(토요모임) [14. Apr. 2018] Saturday meeting Topic

[Scarlet]

Howdy ! 

It's me Scarlett !   

This week we have 4 categories of topics. Main topics are on the food security, zero energy building, experimental kindergarten, Solar panel, AI and Innovation economy. Bring any materials or upload articles to back up your own opinions on those issues. Do not be obsessed with all the articles too much. Just pick some articles what you have interests and prepare your opinions related to those articles. :) Detailed lists are as follows.

◈ Food Security :

---- World's Largest Seed Bank Hits One Million Unique Food Crops

◈ Educational Architecture : 

---- World's Largest Solar Panel Facade Powers Danish School

---- Solar-Powered School In Denmark Lets Kids Grow Their Own Food

---- Students Grow Their Own Food at This Experimental Kindergarten

◈ Tech. issue : 

---- Saudis, SoftBank Plan World's Largest Solar Project

---- Top 10 Hot Artificial Intelligence (AI) Technologies

---- 3 Reasons To Believe The Singularity Is Near

◈ Education & skills : 

---- 4 ways universities are driving innovation

Hope you enjoy the topics.

With luv

Scarlett

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World's Largest Seed Bank Hits One Million Unique Food Crops
ByLorraine Chow / Feb. 26, 2018

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault in the Arctic Circle—also known as the "doomsday vault" safeguarding the world's most diverse collection of seeds—now holds 1,059,646 unique crop varieties after receiving more than 70,000 samples on Monday.

Depositors from 23 seed banks around the world braved sub-zero temperatures to deliver duplicate seeds of vital staples such as rice, wheat and maize; black-eyed pea, a major protein source in Africa and South Asia; and samples of sorghum, pearl millet and pigeon pea. Several lesser-known crops such as the Estonian onion potato and the Bambara groundnut, a drought-tolerant crop being developed in Africa, also made the journey.

"Hitting the million mark is really significant," Hannes Dempenwolf, senior scientist of the Crop Trust, an international organization that funds and manages a global system of seed collections, told BBC.

"Only a few years back I don't think we would have thought that we would get there."

Monday also marked the tenth anniversary of the Global Seed Vault. The vault, located on the side of a mountain on a remote Norwegian island, is designed to safeguard the planet's precious seed varieties against loss of crop diversity caused by climate change, natural disasters or war.

Deliveries are made several times a year from countries that include the U.S., Australia, Burundi, Colombia, Germany, India, Japan, North Korea, Russia and many others.

"The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is an iconic reminder of the remarkable conservation effort that is taking place every day, around the world and around the clock—an effort to conserve the seeds of our food crops," said Marie Haga, executive director of the Crop Trust, in a statement.

"Safeguarding such a huge range of seeds means scientists will have the best chance of developing nutritious and climate- resilient crops that can ensure future generations don't just survive, but thrive."

The vault can store up to 4.5 million varieties of crops. Each variety contains an average of 500 seeds, which amounts to a maximum capacity of 2.5 billion seeds.

Last year, the vault suffered flooding after warmer-than-average temperatures caused a layer of permafrost to thaw. No seeds were damaged, but the Norwegian government is working to protect the vault against increasingly extreme weather. Norway announced Friday it plans to spend $13 million on upgrades that will cover "construction of a new, concrete-built access tunnel, as well as a service building to house emergency power and refrigerating units and other electrical equipment that emits heat through the tunnel," the Agriculture Ministry said in a statement.

"The tenth anniversary is a major milestone for the Svalbard Global Seed Vault," said Jon Georg Dale, the Minister of Agriculture for the Norwegian government, which jointly runs the facility with the Crop Trust and the Nordic Genetic Resource Center.

"It comes at a time when agriculture is facing multiple challenges from extreme weather and the demands of a world population expected to reach 10 billion people by 2050. This means it is more important than ever to ensure that seeds—the foundation of our food supply and the future of our agriculture—are safely conserved."

Article source : https://www.ecowatch.com/global-seed-vault-svalbard-2539843402.html

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< Questions >

Q1. What images are in your mind when you hear the word 'seed bank'?

Q2. IF you can save one plant or one animal from your country in this bank, what would it be? Why?

Q3. What images are coming up when you think of "doomsday"?

Q4. In Korea, do you have any facilities to safeguard crop diversity?

Q5. How much do you prepare for your death?

Q6. IF you die tomorrow, what was the most regretful moment from your past?

Q7. What would you do if tomorrow is your last day in life?

Q8. Why do you think the vault is in the Arctic Circle?

Q9. How much at risk is the world's food supply?

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World's Largest Solar Panel Facade Powers Danish School

Lorraine Chow /  Feb. 16, 2017 11:13AM EST

Copenhagen International School's new building in the Nordhavn district features the largest solar facade in the world. The 12,000 solar glass panels can generate 300 megawatt hours of electricity per year, more than half of the school's annual energy needs. After much anticipation, the pre-K to 12th grade campus opened last month.

The unique sea-green hue of the panels was created by the research institute Ecole Polytechnique Federale in Lausanne (EPFL) after more than a decade of development. By using the process of light interference, the researchers achieved the tiles' distinctive color without using any pigments and without reducing energy efficiency.

Students are excited about the school's environmentally friendly features such as the individually angled solar panels, the numerous windows that let in plenty of natural lighting, as well as the green roof.

"It means so much to me that the school is moving to a new campus that is committed to sustainability," said Copenhagen International School director Jennifer Weyburn. "The kids can learn things about sustainable solutions for the future."

The vegetables and fruits growing in the greenhouses can be eaten and can "teach kids where food actually comes from," said 12th grade student Aoife Sweeney.

The solar facade has a total area of 6,048 square meters, making it "one of the largest building-integrated solar power plants in Denmark," according to the designers at CF Møller Architects.

Here are some of the building's other impressive sustainable features:

    - High performance thermal insulation
    - Daylight photovoltaic cells / solar heating
    - Ventilation
    - Passive solar design
    - Energy efficient design
    - High insulation values
    - Low energy windows
    - Green roof
    - LCA sustainable planning
    - Rainwater harvesting
    - Prefabricated components
    - Flexibility
    - LED
    - Healthy building
    - Noise minimization
    - Natural ventilation
    - Low-energy standard (2020)

As stated in Phys.org:

"The researchers' aim was to be able to define the color of their solar panels—such as brick red, royal blue, golden yellow or sea green—by ensuring that only certain wavelengths are reflected. This required a series of digital simulations and a special manufacturing process, and it took 12 years to get from the first sample to the first colored solar facade. The researchers developed special filters, which they applied to the glass panels in nanometric layers. The filter design determines which wavelengths of light will be reflected as visible color. The rest of the sunlight is absorbed by the solar panel and converted into energy."

Denmark's capital, Copenhagen, is one of the world's greenest cities. It aims to become the first carbon neutral capital by 2025. In December, the city announced plans to shed coal, oil and gas from the city's 6.9 billion kroner ($1.1 billion) investment fund.

Article source : https://www.ecowatch.com/solar-facade-denmark-school-2263274993.html

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Solar-Powered School In Denmark Lets Kids

Grow Their Own Food

By Brian Spaen/ 3 months ago

Looking back at our childhoods, we’ve probably learned and remembered more from hands-on experiences than we did studying textbooks. A secondary school in Denmark hopes to be more engaging with students with a solar-powered building that teaches them how to grow and cook food in the rooftop garden. Not only will it boost an education, but it will also provide a number of energy-saving features.

Architecture form C.F. Møller has been tasked with creating the New Islands Brygge School in Copenhagen. Boasting a size of 105,690 square feet, this new school allows for up to 784 students with additional rooms for the staff and various activities. An additional 43,000 square feet around the building will feature an outdoor area with more gardens.

ARQA/Twitter

The central room of the school is a massive space that acts as a dining hall and a gathering point for student activities. Multiple kitchens will be in the area, including one geared for the outdoors. A large rooftop garden will also mesh with the entire building, being accessible from every classroom. There will be an additional biology garden and greenhouses in the outdoor area.

Focus isn’t limited to just teaching students how to grow fruits and vegetables and cook their own meals. There’s an emphasis in physical activity, meaning there will be a number of recreational facilities in the complex’s four levels. The entire school can be accessed from three different entrances, each having its own unique feel when reaching the center room.

"We wish to create a school of high quality for teachers, pupils and staff, to facilitate play and learning, with special focus on the indoor environment and a good outdoor environment,” Martin Lose, section director at MT Højgaard, said in a press release. “The school will also be the gathering point for local associations and sports clubs, with easy accessibility and openness at the ground floor level, so that people from outside also feel welcome at the school.”

Adrian Welch/Twitter

C.F. Møller hopes to achieve certification from the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB). The organization holds strict guidelines for six aspects of a building, including the environmental impact, technology, and location. According to Inhabitat, the school will feature “ventilation with heat recovery, natural ventilation, day-light-controlled lighting, and a highly insulated envelope.” There will also be solar panels in the rooftop gardens to provide an energy source for the school.

The New Islands Brygge School is expected be completed by May 2020, in time for the following school year and to give school employees and children time to transfer over. This provides ample time for planning and construction while also trying to meet sustainable needs.

Article source : http://www.greenmatters.com/news/2018/01/11/101Jz2/denmark-school

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Students Grow Their Own Food at

This Experimental Kindergarten

In Vietnam's Dong Nai province, a school designed by Vo Trong Nghia Architects

inculcates young pupils in the ways of food cultivation.

Samuel Medina/  September 22, 2015

Page through any of the dozens of historiographies of modern architecture and it’s clear that the movement’s most enthusiastic advocates were schoolchildren. In such accounts, the imagery runs the usual radiantly optimistic course, with slack-limbed tykes ambling past or gamboling over stark geometrical constructions.

So it is much the same with the Farming Kindergarten in Dong Nai Province in Vietnam. But here, architect Vo Trong Nghia swaps out the unloving concrete of yesteryear for greener pastures. “This is a place where children can learn the importance of agriculture and their relationship with nature,” says Takashi Niwa, a partner at Vo Trong Nghia Architects. Set on a triangular site adjacent to a shoe factory, the building loops in and over itself with Möbius-like conviction, stopping just short of completing its circuit, as if the ouroboros in the end lost its appetite. Niwa speaks of an “eco-friendly experience” when describing the coiled external social and learning spaces, which embody the apparent “fluidity” of the school’s alternative education model.

A continuous lawn on top tapers down at two points to give access to the elevated yard, in which the kindergarten’s 500 students—children of the factory workers next door—can graze and play. More purposefully, the vegetable gardens on the roof present the opportunity for a kind of active learning; caretakers hunch over beds of herbs and legumes instructing the youngsters in food cultivation. Niwa points to the chronic food crises that have plagued Vietnam and Southeast Asia as an underlying factor in the school’s hybrid curriculum and environment. The edibles harvested by the children are used for school-day lunches, with the rest distributed to their families. The benefit is twofold—the young learners are inculcated in the joys of wholesome food free of chemicals and the stigma of alienated labor, while being proud of contributing to their households.

The building is a case study for an urbanizing and industrializing country where the supply of green spaces in cities such as Biên Hòa, the local provincial capital, is under threat. The school’s tree-filled courtyards and sloped gardens are a pointed response, and yet the architectural impetus to implement local materials and low-tech solutions—for example, complete cross-ventilation in the classrooms—does not seek to disparage local industry. On the contrary, the building’s metabolism is intimately intertwined with that of the adjacent shoe plant. The lush lawns are irrigated using captured rainwater and recycled wastewater from the factory, which has led to an incredible reduction in water consumption—upwards of 80 percent by the architect’s measure and amounting to $5,400 saved per year.

It’s for these reasons that Niwa and his colleagues attach such great significance to what, on the surface, may seem just a particularly pretty nursery school. “Experiences in early childhood are a deciding factor for human development. The redesigning of building typologies such as a kindergarten can have a great impact on society.”

Young ones look over one of the school’s roof-top vegetable and herb gardens. The students’ yield is used for school lunches, with the remainder distributed among the pupils’ families—perhaps not as meager a contribution as it sounds, with the average Vietnamese worker earning just $180 a month.

Article source : http://www.metropolismag.com/architecture/educational-architecture/students-plant-their-own-food-experimental-kindergarten/

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< Questions >

Q1. When you are choosing a place to live, what is the most important criterion between functional aspecets, astetic aspects, monetary aspects or environmental aspects? Why?

Q2. Have you ever heard about the word 'zero energy building' or 'experimental kindergarten'?

*** Zero-energy building

A zero-energy building, also known as a zero net energy (ZNE) building, net-zero energy building (NZEB), or net zero building, is a building with zero net energy consumption, meaning the total amount of energy used by the building on an annual basis is roughly equal to the amount of renewable energy created on the site, or in other definitions by renewable energy sources elsewhere. These buildings consequently contribute less overall greenhouse gas to the atmosphere than similar non-ZNE buildings. They do at times consume non-renewable energy and produce greenhouse gases, but at other times reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas production elsewhere by the same amount. A similar concept approved and implemented by the European Union and other agreeing countries is nearly Zero Energy Building (nZEB), with the goal of having all buildings in the region under nZEB standards by 2020.

Article source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-energy_building

Q3. How many features of a net-zero home do you have in your place ?

Q4. What is more important strategy between the "Energy conservation" and the "Energy harvest" in order to achieve the "Zero energy building design"?

*** The "energy harvest" versus "energy conservation" debate

One of the key areas of debate in zero energy building design is over the balance between energy conservation and the distributed point-of-use harvesting of renewable energy (solar energy, wind energy and thermal energy). Most zero energy homes use a combination of these strategies.[citation needed]

As a result of significant government subsidies for photovoltaic solar electric systems, wind turbines, etc., there are those who suggest that a ZEB is a conventional house with distributed renewable energy harvesting technologies. Entire additions of such homes have appeared in locations where photovoltaic (PV) subsidies are significant,[22] but many so called "80%Zero Energy Homes" still have utility bills. This type of energy harvesting without added energy conservation may not be cost effective with the current price of electricity generated with photovoltaic equipment (depending on the local price of power company electricity),[23] and may also requires greater embodied energy and greater resources so be thus the less ecological approach.[citation needed]

Since the 1980s, passive solar building design and passive house have demonstrated heating energy consumption reductions of 70% to 90% in many locations, without active energy harvesting. For new builds, and with expert design, this can be accomplished with little additional construction cost for materials over a conventional building. Very few industry experts have the skills or experience to fully capture benefits of the passive design.[24] Such passive solar designs are much more cost-effective than adding expensive photovoltaic panels on the roof of a conventional inefficient building.[23] A few kilowatt-hours of photovoltaic panels (costing 2 to 3 dollars per annual kWh production, U.S. dollar equivalent) may only reduce external energy requirements by 15% to 30%. A 100,000 BTU (110 MJ) high seasonal energy efficiency ratio 14 conventional air conditioner requires over 7 kW of photovoltaic electricity while it is operating, and that does not include enough for off-the-grid night-time operation. Passive cooling, and superior system engineering techniques, can reduce the air conditioning requirement by 70% to 90%. Photovoltaic-generated electricity becomes more cost-effective when the overall demand for electricity is lower.

Article source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-energy_building

Q5. Have you ever cultivated any plants as an agricultural products? Or do you have any crops that you want to raise for food safety?

Q6. Would you send your kids to those experimental school where teaches more than technology itself?

Q7. Which value do parents expect for kids to learn from school?

Q8. How much energy do you usually use at home? Do you care about the energy efficiency?

Q9. Did you install solar panel window or roof top system at home? Or if you have a chance to install those systems at home would you apply the system to your home?

Q10. How much do you care about the energy efficiency when you are buying the household electrical appliances?

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Saudis, SoftBank Plan World's Largest Solar Project

By Vivian Nereim and Stephen Cunningham/ March 28, 2018, 1:39 PM GMT+9

- Venture may cost $200 billion, add 100,000 jobs in the kingdom
- Plan envisions 200GW of solar capacity in Saudi Arabia by 2030

Saudi Arabia and SoftBank Group Corp. signed a memorandum of understanding to build a $200 billion solar power development that’s exponentially larger than any other project.

SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son, known for backing ambitious endeavors with flair, unveiled the project Tuesday in New York at a ceremony with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. The powerful heir to the throne of the world’s largest crude exporter is seeking to diversify the economy and wean off a dependence on oil.

The deal is the latest in a number of eye-popping announcements from Saudi Arabia promising to scale up its access to renewables. While the kingdom has for years sought to get a foothold in clean energy, it’s was only in 2017 that ministers moved forward with the first projects, collecting bids for a 300-megawatt plant in October.

At 200 gigawatts, the Softbank project planned for the Saudi desert would be about 100 times larger than the next biggest proposed development and more than double what the global photovoltaic industry supplied last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

“It’s a huge step in human history,” Prince Mohammed said. “It’s bold, risky and we hope we succeed doing that.”

If built, the development would almost triple Saudi Arabia’s electricity generation capacity, which stood at 77 gigawatts in 2016, according to BNEF data. About two thirds of that is generated by natural gas, with the rest coming from oil. Only small-scale solar projects working there now.

Son said he envisions the project, which runs the gamut from power generation to panel and equipment manufacturing, will create as many as 100,000 jobs and shave $40 billion off power costs. The development will reach its maximum capacity by 2030 and may cost close to $1 billion a gigawatt, he said.

“The kingdom has great sunshine, great size of available land and great engineers, great labor, but most importantly, the best and greatest vision,” Son told reporters at a briefing.

Deepening Ties

The agreement deepens SoftBank’s ties with the Saudi Arabia, and advances the crown prince’s ambition to diversify its economy.

“SoftBank seeks investment and Saudi needs energy, so it may make sense to sort the financing out in a large block and then separately hammer out the phases and the technical details,” said Jenny Chase, head of solar analysis at BNEF. “It is worth noting that many of these memorandums of understanding do not result in anything happening. ”

S

oftBank was said to be planning to invest as much as $25 billion in Saudi Arabia over the next three to four years. That’s a boost for Prince Mohammed, who’s been at the forefront of the Vision 2030 campaign to diversify the kingdom’s economy away from oil by that year. SoftBank is said to have aimed to deploy as much as $15 billion in a new city called Neom, which the crown prince plans to build on the Red Sea coast.

The Japanese company’s Vision Fund is also said to plan investments of as much as $10 billion in state-controlled Saudi Electricity Co. as part of efforts to diversify the utility into renewables and solar energy.

Vision, Investments

Son, who is known as a savvy investor with a flair for the spotlight, has been promoting clean energy since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster and recently completed a 50-megawatt wind power farm in Mongolia. He has also pushed a plan dubbed “Asia Super Grid,” a plan to connect Asian nations by grids and undersea cables to distribute clean energy.

The kingdom’s deal-making has quickened as it pursues Prince Mohammed’s diversification goals. Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, which has more than $224 billion in assets, spent about $54 billion on investments last year. The sale of about a 5 percent stake in oil giant Saudi Arabian Oil Co. is expected to provide more funds.

Saudi Arabia also plans to build at least 16 nuclear reactors over the next 25 years at a cost of more than $80 billion. Electricity demand in the country has risen by as much as 9 percent a year since 2000, according to BNEF.

— With assistance by Chisaki Watanabe, and Stephen Stapczynski

Article soruce : https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-28/saudi-arabia-softbank-ink-deal-on-200-billion-solar-project?utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&cmpid=socialflow-facebook-business&utm_medium=social&utm_content=business&utm_source=facebook

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Top 10 Hot Artificial Intelligence (AI) Technologies
Jan 23, 2017 @ 09:09 AM/ Gil Press

The market for artificial intelligence (AI) technologies is flourishing. Beyond the hype and the heightened media attention, the numerous startups and the internet giants racing to acquire them, there is a significant increase in investment and adoption by enterprises. A Narrative Science survey found last year that 38% of enterprises are already using AI, growing to 62% by 2018. Forrester Research predicted a greater than 300% increase in investment in artificial intelligence in 2017 compared with 2016. IDC estimated that the AI market will grow from $8 billion in 2016 to more than $47 billion in 2020.

Coined in 1955 to describe a new computer science sub-discipline, “Artificial Intelligence” today includes a variety of technologies and tools, some time-tested, others relatively new. To help make sense of what’s hot and what’s not, Forrester just published a TechRadar report on Artificial Intelligence (for application development professionals), a detailed analysis of 13 technologies enterprises should consider adopting to support human decision-making.

Based on Forrester’s analysis, here’s my list of the 10 hottest AI technologies:

1. Natural Language Generation: Producing text from computer data. Currently used in customer service, report generation, and summarizing business intelligence insights. Sample vendors: Attivio, Automated Insights, Cambridge Semantics, Digital Reasoning, Lucidworks, Narrative Science, SAS, Yseop.

2. Speech Recognition: Transcribe and transform human speech into format useful for computer applications. Currently used in interactive voice response systems and mobile applications. Sample vendors: NICE, Nuance Communications, OpenText, Verint Systems.

3. Virtual Agents: “The current darling of the media,” says Forrester (I believe they refer to my evolving relationships with Alexa), from simple chatbots to advanced systems that can network with humans. Currently used in customer service and support and as a smart home manager. Sample vendors: Amazon, Apple, Artificial Solutions, Assist AI, Creative Virtual, Google, IBM, IPsoft, Microsoft, Satisfi.

4. Machine Learning Platforms: Providing algorithms, APIs, development and training toolkits, data, as well as computing power to design, train, and deploy models into applications, processes, and other machines. Currently used in a wide range of enterprise applications, mostly `involving prediction or classification. Sample vendors: Amazon, Fractal Analytics, Google, H2O.ai, Microsoft, SAS, Skytree.

5. AI-optimized Hardware: Graphics processing units (GPU) and appliances specifically designed and architected to efficiently run AI-oriented computational jobs. Currently primarily making a difference in deep learning applications. Sample vendors: Alluviate, Cray, Google, IBM, Intel, Nvidia.

6. Decision Management: Engines that insert rules and logic into AI systems and used for initial setup/training and ongoing maintenance and tuning. A mature technology, it is used in a wide variety of enterprise applications, assisting in or performing automated decision-making. Sample vendors: Advanced Systems Concepts, Informatica, Maana, Pegasystems, UiPath.

7. Deep Learning Platforms: A special type of machine learning consisting of artificial neural networks with multiple abstraction layers. Currently primarily used in pattern recognition and classification applications supported by very large data sets. Sample vendors: Deep Instinct, Ersatz Labs, Fluid AI, MathWorks, Peltarion, Saffron Technology, Sentient Technologies.

8. Biometrics: Enable more natural interactions between humans and machines, including but not limited to image and touch recognition, speech, and body language. Currently used primarily in market research. Sample vendors: 3VR, Affectiva, Agnitio, FaceFirst, Sensory, Synqera, Tahzoo.

9. Robotic Process Automation: Using scripts and other methods to automate human action to support efficient business processes. Currently used where it’s too expensive or inefficient for humans to execute a task or a process. Sample vendors: Advanced Systems Concepts, Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism, UiPath, WorkFusion.

10. Text Analytics and NLP: Natural language processing (NLP) uses and supports text analytics by facilitating the understanding of sentence structure and meaning, sentiment, and intent through statistical and machine learning methods. Currently used in fraud detection and security, a wide range of automated assistants, and applications for mining unstructured data. Sample vendors: Basis Technology, Coveo, Expert System, Indico, Knime, Lexalytics, Linguamatics, Mindbreeze, Sinequa, Stratifyd, Synapsify.

There are certainly many business benefits gained from AI technologies today, but according to a survey Forrester conducted last year, there are also obstacles to AI adoption as expressed by companies with no plans of investing in AI:

- There is no defined business case 42%
- Not clear what AI can be used for 39%
- Don’t have the required skills 33%
- Need first to invest in modernizing data mgt platform 29%

Article source : https://www.forbes.com/sites/gilpress/2017/01/23/top-10-hot-artificial-intelligence-ai-technologies/#1e0ca7ea1928

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3 Reasons To Believe The Singularity Is Near

Jun 3, 2016/ Greg Satell

When Ray Kurzweil published The Singularity Is Near in 2006, many scoffed at his outlandish predictions. A year before Apple launched its iPhone, Kurzweil imagined a world in which humans and computers essentially fuse, unlocking capabilities we normally see in science fiction movies.

His argument though, was amazingly simple. He pointed out that as technology accelerates at an exponential rate, progress would eventually become virtually instantaneous—a singularity. Further, he predicted that as computers advanced, they would merge with other technologies, namely genomics, nanotechnology and robotics.

Today, Kurzweil’s ideas don’t seem quite so outlandish. Google’s DeepMind recently beat legendary Go world champion Lee Sedol. IBM’s Watson is expanding horizons in medicine, financial planning and even cooking. Self driving cars are expected to be on the road by 2020. Just as Kurzweil predicted, technology seems to be accelerating faster than ever before.

Reason #1: We’re Going Beyond Moore’s Law

For the last 50 years, the technology industry has been driven by Moore’s Law, the famous prediction made by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore that the number of transistors on a microchip would double about every 18 months. That’s what enabled computers the size of refrigerators to shrink down to devices we can hold in the palm of our hand.

Now we are approaching the theoretical limit and the process is slowing down. The problem is that you can only shrink transistors down so far before quantum effects between atoms cause them to malfunction. While chip technology is still advancing, at some point you can’t cheat mother nature anymore. Moore’s law will come to a halt sometime around 2020.

Yet Kurzweil has pointed out that microprocessors are in fact the fifth paradigm of information processing, replacing earlier technologies such as electromechanical relays, vacuum tubes and transistors. He also argues that the numbers of transistors on a chip is a fairly arbitrary way to measure performance and suggests to look the number of calculations per $1000 instead.

And it turns out that he’s right. While the process of cramming more transistors on silicon wafers is indeed slowing down, we’re finding a variety of ways to speed up overall performance, such as quantum computing, neuromorphic chips and 3D stacking. We can expect progress to continue accelerating, at least for the next few decades.

Reason #2: Robots Are Doing Human Jobs

The first industrial robot, Unimate, first arrived on the GM assembly line in 1962, welding auto bodies together. Since then, automation has quietly slipped into our lives. From automatic teller machines in the 1970’s to the autonomous Roomba vacuum cleaner in 2002, machines are increasingly doing the work of humans.

Today, we’re beginning to reach a tipping point. Rethink Robotics makes robots like Baxter and Sawyer, which can work safely around humans and can learn new tasks in minutes. Military robots are becoming commonplace on the battlefield and soldiers are developing emotional bonds with them, even going as far as to hold funerals for their fallen android brethren.

And lest you think that automation only applies to low-skill, mechanical jobs, robots are also invading the creative realm. One book written by a machine was even recently accepted as a submission for the prestigious Hoshi Shinichi Literary Award in Japan.

The future will be more automated still. The Department of Defense is already experimenting with chips embedded in soldiers brains and Elon Musk says he’s thinking about commercializing similar technology.  As the power of technology continues to grow exponentially—computers will be more than a thousand times more powerful in 20 years—robots will take on even more tasks.

Reason #3: We’re Editing Genes

In 2003, scientists created a full map of the human genome. For the first time, we actually knew which genes were which and could begin to track their function. Just two years later, in 2005, the US government started compiling the Cancer Genome Atlas, which allows doctors to target cancers based on their genetic makeup rather than the organ in which they originate.

Now, scientists have a new tool at their disposal, called CRISPR, which allows them to actually edit genes, easily and cheaply. It is already opening up avenues to render viruses inactive, regulate cell activity, create disease resistant crops and even engineer yeast to produce ethanol that can fuel our cars.

The technology is also creating no small amount of controversy. When you start editing the code of life, where do you stop? Are we soon going to create designer babies, with predetermined eye color, intelligence and physical traits? Should we alter the genome of mosquitoes in Africa so that they no longer carry the malaria virus?

These types of ethical questions used to be mostly confined to science fiction, but as we hurtle toward the singularity, they are becoming all too real.

The Future Of Technology Is All Too Human

The idea of approaching a technological singularity is both exciting and scary. While the prospects of technologies that are hundreds of times more powerful than what we have today will open up completely new possibilities, there are also inherent dangers. How autonomous should we allow robots to become? Which genes are safe to edit and which are not?

Beyond opening up a Pandora’s box of forces that we may not fully understand, there is already evidence that technology is destroying jobs, stagnating incomes and increasing inequality. As the process accelerates, we will begin to face problems technology cannot help us with, such as the social strife created by those left behind as well as others in developing countries who will feel newly empowered and demand a greater political voice.

We will also have to change how we view work. Much like in the industrial revolution when machines replaced physical labor, new technologies are now replacing cognitive tasks. Humans, therefore, will have to become more adept at things that machines can’t do, namely dealing with other humans, and social skills will trump cognitive skills in the marketplace.

The truth is that the future of technology is all too human. While technologies will continue to become exponentially more powerful, the decisions we make are still our own.

Greg Satell is a popular speaker and consultant. His first book, Mapping Innovation, is coming out in 2017. Follow his blog at Digital Tonto or on Twitter @DigitalTonto.

Article source : https://www.forbes.com/sites/gregsatell/2016/06/03/3-reasons-to-believe-the-singularity-is-near/#5330a9247b39

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< Questions >

Q1. Have you ever heard about the word 'Singularity'? What is the meaning by that word?

Q2. How many renewable energy sources do you know? Could you name them?

Q3. What it the Artificial Intelligence(AI)?

Q4. Do you think AI can be beneficial or risky technology for human being ?

Q5. SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son announced his plan “Asia Super Grid,” which is planning to connect Asian nations by grids and undersea cables to distribute clean energy. What do you think about this idea?

Q6. If you can have a genetically designed baby, would you have one?

Q7. Do we have proper ethical screening system for technological development?

Q8. Based on Forrester’s analysis, here’s the 10 hottest AI technologies. For you, which one is the most attractive technology?

1. Natural Language Generation
2. Speech Recognition
3. Virtual Agents
4. Machine Learning Platforms
5. AI-optimized Hardware
6. Decision Management
7. Deep Learning Platforms
8. Biometrics
9. Robotic Process Automation
10. Text Analytics and NLP

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4 ways universities are driving innovation

17 Jan 2018/ Farnam Jahanian/ President, Carnegie Mellon University

The digital revolution is not only here, it is accelerating every day. Advances in automation, the digitisation of information, unprecedented access to data and the democratisation of knowledge are transforming every sector of our economy – from healthcare to transportation to energy and beyond. The scope, scale, and ubiquity of these disruptions is truly unprecedented.

According to data from a recent McKinsey study, a dozen technologies, including genomics, energy storage, and automation, will drive major economic and societal transformation in the next several years. With a potential economic impact between $14 trillion and $33 trillion a year in 2025, the value of these emerging technologies could constitute one third of global GDP.

As we embrace this tech-driven economy, universities must change, too, at a pace unfamiliar to higher education. While we retain our core mission of educating the next generation and cultivating new forms of knowledge, universities must also embrace our ever-expanding role in driving innovation and catalysing economic development. Our institutions must meet the challenges of the digital revolution head on, and play an increasingly important role in our innovation ecosystems and economies in four key ways.

1. Fostering entrepreneurship

As the pace of discovery accelerates and global competition intensifies, universities are embracing entrepreneurship as part of the academic experience, creating cultures where innovative thinking is inspired and nurtured. As of 2017, more than 200 colleges and universities have launched centres dedicated for innovation or entrepreneurship as members of the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centres.

It seems that no matter what field they study, students come to college seeking to make a difference in society through startups, social entrepreneurship, and other ventures of their own creation. We see the same kind of energy and excitement in young faculty, too, who now expect to develop new technologies or engage in startups as part of their academic career.

At a time when societal challenges are demanding discoveries at the intersections of diverse disciplines, fostering a culture of entrepreneurship is one of the most powerful ways that universities act as economic accelerators. In fact, US-based data from the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) shows technology transfer from universities is playing an even more prominent role in economic development. The number of invention disclosures – a direct measure of institutional impact on innovation – has been on the rise the past five years, growing to 25,825 in 2016.

At Carnegie Mellon, our faculty and students started 173 new companies between 2011 and 2016, a subset of which has raised more than $1 billion in investments since 2011. About 74% of those funds remained in Pennsylvania, contributing to the regional economy. Other academic institutions across the US see similar results.

2. Encouraging collaboration with the private sector

In today’s competitive environment, universities must also develop new partnerships with leading companies, foundations, and other research-intensive institutions. These partnerships are not just about transferring knowledge from lab to practice. They provide critical funding for talented faculty and students to pursue foundational research, enable students and faculty to exchange ideas with the very best minds inside and outside the academy, and perhaps most importantly, help to prepare students to be citizens of a rapidly changing world.

Corporations are recognising the high-value, high-return offered by these collaborations. According to data compiled by the National Science Foundation for the US, industry funding for university research and development has grown by more than 5.5% per year on average over the past 10 years, from about $2.4 billion in 2006 to more than $4.2 billion in 2016.

Even after adjusting for inflation, this funding has grown at roughly 4% per year, from about $2.5 billion in 2006 to about $3.8 billion in 2016 (denominated in 2009 dollars).

This trend is not limited to the US. The European Commission has also doubled down on university-industry partnerships with the creation of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). Through their Knowledge and Innovation Communities, the EIT fosters co-operation between academia, research and business at more than 30 co-location centres in 15 member states.

3. Promoting diversity and inclusion

Successful university spin-offs and corporate partnerships don’t tell the full story. As this economic transformation quickens, it is critical that universities continue to focus on incorporating diverse perspectives into our work.

In the US, expanding the opportunity for diverse voices, especially in STEM-related jobs is not just the right move – it is necessary to meet the economic demand posed by our tech-driven economy. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects STEM occupations to grow by about 8.9% from 2014 to 2024, compared to 6.4% growth for non-STEM occupations. Most of those jobs will be in computing-related disciplines – about 55%. Data also tells us that more than two-thirds of those jobs could go unfilled due to the insufficient pool of college graduates with computing-related degrees.

By not expanding the pool of job-seekers, we risk falling short of the growing demand, with serious consequences for the future of technical innovation.

Chart: Recent and Projected Growth in STEM and Non-STEM Employment in the United States

To address this critical issue, The University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), for example, launched the Meyerhoff Scholars Program in 1989 to expand the pipeline of individuals from racially, socio-economically and geographically diverse communities who are pursuing graduate work in STEM fields.

These efforts are paying off. Today, UMBC is among the top 10 baccalaureate institutions for graduating African American students who go on to earn PhDs in the natural sciences and engineering. Other universities are following suit, and have committed to increasing the diversity of women and under-represented minorities in their programmes across the board.

Universities can play a key role in ensuring these economic gains are shared across the economy, and not just among those that pursue advanced degrees in advanced technologies. In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for example, Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania have partnered with the public, private and civic sectors to create the West Philadelphia Skills Initiative, which offers training, support and ladders of opportunity for jobs at the sub-bachelor level for residents of the West Philadelphia neighborhood. Since 2010, the initiative has placed more than 120 individuals, many of whom are members of historically disadvantaged communities, into meaningful jobs in some of the world’s leading institutions.

4. Exploring the nexus of technology and society

There is no guarantee, of course, that technology will automatically benefit humanity. Here, perhaps, lies the greatest obligation for institutions of higher education in the digital revolution. It is up to us to provide the ethicists, artists, and philosophers who can point the way; the policy experts and economists who can draw the map; and the cognitive scientists and sociologists who help ensure the destination is designed for people as well as machines. And it is up to us to make sure these scholars are working side-by-side with the applied researchers and technologists who are driving the revolution.

US labour markets have evidenced an impressive ability to absorb staggering changes in technology – but not without a troubling increase in inequality among our citizens. The graph below breaks down wage trends over time by education level, with a growing gap in earnings between the best educated and the least educated over time. While the American Dream still works for some, our less educated citizens have seen their real incomes fall since the early 1970s. The best labour economists predict that the next wave of disruptive innovation will continue to exacerbate this inequality.

What is the future of work in this new era?

As educators, we have a singular responsibility to prepare all students for a rapidly changing job market, and to educate them to be architects of the world in which we live. In today’s economy, when the future of work is changing faster than our old models of education can accommodate, this is no easy task.

History tells us that those who prepare for the seismic shifts in work activities will have an immense opportunity to flourish. As stewards of the future of education, with access to immense intellectual resources and the influence to apply those resources to our core mission, university leaders have a leading role to play in helping the workforce adapt to these disruptive technologies, ensuring that the new economy works for everyone.

As the world’s leaders in industry, government, and education engage on the future of work and other important topics at this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, universities must play a committed role to addressing these challenges and seizing these opportunities. To succeed, we all must ensure that talent from the diverse, global community has access to opportunity in the new economy.

Article source : https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/01/4-ways-universities-are-driving-innovation

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< Questions >

Q1. What is the definition of digital revolution?

*** Digital revolution

The Digital Revolution is the shift from mechanical and analogue electronic technology to digital electronics which began anywhere from the late 1950s to the late 1970s with the adoption and proliferation of digital computers and digital record keeping that continues to the present day. Implicitly, the term also refers to the sweeping changes brought about by digital computing and communication technology during (and after) the latter half of the 20th century. Analogous to the Agricultural Revolution and Industrial Revolution, the Digital Revolution marked the beginning of the Information Age.

Article source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Revolution

Q2. What do you prepare for your future? Are you joining any specific activities in order to prepare your future?

Q3. According to data from a recent McKinsey study, a dozen technologies, including genomics, energy storage, and automation, will drive major economic and societal transformation in the next several years. What is the most attractive technology for you? And why?

Q4. Now we faced fast pacing tech-driven economy environment. In order to prepare students' future, universities should transform their education format to embrace more innovative and catalyzing economic development environment. In this perspective, do you think your university carry out those roles well? If not, what are the shortcomings of those entities?

Q5. What are the most important roles for universities to make more innovative ecosystems and economies among below 4 items?

1. Fostering entrepreneurship
2. Encouraging collaboration with the private sector
3. Promoting diversity and inclusion
4. Exploring the nexus of technology and society