Ubiquitous Computing for a Digital Economy

全球无处不在的计算环境的出现，将会改变我们工作、旅行、学习、娱乐和社交的方式。在这个环境中，我们每个人都与嵌入在我们周围日常世界中的成千上万台相互连接的计算机进行日常互动。无处不在的计算将成为推动我们未来数字经济的引擎，刺激数字业务的新形式，并改变现有的形式。然而，无处不在的计算在社会接受度和缺乏成熟的创新和财富创造模式方面也存在相当大的风险，因此释放其潜力远非易事。为了确保英国在避免风险的同时获得无处不在的计算的好处，我们必须解决三个基本挑战。首先，我们需要追求一个新的技术研究议程，以广泛采用无处不在的计算。其次，我们必须理解并为日益多样化的用户群体进行设计。第三，开辟数字商业创新路径。应对这些挑战需要新一代的研究人员，他们在无处不在的计算技术和以人为中心的方面具有跨学科技能，并在研究、创新和社会影响方面具有可转移技能。我们的数字经济普适计算博士培训中心将培养一批跨学科的研究人员，他们在创造性和冒险的文化中接触到新的研究方法和范式，以便在研究和知识转移方面提供未来的领导地位，这是确保英国数字经济普适计算变革潜力所必需的。为了实现这一目标，我们将跨越传统的研究界限；鼓励学生采用端到端的创新观点；促进研究中的创造力和冒险精神；并将社会、行业和主要利益相关者的参与作为我们课程的核心。我们的提议汇集了一群独特的研究人员，他们在无处不在和基于位置的计算技术、以用户为中心的设计、社会理解以及创新和领导力方面的研究和培训方面拥有广泛的专业知识。它还涉及来自泛在计算价值链的广泛行业合作伙伴，涵盖定位、通信、设备、中间件、数据库、设计以及创意产业和运输这两个驱动市场部门。我们的培训计划基于个性化途径的方法，培养学生的跨学科和可转移技能，并产生个人作品集，以展示与更传统的博士论文一起获得的技能和经验。它包括一个灵活的教学项目，强调以学生为主导的研讨会、短模块、培训项目和电子学习，作为适合博士培训的交付机制；一项工业实习计划，根据该计划，学生将在工业合作伙伴工作三个月；以及一个博士研究项目，该项目建立在第一年培训期间制定的提案基础上，并得到来自不同学科的多名主管的支持。我们的DTC将通过专门的共享空间、社区建设活动计划、对主管和学生的培训、为学生社团和校友项目提供资金，来培养一个研究人员社区。

The emergence of a global ubiquitous computing environment in which each of us routinely interacts with many thousands of interconnected computers embedded into the everyday world around us will transform the ways in which we work, travel, learn, entertain ourselves and socialise. Ubiquitous computing will be the engine that drives our future digital economy, stimulating new forms of digital business and transforming existing ones.However, ubiquitous computing also carries considerable risks in terms of societal acceptance and a lack of established models of innovation and wealth creation, so that unlocking its potential is far from straightforward. In order to ensure that the UK reaps the benefits of ubiquitous computing while avoiding its risks, we must address three fundamental challenges. First, we need to pursue a new technical research agenda for the widespread adoption of ubiquitous computing. Second, we must understand and design for an increasingly diverse population of users. Third, we need to establish new paths to innovation in digital business. Meeting these challenges requires a new generation of researchers with interdisciplinary skills in the technical and human centred aspects of ubiquitous computing and transferable skills in research, innovation and societal impact.Our doctoral training centre for Ubiquitous Computing in the Digital Economy will develop a cohort of interdisciplinary researchers who have been exposed to new research methods and paradigms within a creative and adventurous culture so as to provide the future leadership in research and knowledge transfer that is necessary to secure the transformative potential of ubiquitous computing for the UK digital economy. To achieve this we will work across traditional research boundaries; encourage students to adopt an end-to-end perspective on innovation; promote creativity and adventure in research; and place engagement with society, industry and key stakeholders at the core of our programme.Our proposal brings together a unique pool of researchers with extensive expertise in the technologies of ubiquitous and location based computing, user-centred design, societal understanding, and research and training in innovation and leadership. It also involves a wide spectrum of industry partners from across the value chain for ubiquitous computing, spanning positioning, communications, devices, middleware, databases, design, and our two driving market sectors of the creative industries and transportation.Our training programme is based on the approach of personalised pathways that develop individual students' interdisciplinary and transferable skills, and that produce a personal portfolio to showcase the skills and experience gained alongside the more traditional PhD thesis. It includes a flexible taught programme that emphasises student-led seminars, short-fat modules, training projects and e-learning as delivery mechanisms that are suited to PhD training; an industrial internship scheme under which students spend three months working at an industrial partner; and a PhD research project that builds on a proposal developed during the first year of training and that is supported by multiple supervisors from different disciplines with industry involvement. Our DTC will foster a community of researchers through a dedicated shared space, a programme of community building events, training for supervisors and well as students, funding for a student society, and an alumni programme.