Welcome to this issue of "Mobile VCE News Update", keeping our member companies and friends informed about events and developments. Visit www.mobilevce.com/calendar to download future Agendas and presentations from past events (many with audio recordings) and to register to attend upcoming events. All staff from member companies are welcome at our Members’ Seminars, Workshops, Industry Steering Groups, etc. Invited non-member guests are welcome at some workshops & open events - please contact the office on +44 1256 338604.
Please forward this Newsletter to relevant staff in your company. Staff can subscribe to receive a personal copy of this newsletter by emailing webmaster@mobilevce.com
October saw Mobile VCE’s 15th Annual General Meeting, followed by the Annual Research Review, held at the RSA in the Strand, London. This year’s AGM focused on the challenges presented by changes in the Industrial landscape and VCE’s future. The Board of VCE outlined the issues and invited open discussion and contributions to determine the appropriate way forward. After good debate and discussion, and strong commitment from Industrial and Academic members, a clear way forward emerged which will see the Core 5 programme moving forward to its planned completion in mid-2012 accompanied by a new transition activity – see item 5 below.
The afternoon’s Annual Research Review saw presentations of the Instant Knowledge, Green Radio and User Interactions work by the respective Industrial Steering Group chairmen, along with videos of some of the latest work. (Several videos are also available on VCE’s YouTube channel). Members can download minutes and presentations of both the AGM and Research Review from www.mobilevce.com/calendar
Appointments were made to the VCE Board of Directors for 2012 at the AGM, with a couple of outstanding vacancies subsequently filled by invitation of the Board.
As of 1st January 2012, we welcome Mark Ashdown of Thales to the role of Industrial Chairman of User Interactions, following the departure of Jason Williams of Orange. Mark has been operating in the role of Deputy Chair for two years now, so is well placed to step up to these new responsibilities. We wish to express our thanks to Jason for his huge contribution during his time, setting the direction and structure of the work, and also to wish Mark well as he works alongside Eamonn O’Neill of Bath University, the Academic Coordinator of the programme. The coming period sees a focus on the delivery of the “Design Principles, Toolkit & Demonstrator” phase.
The User Interactions Industrial Steering Group last met on 28th November 2011, at Bristol University, where a review of the most recent research advances was presented by all the University teams. This covered both interaction modalities and systems / middleware / demonstration aspects; planning for the coming phase was also addressed. Members can download the minutes and presentations from www.mobilevce.com/calendar
The next User Interactions meeting will be hosted by Thales Research & Technology in Reading on 19th January 2012; please register via the VCE website and/or contact Mark Ashdown for details, either directly or via Jenny Johnson at VCE.
The past quarter has continued to be an active one for the Green Radio programme. The Industrial Steering Group meeting held on 9th November at Kings College was a very full one, with progress on a range of interesting techniques described and debated including:
Additional research advances were also explored over lunch, in the areas of:
Members can download the minutes and presentations from www.mobilevce.com/calendar
The next Industrial Steering Group meeting will take place on 9th February 2012; please register via the VCE website and/or contact Simon Fletcher for details, either directly or via Jenny Johnson at VCE.
Since David Cameron first announced a £200m investment to establish a set of new Technology & Innovation Centres just a year ago things have moved very fast. The UK’s Technology Strategy Board was charged with identifying appropriate priority areas and creating the centres, with two already announced – one in Advanced Manufacturing, which opened for business in October 2011, and one in Cell Therapy, which opens spring 2012. Ten other candidates have been under evaluation, including several which either focus upon or are undergirded by the technologies researched by VCE. The centres have recently been branded ‘Catapult Centres’, to reflect their dynamism and intentional approach.
See http://www.innovateuk.org/deliveringinnovation/catapults.ashx for the latest news on this from TSB.
The ten candidates were reviewed by the executive of TSB in December, with three new centres shortlisted for final evaluation. VCE has supported this process from the outset and has continued to do so in recent months, both directly with TSB and via the ICT Knowledge Transfer Network, which it helped establish (originally as the Digital Comms KTN) some three years ago.
Whatever the outcome, the strategic and important role of ICT across the board has been recognized, and this will ensure opportunities for VCE’s member companies in the coming years. A public announcement is expected early in the New Year – watch this space.
Reflecting some of the changes in the UK, and also within the global industry, 2012 will see some big changes for VCE. Our members have been fully involved in identifying and structuring these throughout the past year, via the Development Working Group, the Industrial Visions Group, the EGM in June, the Members’ Meeting in July and the AGM. The outcome of this intensive consultation process has been a decision to implement the proposal first aired at the October 2010 AGM that VCE should formally close after the completion of its Core 5 research programme. This will clear the way for the establishment of a new structure, with a wider remit of activity and a broader swathe of member companies.
For some time the Board has been conscious that any organization that wishes to remain competitive and continue to operate at the leading edge, needs to constantly monitor its activities and methods of working. In the case of VCE, to do otherwise in the fast changing industry as exists today may create a barrier for potential new members, many of whom would wish to help shape an evolving initiative, rather than simply join an existing one, fixed in its ways. For this reason, alongside the VCE activities in 2012, discussions are being initiated to explore the formation of a new industrial-academic collaboration involving companies from the Internet, computing and communication sectors.
An open letter from the Board of Mobile VCE regarding this will be published shortly, as well as further information from this new grouping. All members are invited and encouraged to not only be involved in this new opportunity, but also to reach out to other companies who have not traditionally been engaged in such collaborations. Again – watch this space.
Accompanying these changes, the VCE staffing is downsizing from the start of 2012, with Walter Tuttlebee and Jerry Horton taking the opportunity to move on to pastures new. Jenny Johnson will continue to oversee VCE’s administration, and all contact numbers and addresses will remain the same – Jenny may be reached by email at jennyj@mobilevce.com and by telephone on +44 1256 336804 or +44 7971 032568. Members’ queries should continue to be directed, as appropriate, either to Jenny or to the relevant Industrial Steering Group Chairman / Academic Coordinator – contact details are available in the members’ area of the VCE website. Jenny can also provide contact information for Walter and Jerry on request.
The next few years will see a revolution comparable to the introduction of GSM in the 1990s, as ubiquitous wireless connectivity combines with context, content & cloud to transform other industries and society, as outlined in the VCE paper “Enabling the Digital Economy – The Third Wave of Wireless” available for download from here: http://www.mobilevce.com/newsite/sites/default/files/infostore/NMI_YearBook2010pp20_27.pdf
May we take this opportunity to wish all of Mobile VCE’s member companies and universities a successful and prosperous 2012, as this future begins to unfold.
NOTE: Mobile VCE Website Access http://www.mobilevce.com
Access to certain information, including Industrial Steering Groups etc, requires a Members’ Area username & password, obtainable from the primary contact person for your Company and/or the relevant Industry Chairman.
If you do not know who to contact, please e-mail jennyj@mobilevce.com
Member companies increasingly value the strategic thinking underlying our research, as well as the 40:1 gearing on their annual subscription. For more details of our current industry-steered programmes and/or our future plans, please contact your company representative or the VCE office.