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/ Events

Computing for a sustainable future

30 - 01 September 2013 13:30 - 12:30

Scientific discussion meeting organised by Professor Steve Furber CBE FREng FRS, Mr Ian Osborne, Mr Simon McIntosh-Smith and Dr Andrew Rice

Event details

As business, academia and wider society globally all become increasingly reliant on computer systems, software and applications, how can we ensure that this growth is sustainable?

More efficient computing – from smarter algorithms, better chip design, more energy-aware software, and improved power management – offers opportunities to reduce energy consumption, improve mobile computing function, increase large data use, encourage sustainable behaviour, and lower the cost. From developing countries to global business, the benefits will be felt by all.

Computing has the capacity to make a crucial contribution to ensuring a sustainable future for society and the planet. Bringing together computer scientists, electronic engineers, business leaders, and industrial researchers, this meeting examines how that will be achieved.

A draft outline programme (pdf) is available, which is subject to change. The programme includes the opportunity to network at an evening reception held in partnership with the ICT Knowledge Transfer Network.

Biographies of the organisers and speakers are available below. Recorded audio of the presentations will be available on this page after the event.

Part of the year of science and industry.

Attending this event

This event is intended for staff and researchers in relevant fields of business, academia and the public sector, and is free to attend. There are a limited number of places and registration is essential.

Enquiries: Contact the events team

Organisers

  • Ian Osborne, ICT Knowledge Transfer Network

    "Ian is Director of Cloud and Big Data in the Information and Communications Technologies Knowledge Transfer Network (ICT KTN), part of the programme funded by the Technology Strategy Board, the UK Government's Innovation Agency. KTNs work closely with academics, leading industry suppliers and early adopters to promote ICT-based innovation in private and public sector organisations. His key areas of industry interest lie in Cloud Computing, Sustainability and Standards, especially for Government and SME applications. He leads the KTN Software Engineering Working Group and is a contributor to the Energy-efficient Computing and e-Infrastructure Special Interest Groups funded by the TSB.

    Ian has worked in ICT since 1972, with early stints at British Airways and International Computers Limited. In 1979, he joined Hewlett-Packard Limited where he enjoyed a substantial career working in Research & Development, Quality and Marketing at HP locations in the US and UK. He held senior management positions in HP's Corporate Research Laboratories in Bristol and Telecom Systems Business in Edinburgh.

    He has an MSc in the Management of Technology, a joint degree awarded by the Universities of Sussex and Brighton in 1992. He conducted research work in the area of Innovation Management in the Doctoral Programme at Cranfield University between 2004 and 2006. He is a Member of the British Computer Society and a Chartered Information Technology Professional, a past chair of the BCS Distributed and Scalable Computing Special Interest Group, a Member of the Association for Computing Machinery and a Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers."

  • Simon McIntosh-Smith, University of Bristol

    Head of the Microelectronics Group and Bristol University Business Fellow, Senior Lecturer in High Performance Computing and Architectures at the University of Bristol.

  • Dr Andrew Rice, University of Cambridge

    Dr Rice is a University Lecturer in the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory working in the Digital Technology Group and a Fellow of Queens' College.

  • Professor Steve Furber CBE FREng FRS, University of Manchester

    Steve Furber CBE FREng FRS is ICL Professor of Computer Engineering in the School of Computer Science at the University of Manchester, UK. After completing a BA in mathematics and a PhD in aerodynamics at the University of Cambridge, UK, he spent the 1980s at Acorn Computers, where he was a principal designer of the BBC Microcomputer and the ARM 32-bit RISC microprocessor. Over 100 billion variants of the ARM processor have since been manufactured, powering much of the world's mobile and embedded computing. He moved to the ICL Chair at Manchester in 1990 where he leads research into asynchronous and low-power systems and, more recently, neural systems engineering, where the SpiNNaker project is delivering a computer incorporating a million ARM processors optimised for brain modelling applications.