Sci-TechKnoFest 2013 hosted a series of public lectures connected to the theme "Celebrating Human Ingenuity". The lecture series was scheduled to take place on each of the three Saturdays of the Festival at 6:00 p.m. in the TechKno Theatre.
Entry to the lecture series was at no extra cost after purchasing your entrance ticket to the Festival.
Here was the exciting line-up of speakers and topics:
Mr. Richard Lewis
Mr. Richard Lewis
Chairman
Council for Competitiveness and Innovation
Public Lecture Title: Innovation - Our Future!
Richard Lewis looked at the role of innovation in Trinidad and Tobago's future. He explored this within the context of how global trends are changing the way we work and the products/services we produce. These trends have implications for the T&T economy and they present an argument for us to continue supporting diversification efforts and educational initiatives that will ultimately help us better fulfill our newly acquired World Economic Forum status as 'an innovation-driven economy'.
Lecture Date: October 12th at 6:00pm
Dr. Desiree Murray
Dr. Desiree Murray
Lecturer - Ophthalmology
The Faculty of Medical Sciences
The University of the West Indies
Public Lecture Title: Surgical Ideas and Innovations - How Cornea Transplantation Changed the World
This lecture reviewed the history of cornea transplantation, starting with references in Egyptian manuscripts, dating around 2000 BC, to the first successful human cornea transplant in 1905. The evolution of eye banking and other medical milestones, and the impact on blindness prevention and sight restoration were also discussed.
Lecture Date: October 19th at 6:00pm
Professor Abhijit Bhattacharya
Professor Abhijit Bhattacharya
Professor, Business Development and Marketing
The University of Trinidad and Tobago
Public Lecture Title: The Impact of Innovation and Digital Transformation on our Manufacturing and Retailing Businesses
3D Printing (3DP), Brain-Computer Interface (BCI), Driverless Cars, nanotechnology and other jaw dropping innovations that are happening in a break necking pace are set to fundamentally disrupt our life. The way we eat, learn, commute, make and sell products or enjoy vacation, everything will look totally different in a few years time. Many businesses and organisations that we are so familiar with today will disappear in a blink.
After revolution in the information technology sector that has completely changed the way we produce and consume information products, now the manufacturing sector is on the threshold of a profound change. What will happen to our many factories that are currently run on a "one-size-fit-all model"? Also, how our retailing sector will look like after a few years? The presentation discussed some of these issues of the future that has already arrived.
