The University of New Hampshire (UNH) Advanced Manufacturing Day, held on May 23rd, brought over 140 industry representatives to the John Olson Advanced Manufacturing Center to meet with dozens of UNH faculty whose research aligns with their businesses.
The event was the 6th semi-annual “industry day” to be hosted at the university. The industry days are free to attend and are designed to promote innovation and industry/university collaboration by providing companies in various industries with direct access to UNH researchers working in the same or related fields. UNH’s goal for these events is to help companies and researchers identify and develop potential partnerships, solve business challenges, and accelerate innovation in research and technology.
During Advanced Manufacturing Day, industry attendees had a chance to learn about UNH research in the areas of the industrial internet of things, biomanufacturing, rapid prototyping, automation/robotics, machining, electronics manufacturing, composites, materials characterization, and more. The day’s activities began with two speed-dating-style networking sessions. During each session, researchers gave two-minute introductions to their work and expertise. Following introductions, all attendees had the opportunity to move around the room to mingle and exchange ideas. Participants were encouraged to keep the conversations under five minutes to maximize interactions. The event also included an expo of UNH advanced manufacturing-related research and business resources, tours of several UNH facilities, and a social hour at the end of the day.
UNHInnovation, which administered the event, received wonderful feedback from both faculty and industry attendees about connections they made throughout the day that will hopefully lead to new partnerships. Many industry attendees commented that they had no idea that UNH was doing so much in the field and were impressed with the capabilities the university has to offer the business community.
With these industry events, UNH hopes to create closer connections between research and the local and regional business community. Advanced manufacturing is a fast-growing field, and it’s clear from the event’s record-breaking number of attendees that local companies are looking for advanced manufacturing solutions and can benefit from UNH’s expertise.
Looking forward, UNH plans to host many more industry-specific networking events for other areas of research expertise with the goal of building partnerships that result in commercialization and economic development. The more industry collaborates and engages with the university, the more the university can build its research capabilities to help businesses and train the future workforce.
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The UNH Advanced Manufacturing Day was administered by UNHInnovation with the help of marketing partners NH Department of Business and Economic Affairs, the Business and Industry Association of NH, and the NH Manufacturing Extension Partnership
