Knowledge, Innovation, and Impact

Andrew Sixsmith, PhD, is the Director of the STAR Institute, and a Professor in the Gerontology Research Centre at Simon Fraser University, Canada. He is the Secretariat of the International Society for Gerontechnology (ISG), the world's foremost organisation for researchers in technology and aging, and is a Scientific Director of AGE-WELL NCE. Since 2000, Dr. Sixsmith has developed research and teaching links with 26 universities worldwide, and has actively collaborated with over 30 major commercial and government organisations. His research interests include development of technologies for independent living, modeling well-being of seniors, long-term care and theory, and methods in gerontology. Alex Mihailidis, PhD, is the Principal Investigator and a joint Scientific Director of AGE-WELL and Barbara G. Stymiest Research Chair in Rehabilitation Technology at Toronto Rehabilitation Institute - UHN/University of Toronto. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy and at the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto (U of T) and holds a cross appointment in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Toronto. His research disciplines include biomedical and biochemical engineering, computer science, geriatrics and occupational therapy.

Challenges and solutions.- Global challenges in the 21^st century.- What does innovation look like in research?.- Understanding impact.- Envisioning impact at multiple levels.- Combining good science and real-world impact.- Achieving impact.- How can researchers achieve impact?.- Turning ideas into products and services: the innovation pipeline.- Working towards impact.- Team work and building meaningful partnerships (transdisciplinarity).- Project management and administration.- Commercialization: defining, understanding, and creating your market.- Managing intellectual property.- Co-production and stakeholder involvement.- Reaching the hard-to-reach: a community approach.- Knowledge mobilization.- Education and training.- Regulatory and legal issues.- Local connections: ecosystems of research and innovation.- Evaluating and demonstrating impact.- Concluding remarks.