 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.
A panel of experts from academia and industry responded to the talk. On the panel were Prof. José Mendonça, the head of the INESC-Porto research laboratory and the head of the University Technology Entrepreneurship Network; João Falcão e Cunha of the Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, who directs the Masters program in Services Engineering and Management; and Isabel Vaz, CEO of Espírito Santo Saúde, the healthcare arm of a major Portuguese financial institution.
 Prof. José Mendonça and João Falcão e Cunha The panel discussion raised such challenges as how to balance research and innovation in universities, the proper role of governments in supporting technological innovations, and the role of technology standards. Over 80 people attended the talk, including students and faculty from Portuguese universities, representatives of MIT Portugal and CMU-Portugal affiliate companies, and IBM staff. Dr. José Joaquim de Oliveira, Country General Manager for IBM Portugal, introduced the lecture.
 Dr. Wladawsky-Berger gives his talk. View the slides from the presentation here:  Distinguished Lecture Series 2008 June Dr. Irving Wladawsky-Berger |
