Science 2013—Convergence is the University of Pittsburgh’s 10th Annual Technology Showcase

October 2 - 4, 2013 - Technology Showcase 

Science 2013 - Convergence

Alumni Hall, University of Pittsburgh

Science 2013—Convergence is the University of Pittsburgh’s 10th annual celebration of science and technology. This exciting event showcases the region’s academic strengths in science, engineering, medicine, and computation and highlights some of the incredible research happening in these areas. You’ll experience great science presentations from some of Pittsburgh’s leading researchers, as well as keynote lectures by distinguished guest scientists. The event will also feature exhibits, poster sessions, a career development workshop, a new technology showcase, networking opportunities, and more.

(WEBCAST) Successful Innovations: How Companies are Creatively Meeting the Need for Growth with New Products

September 26, 2013 - Webcast | 2:00pm - 3:00pm EST

Successful Innovations: How Companies are Creatively Meeting the Need for Growth with New Products

Join Susan Ward from ITECS Innovative Consulting where you will learn: tools that will help predict disruptions, identify adjacencies and develop a more robust innovation portfolio; processes for improving speed to market and getting more ideas from concept to commercialization; and best practices for showing the value of the innovative initiative and ensuring that innovation is practiced across all functional units of the business.

PDMA Pittsburgh Welcomes New Board Members

We would like to welcome two new Pittsburgh Chapter Board Members:

Eric Anderson is an associate dean for the College of Fine Arts and associate professor of industrial design in the School of Design at Carnegie Mellon University. He is also a co-director of the Master of Product Development Program, a unique program between the engineering, design, and business. He co-teaches the award winning Integrated Product Develop (IPD) capstone course for MPD along with faculty from mechanical engineering and business. He also teaches undergraduate industrial design studios.

Eric is a Chairman Emeritus for the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) Board of Directors having served several years prior as an officer working with talented practitioners, educators and staff to shape strategy, policy and programs to improve the society and support the discipline. He is also a member of the IDSA Academy of Fellows. Prior to joining academia, he spent over a decade as a full time design practitioner for corporate departments and consulting firms based in New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia and designed products that include medical instruments, tradeshow exhibits, corporate identities, and consumer products.

Connie Palucka is the Managing Director of Business Growth Services at Catalyst Connection and leads the consulting team that works directly with manufacturers to help them achieve their growth goals. She joined the company in 2005 and brings over 20 years of experience in the chemical, catalysis and nuclear power industries.

Before joining Catalyst Connection, she directed global sales teams, participated in and led product development programs, and successfully executed a number of strategic initiatives that included the development and commercialization of new technology, the improvement of various internal processes to build value-added capabilities, and the building of alliances to achieve strategic goals.

Learn more about the Pittsburgh PDMA Board of Directors

Sept16th Innovation Forum Focuses on Big Ideas

In a world full of problems, why are we so focused on redoing what has already been done? Can we really say that the world is better off because of our work? Could we do better work, more important work?

Join us at Catalyst Connection on Monday, September 16th for the next Innovation Forum - "Why Aren't We Doing Big Ideas Anymore?:  A Call to Arms For New Product Development Professionals" - presented by Chris Miller, Ph.D., NPDP. 

As innovation professionals we have a special responsibility to lead, to show the way, to make a difference. It’s not about process, though process is important; it’s not about voice of the customer, though those who choose to ignore the customer do so at their own peril; it is not about technology mapping, or open innovation, culture or cross-functional teams, as important as these things are. Success in innovation is driven by a passion to bring technology into the service of humanity in a meaningfully differentiated way.

Registration and networking will begin at 5:00pm and the presentation will start at 6:00pm.  The cost is $25 for members and $35 for non-members. Register Early. Seating is very limited!

To learn more and to register, log on to www.pdma.org > Community > US Chapters > Pittsburgh > Events

The Fall Programming Schedule is being finalized and will be communicated soon. If you have any recommended topics or speakers, please email your suggestions to David Charlton, Vice President of PDMA Programming, at david@david-charlton.com.

A Message from the PDMA Pittsburgh Chapter President

Welcome to the Pittsburgh PDMA! I am honored to serve as Chapter President for 2013-2014. As I stepped into this role, the Chapter was recognized as a Top Tier Chapter in the Nation! This is a testament to the response and support of our members and guests, the tremendous talent and dedication of our Board and the leadership and vision of our past Presidents – Jeff Thompson and Mark Adkins. I am excited and proud to be part of this growing and vibrant community of practitioners, academics and service providers engaged in the principles, practices and processes of effective product innovation.

This is one of the most dynamic times in history for innovation and product development. Bill Gates suggests in Bloomberg Businessweek: “We’ve had more progress in the last decade than ever before.” For innovators, product developers, designers and engineers, advancements in technology (real and virtual) have created a vast body of knowledge and resources including the advent of some of the most creative and unique product development platforms in history—crowd sourcing, open innovation, rapid manufacturing and the maker movement, just to name a few. There has never been a more exciting time for innovation and product development yet organizations, regardless of size, openly admit to ongoing struggles with sustainable growth through their product portfolios and pipelines. We continue to hear of the high number of new product failures and the lament over incremental product improvement.

The mission of our Chapter is to impact the success of product development by growing and unifying the knowledge, talent and resources in our region. With the connection to the international PDMA organization, we also enable wider access to global resources. This coming together of professionals from different perspectives, disciplines and backgrounds, creates a valuable forum for genuine dialogue about current best practices, methods, challenges, opportunities and new thinking.

I encourage you and your colleagues to become part of the innovation conversation and join the Pittsburgh PDMA community. Whether through membership, sponsorship, event participation or volunteerism, there are many ways PDMA can fit your schedule and interests.

See you at the next PDMA Innovation Forum on September 16th!

Randy Rossi
President, PDMA Pittsburgh
President, Bally Design