Enabling a Smarter World Dr. Joao Schwarz da Silva DG INFSO European Commission
How were the successive technology revolutions unleashed?
Technological Revolutions Technological Revolutions The Industrial Revolution (machines, factories, canals) Age of Steam, Coal, Iron and Railways) Age of Steal (electrical, chemical) Age of the Automobile, Oil, Petrochemicals Age of Telecommunications and IT Age of Networking, Smart Infrastr., Biotech, Nanotech 1771 1829 1875 1908 1971 2009
At the beginning of a new Era Mature industries are close to technology exhaustion, their innovation drive is weak Old economies stagnate, new technologies are incipient Need to select the new engines of growth Moving from laissez faire to the active comeback of the state Shifting from supply push to demand pull in investment and innovation Moving from individual focus to collective interests
Drivers Rising costs of energy, transport, health Huge inefficiencies in energy and transport and health related processes Growing environmental threats Growing security threats Untapped potential of ICT as smart infrastructure enablers Opportunities Energy distribution and management Transport, mobility, architecture, urban planning Production, waste disposal, recycling Health, well being, third age Sports, leisure, culture
We are in the midst of a profound social and economic business transformation!!!! We are now all connected: technically, socially and economically The world is becoming smarter: systems, processes, service delivery The world is becoming instrumented, interconnected, intelligent We can turn data into intelligence Hybrid Intelligence (AI+user feedback) is prevalent Around 80% of the population worldwide lives in cities. Urban areas are responsible for about 70 % of global CO2 emissions. Traffic jams costs Europe 135 B annually 40 to 70% of all electrical energy is lost because of inefficient grids 1800Exabytes of storage by 2011 * $2.20/GB 1 Billion videos seen per day in Youtube
85000 iphone Applications, 2 Billion Downloads (Sept 2009) 125,000 software developers are currently enrolled in Apple s iphone Developer Program iphone generated 33 percent of smartphone traffic worldwide and 50 percent in the US.
200 million members in April 2009, 250 million in July 2009, more than 300 million active users in September 2009 Facebook More than 2 billion photos uploaded to the More than 350,000 active applications Chinese Facebook 990 Million registered users (June 2009) site each month More than 14 million videos uploaded each month More than one million developers and entrepreneurs from more than 180 countries Every month, more than 70% of the users engage with Platform applications More than 2 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) shared each week
Political guidelines for the Next Commission President J. M. Barroso 3 September 2009
The Job Creation Potential of Europe s s Digital Economy Impact of broadband on the economy Broadband-related employment growth (EU27, 2006-2015, cumulative) Employment growth, 1000s jobs, base year 2005 2.500 2.000 1.500 1.000 500 Base Case Best Case Worst Case 0 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
What can be done to make the World Smarter?
Supporting applications of high socio economic value Smart energy grids Energy grids will increasingly face risks of congestion and blackout. Internet connectivity, computing power, digital sensors and remote control of the transmission and distribution system will help to make grids smarter, greener and more efficient, Smart environmental information systems The use of sensor networks for collecting real or near real time environmental data is a growing field of application. It requires Internet connectivity for data management, dissemination and integration in complex information systems, Smart systems for transport and mobility Putting intelligence into the roads and cars with e.g. sensor networks, radio frequency tags, and positioning systems offer a promising alternative. The internet provides a solution to interconnect these diverse technologies and bring more efficiency to mobility through realtime management of public and private transport resources, traveller information and decision making tools, way beyond the capability of current solutions, Smart healthcare systems Current research experiments aim to develop technologies for ambient environments capable of assisting patients and satisfying their information and communication needs. These technologies combine devices (sensors, actuators, special hardware and equipment), networks and service platforms to harness information about medical conditions, patient records, allergies and illnesses.
Sensors, Augmented reality etc...
So which action is needed? We can no longer look at the Future Internet as business as usual
Building a public private partnership The Future Internet will accelerate a new industrial revolution where internet operators, service developers and equipment manufacturers will be called upon to work in partnership with public stakeholders. Industry has recently initiated a Future Internet Public Private Partnership (PPP) on the basis of collaborative work that has been ongoing since mid 2008. An essential characteristic of such a PPP should be to develop open, standardised, cross sector sector service platforms.
The goals of the proposed PPP Increase the effectiveness of business processes and the operation of infrastructures and applications of high societal value. Address service architectures and platforms, building on the longer term requirements of the internet. Foster cross sector sector industrial partnerships built around Future Internet value chains, and involving users and public authorities at local, regional and national levels. Leverage the internet infrastructure as an open, secure and trusted platform for building networked applications on the basis of user centred open innovation schemes. Address regulatory and policy issues such as interoperability, openness, standards, data security and privacy within the context of the Future Internet complex and smart usage scenarios. Maximise the societal benefit through involvement of civil society/consumer organisations where needed.
Conclusions Incremental change and isolated business innovations alone are no longer sufficient to reap the expected benefits of the future internet Flexible and open innovation approaches favouring new entrants and ideas depend on the power of networks and on tapping the full potential of internet enabled services. Collaborative, crosscutting responses involving research entities, ICT industries and application developers are essential to bring about the required changes The European Commission calls for the rapid set up of an industry driven Public Private Partnership to address theses issues.
The difficulty lies not with the new ideas, but in escaping the old ones.... John Maynard Keynes