Seminar to the Departmento di Informatica L'Aquila

The title of my presentation was "Department of InformaticsUniversita degli Studia dell’Aquila -The Role of University in Technology Commercialization and Business Development &Role of LSU in Disaster Recovery" I met with Claudio Arbib and Paola Inveradi at the department and discussed the presentation and the issues facing both L'Aquila and Louisiana caused by the disasters of earthquake and hurricanes and oil spills. We discussed the differences in funding for university research in the two countries. We have many commonalities as well as many differences. We discussed university research funding and the technology commercialization process. I gave a presentation on the LSU process for tech commercialization and the services of the LBTC and the LSU South Research Park. Incubation is new to this area as they have none in L'Aquila and only three in the entire region of Abruzzo and none are affiliated with universities. My presentation covered LSU / LBTC's role in the commercialization of technology and the incubator and research park clients involved in information sciences. I also gave a detailed report on the role LSU and the LBTC played in the Katrina recovery and in the oil spill disaster. It appears that the university has not played a major role in the earthquake recovery for a number of reasons. After my presentation, I met with several faculty members that had questions on how to pursue technology commercialization and how the university can be better involved in the recovery. It is very difficult, with many university faculty losing their homes and living quite a distance away from L'Aquila, as far as Rome and Pescara. Also, it appears that Italian industries do not fund research projects to the level that LSU is able to get private and public funding for projects and research. We had several one on one discussions with faculty and there is great interest in developing a long term relationship with LSU for disaster management, disaster recovery, business incubation, soft landings for technology spinoffs and other aspects of mutual interest. Tomorrow, I am going to tour the Gran Sasso Laboratories with Professor Piero Tagnolatti. The rest of the week is filled with seminars with the departments of science.