Computing for the future

Digital technology is becoming an indispensable and crucial component of our lives, society, and environment. A framework for computing in the context of problems facing the planet will be presented. The framework has a number of goals: an optimal digital infrastructure, sensing and optimising with a global world model, reliably predicting and reacting to our environment, and digital alternatives to physical activities.

Andy Hopper is Professor of Computer Technology at the University of Cambridge and Head of the Computer Laboratory. Professor Hopper has pursued academic and industrial careers in parallel. He has worked in senior roles for multinational companies and also co-founded a dozen spin-outs and start-ups, two of which floated on stock markets. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and of the Royal Society and was awarded a CBE for services to the computer industry in 2007. For more information see www.cl.cam.ac.uk/research/dtg/~ah12/