The future of communication will include an evolving role for advanced paper-based materials, predicts Renu Kulkarni, founder and executive director of the FutureMedia Center at Georgia Tech (futuremediaga.com). Speaking at the TAPPI International Research Management Committee meeting in Knoxville, Tennessee, she discussed the likely interactivity and requirements of content creation, distribution, and consumption in future media alternatives.

Ted Farrington from Pepsico, representing the Industrial Research Institute, described tools to explore how future scenarios should affect research agendas. Other presentations addressed the organization, initiatives, and collaboration of forest products research and technical associations.

IPST director Norman Marsolan, who also serves as chair of TAPPI, represented IPST at the meetings in late November, attended by about 60 scientists from nine countries and five continents. Marsolan spoke about the concept of the proposed professional master’s degree in manufacturing leadership at Georgia Tech (See related story). A panel in which Marsolan participated compared the challenges faced by research organizations in different parts of the world.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory hosted part of the meeting, where presentations included priority topics such as separations technologies, carbon fibers from lignin, nanotechnology, and opportunities for technology transfer. The committee also toured the lab’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, where it was noted that the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Manufacturing Office has a goal of reducing energy consumption in the manufacture of goods by 50% in 10 years.