Specialists Conferences: A World of Innovation

Feb 22, 2007 10:09 AM
By Alan Elbanhawy, Power Semiconductor Industry Veteran

It is not an accident that innovations are serial or sequential events. That is, each one is an incremental improvement over its predecessor, regardless of the inventor or originator. I cannot count the number of times I’ve had to call for a brainstorming session to come up with the best possible solution to a given problem. I can say that, in my experience, it has always paid well in terms of ease of implementation and sophistication of the solution, something I could have not come up with in such a short time if I were acting alone.

All these brainstorming sessions were confined to employees of one company, one division or merely a group and lasted only a couple of hours at most. But when we attend a specialists’ conference, we are attending a global brainstorming session that goes on for several days. Though your exact problem may not be the theme of the conference, the vast expanse of topics, techniques and ideas is likely to lead you to a solution you never knew existed. And more importantly, you may question the experts about your specific ideas and learn from their experience.

At an average power conversion conference, there may be about 400 distinct presentations, with each presentation being given by a speaker who, typically, has 5 to 15 years of experience. That means there are about 2000 to 6000 man-years of experience of the best minds in your field under one roof. Such a feat could never be duplicated in your company regardless how of large it is.

If you are an engineering manager, general manager or CEO of a high-technology company, I encourage you to take advantage of this unparalleled opportunity. Send your engineers and scientists at all levels to these forums of great scientific innovation and allow your colleagues to expand their knowledge and become true members of the global high-tech community. This will allow you to improve the bottom line hundreds of times more effectively than cost cutting, while also expanding the technological reach of your company.

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© 2007 Penton Media, Inc.