Event News

Dr. Irving Wladawsky-Berger

Dr. Irving Wladawsky-Berger, an expert on technology and innovation, delivered the second MIT Portugal Program Distinguished Lecture on June 5th at the IBM Portugal building in Lisbon. Dr. Wladawsky-Berger’s talk was titled “Technology, Engineering and Innovation in the Services Economy,” and focused on the role of a few key technological innovations – such as cloud computing and Web 2.0 – in transforming the delivery of services. The key theme of the talk was the way in which these technologies are now oriented towards market-facing parts of the enterprise, allowing significant growth and job creation specific to local market contexts.

Dr. Irving Wladawsky-Berger

Dr. Irving Wladawsky-Berger, a technology and innovation expert, former IBM executive and an MIT Visiting Professor will give the second talk in the MIT Portugal Program’s Distinguished Lecture Series.

The lecture series is designed to highlight cutting edge work in science and technology, bringing top innovators to Portugal to share their work relevant to education, research, industry and society. Dr. Wladawsky-Berger, who now serves as Chairman Emeritus for IBM’s Academy of Technology, will give a lecture titled “Technology, Engineering and Innovation in the Services Economy” on June 5, 2008 at IBM Portugal, Edifício “Office Oriente”.

The MIT Portugal Program Bioengineering and Engineering Design and Advanced Manufacturing Focus Areas will host a workshop discussing the design, use and regulation and innovation of medical devices at the University of Minho May 30 and 31.

Sponsors of the event include: the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education (MCTES), IAPMEI, Associação Portuguesa da Hospitalização Privada (APHP), Steering Committee on Drug Development.

The workshop will feature several internaitonal speakers from the US and Europe including Terry Young, Chair of Healthcare Systems, Brunel University, UK, on Valuing Medical Technology, Isabel Vaz, CEO Espírito Santo Saúde, APHP, Portugal, on Medical Device Management and Stan Finkelstein, MD, Senior Research Scientist, MIT Engineering Systems Division and Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, speaking about Framework to Evaluate Biomedical Devices.

The Portuguese-American Post-graduate Society (PAPS) is holding its annual forum on MIT's campus May 2-4, 2008 featuring several distinguished Portuguese business, government ,and academic leaders, including two representatives from the MIT Portugal Program.

Prof. Daniel Roos, Director of the MIT Portugal Program at MIT, will provide a keynote address to the forum participants on Saturday May 3. Prof. Manuel Heitor, Portugal's Secretary of State for the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education will also provide a welcome address on May 3.

The PAPS Forum 2008 also features several other important speakers including the Portuguese Minister of State and Finance, Fernando Teixeira dos Santos and the CEO of Portugal Telecom, Zeinal Bava.

For more information about the forum, visit the PAPS website .