Speaker: Dr. Mikko Hakkarainen -- Lutron Electronics

Speaker's Title: Consultant

Seminar Title: Mixing Business with Engineering

Abstract:
How could I proceed from an innovation idea to actually making money? What’s involved in the process of taking a design concept to a final product anyway? Who are my customers, how do I find them, how do I figure out if there are enough of them, what they like, and if they would buy my product? What if there are competitors with similar ideas as mine? How do I protect my intellectual property?        

If you’ve wondered about these questions and many others like them, come listen to one experienced person’s opinion about them and ask your own questions!             

Speaker Bio:
Dr. Mikko Hakkarainen is originally from Finland (curiously though, he never worked at Nokia!) and he found his way to the American shores via UWCA, a prestigious international high school in Wales, UK, and concentrated on Electrical Engineering at MIT, receiving his S.B., S.M., and PhD degrees from the Institute. At work, his main goal is to help customers find superior and affordable lighting control solutions that work without problems. Away from work, he is active in student education and outreach through MIT’s Educational Council, the Florida Engineering Society, and other local school based organizations.

Mikko joined Lutron Electronics in 2009 after over two decades of high performance analog and digital IC design and management, and is now enjoying the challenge of helping create the world’s highest quality lighting control products. He is currently responsible for growing Lutron’s satellite engineering offices and their product development teams, with a focus on ensuring that they become seamlessly integrated into the parent company. He specializes in driving for top engineering quality and efficiency and in bringing together engineering teams with product planning, procurement, marketing and sales organizations.

Mikko has a broad experience base that includes engineering design, quality assurance, and manufacture of electronic products, both at the component and final product levels. His knowledge areas cover lighting controls and automation, solid-state lighting, digital cameras, flat panel displays, cellular base stations, battery chargers and gauges, and medical diagnostic equipment. He has designed commercially available IC products for all these areas and has built application platforms as well as end products in many of these sectors.