Lloyd's Register Foundation Funds Big Data Study

The Lloyd’s Register Foundation today launched its Foresight review of big data and announced a conditional grant offer of £10 million to support research by the Alan Turing Institute on engineering applications of big data.

The Foundation’s Foresight review of big data: towards data-centric engineering, looks forward at how developments in the area of big data might impact the safety and performance of the engineering assets and infrastructure on which modern society relies, such as energy, transportation and shipping.

The report draws on the findings of an international expert advisory panel led by Prof Sir Nigel Shadbolt, Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Southampton and Chairman of the Open Data Institute, and is the second in a series commissioned by the Foundation as part of its emerging technologies research theme.

“Our report concludes that within the next five to 10 years we are going to witness step changes in sensor technology, data-driven intelligent systems, computer science and algorithms for data analysis, impacting all aspects of the business life-cycle - from design to manufacturing, maintenance to decommissioning. This report sets the high-level strategic direction and funding priorities for the Foundation in the field of ‘data-centric engineering’,” says Prof Richard Clegg, Managing Director of the Lloyd’s Register Foundation.

To support four priority action areas, based on the recommendations in the report, the Foundation has offered a conditional grant of £10 million over five years to the Alan Turing Institute for the purpose of supporting its research in the engineering applications of big data.