UB School Of Engineering Industry-University Day To Present Council On Competitiveness Innovation Forum

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Palo Alto, Calif. Albuquerque, N.M. Buffalo, N.Y.

Buffalo?

That's right. Just as these two thriving sunbelt cities did this past spring, Buffalo will host a Council on Competitiveness presentation on innovation on Oct. 28 at the University at Buffalo. It will be held at noon in the Center for the Arts on the UB North (Amherst) Campus.

Sponsored by the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences as part of its third annual Industry-University Day, the Buffalo meeting is being presented by the Council on Competitiveness, based in Washington, D.C.

The council, considered an intelligence-gathering group for major U.S. corporations, is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to driving U.S. economic competitiveness in world markets.

Aimed at chief executives, senior managers, community leaders and others who want to be part of making Buffalo thrive economically, the event is being planned with broad participation from major corporations and firms in the region, as well as from important new players, such as the New Millennium and the 21st Century groups.

The forum is designed to spur in regions across the U.S. a dialogue about "The New Challenge to America's Prosperity: Findings from the Innovation Index," a Council on Competitiveness study that sounds a "wake-up call" to American industry.

Gary T. DiCamillo, chairman and chief executive officer of Polaroid, Inc., will be the keynote speaker. He will speak about the findings of the council's innovation index from the perspective of an individual corporation.

A Western New York native, DiCamillo is a member of the Niagara Falls DiCamillo family, famous for its bakery business.

The Innovation Index grew out of discussions with chief executives, academics and labor leaders that were sponsored by the Council on Competitiveness.

Mark Karwan, Ph.D., dean of the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, was one of the few academics who was invited to participate.

"This report and the focus of our Industry/University Day meeting is about improving the ability of business to innovate," he said. "It's easy to say that other countries can always make something cheaper than the U.S. can, and in many cases that's true. What we as a nation and a region need to do is to be innovators, who are protected either by patents or other mechanisms, so that we continue to develop products and processes that allow us to be competitive."

Karwan cited local examples of companies taking leading positions in their industries, such as Powertrain, which obtained the contract for the new world engine, and American Axle, which invested in the most modern technologies and equipment and implemented aggressive training programs -- much of which are done through UB's Business Alliance.

"The manufacturing sector has stabilized," said Karwan, "but now industries -- and universities as their partners -- have to continue to innovate in processes and products."

He noted that in order to do that, companies and educational institutions alike must figure out ways to keep pace with the rising cost of maintaining a sound research infrastructure.

"UB has some strengths here, in terms of maintaining state-of-the-art equipment in research labs and in student and faculty IT (information-technology) facilities," said Karwan.

Added John Yochelson, president of the executive committee of the Council on Competitiveness, another Western New York native, who will be speaking at the forum: "This is about defining a strategy that will allow the Buffalo area to become a hub for innovation. A key component of that will be the university's industry partnerships that produce high-value products and support high-wage jobs."

The Innovation Index, which was developed, based on the council's discussions, by Michael Porter of the Harvard Business School and Scott Stern of the Sloan School at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, uses statistical methods to identify factors that influence the innovative power of nations. The report warns that, while currently in the drivers' seat of the global economy, the U.S. soon may be vulnerable economically because the competition -- from both developed and developing nations -- is rapidly gaining.

Planning for Industry/University Day was coordinated by Kenneth A. Manning, an alumnus of the UB engineering and law schools, now a partner in Phillips, Lytle, Hitchcock, Blaine & Huber, L.L.P.

Representatives of firms who would like to attend the luncheon should contact Robert Barnes at the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at 645-2768.