Thursday, February 20, 2014

Moving On

Next week I am moving on,  after 16.5 years in IBM, I have decided to move on and pursue a societal challenge, by accepting an offer to establish and manage a new applied research institute, whose temporary name is "Technological Empowerment Institute".  The empowerment aspect is aimed to empower both sectors and populations that require substantial enhancement of their capabilities to enjoy high technology.  
The societal aspect is twofold -- both the societal challenges and the location, it will be based in the periphery.   The question is whether it has any relation to my past work on event processing?  the answer is definitely yes,  I view the Internet of Things as a major vehicle for achieving many of the challenges, and the work I was recently involved in, making event processing accessible to larger audiences as one of the key ares.  The institute will include multi-disciplinary activities, and implementation projects to meet the challenges.  It is initiated by YVC,  a relatively young but ambitious  academic institute, and I'll report to the president of YVC.   However, it will include activities and affiliate members that will span multiple sites and researchers.
I'll provide more details about it,  in fact, this Blog will from now on reflect my experience in trying to establish and operate this institute (but I'll not change its name as I am always think in events).  
Next week I'll wrap up my presence in IBM (this week I packed my office, and unpacked in the new one -- which had a toll on my aching back), and I'll summarize my tenure there.    I am taking an exciting but very challenging task,  and will issue call for people  to be involved in various capacities.