A half-day workshop exploring technological innovation and how to successfully enter the marketplace in a tough economic climate. This workshop is relevant for startups as well as established companies and will features tracks on tech transfer, intrapreneurship, global R & D, and more.
Speaker and session updates coming soon!
2008 Workshop Highlights
The 2008 workshop was focused on Women in Technology and featured dynamic keynotes and interactive breakout sessions. The half-day event was created to foster awareness of and communication about critical issues facing women in the technical fields.
Technologists are widely stereotyped as narrowly specialized geeks, a characterization that has limited their opportunities across the range of organizational roles. Yet leadership is about passion, instinct, courage, imagination, integrity, and intellect, regardless of discipline or gender. Riazi will critically examine common perceptions of women and technologists in leadership roles, discuss the effects of those perceptions, and address how people can reposition themselves.
1:45 pm — 2:00 pm
BREAK
2:00 pm — 3:15 pm
Concurrent breakout sessions
Session A
Kresge Auditorium
Developing Technical Leadership: Lessons from the Top
Leading innovation is at the heart of the technology industry and its revolutions. Although technical leadership is still primarily a man's game, there are some extraordinary exceptions. Leaders from biotech, software, and other technical disciplines—all women—will discuss their journeys and offer advice on how to thrive as a technical leader.
Moderator: Telle Whitney, President and CEO, Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology Confirmed panelists:Rosana Kapeller, Vice President of Research, Aileron Therapeutics; Rebecca Parsons, CTO, ThoughtWorks
Session B
Mezzanine Lounge
3rd Floor
Stratton Student Center
Social Entrepreneurship
How can simple technologies change lives around the world?
This panel will explore how technology and entrepreneurship can create social impact in developing nations, with a particular focus on women. These entrepreneurs are igniting change and affecting women’s lives around the world.
Moderator: Erika Jonietz, Senior Editor, Technology Review Confirmed panelists:Sarah Bird, Cofounder and Chief Operating Officer, Saafwater; Amy V. Mueller, Cofounder and Director, Solar Turbine Group (STG) International
Session C
La Sala
2nd Floor
Stratton Student Center
Networking: From Small Talk to Big Impact
Hosted in Conjuction with the MIT Alumnae Leadership Series
Whether established at the traditional cocktail party or on contemporary social-networking websites, networking connections help us on the job and in our communities. A strong network can be useful in generating customers, forming boards, developing a peer support group, fund-raising for a nonprofit, navigating the venture capital community—or, of course, hunting for a new job.
Academics and industry professionals discuss some of the latest networking theories and how they have applied these concepts in their own lives.
Moderator: Patricia M. Randall, Account Director, Kforce Confirmed Panelists: Robin Chase, Founder and CEO, GoLoco; Jo Hoppe, VP and CIO, Pegasystems; Kristina Isakovich, SVP and Chief Marketing Officer, Philips Healthcare; Dawna S. Levenson, Associate Director of Academic Programs, MIT Professional Education Programs
3:15 pm — 3:25 pm
BREAK
3:25 pm — 4:40 pm
Concurrent breakout sessions
Session A
Kresge Auditorium
From the Labs: Cool Female Innovations
Women have begun to slowly close the gender gap in tenure-track academic jobs in technical fields, but as a group, their work doesn’t receive the same publicity as that of their male peers. A group of outstanding female faculty—some established, some just starting out—will present cool new innovations from their labs, including some live demos!
Moderator: Katherine Bourzac, Nanotechnology and Materials Science Editor, Technology Review Confirmed Panelists: Tanzeem Choudhury, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Dartmouth College;Paula T. Hammond, Professor of Chemical Engineering, MIT; Holly A. Yanco, Associate Professor of Computer Science, University of Massachusetts, Lowell
Session B
Mezzanine Lounge
3rd Floor
Stratton Student Center
Intrapreneurship: Fostering Innovation with a Large Organization
The goal of intrapreneurship is to combine the entrepreneurial spirit with the resources and goals of a larger organization. Intrapreneurs can explore high-risk, high-reward ideas within the safety and support of a corporate setting, thereby creating profitable ventures. Intrapreneurs from various industries will discuss how to effectively nurture this kind of innovative thinking and enhance leadership within large companies or labs.
Moderator: Gwen Acton, Founder and CEO, Vivo Group; President, Women Entrepreneurs in Science and Technology (WEST) Confirmed panelists: Jennifer Chayes, Managing Director, Microsoft Research New England;Susan Foley, Executive Director, Research Centers at Babson Executive Education; Founder, Corporate EntrepreneursHolly Heaslet Soutter, Principal Scientist, Lead Discovery Technologies, Pfizer Global Research and Development
Session C
La Sala
2nd Floor
Stratton Student Center
Networking in the Real World Hosted in Conjuction with the MIT Alumnae Leadership Series
Do you break into a sweat at the thought of attending a “networking event”? Research shows that networking is the most frequent path to career growth, yet many people cringe when thrown into a room full of strangers. Networking experts offer practical advice on setting goals for an event, moving between groups, creating and delivering an “elevator pitch,” following up with promising contacts—and making technologies such as electronic name badges work for you. Then we’ll put theory into practice, so come prepared to have some fun while gaining skills that will last a lifetime!
Moderator: Diane Darling, Founder and CEO, Effective Networking, and author of The Networking Survival Guide Activity leader:Rick Borovoy, CTO and Cofounder, nTAG Interactive
Technology and Markets: Driving Innovation
Innovation involves ideas that create value for customers. The concept of innovation for large organizations and companies has changed from being driven solely by isolated technology advances in distinct markets to being driven by adaptability, tight integration of diverse technologies, complete solutions, and converging markets. Lisa Su will address key challenges that innovators and technology visionaries in general, and women in particular, will encounter on this path of change. She will also provide pointers on achieving breakthrough innovation.
5:30 pm — 7:00 pm
Kresge Extension Tent
Reception and Networking
7:00 pm — 8:30 pm
Kresge Auditorium
*Note: MIT EF Global Broadcast attendees please register in tent.
Keynote Panel
Pathways to Entrepreneurship
Hosted in conjunction with the MIT Enterprise Forum
Launching a high-tech startup is hard work, with many paths to success. Do you take your idea all the way from invention to marketplace? Do you develop the technology, license it, and then advise the new venture? Or are you a serial entrepreneur who starts a company, then brings in someone new to help it grow? Difficult for anyone, each of these roads presents additional challenges to female entrepreneurs. This panel of successful women will share their unique approaches to launching, funding, and leading startups.
Moderator: Candida G. Brush, Division Chair in Entrepreneurship, Babson College Confirmed Panelists: Robin Chase, Founder and CEO, GoLoco; Priya Iyer, President, Anaqua; Susan Lindquist, Member, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research; Scientific Founder, FoldRx Pharmaceuticals; Jules Pieri, CEO, Daily Grommet
2007 Workshop Highlights
The 2007 inaugural event featured keynotes by Robert J. Birgeneau, chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, and Sophie V. Vandebroek, chief technology officer of Xerox and president of the Xerox Innovation Group.
Interactive breakout sessions focused on topics such as entrepreneurship, leadership management, and workplace culture.
Align your brand with support of diversity in the workplace and efforts to support women in the technological fields.
Sponsorship packages are available alone or in conjunction with EmTech08.
Click here for more information, or contact Amy Lammers at 617-475-8077.
WATCH EMTECH07 WEBCASTS
Watch Webcasts of the 2007 Women in Technology Workshop
Learn more about the workshop by watching last year’s thought-provoking keynotes and interactive breakout sessions. Click here to register and view videos.
