ISA, Morley seek emerging technologists for 2006 expo

By Control Engineering Staff November 8, 2005

Research Triangle Park, NC, and Chicago, IL —The latest technology innovations will be showcased in a new “Innovation Alley” set to debut at ISA Expo 2006 in Houston. Technology innovator Dick Morley, known widely as the father of the PLC, will organize the effort.

Morley will recruit and select small companies that are innovating in areas that may have future use in automation applications. The Alley will give attendees a view of the future along with the commercial innovations of today’s automation hardware, software, and service suppliers shown in the traditional exhibits.

“We’re happy to have Dick Morley be the czar of this activity for ISA,” said Ken Baker, 2006 ISA president.” This initiative will, in many ways, introduce automation professionals to the future of the industry, and we’re confident that will have a lasting positive impact on the field.”

The Alley will be “an exciting opportunity for folks to see innovations arising from the bright minds of emerging technologists,” said Morley. “I’ve been privileged to encounter many of these individuals in my travels and engagements, and I’m delighted to able to work with ISA to bring them to the annual Expo event.”

Morley said he hopes to attract “young geniuses” to show what will happen in the next 10 years. “These people are in it for the fun and challenge,” not for filling out paperwork by a certain deadline, he suggested of the effort to draw a new, sometime a bit irreverent, generation of exhibitors and attendees. Morley will determine how many and which companies will qualify to participate in the showcase. Innovation Alley space will be offered at $1 per booth.

—Control Engineering Daily News Desk
Jeanine Katzel, senior editor, jkatzel@reedbusiness.com