IEEE-USA plans 'Innovation Institute' to help keep jobs in U.S.

Engineers need to ensure that their skills are up to date, says the group’s president

By Patrick Thibodeau

March 16, 2006 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld - In an effort to help U.S. companies remain competitive and keep jobs in the U.S., the IEEE-USA plans to create an 'Innovation Institute' and recruit the best students and teachers.

Ralph Wyndrum, president of the IEEE-USA, said his organization in July will hold a workshop for faculty made up of people with proven abilities to successfully innovate. It also plans to approach companies and ask them to nominate students for the institute, he said. Training will be provided at a series of subsequent workshops.

The IEEE-USA represents engineers, including those who work in IT.

This is part of an overall approach by the IEEE-USA to help engineers maintain relevant skills and minimize the risk that they’ll lose their jobs to offshore workers who increasingly are doing more of the routine jobs, said Wyndrum.

“We are advertising and making it clear that members are responsible for their own careers and that they better start upgrading themselves,” said Wyndrum, a former director of technology at Bell Laboratories, which is now part of Lucent Technologies Inc.

The IEEE-USA began offering online courses last year to help engineers upgrade their skills. Many companies have stopped offering training for midcareer employees; the organization’s training efforts are in response to that, Wyndrum said.

The new institute would also look for young advanced-degree holders who have already established themselves as prolific among a company’s product developers and patent holders -- students who “really have potential and [can] learn from one another,” Wyndrum said.

The Innovation Institute is designed to address some of the broader issues facing workers and employers today, such as ensuring that the U.S. remains a center for innovation, said Wyndrum. The date for the program’s start has not yet been announced.

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