New and emerging Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) developments have the potential to accelerate scientific discovery and industrial growth with positive social impacts. However, big picture assessments of new and emerging ICT are often lacking, particularly from an international perspective. The European Commission, under its Horizon 2020 program, launched a 2016 project on ICT Policy, Research and Innovation for a Smart Society: Towards New Avenues in EU-US ICT Collaboration (the PICASSO project). Under this proposal, NSF will provide co-funding for US researchers to participate in a PICASSO project symposium focused on exploring emerging areas of ICT relevant to cooperation between researchers in the US and EU. This workshop, the 2nd Trans-Atlantic Symposium on ICT Technology and Policy, will be held at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (the Wilson Center) in Washington, DC, on June 18-19, 2018. The symposium will result in greater awareness of shared US/EU priorities and needs in ICT technology and policy and in enhanced collaborations. Attendance of approximately 100 is anticipated, with outreach designed to facilitate participation from groups that are historically under-represented in STEM.
Pervasive sensing and connectivity, large-scale secure data repositories, high-performance analytics in distributed and cloud platforms, real-time closed-loop applications, and robotics all offer individual advances in research and application areas, and will enable social, environmental, and economic benefits on unprecedented levels as the impacts of these technologies converge. Taking an international perspective, the goal of this workshop is to convene representatives from academia, industry, and government seeking to identify and advance collaborative research in new and emerging ICT areas. Specific thematic areas to be explored include Cyber Physical Systems (CPS), Internet of Things (IoT), big data, 5G and beyond, the future of automation, and cyber-resiliency, all of which are a high priority for the US and EU. The symposium will predominately feature a mix of keynote speeches and plenary panel discussions, through breakout sessions on the second day will allow researchers to discuss key technical aspects of different thematic areas in detail. This workshop will provide inputs to help define opportunities for US/ EU collaboration from a high-level road-mapping perspective. A final report will be prepared for NSF and the European Commission, and a version of this report will also be made publically available on websites of the Wilson Center and PICASSO project. The symposium will also identify opportunities for and advance collaborative research through networking participants from the US and EU.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Abstract
Anne Bowser
New advances in science and technology should create, rather than inhibit, social and environmental good. Innovations in areas like citizen science, open data, and open source hardware can accelerate progress while creating opportunities for the public to be involved.
Leveraging her PhD from the University of Maryland’s iSchool, Anne takes a research through design approach to understanding opportunities for democratizing science and technology. For example, she leads the Wilson Center’s work on Earth Challenge 2020, which seeks to become the world’s largest coordinated citizen science campaign. The process of designing key Earth Challenge 2020 technologies, including a data standard, mobile application, and open data platform, can reveal broader insights about how citizen science and open data initiatives help solve local problems while contributing to national and global research and monitoring efforts.
Beyond citizen science, Anne is interested in elevating the value of open data, particularly through innovations in environmental monitoring like Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs). Anne’s research also explores the importance of including democratic values in the design of emerging technologies, including Artificial Intelligence (AI) and 5G.
Outside the Wilson Center, Anne is a Regional Facilitator for UN Environment North America, where she helps stakeholders including business and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) provide inputs to UN processes.