A new £100m institute, based in the centre of Bristol, is set to transform the way we create, utilise and evaluate new digital technologies to benefit our society now and in the future.
In a unique collaboration, University of Bristol engineers will work with social scientists and with tech giants, corporations, local government and community partners to answer these big questions and create transformational technologies for the future.
The Bristol Digital Futures Institute (BDFI) will be based at the University’s new Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus in the heart of the City of Bristol’s buzzing new Enterprise Zone.
This international leading research facility is being funded by a £29m grant from the Research England UK Research Partnership Investment Fund (RPIF), which has received more than double that in £71m of match funding (£16m philanthropy and £55m from 27 partners including organisations such as Arm, BT, Dyson, the BBC, Airbus and Aardman)
Professor Hugh Brady, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bristol, said: “So many of the research solutions to contemporary global challenges are now discovered through creative collisions at the interface of traditional academic disciplines.
“The new Bristol Digital Futures Institute will apply this multidisciplinary paradigm to exploration of our rapidly evolving digital world. We are creating a unique research ecosystem where world-class engineers, computer scientists, social and behavioural scientists, psychologists and legal scholars can work shoulder to shoulder with our partners from industry, social enterprises and civic organisations exploring the opportunities and challenges posed by new digital technologies.”
Professor Nishan Canagarajah, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of Bristol, said: “This funding announcement is fantastic news for the University, the city of Bristol and the wider region.“It provides an opportunity to think about our futures differently – to build on expertise from right across the university in collaboration with industry, government and people in the City; to think about the world we are creating with digital innovation and ensure that this ethical, socially responsible and inclusive - helping to support the creation of future ‘tech with a conscience’.
“It will add further to the University of Bristol’s growing reputation as a global leader in responsible sociotechnical innovation, and the epicentre of a unique partnership ecosystem where public participation and citizen co-creation is key. “It will also ensure the UK can remain at the forefront of a rapidly advancing sociotechnical world by integrating areas of policy, economics, society, law and environmental impact with technical development, to ensure that emerging technology is useful, safe and secure.”
Among the partners who pledged their support and financial support include: Aardman, Ashley Community Housing, Airbus, Arm, Babassa, BBC, Bristol Media Group, Black South West Network (BSWN), BT, Business West, Digital Catapult, Dyson, Evolyst Ltd, Frazer-Nash Consultancy, Gregg Latchams Solicitors, Hargreaves Landsdown, Knowle West Media Centre, National Physical Laboratory (NPL), Quin, System C Healthcare Ltd, Thales UK Ltd, Three, TM Forum, Toshiba, Ultrahaptics Ltd, Watershed, West of England Combined Authority (WECA).
David Sproxton, Co-founder of Aardman, said: “Engaging audiences emotionally and authentically with screen-based entertainment is a little understood art. The Bristol Digital Futures Institute will build new knowledge using state of the art facilities to create truly immersive and engaging experiences with aim of supporting the creation of the next world class character franchise like Wallace & Gromit or Shaun the Sheep here in Bristol.”
Paul Coles, Group English Regions Director for BT said: “Bristol and the West of England is an incredibly important area for us. Our long-standing research partnership with the University of Bristol underpins the very foundation of modern and future communications technologies. We are very excited about Bristol Digital Futures Institute and are already in discussions about how we grow our partnership further.”
“Arm’s processor designs underpin a wide range of digital technologies from sensors to supercomputers, however we are seeing increasingly complex research challenges,” said John Goodenough, VP of Research Collaboration and Enablement at Arm. “The Institute for Digital Futures will help to address these challenges, by bringing together talented technologists and cross-disciplinary specialists across a diverse research programme to help provide critical training for the digital workforce of the future.”
The Institute will aim to generate 30 new collaborative projects per year. It will be jointly led by Professor Susan Halford, a social scientist and professor of sociology, and Professor Dimitra Simeonidou, an engineer and professor of high-performance networks.
Professor Susan Halford added: “The digital world is changing fast – we’re building new artificial intelligence and faster networks, which are becoming much more connected with our day to day lives. This will bring opportunities, but also huge challenges. “Rather than waiting for the future to happen, we’ll get ahead of it and drive our digital future for the benefit of society, economic growth and prosperity.”
Professor Dimitra Simeonidou added: “The new research facilities are vitally important to understand our digital futures. They will allow a step-change in sociotechnical research and help us to gain new insights on the challenges and opportunities brought by disruptive digital technologies.
“These insights will enable us create new technologies and deliver our vision for a future digital society based on opportunity, trust, human control, resilience, openness, diversity and inclusion.”
BDFI is being funded through Round 6 of Research England’s flagship capital investment scheme the UK Research Partnership Investment Fund (UKRPIF).
It is one of 11 projects being funded totalling over £670 million of new investment into UK research and innovation. Funding includes £221 million of public funding from UKRPIF and over £450 million of committed co-investment from businesses, charities and philanthropic donors.
This press release was originally posted by the University of Bristol. See the original post here.