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Digital Innovation Award

The Digital Innovation Foundry is pleased to announce the new Digital Innovation Award in partnership with Temple University’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute (IEI) 24th Annual Innovative Idea Competition. The deadline to apply is Wednesday, October 20, 2021 at 11:59 PM. We look forward to seeing your idea! See details below.

Award

  • 2 x $1,000 awards
  • One award is guaranteed, the second award may be given out to a second highly deserving entry.
  • Each awardee will receive:
    • Mentorship and support to develop your idea for the Be Your Own Boss Bowl in Spring 2022
    • Access to the DIF lab.
    • Additional resources to develop the idea

Eligibility

The award is open to all Temple University students, alumni, faculty and staff.

Criteria

Entries will be judged by experienced digital innovators on the following criteria:

  1. Digital – does the idea apply technology in an interesting and/or novel manner?
  2. Problem – does the idea solve a real business or societal problem?
  3. Practical – is the idea practically doable given current technology, context, and resources?

Requirements

  1. Each recipient owns their idea following Temple University intellectual property policies, DIF only has a support role.
  2. Awardees will be expected to present their work in the DIF showcase.
  3. Apply by Wednesday, October 20, 2021 at 11:59 PM

How to apply

For the complete process and application form, click here. Make sure you complete section 30 in the entry form. 

9th annual IT career fair attracts major employers

The ninth annual IT career fair on September 22, 2021 featured 23 employers including IBIT partners Alexion, Scholastic, and AmerisourceBergen as well as others such as Accenture, Aramark, Comcast, JP Morgan, RSM, and TD Bank. More than 160 IT undergraduate and graduate majors participated in the career fair.

To manage the challenges of the pandemic, the career fair was held in hybrid format so that employers could also participate virtually. The career fair space was arranged with tables for each employer and all the students attended in-person. Some tables featured laptops allowing firms with travel restrictions to also engage with and recruit students virtually.

Lab-scale Testbed for Mixed Human-Autonomous Vehicle Traffic Research

Led by Dr. Philip Dames and students from Temple’s College of Engineering, the project developed a scaled robotic testbed for connected and automated vehicles (CAVs). The testbed can be used to study system-level flow characteristics of mixed human-CAV traffic, which, to date, has received very little attention compared to existing traffic flow or the safety of automated vehicles.

There are many simulation-based studies of traffic, however, there are few experimental results. This project bridges the divide by reducing the cost, effort, and risk. The project will enable the CAV community to (a) rapidly prototype and study levels of connectivity between CAVs and human-driven vehicles, and (b) evaluate coordinated CAVs algorithms to modulate traffic flows.

The DIF project laid the foundation for an NSF award, which is currently under review.

IBIT Annual Report 2020-2021

IBIT Annual ReportDear colleagues,

It is my pleasure to present the 2020-21 annual report of the Institute for Business and Information Technology (IBIT), Temple University. View online or download. We are very proud of the IBIT partnership with nationally recognized firms and the IT advisory board.

Sincerely,

Munir Mandviwalla
Executive Director

Digital Innovation Foundry Projects in 2021

The Digital Innovation Foundry (DIF) focuses on digital transformation and innovation projects involving students and faculty from across all of Temple’s schools.

Each project receives one or more scholarships or grants from the Persson-Barbour, Stewart Family, Bruce and Betsy Fadem, Niraj and Cara Patel, and Brassington endowments and fund. Two current projects include:

Lab-scale Testbed for Mixed Human-Autonomous Vehicle Traffic Research

Led by Dr. Philip Dames and students from Temple’s College of Engineering, the project developed a scaled robotic testbed for connected and automated vehicles (CAVs). The testbed can be used to study system-level flow characteristics of mixed human-CAV traffic, which, to date, has received very little attention compared to existing traffic flow or the safety of automated vehicles.

There are many simulation-based studies of traffic, however, there are few experimental results. This project bridges the divide by reducing the cost, effort, and risk. The project will enable the CAV community to (a) rapidly prototype and study levels of connectivity between CAVs and human-driven vehicles, and (b) evaluate coordinated CAVs algorithms to modulate traffic flows.

The DIF project laid the foundation for an NSF award, which is currently under review.

Employee Professional Development and Engagement

In today’s fast changing environment, the upskilling, development, and engagement of employees has become critical, especially when the economy is near full employment.  Led by Munir Mandviwalla, Laurel Miller, and Manoj Chacko, the DIF team is working with Scholastic, Inc. to apply the PRO Community platform to develop and engage employees. To date, a pilot was successfully completed focused on reskilling and retention. A larger scale deployment is being planned.

The platform is now a Temple University spin-off company that applies a data driven, visible, and measurable approach to employee engagement and development.

The following students received scholarships

Persson-Barbour Family Endowed Scholarship

  • Thomas Norris, Fox School of Business
  • Natalie Walker, College of Engineering

Bruce and Betsy Fadem Endowed Scholarship

  • Nelson Chan, College of Engineering

Stewart Family Endowed Scholarship

  • Alex Reichart-Anderson, Fox School of Business

Niraj and Cara Patel Endowed Scholarship

  • Tom Painadath, College of Engineering