Innovation Ahead by IRI

The latest episode of Innovation Ahead (hosts Lee Green and MeetalDesai) examines the key trends reshaping R&D and manufacturing this quarter. Topics include Gen Z’s changing career expectations and skills needs, the rise of staged and intelligent risk-taking, the promise and pitfalls of prediction markets, the human costs of hyperconnected/AI‑mediated work, increased science advocacy and trust-building, and the portfolio challenges that follow major breakthroughs (the GLP‑1/Novo Nordisk example).

Join John Miller for an introduction to TeraOpenScience, a global innovation ecosystem that connects students, faculty, researchers, and industry professionals to accelerate the commercialization of science and technology. Through open and private collaboration spaces, TeraOpenScience enables students to showcase their talents on a global stage, helps faculty build stronger industry partnerships, and provides companies with new ways to activate underutilized intellectual property and expand R&D capacity. The platform also supports talent discovery and workforce development by connecting organizations with emerging innovators and giving students and recent graduates access to a broad range of career opportunities. Grounded in a mission of ethical, inclusive, and global collaboration, TeraOpenScience empowers participants to learn, mentor, innovate, and lead while turning ideas into real-world impact.

Winner of this year’s IRI Scientific Advancement Award, Niron Magnetics is redefining what is possible in permanent magnet technology by translating decades of materials science research into a scalable, rare-earth-free manufacturing process. In this webinar, Frank Johnson, CTO of Niron Magnetics, will discuss how the company’s Iron Nitride magnets combine high magnetic strength, thermal stability and broad design flexibility using two abundant elements: iron and nitrogen. The conversation will explore the R&D journey behind the breakthrough, from stabilizing Iron Nitride nanoparticles to proving a mine-to-magnet process that can support domestic production at commercial scale. Participants will learn how this scientific advancement could reduce supply chain risk, open new possibilities for next-generation motor and system design and strengthen U.S. manufacturing resilience. 

The Innovation Research Interchange (IRI) podcast features an in-depth conversation with Mark Putnam of NewEdge about creating stability amid rapid change. Mark explains how organizations can build enduring anchors—DNA, future inevitabilities, focused opportunities, and visible routines—to align teams, make disciplined decisions, and remain agile. The episode covers practical steps leaders can take immediately, including defining common terms, embedding strategy into routines and metrics, finding internal champions, and making the strategy visible through playbooks and regular moments of reflection.

The Innovation Research Interchange podcast episode explores how DuPont and Qnity developed and scaled a Lean Innovation framework to speed learning, bridge the gap between technical certainty and customer needs, and support better decision-making across R&D, commercial, and leadership teams. Speakers share how coaching, structured cohorts, and events like "Dead Projects Day" helped destigmatize failure, the ROI achieved through earlier pivots and stops, and how the capability endured through company separation while continuing to evolve with digital tools and a learn-it-all mindset.

This IRI podcast episode brings together winners of the Innovation Excellence Award—Whirlpool, PPG, and IPG Photonics—to discuss their collaboration on laser curing for powder coatings, including DOE support and a pilot line in Strongsville. They explain how selective laser heating dramatically speeds cure times, reduces natural gas use and factory footprint, improves worker conditions, and outlines next steps toward commercialization and a ‘15‑minute’ paint‑shop vision.

Join faculty from Kellogg and IRI for information on the week-long executive program designed to help experienced technical leaders develop business acumen, strategic thinking, and leadership skills. The curriculum covers finance, marketing, strategy, law, negotiation, and networking, with interactive cases, simulations, and opportunities to build lasting professional connections.

This episode explores the evolution of enterprise AI toward verticalized intelligence, showing how domain-specific intelligence layers, ontologies, and agent workflows improve research, innovation, and IP decision-making. We discuss practical benefits—security and guardrails, faster R&D workflows, measurable ROI, and the emerging role of human-in-the-loop AI orchestrators—using real examples and vendor perspectives like Cypress.

In this episode of the Edge of What's Next, hosts discuss AI guardrails and the critical role of keeping humans in the loop for R&D decisions. They explore challenges around credibility and institutional knowledge as AI speeds up information flow, and examine how mentorship, communication, and cross‑functional skills will shape the future workforce. Other topic covered were delayed life milestones for early‑career professionals, the rise of informal mentoring, and practical strategies for organizations—like strengthening expert networks and teaching evaluation of AI outputs—to ensure trustworthy, effective innovation.

Hosts Meetal Desai and Besher Al‑Maklouf interview Dr. Sumeru Nayak, Winner of the IRI’s Promising Early Career Innovation Professional Award, about his interdisciplinary career, mentorship at James Hardy, and how he applies AI, computer vision, and agile problem‑solving to real‑world construction and R&D challenges. They discuss innovation culture, embracing failure as a form of iterative learning, building practical digital tools for installers, translating deep science into business value, and offering advice for future innovators and leaders.