104 Tom Salisbury
those conversations quite natural . The CIM program ’ s goal is to continue doing that , and to replicate this success in some of the other fields where mathematics can be applied .
Recently these efforts have been supported by the Institute Innovation Platform ( IIP ), a collaboration between the mathematics and statistics institutes and NSERC . For Fields this funding has helped secure an Industry Liaison Officer ( Tyler Wilson ) and two academics seconded part-time ( myself , and Pawel Prelat from Ryerson ). We have pursued academic-industry liaison in two ways : through organized events ; and through conversations with individual researchers and companies .
Events can take many forms . There are several seminar series that attempt to spark academic-industry conversations , either during a talk or presentation , or ( what is more likely ) during the networking reception that follows it . The Quantitative Finance seminar is a long-running example . It has been bringing researchers and practitioners together once a month for over 22 years , and has had a major impact on the mathematization of finance in Ontario . The Working Lunch seminar is the newest such example . It invites practitioners from a broad range of firms to make presentations about their sector and discuss potential directions for related research while having sandwiches at Fields . We have also run a number of Innovation Days , during which entrepreneurs share their views on opportunities for innovation and directions for research .
At the other end of the event spectrum are traditional conferences on topics of interest to industry . Somewhere in the middle lie the very successful Industrial Problem Solving workshops . These start with groups from industry posing problems on Monday . Then teams of students and faculty work intensively for the rest of the week , reporting back to the posers on Friday . Despite the short time frame , interesting