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Mr. Micheál Martin, T.D, Minister for Enterprise Trade and
Employment, has announced the establishment of CLARITY - a
new Science Foundation Ireland Centre for Science, Engineering
and Technology (CSET).
This groundbreaking research centre will focus on the so-called
‘Sensor Web’, which captures the intersection between
two important research areas - Adaptive Sensing and Information
Discovery.
The new cutting-edge CLARITY CSET is a partnership between
University College Dublin and Dublin City University, supported
by research at the Tyndall National Institute (TNI) Cork.
The CLARITY CSET Director is Professor Barry Smyth (University
College Dublin) and the Deputy Director is DCU’s Professor
Alan Smeaton. In total, over 90 highly-skilled personnel will
be working to deliver the CLARITY research programme.
In addition, CLARITY will collaborate with leading multinationals
and SMEs including - IBM, Vodafone, Ericsson, Foster-Miller,
ChangingWorlds, Fidelity Investments and Critical Path - as
well as national agencies, such as the Environmental Protection
Agency, the Marine Institute and the National Museum of Ireland.
Over the next five years, total investment in CLARITY will
amount to €16.4 million, of which Science Foundation Ireland
- through the CSET programme - will contribute €11.8 million.
CLARITY’s primary industry partners will make a significant
contribution collectively of over €4.6 million by contributing
personnel, funding, equipment, infrastructure and services.
The core aim of this innovative research centre is ‘bringing
information to life’. The research will investigate the
integration of sensor data from the physical world with sophisticated
information processing and artificial intelligence techniques
from computer science. CLARITY aims to develop systems that
can sense, process and analyse what is happening in the real
world and respond in an appropriate manner.
“This investment will establish CLARITY as a truly unique
world-class multidisciplinary research centre” - said Minister
Martin, announcing the funding. “By linking academic researchers
with industry partners in Ireland, SFI CSETs such as CLARITY
will play a significant role in building Ireland’s new knowledge-driven
economy. By graduating 45 PhD students, CLARITY will provide
Irish-based companies with access to highly-skilled individuals
that will play a key role generating new products and innovations
in industry.
“This unique SFI CSET will develop innovative new information
technologies of critical importance to Ireland’s future industry
base, in areas such as personal health, digital media and
in the management of our environment. CLARITY will seek to
develop new tools to address the issue of information overload
and assist people in accessing information” - continued the
Minister.
"Sensors help us to learn more about ourselves and the world
in which we live and the next generation of sensor technologies
will be cheap, connected and reliable - enabling exciting
new application areas” - said Professor Barry Smyth, Director
of CLARITY.
“We have already, for example, been using wearable sensors
to design garments that are capable of monitoring the posture
of the wearer, helping back-pain prone knowledge-workers to
improve their seated posture” - he explained. “Other applications
include the networks of sensors that are capable of monitoring
water quality with a view to identifying and signaling potential
pollution events.”
“To succeed in our research efforts, it is not enough to
strengthen our academic capability and output” - said Professor
Frank Gannon, Director General of SFI. “It is also necessary
to develop more research performing companies with a sharper
focus on the commercialisation of publicly-funded research.”
“The centre will focus on empowering citizens through new
technologies, to harvest, refine and make use of the deluge
of different kinds of information in the modern world” - said
DCU’s Professor Alan Smeaton. “CLARITY will develop a new
generation of smarter, simpler and more proactive information
services as well as commercial products which are set to improve
our quality of life - from monitoring the impact of exercise
on health, new technologies to support our aging population
and innovative ways to protect the quality of our environment.”
The funding commitment was made in accordance with the highest
standards of research investment and follows a rigorous review
process by international scientific experts and a strategic
review process involving representatives from Enterprise Ireland,
IDA, Forfás, the Health Research Board and the Higher Education
Authority.
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