Shooting for
the Moon
Can formidable goals inspire
excellent research?
program
research stories
Everybody likes a good story.
We'd like you to tell us stories of successful research endeavors.
There are different kinds of stories...
Man in a hole
MAN in a hole
Comfort zone - Not a bad place, but some potential is wasted.
Trigger - Something out of your control happens and knocks us out.
Crisis - You are in a hole. That's where you learn something valuable.
Recovery - Put what you have learned to good use and climb back.
Better place - Your effort pays off.
〞
Multiple communities join forces to develop new control solutions
The old power grid: stable and reliable
Wind and solar generation
Low-inertia grids are prone to instability and blackouts!
A new reliable and sustainable grid!
rags to riches
rags to riches
Hidden value - Some untapped potential that most people don't see.
Trigger and Struggle - The chance to shine!
Deserved recognition - The true value is finally revealed.
Hint: You could be the Fairy Godmother!
〞
Sean Meyn
no easy way
no easy way
Problem - Everybody agrees: it's a bad place.
Early success - Low-hanging fruit.
Setback / crisis - Early success does not take you far.
Recovery / Better place - Here comes the expert: only by doing the right thing we'll get the desired result.
〞
Anuradha Annaswamy
VOYAGE AND RETURN
vOYAGE AND RETURN
Home - Safe and dull. There is something lacking, not clear what.
Voyage - A deliberate (or not) journey is the chance to learn.
Return - Back to your island, but you are different (and better).
〞
Rodolphe Sepulchre
- Look back at some successful research endeavors by yourself, your team, your lab, or your community.
- In 15 minutes, write down a few stories each.
- Place it on the correct whiteboard (by story type)
Tell us your stories
your research story
-
What are the elements of your story?
- How long did it last?
- Who was part of it?
- industry, academia, or both?
- within or beyond our community?
- how many people worked together?
- What happened?
- how did it start?
- who drove it forward?
- who supported and funded it?
- How was the research done?
- any unconventional aspect of this endeavor?
- was any special resource or opportunity available?
- collaboration or competition?
- What came out of that?
- scientific results
- impact within and beyond the community
- education
- technology transfer
- Anything else worth mentioning
moonshot
moonshot
- A well-defined, ambitious, formidable goal
- No assurance of near-term profitability
- No obvious benefit, just a bet on disruptive consequences
- Without a full investigation of potential risks and benefits
- To succeed, you had to solve
great open problems along the way
(maybe even unpredicted ones) - The path to success was as valuable
as the result, or even more - One intense, consistent effort
do you have a moonshot story?
- Big or small, recent or not
- Successful research on theory and methods
- It can be the story of yourself, your team, your project,
or a story that you witnessed in your community
- Work in groups of three, with one timekeeper
- 30 minutes
- Fill one sheet (one story) each
- Briefly ask questions to each other and make sure to include the interesting details
THEORY
your MOONSHOT story
-
What was the moonshot idea?
- How long did it last?
- Who was part of it?
- industry, academia, or both?
- within or beyond our community?
- how many people worked together?
- What happened?
- how did it start?
- who drove it forward?
- who supported and funded it?
- How was the research done?
- any unconventional aspect of this endeavor?
- was any special resource or opportunity available?
- collaboration or competition?
- What came out of that?
- scientific results
- impact within and beyond the community
- education
- technology transfer
- Anything else worth mentioning
What makes a moonshot successful?
IDEA
Top down or bottom up
Brainstorming or guidance
Theory or applications
Multi-disciplinary or specialist
People
Cross-disciplinary collaboration or inside the community
Special recruitment?
Small team or big team
Resources
Time: fast or slow
Visiting scholars
Secondment and sabbaticals
Funding instruments
process
Special management
Unusual research guidance
Social or isolated
Competitive or collaborative
impact
New community
Opening or closing a topic
Technology transfer
Performance metrics
-
What makes a moonshot successful?
-
Five groups, 15 minutes
-
Each group will focus on one of the five aspects
-
Look at all the stories
-
Find common patterns
-
Find differences
-
Collect evidence
-
Make your hypotheses
-
Prepare a few questions on the collected stories to validate/disprove your theory
be a detective
Questioning time
- In turns, the five groups can ask questions on the stories that we have collected
- The goal is to develop, validate, prove, or disprove their theory
- Write down your findings
- Just a few minutes per question
consolidation
People
IDEA
Resources
process
impact
- Clean up your notes
- Each group reports on their findings
- 5 minutes per group
thank you!
Next: train IC2 to Bellinzona at 15:05 Platform 8
14:30
