Announcing the committee's new strategic plan

Since the committee’s summer meeting in Washington, DC members and friends have been busy updating the committee’s strategic plan and planning TRB annual meeting sessions for 2010. As usual, there was lots of energy at the end of September confirming speakers and refining descriptions. We have a terrific workshop on communicating the value of research planned. The workshop also incorporates the National Highway Institute course on technology transfer, “Leap, Not Creep: Accelerating Innovation Implementation.” We are also sponsoring a session on new media and what it means for transportation. The next blog will go into more depth on the workshop and sessions coming up. In the meanwhile, take a look at the committee’s strategic plan and give us a comment on two.

International Perspectives on Technology Transfer session

If you missed the Sunday sessions sponsored by the T2 Committee and the International Affairs Committee you missed an technology transfer treat.
Organizer John Munro, FHWA brought together T2 experts who exhibited wide ranging perspectives, by mode, country and technology transfer perspective.
Some immediate takeaways included:

• Some in transportation call their strategic plans “road maps,” but the FAA calls theirs “flight plans.”
• FAA’s William J. Hughes Technical Center certainly looks “outside the box” with plans for an office park near their headquarters, which will enable close collaboration with potential partners.
• The best way to cooperate is to determine the most important needs.
• Critics have an important role in technology transfer efforts.
• We need to find and use ways to make technology transfer collaborative efforts legal.
• We also need a variety of agreements to accomplish technology transfer.
• Although all countries have similar needs, local applications of global knowledge is necessary.

Thanks to John and co-organizer Nelda Bravo for a thought provoking session. --- Lisa Haakon Pogue