Great and comprehensive innovation is the strategic theme of the conference

The 17th FEI Innovation Conference was held in 2019 in Boston, USA. The conference lasted for three
days from May 1416- and was organized by KNect365. The conference talked about the advantages of
working with partners from various industries. This is especially important for the laboratory at the
National Centre for the International Space Station, where a diverse group of partners and organizations
have come together to advance research and development in space for the benefit of life on Earth,
and where these diverse partnerships provide many opportunities to learn from each other.

Among the conference activities, ISS Associate Scientist Dr.
Kenneth Savin spoke about how the ISS National Laboratory
provides an excellent opportunity for companies to find
new partners and tackle challenges in new ways. The
Boston Innovation Conference brings together research and
development executives from around the world to discuss
innovation in technology and encourage the development
of new and diverse partnerships.
A highlight of the conference was the keynote conversation
between Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and John Valentine,
founder and host of The Early Stage Podcast. Wozniak talked
about meeting Steve Jobs, making friends, being a nerd, and
playing and starting Apple. He stressed that the priority of
the individual is to do the things he loves and that interests
him, and he also talked about the way technology inspires
him to develop, especially in the field of robotics, and how we
should not be afraid of it. He said, “It’s the way we accelerate
progress and development, and it gives menew thinking and
new directions that excite me.”
Many other speakers at the conference also discussed the
importance of doing things that are meaningful to you. Joy
Ito, director of MIT Media Lab, spoke about the speed of
technological innovation and recalled that years ago, when the
Internet was in its infancy, he and his friends in Japan wanted
to get involved. They needed a server to provide internet access,
so he scavenged for parts and built his own. The servant was
the size of a room and failed a lot, but it prompted him to
get involved and be part of the revolution that took place.
Mike Hatrick, Group Director of IP Strategy and Portfolio at
Volvo Group Trucks Technology, spoke about the future of
autonomous trucks for freight transport. During his talk,
Hattrick discussed changing culture, innovation in large
companies, and how organizational dynamics are affected
by and influence innovation.
One recent talk was given by HenryChesbro, faculty director at
the University of Garwood Center for Institutional Innovation,
who coined the term “open innovation”. Chesbro discussed
trends in innovation and how technology enables innovation
not only to be faster, but also to reach areas of the world that
would not otherwise be affected by such developments,
noting that there are countries where people have better
access to mobile phones more than anything else.
Chesbro finished with guest speaker Vitaly Diamandis,
13, who is looking for parts and making innovative tools.
Diamandis used the cleaned-up parts to build an electric
skateboard and a gas-powered bike, and his latest effort was
to make an electric car out of parts he found on the Internet
and from yards. Using Diamandis as an example, Chesbro
made the point that the way innovation takes place, the
speed at which it happens, the people who do it change,
and with all new opportunities come challenges that must
be part of any innovation plan.