ORGANIZED BY
Connecting ICT in Europe and South East Asia
FUNDED BY
ASEAN RISE 2016
Malaysia
The Workshop on ICT Research and Innovation for Sustainable Economic and Social Development in ASEAN (RISE’16) will be held in Hanoi, Vietnam, on 09-10 May 2016.
The second day of the Workshop is joinly organized with the STI Days event.
Objectives
- To bring together European and ASEAN experts and PhD students for brainstorming and exchanging very recent ICT research and developments as well as societal challenges and to discuss their social impact,
- To reinforce and increase ICT research and innovation collaborations between Europe and South East Asia in these domains with particular attention to the specificities in ASEAN countries,
- To contribute to the reinforcement of collaborative research links between EU and SEA ICT specialists.
Important dates
- Registration deadline: 15 April, 2016 [Register now, it's FREE]
- Workshop dates: 9-10 May, 2016
Scope
Sustainable economic and social development are major concerns worldwide but the challenges differ from the different Regions of the World. These challenges are likely to have strong impact on issues of not only urban quality such as housing, economy, culture, social and environmental conditions but also on rural day to day life. Information & Communications Technologies (ICTs) provides major contribution in order to create jobs and generate economic growth; to provide better goods and services for all; and to build on the greater empowerment which digital technologies can bring in order to create a better world, now and for future generations. The objective of this Workshop is to bring together for the first time European and ASEAN experts (ICT-related engineers, young and senior researchers) and PhD students for brainstorming and exchanging very recent ICT research and developments as well as societal challenges and to discuss their social impact. The idea is to reinforce and increase ICT research and innovation collaborations between Europe and South East Asia in these domains with particular attention to the specificities in ASEAN countries, and to contribute to reinforce the collaborative research links between EU and SEA ICT specialists.
Topics
Energy efficiency and reduction of pollution by ICT
It is becoming increasingly clear that we are unlikely to avoid major environmental challenges resulting from unsustainable practices to date. The most prominent example, climate change, is already noticeably triggering changes in agriculture, the incidence of forest fires, flood and drought patterns, the movement of invasive species, and biodiversity, just to name a few. The capabilities of ICTs to monitor, measure and exchange huge amounts of information will help to predict and track such changes, develop appropriate management and adaptation strategies, and plot a course toward better environmental management. Improving the efficiency of the energy and, monitoring air and water pollution, are of particular interests in ASEAN Region. For improving the efficiency of the energy, the challenge is to establish a cyber-physical infrastructure with a critical amount of storage in the system and information flow among the distributed controllers that provides ubiquitous sensing and actuation will be vital to achieving the responsiveness needed for future grid operations. For monitoring air and water pollution, the challenges are to find effective sensor solutions, their placement and the security of their data in order to analyse the possible interventions or preventives actions, to support the decision making process, to complete the missing data, and to coordinate activities. In both cases, sensing and actuation will be pointless, though, without appropriate control laws that enable operators to optimally manage the corresponding networks of systems of systems.
Water systems management
The smart water network takes advantage of real-time data, from pumps, tanks, valves and other vital distribution network points, to automate process control and support real-time operations decisions as needed. It operates with an information management system with open channels that also make operations data available accurately, securely and in a timely manner to business processes across the utility. This enterprise approach not only improves efficiency and effectiveness of treatment and distribution functions, but also supports planning, operations and maintenance coordination, customer service, and business office activities. Each and every water management activity creates data that can reveal valuable network operations and business insight. The challenge is to transform this massive amount of data into meaningful information and transfer it quickly and accurately throughout the utility to all functions and departments that can use it, both within the utility and beyond the utility. To realize a smart water network, the utility must consider: i) Information: The large amount of data produced during water network operations presents a great opportunity for making smarter decisions about current processes. But how does the utility optimize today’s operations with today’s information? ii) Integration: By integrating existing systems, a utility can obtain much more information than if it considers its information tools as individual, isolated systems.
Building management and control
One of the major challenges in today’s society concerns the reduction in energy use and CO2 foot print in existing public buildings without significant construction works. In this context, key challenges are concerned with the design and the development of a monitoring and control infrastructure to manage appliances so as to effortlessly optimize energy efficiency usage (without compromising comfort for occupants) and to offer to decision makers dedicated tools to plan and manage energy saving strategies. In this context, reduction in energy usage and CO2 footprint in existing public buildings and spaces are addressed by implementing an intelligent ICT-based building monitoring and managing system. Actions of retro-fitting on building envelopes or services to reduce energy consumptions are not always possible or economically convenient in existing buildings and in particular in historical buildings where conservation is a matter of priority. Systems to monitor and control buildings services and appliances need to be designed and implemented with the aim of i) optimizing energy usage without compromising occupants comfort and ii) offering decision makers strategies and tools needed to plan energy saving measures.
Smart cities & ICT systems for rural areas
As of 2014, 54% of the earth’s population resides in urban environments, with a continuing increase estimated at 1-2% per year. This has provided the motivation for cities to look for ways that ensure a sustainable, comfortable, economically viable future for their citizens by becoming “smart.” The emerging prototype for a Smart City is one of an urban environment with a new generation of innovative services for transportation, energy distribution, health care, environmental monitoring, business, commerce, emergency response, and social activities. The technological infrastructure for a Smart City is based on a network of sensors and actuators embedded throughout the urban terrain interacting with wireless mobile devices (e.g., smartphones) and with an internet-based backbone with cloud service. The data collected and flowing through such a Cyber-Physical System may involve traffic conditions, occupancy of parking spaces, air/water quality information, the structural health of bridges, roads or buildings, as well as the location and status of city resources including transportation vehicles, police officers, or health care facilities. Enabling such a Smart City setting requires a cyber-physical infrastructure combined with new software platforms and strict requirements for mobility, security, safety, privacy, and the processing of massive amounts of information (so called “big data.”). It is important to stress that the ultimate value of a Smart City lies in “closing the loop” that consists of sensing, communicating, decision making, and actuating - rather than simply collecting and sharing data. This requires a balanced understanding of both “physical” and “cyber” components and the development of new control and optimization methods for this environment.
However, if 54% of the population live in cities, there are still 46% who live in the countryside. In emerging countries in Southeast Asia, these populations often live in villages where infrastructure remains very limited. Therefore, conducting researches on providing low-cost ICT infrastructure, services and energy as well as the conventional contents to make the rural part of the population be able to afford to access ICT and services is critical and it is one of the catalyst keys for economic development of these countries.
E-services: promoting access to ICT for economic and social development
ICTs promote development across many dimensions. At their most fundamental level, ICTs enable organizations to be more productive, thereby spurring economic growth and helping firms be more competitive. ICTs can also expand the reach and effectiveness of social development projects and have already yielded important benefits in such areas as healthcare, education, and environmental preservation. Public-sector uptake of ICTs is also making governments more efficient and their decision-making more transparent. Finally, many developing countries have achieved important economic gains in nurturing the development of domestic ICT industries.
As many developing nations have recognized, ICTs have the potential to spur local economic growth and to expand the reach and effectiveness of development initiatives. Upon closer analysis, other key attributes of ICTs also make them of critical importance to the development agenda:
- Knowledge management. The defining feature of ICTs is their ability to help people collect, manage, store, retrieve, and distribute knowledge.
- Efficiency. ICTs enable public administration and private enterprises in developing countries to operate more efficiently and productively at reduced cost.
- Networks. People increasingly use ICTs to tap into networks of people and information.
But, perhaps the most impressive examples of ICT’s potential to promote development have occurred in the context of development projects targeting social inclusion and cohesion - projects that provide excluded communities with greater opportunities to participate in community life. Because many of the challenges facing traditionally underserved communities result at least in part from inadequate access to knowledge and information, ICTs can help surmount these challenges by making it easier and less expensive to collect, analyze, and disseminate information to the people who need it. The Internet in particular is creating nearly endless opportunities for individuals and communities in developing countries to obtain knowledge and communicate with others.
During the workshop we will focus on:
- promoting access to ICT for economic and social development
- development of community-adapted services (e.g., languages, culture, etc.)
- providing information to users at any place
- development of Mobile for Development (M4D)
The second day of the Workshop will take place together with the STI Days event:
