Author: Denise Whitehead

Prescriptive Analytics and Industrial AI: Only those who know the past and understand the present can shape the future

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Overview:

Artificial intelligence has been used for decades – sometimes more, sometimes less prominently – as an umbrella term for a variety of underlying methods and approaches. Especially in recent years, we observe an increasing importance and impact of AI technologies in many areas of life due to the amount of available data in terms of quantity and quality in combination with the increasing performance of parallel computer systems has led to a stronger focus on these technologies – especially in the area of machine learning. A discipline that builds on this and is particularly relevant for industrialized regions is prescriptive analytics.

Prescriptive analytics is a cross-sectional topic in a cross-sectional discipline or, in other words, a synergetic hybridization of various methods and algorithms from statistics, computer science, artificial intelligence, mathematics and operations research. Its aim is to provide optimized recommendations for action in various application areas. In this way, knowledge gained in the digital world is brought back to the real world, providing better and more efficient procedures, designs and processes.

About the speaker:
Michael Affenzeller is professor for heuristic optimization and machine learning at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria. He graduated in mathematical computer science and did his doctorate and habilitation in computer science with a special focus on applied systems science.

Concerning University administration Michael Affenzeller served as vice-dean for R&D at Hagenberg campus and as the scientific head of the Softwarepark Hagenberg between 2014 and 2022. Since July 2022 he serves as provost of the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria. He has published over 300 peer-reviewed papers in journals and collective volumes.
Bringing together machine learning, simulation-based optimization and meta-heuristics with a special focus on adaptive search in dynamic environments in the context of prescriptive analytics is Michael Affenzellers research focus for the next years.

Introduction: 

Professor Peter Scharff, Chair of the World Technology Universities Network, Professor and former Rector of TU Ilmenau will introduce this lecture.

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WTUC2022 in Review

WTUN Exchange Programme 2022/23

An annual conference that brings together universities from across the globe is helping facilitate original research and collaborations to show how people can benefit from new technology.

Read more- University of Bradford attend WTUC2022

THE 2022 CONGRESS Programme

Planning for the WTUN Congress 2022 is well underway and we cannot wait to join this year’s hosts, Suranaree University of Technology in welcoming you all to Korat in November.

The programme is almost complete so please take a look at the session and speakers that we have lined up.

Programme

PROFESSOR PHILIP NOLAN LAUNCHES NEW POSTGRADUATE RESEARCH TRAINING PROGRAMMES (PRTPS) AT ATLANTIC TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

PRTPS will produce multi-disciplinary research graduates in two key growth areas – Modelling and Computation for Health and Society (MOCHAS) and Operations and Supply Chain Research (OSCAR).

Director General of Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and former chair of the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET)’s Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group Professor Philip Nolan officially launched Atlantic Technological University’s new Postgraduate Research Training Programmes (PRTPs) today, Wednesday 28 September, at the ATU Galway campus.

The first two new programmes aim to produce high-level multi-disciplinary research graduates in Modelling and Computation for Health and Society (MOCHAS) and Operations and Supply Chain Research (OSCAR), with 30 scholarships funded in the initial awards. A cohort of PhD scholarships are provided under each programme focused around addressing specific societal and industry challenges.

ATU is establishing these Postgraduate Research Training Programmes in collaboration with external partners in industry and academia. This will equip PRTP graduates with the technical, field-specific skills and transferable skills required to achieve employment in high-value jobs and to adapt to rapidly evolving workplaces. Students joining the programmes will have access to learning environments of research excellence across the campuses of ATU which span the west and north-west of Ireland.

Professor Philip Nolan, Director General, SFI, congratulated ATU on these initiatives: “Science Foundation Ireland is delighted to support the Technological Universities as they continue to build excellence and capacity in research and innovation. That development is very evident today. Atlantic Technological University have demonstrated great initiative and ambition in the design and implementation of their Postgraduate Research Training Programmes.

“ATU’s implementation of PRTPs is informed by international and national developments in relation to doctoral training; industrial and work-based learning; and transferable research skill development. The PRTPs involve designed collaboration between Higher Educational Institutions, private and public enterprises, agencies, and Non-Government Organisations (NGOs). This is likely to accelerate the generation of relevant research outcomes and to ensure that these outcomes are adopted and impactful.

“I congratulate ATU for their acute focus on societal challenge, research impact and student opportunity. This approach augurs well for further collaboration between ATU and the SFI Research Centres and Programmes. I wish the Programme teams and PhD Scholars involved in the MOCHAS and OSCAR PRTPs every success.”

Dr Rick Officer, Vice-President for Research and Innovation at ATU Galway-Mayo said the launch is a proud day for ATU as it continues to expand its research activities: “Our Postgraduate Research Training Programmes represent a novel and ambitious initiative for our new university. PRTPs will help to shape the future postgraduate research environment within ATU, and to deliver on our vision for research across key strategic areas critical to our region.

“The two programmes being launched today focus on key challenges of great societal and sectoral importance: operation and supply chain improvement, and the application of computational technologies in medical-care and healthcare.

“In congratulating the teams behind these two programmes I also want to recognise the leaders of our other candidate PRTPs. An independent and international evaluation recognised excellence in eight PRTP proposals and recommended another six PRTPs for funding.”

These two programmes were selected through a competitive application process that was independently and internationally reviewed. Each programme is recruiting a cohort of 15 PhD students who will conduct individual 4-year research programmes in collaboration with partners in higher education, public and private enterprise, government agencies, and non-governmental organisations.

Learn more and apply

For 2022, undergraduate and postgraduate students from WTUN member institutions were invited to form a multidisciplinary team of up to four members and submit a proposal to the WTUN Student Competition.

The theme was “Digital Creativity” and students were asked to use Digital Creativity in some way to try and address one of the WTUN’s chosen United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

1. Affordable and Clean Energy
2. Climate Action
3. Clean Water and Sanitation
4. Sustainable Cities and Communities
5. Gender Equality

We are delighted to announce our 2022 winner is Team EquaLearn from National Taiwan University of Science and Technology! Congratulations!

To view Team EquaLearn’s winning entry as well as the great second and third place proposals go to WTUN Student Competition Winners 2022

THE 2022 CONGRESS

The seventh World Technology Universities Congress (WTUC2022) will be hosted by Suranaree University of Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand on 22-24 November 2022. Nakhon Ratchasima (or Korat), which is known as the gateway to beautiful highlands of the Northeastern region. The province is the largest province in Thailand and the most prosperous province in the region, boasting its richness in culture and biodiversity amidst the splendor of lush mountainous landscapes.

The 2022 Congress