Robots, Underdogs, and DARPA’s Grand Challenges

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Even when researchers are not sitting in an ivory tower, it is a challenge to translate the results of research into marketable products. The BIGS has been involved in projects with great results that were not subsequently brought to market maturity. We are therefore delighted to welcome Chris Hayter, a proven expert in the field of innovation policy, for a pizza seminar. Chris Hayter is Associate Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology (GeorgiaTech) and conducts research on innovation policy and entrepreneurship at universities. In this context, he also examined the role of DARPA.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) finances and coordinates research projects for the US armed forces, from which civilian applications are often derived. Well-known research institutes, companies and universities take part in the competitions organized by DARPA, as well as lesser-known teams and start-ups. This was the case in the Grand Challenges in 2004, 2005 and 2007, where the task was to send an autonomous vehicle on a race through the desert and an urban environment.

In this PizzaSeminar, Chris Hayter will give an insight into how the Grand Challenges have shaped the research field of autonomous driving and what lessons can be learned from them for research and innovation policy, perhaps also for Germany and its numerous funding agencies. The language of this PizzaSeminar is English, participation is possible in person or via Zoom. Please register via the link above.

About the speaker:

Chris Hayter is an Associate Professor with the School of Public Policy at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His research focuses on entrepreneurship within universities and its social and commercial impact, career transitions among university postdocs, and the effectiveness of entrepreneurship and technology development policies and programs. Chris is also co-founder of Tractiv, a software startup that solves for security-related data transmission issues in the financial services and media industries. Prior to coming to Georgia Tech, he spent nine years at the Arizona State University School of Public Affairs. For 15 years he also served as a science and entrepreneurship policy advisor with organizations such as the National Academies, Council of Competitiveness, National Governors Association, and New York Academy of Sciences. Chris received his PhD from George Washington University and is a graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.