Boosting UK competitiveness using cognitive computing and big data

The investment, announced in the Autumn Statement on 3 December, will substantially expand the data-centric cognitive computing research capabilities of STFC’s Hartree Centre at Sci-Tech Daresbury, through enhanced collaboration with IBM.

Universities, Science and Cities Minister Greg Clark said “The Government’s investment will create an exciting innovation environment that will enable UK industry to exploit value from advanced computing and big data to create new and improved products, services and manufacturing processes.”

Professor John Womersley, Chief Executive of STFC, said: “Harnessing data intensive science to the needs of industry could transform every business sector as well as every scientific discipline. Currently, even data experts find it difficult to extract insights from many existing large data sets. The Government’s five-year investment in the Hartree Centre will deliver a step-change in capability, and plans to bring in significant knowledge and expertise from IBM which will help ensure our science and industry remains at the very forefront of research and development.”

Cognitive computing systems ‘learn’ in similar ways to human development. The goal is to enable not only scientists, but doctors, bankers, retailers and others to extract the full value of their data and thus make better, more accurate and more timely decisions and discoveries.

As well as creating the new structures, architectures and tools needed to help non-scientists take advantage of big data, the Hartree Centre will deliver computing capability to the international Square Kilometre Array project through its headquarters at Jodrell Bank, and to a variety of national projects including the Turing Centre in London, and the new national materials institute in Manchester.