Here are some events happening around Massachusetts this week for you to enjoy. If you know of any other great technology & innovation events that we haven’t listed, let us know by commenting on this post. Also, share your experiences by commenting, tweeting, or emailing about innovation in MA. Get out there and have fun!

Nerdnite http://boston.nerdnite.com/

Date: Monday, September 28th at 8pm
Description: Featuring nerdy tunes by DJ Claude Money. Talk 1: “Wimpy Supermassive Black Holes” by Anil Seth. Talk 2: “The Psychology of Sexual Attraction” by Jason Mitchell.
Location: Middlesex Lounge, 315 Mass Ave, Cambridge (in Central Square)
Cover: $5

Men of Social Media Makeover Event http://www.eventbrite.com/event/417907974

Date: Wednesday, September 30th at 7pm
Description: There’s been a formidable disconnect between the world of style and the social media stratosphere, until now . . . .This is no regular from geek-to-chic proposition.  We have Emmi Sorokin, National Men’s Wardrobe Stylist . Come out for a night of fashion and fun as we transform Twitter gurus from geek-to-chic right before your eyes! Event details including location will be emailed to ticket holders, reserve yours now.
Location: Microsoft Conference Center, 1 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Cover: Free

Rona Pondick: the Metamorphosis of an Object http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/4184366

Date: Sept 30th, Oct 1st & Oct 2nd at 11am. Saturday, Oct 3rd at 10am
Description: Over the past decade, Rona Pondick has combined both ancient sculptural methods and the latest 3-D computer technologies to create sculptures that fuse human and animal bodies or human and flora forms.
Location: Worcester Art Museum, 55 Salisbury St, Worcester
Cover: Free with Museum Admission

On Friday we launched a feedback session to collect your thoughts and kick off a conversation about the foundations of the vision or the brand for the tech and innovation sector of MA. We launched a feedback form online, and kicked this off with a tweetup (#MAtechin) to get the conversation started.

This live conversation resulted in some interesting thoughts on topics like lifestyle in MA and New England, the use of vacant buildings and creative clustering, a need to focus more on collaboration, and the desire for a study tour and NE tech expo event to highlight local talents within the region.

Thanks to all the participants and to the Industry Councils for their involvement in this event.

Stay tuned for more. We will be running these regularly to keep you updated and involved in shaping the next steps of this project. Please add your feedback to the forms and we look forward to your ongoing involvement.

Please add your feedback at: http://innovate.masstech.org/pillars/pillar/

Professor Victor Zue is the Director of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Below, Professor Zue is interviewed about Research and Academia in Massachusetts.

How would you describe the value of the research enterprise in Massachusetts?

ZUE: If you look at the “tiretracks” chart produced by a 2003 National Research Council study on Innovation in Information Technology, you will see that many of the innovations – from Internet and GUI to parallel computing and VLSI design – started as university research that in turn triggered industry research and product development.  Furthermore, it often takes 15-20 years for the products to emerge and reach the $1 billion market level.

And, here in Massachusetts?

ZUE: Yes, a lot of these innovations can be traced to Massachusetts. There is an innovation supply chain here – with great industry, great universities, great talent that makes it unique.  In fact, Massachusetts and California are the leaders in IT research and development, more than anywhere else.

Has your participation as a member of the IT Collaborative changed your perspective?

ZUE: One of the things it has done is to make me aware of how dependent – and important – academia and industry are to each other. I was surprised to learn how strong the state of Massachusetts is in emerging IT sectors – with computer games and with robotics, for example.

What the IT Collaborative and the state government are trying to do is to revive the past glory of Massachusetts as a showcase of information technology development, and to make the state of Massachusetts as competitive as it can be.  It’s a very good thing for us to do.

You have also been involved with the new, green high-performance computing center planned for Holyoke. What do you see as the challenges and opportunities?

ZUE: It’s a rare opportunity for four major universities – MIT, Harvard, BU and UMass – and three companies – IBM, Cisco and EMC – to be working together. It provides a symbiotic environment for universities to collaborate among themselves and with well-known companies.

In my view, this is a good opportunity for universities and industry to form a partnership in innovation.  Someone once said that innovation is fresh ideas that create value.  Universities are usually good at coming up with good ideas that can serve as building blocks for products, as well as providing a culture of innovation. But industry really knows how to create and deliver value – risks, capital, and business know-how, etc.

The opportunities and the challenges lie in our ability to create an innovation supply chain in which universities and industry both bring their expertise to the table and work together on a common goal.

It’s particularly exciting that the high-performance computing center in Holyoke will be addressing energy-related issues, something that has not been front-and-center, and now will be.

A challenge is to make the computers in these data centers much more energy efficient.  For example, we may create new operating systems that can turn off selective parts of the computer when they’re not in use.  The work is smack in the middle of the largest project that we have now at CSAIL.

What’s the project?

ZUE: We recently received a grant from an industry partner for $25 million over five years to work on re-engineering cloud computing. It concerns the best way to distribute computation and data within the cloud while assuring that privacy can be maintained, such as medical and personnel records.

See more industry leaders speak about Research and Academia here.

Interested in meting up with people who share your interest in the tech and innovation sector? The following is a list of meet ups in the greater Boston area.  Enjoy, and spread the word.

Mass Innovation Nights
Wednesday, September 9 at 6:30pm, Waltham, MA

Mass Innovation Nights connect Massachusetts-based innovators with the marketplace using social media.  Held at the Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation, the monthly Launch Parties are FREE for everyone — companies and guests alike.  All we ask is that guests help spread the word about cool new products they see at our events.  Blog, Tweet (#MIN), Facebook, LinkedIn or tell a neighbor or a friend (yes, in person, you know, talking…)

http://massinnovationnights.com/

Boston Area Internet Marketing
Sunday, September 13 at 6pm, Boston, MA

A Boston area meetup group for networking and discussion of Internet & Affiliate Marketing, Pay Per Click, Buying/Selling Websites, Joint Ventures, Direct Offline Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing and anything else related. The group will be open to newbies and advanced marketers alike. Even if you are not currently involved in Internet Marketing but want to, then you can come!

http://www.meetup.com/Boston-Internet-Marketing-Meetup/

Cambridge Enterprise Web 2.0 Meetup Group
Monday, September 14 at 7:30pm (Second Monday of every month), Cambridge, MA

Architects, developers and entrepreneurs meet to discuss current issues developing web applications with the latest technologies. Technologies include (but are not limited to): J2EE, .Net, PHP, Python, Oracle, MySQL, AJAX, SOA and RIA.

http://web.meetup.com/21/

MTLC Tech Tuesday
Tuesday, September 15 at 6pm (Once a month), Cambridge, MA

Join your fellow geeks, tech savvy professionals, DIY-ers, press, and other industry luminaries for this informal gathering. Bring your laptops, robots, OLPC XO’s, Amazon Kindles, new cell phones, gadgets, and other new-fangled devices. Got a great demo or YouTube clip? Bring it! LCD projector and wi-fi will be available for ad hoc show and tell.

This month we will be celebrating the region’s digital game industry - bring your games, or come play others.  Featured games include Harmonix soon to be released The Beatles™: Rock Band™ !

http://techtuesday091509.eventbrite.com/

WebSquared
Thursday, September 17 at 8pm (Third Thursday of every month), Cambridge, MA

This group is for all those interested in the future of Web 2.0, interactive technologies, and entrepreneurship. It is for techies to meet and share ideas, for start-ups to promote their work, for investors to find exciting opportunities, for entrepreneurs to meet investors, for businesses to find talent, and for talent to find fun and challenging work.

http://www.meetup.com/WebSquared/

Web Innovators Group
Tuesday, September 29 at 6:30pm, Cambridge, MA

An informal gathering of people interested in internet and mobile innovation, WebInno is free and open to all in the community. If you are planning to attend, please sign up on the dedicated registration page.

http://www.webinnovatorsgroup.com/