Optoelectronics experts will discuss manufacturing and innovation in the 21st century at a Perspectives in Optoelectronics series, to be sponsored by the Optoelectronics Industry Development Association (OIDA) April 16-17 at the DoubleTree San Jose, Calif. "Manufacturing in the 21st Century" (April 16) will explore how the pursuit of lower-cost manufacturing and the strengthening of Asian markets have changed manufacturing of optoelectronics products, focusing on automation and optical integration; the supply chain and economics of manufacturing in the US, Europe and Asia; and offshore manufacturing for US defense and commercial markets in optoelectronics. "Innovation" (April 17) will focus on research and development in and the future of the optoelectronics industry in North America, particularly the decline in industrial research and its impact on innovation and product development and how university/academic research and industry collaborations can accelerate innovation. Speakers will be: Rod C. Alferness, chief scientist, Bell Laboratories, Alcatel-Lucent; John Bowers, director of the Multidisciplinary Optical Switching Technology Center at University of California, Santa Barbara; Waguih Ishak, vice president and director, West Coast Research Center, Corning Inc.; Michael Lebby, OIDA president and CEO.Also: Bernard Meyerson, IBM Fellow, vice president and chief technologist, Systems & Technology Group, IBM Research; Bob Musk, technology development advisor, Gooch & Housego Ltd; Richard M. Osgood Jr., professor of electrical engineering and of applied physics and applied mathematics, Columbia University; M.J. Soileau, vice president for research and professor of optics, electrical and computing engineering and physics, University of Central Florida; and Joseph Young, senior vice president and manager of Finisar Optics Group. For more information or to register, visit: www.oida.org/events/manufacturing08