Inter-disciplinary Engineering Approach to Systems (IdEAS)

6e6e8739-7fba-48ef-8d27-0674874905c7

Closed

EPSRC
EPSRC
EPSRC
EPSRC
EPSRC

£6,111,135

Aug. 31, 2013

Aug. 31, 2019

Emerging technologies are science-based innovations with the potential to create, transform or obsolete entire industries. Examples range from 'small-tech' materials constructed at the atomic level through to 'large-tech' infrastructures enabled by the internet and other complex systems. Irrespective of their physical scale, emerging technologies have the potential to drive and support sustained economic growth. For some of these technologies, the projected markets for the middle of the 2020s are enormous: hundreds of billions of US dollars each for nanomaterials, smart grids, industrial biotechnology and plastic electronics. In these areas and others, the UK is in a strong position to lead technology development and commercial exploitation. In particular, small businesses which are so vital to employment and economic stability are well placed to capitalise on technological innovation because of their relative agility. However, realising these opportunities critically depends on the capacity to translate scientific advances and technological developments into product ideas that are suitable for manufacture, distribution and use.

Whilst emerging technologies can be entirely new, they most often result from new combinations of existing technologies, or are analogous to existing systems in some important way. The ability to identify and integrate knowledge, skills and processes from these other systems determines the rate at which the commercial and societal value of emerging technologies is realised. This entails design knowledge and design processes that are flexible and deployable across a broad range of rapidly changing technologies. However, because emerging technologies are potentially so disruptive, they pose a problem to traditional design methods. In particular, they present a three-part challenge of uncertainty, complexity and rapidity: uncertainty because there is no reliable foresight into what kind of technologies should be designed for; complexity because there is increasing interdependence between, and integration of, different types of systems; and rapidity because the rate at which new technologies are being introduced far outstrips the evolution of those previous technologies for which typical engineering design methods were developed.

Because designing for emerging technologies requires methods that can respond to uncertain, complex and rapid developments, there is a need for solution principles that are generally and readily applicable. Innovation could then be promoted if designers were able to review, combine and contrast these principles and apply them to specific technologies. This prompts the question: what design principles can best influence the development of engineering design methodologies for emerging technologies. The project will answer this question, by gaining an understanding of the underpinning systems that emerging technologies are made up of or built into. Multiple system types will be investigated, along with the attributes of those systems and the system behaviours that those attributes promote. Comparative analysis of industrial case studies will show how decisions are made about the trade-off of one principle against another, and will permit the development of guidance that is concrete and actionable. By doing so, the project will provide engineers with the cross-domain knowledge of systems that they require to design for newly emerging technologies and for technologies that have not yet been imagined.

Potential Impact:
The IdEAS project will engage with industry, with policy makers and with media agents to ensure that the research is maximally relevant and best presented for impact.

Industry collaboration: Industrial collaborators will initially be drawn from the Cambridge area, the most important entrepreneurial hub in Europe. This area is home to a cluster of companies, that often originate in or have strong links with the University, and many are members of the Cambridge Network, an organisation that promotes collaboration and problem sharing amongst over 1500 company members. The IdEAS project will be registered as a member of the Cambridge Network, thus gaining access to direct communication channels with organisations working at every stage in the technology development process. The national and international contacts of these organisations will then be leveraged to pursue further collaborations.
- http://www.cambridgenetwork.co.uk/

Policy workshops: The IdEAS project will work with the Cambridge Centre for Science and Policy (CSaP), which links researchers directly with the policy professionals who will benefit from understanding the implications of the research. In particular, the project will run two CSaP Policy Workshops on the project theme. These workshops represent a tried and tested formula for bringing policy makers from across relevant governmental organisations together with researchers and industry, allowing highly effective knowledge exchange and network building.
- http://www.csap.cam.ac.uk/programmes/policy-workshops/

Policy fellow: The IdEAS project will work with CSaP to appoint a project-related policy stakeholder or influencer to the role of Policy Fellow. Following the search, identification and recruitment of a suitable individual, CSaP will arrange a series of meetings with approximately 30 researchers as part of an "immersion week". CSaP will also support further networking activities in order to engage the Fellow over the two-year duration of the Fellowship.
- http://www.csap.cam.ac.uk/programmes/policy-fellowships/

Film production: The IdEAS project will work with Living Projects (LP), a bespoke film production company. They will create broadcast quality videos tailored to educate industry, the public, the media and policy makers about the implications of designing for emerging technologies. LP will work to produce a series of high-impact films that can be distributed across multiple platforms and that exploit the power of social media. These films will be scripted and produced for effective communication with a range of specific audiences.
- http://www.living-projects.co.uk/

Infographics: The IdEAS project will work with the technological trend bureau, Envisioning Technology (ET), in communicating about the technology landscape and the implications of designing for emerging technologies. ET will construct interactive infographics for websites (with static and animated equivalents for print and video). These will communicate the research findings to the media, the public, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and industry, encouraging their involvement with the project.
- http://envisioningtech.com/