Event: Benjamin Franklin Project

Hermann Hall
  1. Home
  2. Events
  3. Event: Benjamin Franklin Project

The Benjamin Franklin Project at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), along with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of Wisconsin at Madison, will host an interdisciplinary conference on innovation on April 10 – 11, 2014, in Hermann Hall on IIT’s Main Campus in Chicago.

Abstract

The Atlantic Enlightenment of the 18th Century ushered in an era of unprecedented innovation and creativity, as well as new types of institutional infrastructures that fostered and informed these creative processes. We will consider this historical moment alongside today’s innovation landscape, exploring what it takes for innovation to flourish. We will also explore how institutional infrastructures inform creativity, its successes, and its failures.

Earn Engineering Themes Credit

There will be several keynote events that fit within the principles that Armour College of Engineering’s Distinctive Education Initiative was founded on. Students will earn Engineering Themes credit for attending these keynotes (listed below). Please look for the themes sign-in at the Southeast entrance to Hermann Hall before each event.

Please note that the entire IIT community–students, faculty, staff, and alumni–are invited to attend all keynote events. For a full list of conference events and more details, visit the conference website.

Thursday

9:30 – 10:20am | Michael Schrage, Sloan School of Management, MIT – Innovation, Defined
10:30 – 11:20am | Paul Starr, Princeton University – Innovation and Democracy in Post-Industrial America
11:30 am – 12:20pm | Mordechai Feingold, California Institute of Technology – Isaac Newton: A Wellspring of Enlightenment Creativity

Friday

9:15 – 9:45 am | Russell Betts, Illinois Institute of Technology – Science as the Fuel of Innovation
9:45 – 10:35 am | Fred Block, University of California-Davis – Post-WWII U.S. Government Investments in Science and Technology
1:00 – 1:50 pm | Adrian Johns, University of Chicago – A Historical View of Intellectual Property and Piracy
2:00 – 2:50 pm | Lori Andrews, Chicago-Kent College of Law – The Effects of Patent Law on the Past, Present and Future of Innovation
7:00 – 8:00 pm | Genevieve Bell, Intel – Culture, Technology and Innovation Around the World (Auditorium)