Vice President Al Gore, three state governors and scores of CEOs are among 150 leaders of industry, government, labor and universities who are gathering at MIT's Tang Center tomorrow and Friday for the National Innovation Summit, held by the Council on Competitiveness.
The Friday plenary sessions of the summit, an invitation-only event, will be carried live on MIT Cable channel 8 in the Bartos Theater (Building E15) and on television monitors in Lobby 7, Lobby 10, the first floor lobby of the Student Center and in the lobbies of Building E52 and E25. The March 12 plenary session will be telecast from 8:15-10:30pm on Thursday. Friday's plenary sessions will be telecast from 8:30-11am and 2:30-4:15pm.
President Charles Vest and Gary Tooker, chairman of Motorola, will appear Thursday morning from 10-11am on the WBUR (90.9 FM) radio program, "The Connection," with Christopher Lydon, to discuss how the US can keep the innovative edge it now has in world competition. Dr. Vest is a vice chairman of the Council on Competitiveness.
For security purposes, access to the Tang Center may be restricted on Friday. Those who have classes in the building that day should use the entrance from the E51 parking lot as the entrance at the corner of Amherst and Wadsworth Streets may be limited to summit participants, who will have badges. The portion of Wadsworth Street from Memorial Drive to Amherst Street also may be closed for a period on Friday morning.
The National Innovation Summit will open Thursday evening with a discussion by three governors about innovation in the states. Gov. John Engler of Michigan will be joined by Gov. Zell Miller of Georgia and Acting Gov. Paul Cellucci of Massachusetts.
On Friday, the speakers will be former Defense Secretary William Perry, Harvard Professor Michael Porter, Vice President Gore, and Senators Pete Domenici (R-NM), Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Rep. James Sensenbrener (R-WI), chair of the House Science Committee.
In a display of how innovation begins in universities and is developed in the marketplace by private industry, the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory is providing a chance starting Friday at noon for about 50 reporters to see nine advanced projects in special demonstrations (see stories on this page and pages 5 and 6), and to talk with graduates from companies that have been formed out of the AI Lab.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on March 11, 1998.
