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If you are trained as a physicist

If you are trained as a physicist. you can do anything!. This is an expanded version of a talk I gave at a Microsoft symposium in Italy in December They chose the title for me!. Business and academia need to work together.

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If you are trained as a physicist

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  1. If you are trained as a physicist you can do anything!

  2. This is an expanded version of a talk I gave at a Microsoft symposium in Italy in December They chose the title for me!

  3. Business and academia need to work together • Europe cannot compete with Asia in activities that need low-level skills • Very soon China will produce more PhDs than Europe • We need to make the fullest possible use of our hi-tech skills • We need to improve our education – but it must be the right education

  4. Who am I to talk about this? University of Cambridge Centre for Mathematical Sciences

  5. Project cost: $100 million • Contribution from industry: $200k Companies have to justify expenditure to their shareholders --- but surely mathematical science is important to industry?

  6. Is 444 333 3 + 4 divisible by 5 ?

  7. http://nrich.maths.org180000 regular users So much depends on mathematics Companies are reluctant to fund it (Though Microsoft has been generous) It’s up to governments to fund education BUT …

  8. In 2003 more than12000 students have began Psychology degrees in the UK That is more than twice physics+chemistry Industry must help convince children that what It does is interesting

  9. Europe needs to catch up with the US • Bill Gates (Microsoft) • Gordon Moore (Intel) Both are American!

  10. Cambridge-MITInstitute

  11. CMI Phase 1 • Began work in 2000 • $100 million government grant • Independent company owned jointly by CU and MIT Collaborations to teach Cambridge to be more entrepreneurial

  12. CMI Strategy 3 strategic thrusts: Education Research Knowledge exchange with industry

  13. Knowledge exchange Universities provide companies with a window on the world and a stimulus for innovation • Workshops • Continuing education for personnel • Secondments (both directions) • Recruitment possibilities • Help with specific problems

  14. Universities get • Funding – must include proper overhead • Stimulating new problems and challenges, • Can lead to new fundamental understanding (eg Pasteur)

  15. Current KICs (KNOWLEDGE INTEGRATION COMMUNITIES) • Silent Aircraft • Systems Biology • Communications Innovation Institute • Centre for Competitiveness and Innovation • Quantum information theory • Ageing infrastructures

  16. Proposed new KICs CMI PHASE 2 Energy sustainability Product realisation Financial Innovation Personalised Healthcare Creative Industries Nanotubes and MEMs Transport

  17. Everything in transport needs data • Give passengers more confidence to use public transport • Help operators plan their systems • Help government decide how to distribute the spend

  18. Examples of questions • Why do people use trains? • What drives rail performance and costs? • What is the relationship between use of transport and the growth of the economy? • Are we getting value for money from the transport spend? • How to balance economic and environmental considerations in decision making?

  19. Examples of data • Entry gates at car parks and rail stations • Sensors in highways • CCTV cameras in cities • Demographic data • Pollution data • Weather • Whole-journey information for rail or air passengers

  20. The software • Federate existing data • Owners retain control and responsible for accuracy and updating • Security is important • Different users need different levels of access

  21. Consortium • Computer scientists and experts on transport • Transport operators • Public bodies Cambridge Edinburgh Leeds Newcastle Imperial College and University College Southampton

  22. Master’s degrees Combine technical material e.g. computational biology nanotechnology with 48 hours of lectures on management and send students into industry for part of the course

  23. What are the problems? • There needs to be benefit for both the company and the academics • The relationship must be managed • People in companies keep shifting jobs • Legal departments must be kept under control • IP issues often loom large • Short - termism

  24. Warning!

  25. 1927: Dirac predicted the positron 60 years later: Positron Emission Tomography You never know what is going to be useful

  26. Zebra fish and cosmology People often do not realise they have invented something useful The more radical the invention the more uncertain Its application eg computers!

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