Horizon: Digital Economy Hub at the University of Nottingham

Horizon将以我们社会可接受的方式应对利用无处不在的计算能力促进数字经济的挑战，并提高所有人的生活质量。这将涉及建立一个世界领先的可持续卓越中心，为无处不在的数字经济进行研究和知识转移。Horizon将开展一项为期五年的研究计划，研究普遍采用无处不在的计算所涉及的关键科学挑战;与用户合作，创建、演示和研究下一代服务;提供一项知识转移计划，确保我们的研究成果与数字经济完全相连;培训新一代研究人员，以满足行业对熟练的跨学科工作人员的需求;与政策制定者和广大公众接触，以解决社会问题;并为这一领域的国际、国家和区域研究提供一个联络点。地平线将利用中心资助的独特性质，制定一种独特的方法来应对这一挑战。我们的合作研究计划将由终身背景足迹的总体概念驱动，我们每个人在一生中都会留下一条数字线索，捕捉我们与数字服务的互动模式。我们的研究将探索与这一概念相关的主要基础设施，人类和商业挑战，采用独特的多学科方法，整合了计算机科学，心理学，社会学，商业，经济学以及艺术和人文学科的见解。我们将与来自数字经济不同领域的30多个用户合作，以“在野外”创建、部署和研究一系列下一代服务，从而推动我们的基础研究。我们最初将专注于创意产业和交通运输部门，但随后将与其他枢纽和主要举措合作，将重点扩大到其他部门。同时，我们的转型计划将通过伙伴关系管理，公众参与，国际推广，孵化新企业，人员转移和培训24名相关博士生来推动知识转移和长期经济影响，由大学资助。我们的团队借鉴了诺丁汉的领先团队，涵盖计算机科学，工程，商业，心理学和社会学，在两个分支的专业知识的补充：分布式系统和通信在剑桥，数学建模和广告在阅读。一系列进一步的迷你辐条将使我们能够通过枢纽奖学金介绍其他关键个人。这些多学科和合作伙伴将被聚集在诺丁汉的一个新中心，在那里他们将能够与研究人员和学生的临界质量队列，探索创新和具有挑战性的新项目。该中心将由Derek McAuley教授指导，他带来了在学术界工作的丰富经验，指导主要的工业研究实验室，并推出衍生公司。他将得到汤姆罗登教授的支持，他是EPSRC的高级研究员，曾指导过赤道IRC。最终结果将是EPSRC，行业，公众和大学之间的独特合作伙伴关系，后者承诺1600万自有资金，以匹配EPSRC要求的1200万。

Horizon will tackle the challenge of harnessing the power of ubiquitous computing for the digital economy in a way that is acceptable to our society and increases the quality of life for all. This will involve establishing a world-leading and sustainable centre of excellence for research and knowledge transfer for the ubiquitous digital economy. Horizon will conduct a five-year programme of research into the key scientific challenges involved in the widespread adoption of ubiquitous computing; collaborate with users to create, demonstrate and study next generation services; deliver a knowledge transfer programme that ensures that the results of our research are fully connected to the digital economy; train a new generation of researchers to meet the demands of industry for skilled interdisciplinary staff; engage with policy makers and the wider public in order to address societal concerns; and provide a focal point for international, national and regional research in this area.Horizon will exploit the distinctive nature of hub funding to develop a unique approach to this challenge. Our Collaborative Research Programme will be driven by the overarching concept of a lifelong contextual footprint, the idea that each of us throughout our lifetimes will lay down a digital trail that captures our patterns of interaction with digital services. Our research will explore the major infrastructural, human and business challenges associated with this concept, adopting a unique multidisciplinary approach that integrates insights from computer science, psychology, sociology, business, economics and the arts and humanities. We will collaborate with over 30 users from different sectors of the Digital Economy in order to create, deploy and study a series of next generation services 'in the wild' so as to drive our underlying research. We will initially focus on the creative industries and transportation sectors, but subsequently extend our focus to additional sectors in partnership with other hubs and major initiatives. In parallel, our Transformation Programme will drive knowledge transfer and long-term economic impact through partnership management, public engagement, international outreach, incubation of new ventures, the transfer of people, and training for 24 associated PhD students, funded by the University.Our team draws on leading groups at Nottingham spanning computer science, engineering, business, psychology and sociology, complemented by expertise at two spokes: distributed systems and communications at Cambridge, and mathematical modelling and advertising at Reading. A series of further mini-spokes will enable us to introduce other key individuals through hub fellowships.These multiple disciplines and partners will be brought together in a new centre at Nottingham where they will be able to engage with a critical-mass cohort of research staff and students to explore innovative and challenging new projects. The Hub will be directed by Professor Derek McAuley who brings extensive experience of working in academia, directing major industrial research laboratories, and also launching spin-out companies. He will be supported by Professor Tom Rodden, an EPSRC Senior Research Fellow who previously directed the Equator IRC. The net result will be a unique partnership between EPSRC, industry, the public, and the University, with the latter committing 16M of its own funds to match the 12M requested from EPSRC.