European Commission backs €1 billion ICT social study

The European Commission has granted funds of one billion Euros within its Flagship Programme to a project that will investigate the place of information and communication technologies in society.

A team of scientists led by physicist, traffic scientist and sociologist Dirk Helbing of ETH Zurich are coordinating the “FuturIcT Knowledge Accelerator” project, which will examine in particular economic science and the effect of global events on various different social factors. The idea behind the proposal is to combine the data and knowledge obtained from many different fields in order to understand the way in which modern society functions, particularly in the face of economic crisis, scientific breakthrough and other landmark historical events.

The project, which has already generated much positive immediate reaction, will involve collaboration more that 200 scientists from over 50 universities and institutions. It hopes to answer calls from scientists around the globe for a large-scale research initiative on socio-economic and environmental issues following the perceived inability of science to have predicted the recent economic crisis.

To find out more about the Flagship Programme, visit the EC website.

Published: Wednesday, 28th April 2010 by Tom Freeman

Comment on this article

Comments

No comments for this article, be the first to comment