At this year’s R&D Management Conference and Colloquium (17 – 21 June 2019) the theme was “The Innovation Challenge: Bridging Research, Industry and Society” – Letizia Mortara gives us her reflections on the event.
This year we set a few records and tested a few innovations:
This was the first conference to be co-hosted by two partner universities – HEC and Ecole Polytechnique – and co-chaired by Prof Thierry Rayna and Prof Sihem Jouini from these prestigious universities, covering two disciplines (engineering and management studies),
We experimented with the dates in the middle of the busy month of June and we shifted the usual conference days to Monday-Friday, instead of Saturday to Wednesday.
We also launched the Hall of Fame survey which is still open and will culminate next year in the 2020 celebrations of the conference and the Journal (vote, vote vote !! )
For those interested in numbers here are a few fun statistics:
- 609 abstracts were received (the highest numbers since record began), of which 410 were accepted and 350 were included in the final programme.
- The conference was attended by 437 delegates from 38 countries.
- There were 59 applications for the Colloquium and 39 PhD students attended.
The tracks included: Artificial intelligence & Data sciences; Co-creation, Creativity & Design; Digital Technology; Ecosystems; Emerging Markets; Radical and systemic innovation; Industry 4.0; Open Innovation; Organizational & Marketing Innovation; R&D; Sustainable Development.
In my view, the conference has been a fantastic opportunity to discuss cutting-edge themes with colleagues from all over the world. We could discuss openly the challenges and practices of publishing with Editors of eight journals in our field and to relax within the walls of one of the most prestigious engineering university in the world, which hosted famous scientists such as Poisson, Carnot and Lagrange.
Sampling French culture
The organisers managed also to open the doors of the Musee des arts et Metieres, in the centre of Paris, for one of the social events where we could observe technological marvels at close range such as the Foucault pendulum whilst sipping champagne and eating French delicacies.
We had a great time and we are looking forward to next year’s exciting events when we will continue to innovate and learn with the rest of the friendly community of R&D Management scholars!
It will be a special year – Al la procheine fois!
See more details about the 2020 conference here.
See other accounts of the event:
From Dr Jeremy Klein – Chairman of the R&D Management Conference: R&D Management Conference looks to the future of metanationals
From the tweeting community you can find a number of great pictures and information about the presenters – follow the R&D Management Conference 2019 committee @RnDMgmt2019 and #RnDParis2019
If you are interested in hosting an event please contact Dr Letizia Mortara – [email protected]
News from the Conference Office and how the conference office can support you can be found at www.rnd-conferences.org
