Seminars that want to change industry and society
A seminar series addressing Industrial and Societal transformation towards sustainability starts in the fall. With a mix of inspirational speakers to more focused presentations by both external and internal speakers, the organizers hope for exciting meetings.
"If we want this transformation in society to become a reality, collaboration between many different disciplines is required, along with an increased understanding - and collaboration - between them," says Martin Törngren, one of the initiators of the event from the ITM School's IRIS initiative, ICES (KTH Center) and the Researchers Network within the Industrial Transformation Platform.
"And along those lines we hope to see many of our researchers at KTH to be involved to support this ongoing industrial transformation for climate and competitiveness. We all need to contribute if we are to reach the overall Agenda 2030 goals", says Monica Bellgran, Professor in Production Management and Director of the Platform for Industrial Transformation.
“One way is to visualize new research and trends, and meeting others that share the same engagement. We also hope to inspire to new research projects”, says Monica.
The idea here is for KTH's researchers and collaborators to access a long-term seminar series, with a frequency of one occasion a month as a start.
At KTH, there are many local initiatives and research efforts that are still not so widely known - here the seminar series can play an important role, Martin says. “There are many areas and topics that’s interesting. For example, the theme of sustainable production alone ties together areas such as materials, product development, manufacturing, as well as digitalization and development of new business models.”
Zuhara Chavez, supporting the coordination and planning activities as a member of the postdocs network team in the Platform for Industrial Transformation, wish for the seminars to inspire people to take action:
“I hope this triggers interactions and conversations that take us to potential collaborations that lead us in the right direction”, she says.
Initially the seminar series will be online, and hopefully they can turn into physical seminars as well in the future.
"Virtual meetings make it easier to engage experts from across the planet," says Martin Törngren, who already knows who he’d like to have as a speaker - if he could dream big:
“We should set our ambition high! Johan Rockström would be a good speaker. "
Text: Anna Gullers