IROS Workshop: Best practices in designing roadmaps for robotics innovation

by Hallie Siegel and AJung Moon

16 July 2017

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Join us at the 2017 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2017) for a full day workshop that will bring together international stakeholders in robotics to examine best practices for accelerating robotics innovation through strategic policy frameworks.

Best practices in designing effective roadmaps for robotics innovation

IROS Workshop | 8:30-17:00 September 28, 2017 | Vancouver Convention Centre | Vancouver BC

This is a unique opportunity to learn from people who have played a significant role in designing and implementing major strategic robotics initiatives around the globe.

Objectives
In the past decade, a number of governing bodies and industry consortia have developed strategic roadmaps to guide investment and development of robotic technology. With the roadmaps from the US, South Korea, Japan and EU etc. well underway, the time is right to take stock of these strategic robotics initiatives to see what is working, what is not, and what best practices in roadmap development might be broadly applied to other regions.

The objective of this two-part workshop is to examine the process of how these policy frameworks came to be created in the first place, how they have been tailored to local capabilities and strengths, and what performance indicators are being used to measure their success — so that participants may draw from international collective experience as they design and evaluate strategic robotics initiatives for their own regions.

Program Part ONE — Morning Session: “Developing innovation policy for robotics, and establishing key performance indicators that are relevant to your region”
The morning session will feature international speakers who have played a significant role in launching and shaping major strategic robotics initiatives across the globe. The focus of this session will be on the history and process of designing the roadmap (rather than on merely presenting the roadmap itself) and key performance indicators of roadmap success. Via presentations and panel discussion, the outcome of this session will be an exploratory overview of best practices and key performance metrics, so that participants can apply knowledge gained from the workshop as they design strategic robotics policy frameworks for their own regional or national contexts.

Program Part TWO — Afternoon Session: “Towards a national robotics strategy for Canada”
The afternoon session will bring together leading Canadian robotics experts from academia, industry, federal/provincial policy, and the national research council to discuss and strategize the future of robotics in Canada, with an emphasis on addressing the social, economic, legal/ethical and regulatory issues, and the robotics strengths and capabilities specific to this country. The main goals of this session will be to 1) establish a clear picture of the internal Canadian robotics landscape and how it compares to other nations worldwide, 2) discuss lessons learned in the International session within the Canadian context, and 3) discuss and identify gaps and opportunities for a Canadian initiative. Ultimately the Canadian session will serve as a venue for collecting data and viewpoints to support the development of a Canadian Robotics Roadmap.

Who should attend
This workshop is open to all members of academia, government, and industry with an interest in funding, policy and research strategy.

Part One of the workshop (morning session) will be broadly applicable to anyone with an interest in robotics policy, partnerships and funding.

Part Two (afternoon session) will be of particular interest to Canadian conference-goers as well as those who are interested in Canadian research and industry partnerships.

Call for participation
We are actively seeking participants for this workshop. If you are …

… involved in developing or evaluating a major strategic robotics initiative in your region and would like to participate in our international discussion, OR …

… are a member of the Canadian robotics ecosystem or are a Canadian roboticist living abroad who would like to be involved in a national robotics strategy for Canada …

… then please send an email with your expression of interest to: info@canadianroboticsnetwork.com. We look forward to hearing from you!!

Workshop Organizers

Elizabeth Croft, Director, Collaborative Advanced Robotics and Intelligent Systems (CARIS) Lab, UBC
Clément Gosselin, Professor, Laboratoire de Robotique, Université Laval
Paul Johnston, Research Policy Consultant, former President of Precarn Incorporated
Dana Kulić, Associate Professor, Adaptive Systems Laboratory, University of Waterloo
AJung Moon, Co-Founder & Director, Open Roboethics Institute
Angela Schoellig, Assistant Professor, Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS), University of Toronto
Hallie Siegel, Strategic Foresight & Innovation @ OCAD U, former Managing Editor @Robohub

Workshop Registration

Registration for IROS workshops is separate from the IROS conference fee. Please see the IROS Website for details: http://www.iros2017.org/registration-travel/registration#

Early workshop registration deadline: July 22nd.

More Info
http://canadianroboticsnetwork.com/iros-workshop/
http://www.iros2017.org/program/workshops-and-tutorials

Contact
info@canadianroboticsnetwork.com