Everyone Wants Something

Last week The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) hosted a web forum titled Emerging Technologies in Water Treatment.  Since water treatment is sort of my thing I attended this forum with several of my coworkers.  If I had to sum up the forum in one word I would call it disappointing.

With a title of emerging technologies one would expect the talk to be about, well, emerging technologies.  It was not.  There was a speaker from Dow, one from a professor at UConn, and one from GE.  The presentations from Dow and GE were focused on the water crisis while the presentation from a professor at UConn (Jeffrey McCutcheon) was actually focused on new technologies.  Here are my take-aways from the event:

• Water is a growing concern - Dow
• Water is a valuable resource - GE
• I must try to fit buzzwords like "expand the core," "market sector," "value chain," and "open innovation" into meetings with supervisors
• Some people don't have access to clean water - GE
• It takes a lot of talent to talk endlessly for a MS PowerPoint slide with little content
• There is going to be a shortage of water - Dow
• It can take a lot of energy to desalinate water - UConn Professor
• Maybe I should switch my career to marketing

Companies want to know what their competitors are working on but don't want to share what they're doing.  Professors will share everything if they think it will help them get more research money.  I should get into marketing.