By Curt Guenther and Greg Russell

Michael J. Piore

The University of Memphis, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center—all the top local names in research will be showcasing their work at a major event Oct. 6 on the U of M campus.

Visitors to the Memphis Research and Innovation Expo can talk with leading local scientists about their research, innovations and creations during the daylong event at the FedEx Institute of Technology. Many of the 29 booths will include interactive displays.

“Our objective is to bring corporate people to campus to expose them to the research and research possibilities in the Mid-South,” said Kevin Boggs, organizer of the event and assistant vice president of Technology Transfer and Commercialization at the FedEx Institute.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Michael J. Piore will deliver the keynote speech, “Innovation: Balancing Competition and Cooperation in an Economic Crisis,” at 11 a.m., preceded by remarks at 10:30 a.m. by FedEx CIO Rob Carter. Both will speak in The Zone, the main auditorium of the Institute.

Piore is the David W. Skinner Professor at MIT and a recipient of the prestigious MacArthur “Genius” Award.  He is co-chair of the MIT Industrial Performance Center and is also associated with MIT’s Production in the Innovation Economy Center. He is a co-author of Innovations, the Missing Dimension, in which he describes his own original contributions to various approaches to product innovation. Piore’s most recent work is focused on the transition from mass production to flexible specialization.

Bob Bean, CEO of Transnetyx, which is sponsoring Piore’s presentation, said, “This Expo is a great opportunity to learn about the cutting-edge research achievements and ideas under development by our local research institutes and creative companies.”

The expo, an official U of M Centennial event, will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free.

FedEx, Buckman International, Smith & Nephew, Transnetyx, Bio Peptides Corp., Synergy Technologies, Ariste Medical, BioDimensions, Computable Genomix, and Foundation Instruments will be represented.

Researchers from the U of M will include those from the Institute for Intelligent Systems, College of Education, Center for Partnerships in GIS, biomedical engineering, SENSORIUM, chemistry, mechanical engineering, the Systems Testing Excellence Program, Supply Chain Management, physics, electrical and computer engineering, Integrated Microscopy Center, computer science and the School of Public Health.

For more information, contact Cathy Carrigan at 678-1041.