Insight at NUI Galway, founding member of the Big Data Value Association, Announces over €1 Million Investment in Joint Research and Innovation Projects with European Commission

Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the European Commission in charge of the Digital Agenda, and the Big Data Value Association of which the Insight Centre for Data Analytics at NUI Galway is a founding member, has signed in Brussels a contractual Public Private Partnership with a joint public and private investment of over €1 million in collaborative research and innovation within the Horizon 2020 research programme.

The objective of the initiative is to explore and seize the new technological and technology-driven opportunities that come with Big Data, enabling social and economic progress. Digitalisation is expected to be one of the main business drivers during the next decade and a huge opportunity especially for Europe’s strong industrial sector, where large amounts of data are being created every day. Based on Europe’s advanced infrastructure, using the existing domain knowledge and new technologies like Cloud or In-Memory Computing, Big Data is expected to contribute to Europe’s competitiveness.

“The Big Data Value Public Private Partnership or PPP has the potential to be the game changer to scale a data driven economy in Europe,” said Edward Curry from the SFI-funded Insight Centre for Data Analytics and representative of NUI Galway on the Big Data Value Association. “Ireland is positioned at the centre of this European partnership. The challenge now is for Irish business and research organisations to engage in the Big Data PPP in Horizon 2020 to maximise the benefits for the Irish economy.”

“Data is not scary, or intrusive. With the right legal protection and anonymisation tools, data is the fuel which lays the foundation of a new economy, giving every kind of organisation the building blocks to boost productivity and performance, from farm to factory, from the lab to the shop floor. This is what Europe needs,” said Neelie Kroes Vice President of the European Commission, highlighting the importance of mastering Big Data for the European Economy and Society.

PPP will be implemented starting 2015 and will run until 2020. Technology topics being addressed include data integration, real-time data processing; advanced analytics, data protection and privacy technologies. Main elements of the programme will include lighthouse projects in potential areas like personalised medicine, manufacturing, and logistics.

The Big Data Value Association partnering with the European Commission is a not-for-profit industry-lead organisation comprising large and small European industry and research organisations. Insight at NUI Galway is a founding member of the association and has been a key contributor to the development of the Big Data Value Public Private Partnership.

Industry members together with research organisations cover the Big Data Value (BDV) chain from data generation and acquisition, through data processing, analysis, and curation, to usage and service provisioning.

Big Data Value Association’s founding members are: Answare, ATC, Atos, CINI, Engineering, Fraunhofer, DFKI, IBM, INDRA, ITI, Intel, IT Innovation Center, Nokia, NUI Galway, Orange, SAP, Siemens, Software, SINTEF, THALES, TIE Kinetix, UPM, Paluno, VTT, supported by Platte Consult.

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