Global Innovation Forum, November 2-3, 2016, London, United Kingdom
The 6th edition of the forum will bring together innovators, entrepreneurs and inventors to discuss the latest trends in innovation, design, creativity, R&D and new product development. You can expect a tremendous agenda, experienced speakers, key messages, global players and intense networking.

2016 International Conference on Engineering, Technology and Applied Science (ICETA-Fall 2016) , November 7-9, 2016, Seoul Olympic Parktel, Seoul, Korea.
The purpose of ICETA-Fall 2016 aims to build an international platform that allows interested experts to share and discuss their latest researches, ideas, and survey reports in the theoretical and practical areas regarding all aspects of Engineering, Technology and Applied Science. Prospective authors are welcome to submit their full papers or abstracts. All submissions to the conference will go through blind review processes by at least two independent peers.

New York City Technology Forum ,  November 14-15, 2016, Brooklyn, New York, USA
Government Technology’s passion is helping spread best practices and spurring innovation in the public sector. The New York City Technology Forum is designed to do just that. The summit has an advisory board that gathers public sector and private sector leaders to create an agenda designed to make that passion relevant and actionable to the state and local government organizations attending the summit.

2016 Annual Conference on Engineering and Applied Science (ACEAT 2016), November 22-24, 2016, Kyoto, Japan
The ACEAT Conference offers a great opportunity to bring together professors, researchers and scholars around the globe a great platform to deliver the latest innovative research result and the most recent development and trends in engineering and applied sciences field.

Power & Energy Conference & Exhibition, June 26-30,2017 Charlotte Convention Center, Charlotte, NC, USA note papers and submissions deadline is November 16, 2016 for this conference.
Three of ASME’s major Conferences, plus two Forums and the International Conference on Power Engineering (ICOPE-17) come together to create an event for the Power and Energy sectors: ASME 2017 Power & Energy. Fossil and nuclear power generation, renewables, energy storage, fuel cells, and much more will be discussed at each of the concurrent technical conferences….

The 2016 International Conference on Mechanical, Control and Computer Engineering will be held on October 28-30, 2016 in Hangzhou, China. ICMCCE 2016 is to bring together innovative academics and industrial experts in the field of mechanical, control and computer engineering to a common forum.

Food Chemistry Conference – shaping the Future of Food Quality, Health and Safety, Oct. 30 – Nov 1, 2016 , NH Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
This exciting new conference celebrating the 40th anniversary of the leading international journal Food Chemistry will bring together experts and young researchers from academia, research centres, and industry to debate on the latest scientific advances in the field of food chemistry that help to shape current and future challenges in food quality, food safety, and health aspects of the food chain.

HR Technology Conference & Exposition , October 10-13, 2017, the Venetian, Las Vegas , NV, USA HR Technology® covers all the latest trends – SaaS, The Cloud, social, mobile, analytics, video, gamification, Big Data and MOOCs – as well as the more traditional technologies and processes that still compete for your attention. Whatever is changing the way work and HR gets done is what is featured. All sessions are created and delivered by senior executives from many leading organizations - no speaking slots are sold – resulting in a high-caliber learning experience with real-world lessons and practical takeaways.

Transformative Technology Conference & Expo 2017 Oct 13-15th , Palo Alto, CA, USA.
Transformative Technologies are science-based hardware and software that can produce reliable and positive changes in the human psychological experience.

You have heard from the experts how business networking can be nearly priceless if you make the right connections. Nevertheless you find yourself at social events, business meeting, conferences, workshops, and classes and on a good day you make two or three new contacts from the numerous people who attend in a day.
 
A great networker really does not think about networking per say but how he or she can help someone with a solution. They attend these events with both ears open and a goal to meet a large percentage if not everyone who is attending the event. Be a host or volunteer to help out with the event. It will help you meet a multitude of people quickly and break the ice too.
 
First things first, you must prepare. Know your business and yourself. Know the short answer to the following questions: What is your specific product or service? Do you have a special target? Do you have special qualifications? What do you enjoy outside of work? Mention activities you like, be specific i.e. playing golf or tennis, collecting stamps, volunteering for Habitat for Humanity, Engineers without Borders, etc.. No one works 24/7 even if they are single with no family or significant other you must come up for air.
 
A critical part of your first impression is your business card. It’s your first level marketing and public relations collateral, so think about the message you want to deliver. Depending on your business get creative. Own a metal shop maybe you have an engrave aluminum or silver background with your logo. Personal Chef may have a scratch and sniff of aroma. A high tech consultant may have a refractive card that shows different info at various viewing angles. The bare minimum on the business card include your name, phone number, email and business name/ what you do. Options that will help even more like a photo, website, address, logo, description of services and company slogan.
 
Now you should have your 30 and 60 second elevator pitches prepare to roll off the tongue in a natural way. This should include your position, company name, brief summary of what your business does and the clients you have.  You should mention what you specifically need like a type of service, function or products. Now shut up and listen. You want to find those things you have in common (i.e. moving to a new location, children, local events attended, organizations, hobbies/activities they enjoy).
 
Now you know the nuts and bolts of the networking world get out there and start shaking some hands. Get those business cards and follow up with a note or card. Don’t be shy go to something at least once a week. It all gets better with a little practice so put your ears on and have fun.

There are tough, complex and seemingly unyielding problems in every industry. The using various analytic tools, solutions can be found for the most complex problems. Also the analysis will help in unforeseen ways to create a more robust designed product or process in the end.
 
The key to the solution is breaking down what is expected at the most basic and elemental level. First the unwanted symptom must be defined by tangible repeatable measurements to determine the severity and rationalization why action needs to take place.
 
While there are many tools to be used in analysis the following are very powerful:
 

1. Brainstorming
   
2. Process flow diagrams
   
3. Fishbone diagram
   
4. Pareto Charts
   
5. Histographs                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          
   

 
Brainstorming – soliciting ideas for a stated problem for potential causes. (Don’t try to jump straight to solutions, because you may get burned). I think its best to go around the room at least twice before letting it lapse into free form discussion. This way the quiet one in your group may be encourage offering an opinion.
       
         Remember the rules for effective brainstorming.
                 You must limit the scope in stating the problem. Also note for complex problems each part can go thru the brainstorming process the key is breaking it into small pieces.
                The next critical thing is getting input from all effected stakeholders even if the problem does not affect them directly. My feeling is if the problem affects the company’s bottom line everyone is obligated to find a solution.
         (For better efficiency let everyone you invite to the meeting knows the purpose in             advanced and what you expect. Some may submit ideas ahead of time and may be a good jumping off point.)
 
                No critiquing, freewheel and build on other ideas and list them for all to see as you go. Remember to have fun with it, some of the wilder ideas may not be so far out after further review so let it flow.
 
               Try to get at least 20 items or more when the smoke clears. Then you may want to combine some ideas and discuss the merits of others. Keep an open mind as different perspectives may be pointing to the same thing.
 
Remember brainstorming is only a process tool to help you get to a final solution not the only thing to be used.
 
 
Tip if your answers are numerous and address many different issues you may have a poor symptom/problem statement.
 
Fishbone diagram aka Isakawa is a way to graphically illustrate cause and affect relationships in an operation or process. This is a great candidate for brainstorming when a symptom could be generated by causes in several areas. You can also start with the 5 whys once you have your initial list. The following is an example:
 
     Symptom/Problem: Parts being replace at 3 times the expected rate in the field.
 
            In this particular case you may want to get a breakdown of the symptoms causing the replacement. Using the Pareto chart will give you an excellent graphic to investigate what areas to prioritize your focus on resolving.
 
            Using Histogram charts to show when the failures began trending upward and whether this has flatten out or getting worse or better over time. Track your serial numbers/ mfg made date to assess if this was a particular batch (i.e. design change, software iteration, component quality, assembly process, material handling, shipping methods, etc) that had the problem. Also note the geographic location or account type associated with the problem to rule out external environmental factors creating a problem for your system (i.e. temperature, humidity, sun, wind, corrosion, electronic configuration, power fluxing, using product in a stress mode etc.)
 
            Data collection on your devices performance will help you key in on problems before the failure becomes to a critical point. Quality processes put in place at the beginning of a product being develop to its distribution to customers will save your company time, money or business failure.
 
            I’m always interested in various obstacles to projects and if your team needs some help just fill out the contact form and we can discuss your challenges.

The tech landscape is always changing as innovation grows all over the world. Silicon valley synergy is being replicated in numerous locations around the globe. The recipes may vary but the core elements are the same for a start-up to grow in to a successful business. These elements include: A strong dedicated team, funding, flexibility, strong network access to talent and expertise.
Articles on start-up and accelerator resources include:
         What Start-up Accelerators Really Do
        Best Cities for Start-ups 2016
     Global Tech Incubators and Accelerators
     Forbes Best Start-up Accelerators of 2016
     Tech Start- up Incubators