 Accenture
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Andrew Fano is Accenture Technology Labs' Global Director of Research.
He oversees Accenture's research in: Intelligent Device Integration, Analytics and Insight, and Human-Computer Interaction. "Accenture Technology Labs is dedicated to exploring the business implications of emerging technologies and bringing them to life," he says. "We continually build prototypes—or 'concept cars'—of possible business applications to help our clients try the future on for size." One way the Labs helps clients identify how technology innovation can help them overcome organizational, industry and competitive challenges is through its Innovation Workshops program. A regular participant in these tailored client workshops held around the globe, Fano enjoys the program's hands-on approach to exploring ideas with clients—and gaining valuable feedback on ways to improve and further the Labs' work. One challenge of particular interest to Fano is the possibility of having applications reason about the wealth of data available and act intelligently in response. "The greatest change in the last 15 years has been the tremendous wealth of information people have at their disposal," he says. "It has completely redefined our assumptions about what we can know and do. Yet our business applications have not benefited similarly. Today, our applications tend to be conduits rather than consumers of information. The challenge going forward is for our applications to be able to reason and act in a scale commensurate with the demands of the enterprise and the information available—a scale at which people aren't particularly effective." Applying his scientific knowledge to technology is a pastime born from Fano's childhood. Born in New York City to Argentine parents, he spent two years living in Buenos Aires as a child. His father was a cardiologist, and science and medicine were frequent topics of dinner conversation. "Growing up with a doctor, science was something we always talked about," he recalls. His interest in cognitive science led him to Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., where he graduated with a degree in cognitive science and developed an interest in artificial intelligence (AI). After graduating he joined defense contractor SRA International's artificial intelligence lab, where he worked on natural language understanding systems to process intelligence messages. He then pursued graduate work at Northwestern University to study under pioneering AI researcher Roger Schank and was awarded his Ph.D. At the time, Accenture sponsored a program at Northwestern called The Institute for Learning Sciences, where Fano met another former student of Schank's, Anatole Gershman, who was director of Accenture's Center for Strategic Technology and Research (CSTaR). Fano was hired as a researcher in Gershman's group, and his early assignments focused on using the Internet to provide customer services in mobile environments, such as in the car or on early PDAs. His current role spans all facets of Accenture's R&D work. As a result of his years of experience with the company, Fano has observed that one of the keys to the Labs' success is, and will continue to be, the collaborative relationship it enjoys with its clients. "We don't just sit in an ivory tower," he says. "For us, it's not about the raw technology but why it matters to business. We are privileged to have the chance to explore and build upon our research with the leadership of some of the world's top companies." To Top |