SYRACUSE — The CASE Center at Syracuse University and the Central New York Technology Development Organization (TDO) are planning a new conference for this fall that organizers hope will spark more innovation among attendees.

NEXT will take place Nov. 8 at the Holiday Inn Syracuse-Liverpool. Organizers are expecting 300 to 400 people will attend.

The conference is the latest event launched through the collaboration between TDO and CASE. The organizations previously ran the AccelerateCNY event for several years.

The goals for NEXT are to focus narrowly on what the two groups’ constituencies need and to attract higher-profile speakers, says Laura Welch, deputy director at the CASE Center. The event’s two keynotes will be delivered by Jeremy Rifkin, president at the Foundation on Economic Trends, and Robert Tucker, president at The Innovation Resource.

Both are noted authors. Rifkin has vast expertise in energy policy, alternative and renewable power, and leveraging built environments to create new energy infrastructures, says Robert Trachtenberg, TDO president and CEO.

Tucker is an expert in innovation and growth, particularly in the area of manufacturing, he adds.

“There’s no fluff in this conference,” Trachtenberg says. “This conference is focused on education and new ideas.”

Rifkin advised the government of France during its presidency of the European Union and has also served as an adviser to Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, Prime Minister Jose Socrates of Portugal, and Prime Minister Janez Jansa of Slovenia, during their respective European Council Presidencies on issues related to the economy, climate change, and energy security, according to NEXT. He has testified before Congress numerous times and been a fellow at the Wharton School’s Executive Education Program since 1994.

Tucker, a former adjunct professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, has been a consultant and keynote speaker since 1986. His books include “Winning the Innovation Game” and the bestseller “Managing the Future: 10 Driving Forces of Change for the New Century”.

Organizers are hopeful that the speakers will challenge audience members to think in new ways. They expect some ideas discussed by the speakers will be somewhat controversial, Welch says.

“We really want to inspire dialogue that will move conversations forward,” she says. “It’s a work day. People will come, they’ll be inspired by the keynotes, but they’ll leave smarter.”

Participants will walk away with ideas they can take home and apply in their businesses immediately, Welch adds.

Trachtenberg says the keynotes will challenge participants. They’ll hear ideas they haven’t heard before, he says.

NEXT will also feature smaller workshop sessions in four tracks including innovation and commercialization, technology trends, manufacturing excellence, and business growth.

The conference aims to inspire attendees to grow their companies, Trachtenberg says.

“We recognize the need for growth in the business community,” he says. “We understand people need to know where technology is going and what’s out there that they’ll be able to make use of.”

Welch and Trachtenberg say they want NEXT to become an annual event with consistently high-quality speakers that will draw hundreds regularly.

For more information, visit http://next-syr.com.       

Contact Tampone at ktampone@cnybj.com

SYRACUSE — A conference that took place in July at Syracuse University could become an annual event focused on helping teachers train students in the STEM disciplines.

Those disciplines — science, technology, engineering, and math — are critical to the nation’s future, says Margaret Ashida, director of the Empire State STEM Learning Network and co-chair of the New York State STEM Education Collaborative second biennial Summer STEM Institute. She notes that the economic-development plans developed by 10 regional councils around the state last year are dominated by projects with connections to STEM disciplines.

Nationwide, the U.S. needs 1 million more STEM graduates to fill current projections of demand, Ashida says.

“It’s a real economic opportunity in New York state,” she adds.

The summer institute took place from July 8 to July 11 at SU. It provided professional development for teachers in the interdisciplinary teaching and learning of STEM from the elementary level through higher education, according to organizers.

The program included more than 75 workshops, a plenary panel of state and national leaders in the field, and a keynote speaker, Bharat Soni, chairman and professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

The first institute took place in 2010 and organizers say they may try to turn it into an annual event given its success.

A major focus was breaking down silos across disciplines, says Chuck Goodwin, chairman of the New York State Technology and Engineering Educators’ Association advisory council. To best prepare students for what’s ahead, education in STEM fields and elsewhere needs to be integrated and interconnected.

That will help students become true problem solvers, Goodwin says.

“We want problem solvers who can look at a real-world problem and be able to draw naturally and comfortably from all of the resources that they have been building throughout their educational career,” he says.

That might mean giving students longer periods with lab experiences and implementing interdisciplinary teaching and learning techniques throughout a school, Ashida says.

Such an approach can help prepare students for careers that don’t even exist yet, says Gwendolyn Maturo-Grasso, a teacher in the Syracuse City School District and co-chair of the summer institute. She notes that young people can start to focus on career clusters as early as fourth or fifth grade.

The nation’s current education system has problems throughout, Ashida notes. Students entering two- and four-year colleges often require remediation work. Some 20 percent of the nation’s students don’t even graduate high school, she adds.

“So when you look at our system of education, we’ve got leaks from beginning to end,” she says.

Helping students understand the relevance of what they’re learning could change that, Goodwin says. If they can see the real-world applications of what they’re studying, the subject will be more exciting and they’ll remain engaged.

It’s also important, he adds, to overcome the misconception that STEM training is just for students planning on careers in science or engineering.

“STEM education provides relevance,” he says. “It’s truly our philosophy that STEM education is for all students.”             

Contact Tampone at ktampone@cnybj.com