worked in the University sector as Pro Vice Chancellor for Research, Knowledge Transfer and Enterprise. He has also held senior positions in the NHS in Clinical Science and R&D. His extensive experience of healthcare and medical devices has extended into the commercial sector, particularly the commercialisation of innovations and company formation. He is currently Chair of Medipex Ltd. and The Institute of Knowledge Transfer.
Prof Cecilia Zanni-Merk
INSA Graduate School of Science and TechnologyUniversity of Strasbourg, France
Research collaborations with SMEs in France
Abstract:
This talk will present the different available possibiities for research collaborations between the Universities and the SMEs in France. These possibilities include all the range between research collaboration and pure service provision. Several aspects need to be taken into accout to choose the correct option, in particular, intellectual property aspects and the obligation (or not) for the University to get results.
Some examples of projects will be presented with the lessons learned with each of them.
Biography:
Cecilia Zanni-Merk is an associate professor at the INSA Graduate School of Science and Technology of Strasbourg (France) where she teaches Artificial Intelligence, Numerical Analysis and Programming to engineering students.
Dr. Zanni-Merk is also the deputy head of the Data-Mining, Theoretical Bioinformatics and Stochastic Optimisation (BFO) team of Engineering, Imaging and Computer Science laboratory (ICUBE). Her main research interests are in conceptual representation and inference processes applied to problem solving in Engineering. During the last years, she has been working closely with SMEs in Alsace to promote innovation and competitivity.
Dr Susan Whoriskey
Senior Vice PresidentModerna Therapeutics
Do YOU believe it's important and it has never been done before? Then just DO it! Lessons from the Boston Biotech ecosystem.
Biography:
Prior to joining Moderna in June 2011, Susan was Founder of Whoriskey Associates, a biotechnology consulting firm. She also served as an Entrepreneur in Residence at the MIT Entrepreneurship Center. She was on the Founding Executive Teams of Momenta Pharmaceuticals (MNTA) from 2002 to 2007 and Cubist Pharmaceuticals (CBST) from 1993 to 2001. At Momenta, Susan had leadership responsibilities for Corporate Development, Scientific Licensing and Intellectual Property Strategy. Momenta achieved an IPO, two filings for Marketing Approval with the FDA, and FDA approval to launch generic enoxaparin. At Cubist, Susan had leadership roles in Scientific Licensing and Intellectual Property Strategy. She was part of the IPO team and the diligence and deal teams that in-licensed Cubicin® which was successfully developed by Cubist and approved for marketing by the FDA. From 1989 to 1993 Susan was a research fellow in Molecular Genetics at Harvard Medical School with Nobel Laureate Dr. Jack Szostak. She holds a BS in Microbiology from University of Massachusetts-Amherst and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Molecular Genetics from University of California Los Angeles.
Dr. Whoriskey also serves as a member of the Clinical Translational Research and Innovation Centre's (C-TRIC) International Advisory Panel. C-TRIC, the award-winning clinical research facility based at Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry, was developed as a joint partnership between the University of Ulster, the Western Health and Social Care Trust and Derry City Council.
Norman Crowley
Serial Technology EntrepreneurFounder of 'The Cloud', Europe's largest Wifi Operator, 'Inspired', Server Based Gaming Domains, 'Trinity Commerce' and now 'Crowley Carbon' to reduce waste
Technology Entrepreurship
Biography:
Norman Crowley is a serial technology entrepreneur. He has founded several successful technology ventures since the age of 26, including "The Cloud" Europe's largest Wifi operator later sold to Murdoch, "Inspired" the world's largest player in the area of Server Based Gaming, Trinity Commerce one of the first Ecommerce service companies in the world and most recently, Crowley Carbon.
In 1996 at the age of 26 Norman founded his first technology company Trinity Commerce. Trinity was one of the first eCommerce services companies in the world. By 1999 Norman had grown the business to 5 countries and 150 people. Three years later the business was sold to Eircom Plc.
In 2001 Norman co-founded Inspired Gaming Group with 8 people in the UK. By 2006 Inspired was the largest player in the world in the area of Server Based Gaming (SBG) and was floated on the London Stock Exchange. At the time it had grown to 2500 people and had revenues of US$500m. Along the way Norman also co-founded “The Cloud”, Europe’s largest Wifi operator. This business was sold earlier this year to Rupert Murdoch for circa €80m.
In 2008 Crowley Carbon was born and in 2009 Norman's ambition to help corporations reduce energy consumption in their businesses took shape. Crowley Carbon has developed and patented a range of cutting edge technologies to reduce waste. Their products reduce energy use in everything from industrial chillers, large motors all the way through to high efficiency heat exchangers to name a few.
Norman is on the board of First Step Georgia, a charity looking after neglected/disabled children in Georgia (former Soviet Union).
He is also on the board of i2e2, Innovation for Ireland's Energy Efficiency. The I2E2 Energy Research Centre is a government sponsored Technology Centre, established to facilitate research which will have a direct impact on industry. The I2E2 research focus is on energy efficiency improvements in factories, plant, equipment and buildings. The current research agenda focuses on compressed air systems characterisation, use and solution integration; appropriate work environments and HVAC systems. The innovations will enable the Irish manufacturing industry to improve competitiveness via breakthroughs in energy efficiency and cost reduction.
He lives in Wicklow with his wife, two daughters and two dogs and can be spotted every morning running up the nearest mountain - he said it clears his head!
Carol Keery
Director of Innovation, Research and TechnologyInvest NI
Government support for Innovation and Knowledge Exchange (TBC)
Biography:
Carol has been working in the economic developement arena for over 20 years, across the key areas of enterprise and innovation. She was appointed to the post of Director of Innovation, Research and Technology in April 2008 at a time when Invest NI was reviewing the ways in which it supported businesses to carry out R&D. SInce that time she has overseen a programme of comprehensive change to how Invest NI works with businesses to support their R&D activities. Prior to taking up this post Carol was involved in Trade and Policy Development and has a strong background in EU funded programmes.
Dr. Harry Hatzakis
Founder and CEOBiotronics3D
“Believe: it can be done”
Biography:
Dr. Harry Hatzakis, PhD, is an experienced executive with a strong technical and commercial mind-set, highly driven to deliver shareholder value based on innovative product and business strategies and strong revenue growth. His passion for exploiting early-stage technologies led him to a career progressing from R&D through Product Management to Strategic Global Marketing to Executive positions in the international health care ICT market, working with companies in the UK and USA. The last venture he founded, Biotronics3D (www.biotronics3d.com) grew from a one man operation to the most innovative company in the industry which is transforming the face of a market. With an engineering background, he is regularly presenting highly complex concepts to institutional investors, senior management teams and stake-holders based on experience ranging from engineering software to medical devices and medical imaging. His current research is on the commercialisation of early stage technological innovation.
Harry studied in Greece and Imperial College, London. He resides in London, UK.
Ciaran Duffy
Enterprise Ireland“Research and Enterprise Funding from Horizon 2020”
Biography:
Ciarán holds a B.Sc. (Hons) in Analytical Science and a Ph.D in Biotechnology from Dublin City University. Part of his work for his Ph.D. was spent working on the development of microfluidic devices for bioanalysis at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, and using in-house constructed capillary electrophoretic instruments for subcellular analysis at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
Following completion of his PhD, Ciarán spent some time working at the National Research Council, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, before returning to work for a number of years at the University of Minnesota. Here he specialized in the design and construction of microfluidic devices for the analysis of subcellular components. Following on from this in 2002 he returned to the National Centre for Sensor Research, Dublin City University, securing an IRCSET Postdoctoral Fellowship and continuing to work in the area of microfluidic devices for subcellular analysis. Ciarán has also experience working in the industrial sector, specifically within the diagnostics and pharmaceutical areas where he worked from 2005 until 2008 before joining Enterprise Ireland as a Senior Scientific Officer.
Ciarán's current role at Enterprise Ireland focuses on EU funding, specifically, as National Contact Point for FP7 Health, Ambient Assisted Living Joint Programme, as well as states representative for the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI).
Peter Walters
“Collaborative ICT research towards H2020 - a personal view from a National Contact Point”
Biography:
Peter, has, for many years been UK's ICT National Contact Point with the task of helping UK Organisations to take benefit from the European Commission's Collaborative Research Frameworks in the area of Information & Communications Technologies. Benefit to the participant is his key focus. He is well connected with key EC officers in Brussels and Luxembourg and his colleagues from other countries. He commenced this role at the start of Framework Programme 5. He is a member of the FP7 Programme management committee. He now works less than 5 days a week in the NCP role, and is very patient.
Before 1999 he pursued a career in Industrial Research at Central Research Laboratories (Initially of EMI). Where he tried to bring innovation to marketable product with interests in imaging, security, manufacturing systems, and cooking. He joined EMI in 1975 as one of the members of the research team which brought the first NMR image of a living human head to public gaze.
