Important MTConnect Deadlines Announced

Students have a new date to submit ideas for applications using the MTConnect interoperability standard as part of the MTConnect Student Challenge. It’s now December 15, 2015. Speakers interested in presenting at next year’s [MC]2 Conference on MTConnect in Dallas should submit proposals by October 16, 2015, for the first round of consideration. The conference dates are April 19-21, 2016.

The [MC]²Conference focuses on MTConnect as a pathway to advanced, data-driven manufacturing. The Student Challenge was announced at this event last April.

Students and speakers interested in promoting the MTConnect manufacturing interoperability standard have two new dates to observe. Students now have more time to enter the first portion of the Student Challenge announced at the [MC]² Conference last April in Chicago. Speakers interested in presenting at next year’s [MC]² Conference have until October 16, 2015 to submit proposals for the first round of consideration. Dates for this conference are April 19-21, 2016.

For Students: The MTConnect Institute has extended the deadline for the Idea Creation portion of its MTConnect Student Challenge to December 15, 2015. In addition to allowing students more time to develop and submit their ideas, this nearly three-month extension also allows for more overall entries into the competition.

For the Idea Creation competition, students are required to interview manufacturers to identify their challenges, describe potential solutions to that challenge and create a conceptual mockup for a solution. The prizes for this competition are $5,000 for first place, $2,500 for second place and three $1,000 prizes for runners up. Winners will be announced February 5, 2016.

Suggestion: Manufacturers with connections at local community colleges, engineering schools, colleges or universities should consider reaching out to these institutions to encourage participation in this contest.

The second portion of the Student Challenge, Application Development, has an unchanged submission deadline of January 31, 2016. Winners of this portion of the challenge will be announced at the [MC]² Conference in Dallas, Texas, April 20, 2016.

For Speakers: AMT—The Association For Manufacturing Technology and MTConnect Institute have issued a call for speakers to present at the 2016 [MC]² Conference. Proposals should be submitted by October 16, 2015, for the first round of consideration. Submission details are here.

Conference organizers are seeking experts to present on the following topics:

Digital Factory, Industrial Internet, Industry 4.0
Big Data and analytics
Industrial automation
Cyberphysical security
Workforce and talent development.

Information about the proposed presentation must include title, target audience, top three takeaways from the presentation and an abstract.

Suggestion: Because real-world case studies and end user stories are particularly valuable to conference attendees, manufacturers that have successfully implemented an MTConnect-enabled application should consider a presentation. These presentation proposals will be especially welcome.