Annual Report 2007

academic facilities,” said Joe Dalton, GTI research leader in RFID and wireless technologies. “A fundamental key differentiator for the Ireland test bed is the provision of co-location facilities for commercial vendors involved in the wireless technologies area to work with GTI to develop solutions on behalf of either their own product portfolio or on behalf of a client company. The goal is to get the optimum solution to market as quickly as possible for the customer.” There are also many health care applications around wireless technologies that are being investigated at GTI, relating mainly to workflow optimization, error reduction and inventory management. Since Ireland is already home to manufacturing sites for a number of large drug companies, some of this research targets pilltracking accuracy, ensuring authenticity, quality and dosage. “There are a lot of worries about counterfeit drugs, so there is a real need for this kind of research. We’d like to have some kind of authentification built into every drug – maybe even down to the tablet level – so we know there’s quality behind it and that it was manufactured where they say it was,” noted Cross. “We’re already creating a test bed that, like the IPTV test bed, is going to be the authoritative place in the world to test out these technologies.” GTI’s third research area – health care technologies – is focusing on medical devices for preventive and predictive medicine, and on medical device manufacturing. The team in Ireland is leveraging work being done in Atlanta, both through medical device companies at the Advanced Technology Development Center, Georgia Tech’s nationally-recognized science and technology incubator, as well as collaborations between Georgia Tech biomedical engineering professors and their Irish colleagues. The final area of research deals with sustainable energy alternatives, an area of importance to both the United States and Ireland. It includes research in efficient wind turbines, ocean wave energy, biofuels, fuel cells and innovative solar cells. Cross said GTI will primarily be investigating systems approaches to integrating alternate forms of energy. “After our first year of operation, we have initiated work in each of these areas. These involve some Georgia-based companies that decided to team with us in Ireland,” Cross said. “We’re also going to be working with some Irish-based companies to provide them with an opportunity to locate part of their operations in Georgia or to have access to Georgia Tech resources back in Atlanta.” One such company is IntelliOne Technologies, the premier traffic information company that measures roadway speed by instantly analyzing mobile phone network usage. In October 2007, the company announced a research and development project with GTI to create an IPTV interface for the company’s personal traffic guidance system. IntelliOne Europe is now based in Athlone. “Georgia Tech Ireland welcomes IntelliOne Europe as a partner in our digital media research initiative,” Ahuja said. “We believe live and interactive traffic information delivered to consumers through IPTV is most compelling and we look forward to collaborating with IntelliOne as we deploy our national test bed.” According to Cross, collaborations of this sort are essential to GTI’s future. While he expects the fiveperson staff in Athlone to grow to 50 researchers backed by more than 1,000 multi-disciplinary researchers at Georgia Tech, he says the number of jobs created will not define GTI’s success. “One of our success metrics is not how many people we employ, but how many jobs are created in these research markets. I call it the amplifier effect. We’re creating markets and opportunities for other companies to be successful,” Cross said. “I am often asked by legislators why we are taking Georgia Tech to Ireland. It’s not about taking Georgia Tech to Ireland, it’s about bringing Ireland to Georgia Tech and, by extension, Georgia.” GTI will not just involve industrial exchanges, but also academic ones. Two Irish universities have signed memorandums of understanding with GTI for collaborative research and an exchange of faculty and students. In addition, Ahuja has agreed to serve on the governing board of the Athlone Institute of Technology to enhance collaboration with Irish universities and understand more fully how they operate. “In five years, we expect a cumulative investment of €25 million and 50 researchers employed in Athlone collaborating with corporations,” said Connolly. “We are looking forward to working with Georgia Tech during the months and years ahead.” GTI LeAdeRshIP Stephen E. Cross Executive Director Krishan Ahuja Director and General Manager Directors Thomas J. Malone (Chair) Sr Exec. Vice Chairman, Milliken and Co. (retired) Declan Drislan Solicitor and Partner, Arthur Cox Eamonn Ryan Former Executive Director Overseas, IDA Ireland John McGowan Managing Director, McNamara Construction Board Members John C. Bacon President, IP2Biz howard J. Morrison, Jr. Owner, Lebanon Plantation (Savannah, GA) Robert K. Thompson Senior Vice President for Administration and Finance, Georgia Tech William J. Todd President and CEO, Georgia Cancer Coalition Gary B. Schuster Provost & Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Georgia Tech David Frost Director, Georgia Tech Savannah Contact Georgia Tech Ireland Athlone Business and Technology Park Garrycastle, Dublin Road Athlone Co. Westmeath Ireland Phone: + 353 (0)90 648 6541 www.georgiatech.ie e-mail address: info@georgiatech.ie www.gtri.gatech.edu http://www.georgiatech.ie http://www.gtri.gatech.edu

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Annual Report 2007

Annual Report 2007 Contents From the Director Research at GTRI Defense and Security Health and Human Systems Energy and Environment Manufacturing Technologies Information and Communication Technologies GTRI Around the World Interdisciplinary Research Centers The Laboratories of GTRI Georgia Tech Ireland GTRI by the Numbers GTRI and Georgia Tech Supporting Breakthrough Research GTRI Professional Education The People of GTRI

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