How to do research: Innovation in Industrial Research

Abstract:
Those who fund science, whether from the private or public purse, are increasingly focusing on research for industry, where the emphasis is on prompt outcomes and real world impact, and science is speeding up: a discovery made at the laboratory bench today might take months, not decades, to be realised in a practical application. Paulo will share his experience with interesting do's and don'ts in industrial research.

Bio:
Paulo de Souza is a physicist with expertise in characterization of iron-bearing minerals. He has published almost 200 scientific papers in many fields including geochemistry, geology, mining, field robotics, sustainability, sensor and sensor networks, to mention a few. He has 17 years of experience in industrial research. During the last eight years Paulo worked as a participating scientist on NASA’s Mars exploration rover project. Paulo is co-author of a series of papers awarded as the Breakthrough Paper of the Year in Science by Science Magazine, 2004 (doi: 10.1126/science.306.5704.2010). These papers reported the findings of a suite of instruments onboard of NASA’s Mars Exploration Rovers. The papers reported the discovery of minerals on the Red Planet that could only be formed in the presence of liquid water, providing evidence of a once habitable Mars. Paulo de Souza is Research Director of the Tasmanian ICT Centre in Hobart.