IT&T Conference 2010 and ARE Event
The 10th IT&T conference entitled “Research : Driving the Knowledge Economy” was held at LYIT and brought together leading thinkers on these new technologies from around Ireland and Europe. It was organised by the WiSAR Lab team whose aim is to facilitate partnerships and collaborations that will drive future research funding in leading industry sectors, such as wireless technology. It was also supported by IOTI. An Tanaiste, Mary Coghlan, TD, gave the keynote address on "Research in the Regions"
Dr Richard Thorn, Director of Research IOTI, commented that "the research community had to be more media savvy and need to demonstrate that what it does is relevant". This echoed remarks made by the Tanaiste Mary Coghlan when opening the conference. Challenging the research community, she said "the research community has to connect with the wider community and show that it is already helping industry and is actually at the heart of attempts to find a way out of our current economic difficulties".
Panel members at the Conference which brought together industry and research to create new opportunities for collaboration. L-R Dr Jim Morrison of WiSAR Lab; Professor Dermot Diamond, NCSR, DCU; Tanaiste Mary Coghlan; Dr Damian McKeever, CTO, Kelsius; Dr Richard Thorn, Director of Research IOTI and Nick Timmons of WiSAR Lab (Professor William Scanlon, ECIT, QUB not present).
Nick Timmons and Jim Morrison, founders of the WiSAR Lab hosted the IT&T conference, now in its 10th year, in Letterkenny to bring industry, academia and funders together in order to transfer knowledge and research and apply it to industry. “There is a high calibre of knowledge and leading research in Ireland, we need a way to harness this and apply it to industry, to make that happen we need funders. That’s the whole premise of this conference to bring all the players together.” explains Nick Timmons, WiSAR Lab.
According to Conference Chairman, Dr Jim Morrison, “The focus this year is on collaboration and how research can help industry develop commercial products. In our own space of wireless technology we’re looking to expand the uses of this technology for things like remote patient monitoring and intelligent energy conservation systems.”
Nick Timmons, co-founder of the IT&T conference and principal investigator in the WiSAR Lab at LYIT, explained, “There are commercial opportunities in the group’s research and the challenge is to match this work with industry to create new markets. The conference offers an opportunity to bring researchers and industry together which is why we’re delighted to host the IT&T conference again.At WiSAR Lab because we have a flexible and open approach towards intellectual property aspects of collaborative research and our consultancy services, it allows us to adapt to the needs of our industrial partners. This conference is integral to bringing industry and researchers together to drive industry.”
There was also a session hosted by the Enterprise Ireland funded Applied Research Centres in Information and Communication Technologies. These centres are based in the Institutes of Technology and transfer the knowledge gained from their research via collaborative projects with indigenous and multinational companies operating in Ireland. Pictured above are David Tracey from WiSAR Lab, Claire Phelan from 3CS, An Tanaiste Mary Coghlan. Andrew McFarlane from CASALA, Brian Lee from Tec-Centre. SUNAT also attended.
