Digital technology is becoming an indispensable and crucial component of our lives, society and the environment. We present a framework for computing in the context of problems facing the planet. The framework has a number of goals: an optimal digital infrastructure, sensing and optimizing with a global world model, reliably predicting and reacting to our environment and providing digital alternatives to physical activities. This paper describes our vision in which data centres can scale power consumption in line with performance, run closer to the wire with reduced redundancy and behave as a ‘virtual battery’ dynamically using spare, or otherwise unusable, generation capacity from renewable sources. On a broader scale, we consider how global sensing might allow us to optimize our daily activities and lives. We highlight the issues and dilemmas inherent in the deployment of global sensing infrastructure and work towards our challenge of a personal energy meter as a tool for informing decisions and providing impetus for reducing the ecological footprint of our society.
A challenge is how to use the power of computing to deal with the problems facing the world. In his talk, Professor Andy Hopper will present a framework for the role of computing in dealing with sustainability of the planet. The framework has a number of goals: an optimal digital infrastructure; sensing and optimising the use of resources in the physical world; guaranteeing the performance of indispensable systems; and digital alternatives to physical activities.
Join us to hear Professor Hopper discuss practical industrial examples alongside research goals and societal challenges and dilemmas.
About Speaker: Sir Andrew Hopper | CBE FREng FRS: Sir Andrew Hopper is Treasurer and Vice-President of the Royal Society and Professor of Computer Technology at the University of Cambridge. His research interests include computer systems, sensor-driven and location-aware computing, and using computer technology for sustainability of the planet.
Andy Hopper has pursued academic and industrial careers simultaneously. He was Head of the Department of Computer Science and Technology (2004-2018) and a Trustee of the University of Cambridge (2011-2014). In the industrial context he co-founded thirteen start-ups, three of which floated on stock markets, and was CEO of an industrial research laboratory. He is Chairman of lowRISC CIC.
Professor Hopper received the BSc degree from the University College of Swansea (1974) and the PhD degree from the University of Cambridge (1978). He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (1996) and of the Royal Society (2006). He was President of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (2012). He is a recipient of the Royal Academy of Engineering MacRobert Award (2013) and the Royal Society Bakerian Medal (2017). He was made a CBE (2007) and awarded a knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours (2021).
