Speakers

Molecular programming

Abstract

Digital computers allow us to manipulate information systematically, leading to recent advances in our ability to structure our society and to communicate in richer ways. They also allow us to orchestrate physical forces, transforming and optimizing our manufacturing processes. What they cannot do very well, is to interact directly with biological organisms or in general orchestrate molecular arrangements. Thanks to biotechnology, nucleic acids (DNA/RNA) are particularly effective 'user-programmable' entities at the molecular scale. They can be directed to assemble nano-scale structures, to produce physical forces, to act as sensors and actuators, and to do general computation in between. We will be able to interface this new class of devices with biological machinery, to detect and cure diseases at the cellular level under program control. The theory of computability directed the design of digital computers, and it can now inform the development of new computational fabrics, at the molecular level, that will eventually give us control of an entirely new domain of reality.

Short Bio

Luca Cardelli has a M.Sc. in computer science from the University of Pisa, and a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Edinburgh. He worked in the USA at Bell Labs, Murray Hill, from 1982 to 1985, and at Digital Equipment Corporation, Systems Research Center in Palo Alto, from 1985 to 1997, before assuming a position at Microsoft Research, in Cambridge UK, where he was head of the Programming Principles and Tools and Security groups until 2012. Since 2014 he is also a Royal Society Research Professor at the University of Oxford. His main interests are in programming languages and concurrency, and more recently in programmable biology and nanotechnology. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society, a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery, an Elected Member of the Academia Europaea, and an Elected Member of the Association Internationale pour les Technologies Objets.

Ethics of Robotics and AI: Moral responsibility and societal challenges

Abstract

Robotics and AI raises many questions, fears, and expectations, both among experts and in public discussions. This talk looks beyond the hype and discusses some urgent ethical issues and potential societal consequences of current developments in these areas. Particular attention will be given to issues concerning responsibility in situations where there is a high degree of automation, including the case of self-driving cars. The talk also explores some implications for technology development and innovation policy and reflects on how to bring together philosophy and technological practice.

Short Bio

Prof. Dr. Mark Coeckelbergh is a full Professor of Philosophy of Media and Technology at the Department of Philosophy of the University of Vienna and President of the international Society for Philosophy and Technology. His expertise focuses on ethics and technology. He is the author of 9 books and numerous articles in this area, including New Romantic Cyborgs (MIT Press, 2017). He is currently a member of various entities for the support of policy building in the area of robotics and embedment of ethical standards in AI system such as the High Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence which advises the European Commission, the Robotik-Rat Council – established by the Austrian Government to support policy building in the area of robotics, the Foundation for Responsible Robotics, and the IEEE Global Initiative for Ethical Considerations in Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems. Previously he was the co-Chair of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Technical Committee on Robot Ethics. He is involved in interdisciplinary collaborations in the context of European research projects such as INBOTS (Inclusive Robotics for a better Society), DREAM (robot-enhanced therapy) and previously SATORI (ethical impact assessment of research and innovation).

Quantum computers, how do they work and what can they do?

Abstract

Quantum computers are predicted to outperform classical computers for certain problems. This is possible because the quantum computer exploits truly quantum properties such as superposition and entanglement. The basic building block of the quantum computer is called a qubit; an individual quantum system that can be placed in a superposition between two states. A single qubit can thus represent two numbers, 0 and 1, simultaneously. A register of N qubits can represent 2N numbers simultaneously, resulting in a massive parallelism which can be exploited for simulation and computing. Qubits can be implemented in different technologies, presently the two main technologies build on superconducting circuits or ion traps. The operation of a quantum computer is rather different than for a classical computer, typically microwave or laser pulses are sent to the quantum processor to manipulate individual qubits or to create entanglement between different qubits.

Short Bio

Per Delsing received his Ph.D. degree from the Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg Sweden, in 1990, for his studies in single electron tunneling. After a few years as an assistant and an associate professor at Göteborg University, he returned to the Chalmers University of Technology as a full professor in 1997. His main research interest is quantum physics of single electron devices and superconducting qubits. He is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He is presently the director of the Wallenberg Center for Quantum Technology (WACQT).

EU perspectives on digital education

Abstract

In his talk, Georgi will address current EU initiatives related to the digital education including the Digital Education Action Plan and go into some more specific issues related to the role of computer science and informatics today.

Short Bio

Georgi Dimitrov, Deputy Head of Unit Innovation and EIT (DG EAC) joined the European Commission, Directorate General Education and Culture, as a Policy Officer in 2008. He was involved in various roles in setting up the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). Georgi has managed the HEInnovate initiative launched in November 2013 by the European Commission and the OECD. Before joining the Commission, Georgi worked for a leading multinational telecommunication company in Germany. Prior to that, he worked in a software start-up for four years, also in Germany. Georgi studied at the University of Bonn (M.A.), the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (PhD) and the Open University UK (towards MBA in Technology Management).

Robots and autonomous systems for all

Abstract

The marriage of artificial intelligence and robotics has opened new venues and applications of autonomous systems. One such area is in homes and domestic environments where these systems have a potential to assist humans in daily living for an active and healthy ageing. This talk will describe our experiences from developing such systems, and describe the core technological challenges in adopting AI for physically embedded systems. The talk will also list a number of lessons learned when early prototypes have been fielded in real home throughout Europe.

Short Bio

Amy Loutfi is a Professor in Information Technology at Örebro University, she also heads the Center for Applied Autonomous Sensor Systems. She has a long experience of working with robotic platforms and sensor platforms that are used for eldercare. In particular, she has developed techniques in AI to improve the functionality of many of these platforms. She has also examined techniques to validate and test these methods with end user groups.

Creating human-computer partnerships

Abstract

The classic approach to Artificial Intelligence treats the human being as a cog in the computer's process -- the so-called “human-in-the-loop”. By contrast, the classic approach to Human-Computer Interaction seeks to create a ‘user experience’ with the computer. We seek a third approach, a true human-computer partnership that takes advantage of machine learning, but leaves the user in control. I describe how we can create interactive systems that are discoverable, appropriable and expressive, drawing from the principles of instrumental interaction and reciprocal co-adaptation. Our goal is to create robust interactive systems that grow with the user, with a focus on augmenting human capabilities.

Short Bio

Wendy Mackay is a Research Director, Classe Exceptionnelle, at INRIA, France, where she heads the ExSitu (Extreme Situated Interaction) research group in Human-Computer Interaction at the Université Paris-Sud. After receiving her Ph.D. from MIT, she managed research groups at Digital Equipment and Xerox EuroPARC, which were among the first to explore interactive video and tangible computing. She has been a visiting professor at University of Aarhus and Stanford University and served as Vice President for Research at the University of Paris-Sud. Wendy is a member of the ACM CHI academy, is a past chair of ACM/SIGCHI, chaired CHI'13 and recently received the ACM/SIGCHI Lifetime Achievement Service Award and is Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Aarhus. She also received an ERC Advanced Grant for her research on co-adaptive instruments and has published approximately 200 peer-reviewed research articles in the area of Human-Computer Interaction. Her current research interests include participatory design, creativity, co-adaptive instruments, mixed reality and interactive paper, and multidisciplinary research methods.

Machine learning and artificial intelligence

Abstract

Machine learning has made significance advances in recent years both in terms of theoretical underpinnings and in reliable applications with notable impact in computer vision and natural language processing. These developments and applications of Reinforcement Learning in for example AlphaGo have lead to advances in Artificial Intelligence that have long seemed an elusive goal for computer science. The talk will explore some of these developments trying to understand what has driven these advances and where we should focus in order to maintain the momentum that has been created.

Short Bio

John Shawe-Taylor obtained a PhD in mathematics at the University of London in 1986 after which he moved into computer science taking a lectureship initially at Royal Holloway, but later becoming a professor at the University of Southampton where he lead the ISIS research group. In 2006, he moved to University College London (UCL) to become the founder director of the Centre for Computational Statistics and Machine Learning. John Shawe-Taylor is currently Head of the Computer Science Department at UCL where he has overseen a significant expansion and witnessed its emergence as the highest ranked Computer Science Department in the UK. Under his leadership, the department has developed an innovative education program at both undergraduate, masters and research level that engages students directly with industrial projects and has led to UCL Computer Science playing a leading role in the growth of London as a hub for start-up tech companies.

John Shawe-Taylor has contributed to a number of fields ranging from graph theory through cryptography to statistical learning theory and its applications. However, his main contributions have been in the development of the analysis and subsequent algorithmic definition of principled machine learning algorithms founded in statistical learning theory. This work has helped to drive a fundamental rebirth in the field of machine learning with the introduction of kernel methods and support vector machines, driving the mapping of these approaches onto novel domains including work in computer vision, document classification, and applications in biology and medicine focused on brain scan, immunity and proteome analysis. He has published over 300 papers and two books that have attracted over 42000 citations. He has also been instrumental in assembling a series of influential European Networks of Excellence. The scientific coordination of these projects has influenced a generation of researchers and promoted the widespread uptake of machine learning in both science and industry that we are currently witnessing.

Ethics in the age of Informatics, Big data and AI

Abstract

In her talk, Prof. dr. May Thorseth will bring up some urgent ethical issues that are topical in the field of Informatics, in particular in information technology today. Being in the very core of emerging technologies, Informatics raises ethical challenges of which we were not sufficiently aware in the shaping of these technologies. This leaves us with a Janus face: while surveillance provides us with great improvement of some kinds of security and protection, it does at the same time imply a potential threat to privacy and misuse of data. Further, huge search engines make choices for us, and may lead to weakening of autonomous choices. This again connects to a different, but still related problem, having to do with democracy and the problem of filtering: while the Internet facilitates accessing all kinds of information, including news, it also enables individuals to create their own newspaper "Daily Me" (ref. C. Sunstein). This may compromise sharing and exchange of viewpoints, which is basic to democracy.

Short Bio

Prof. dr. May Thorseth is a full professor of philosophy at Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies since 2008 and a director of NTNU’s Programme for Applied Ethics since 2001. Being a vice-chairman of NTNU’s Research ethical committee since 2014, she is also a member of management group of interdisciplinary research area NTNU Sustainability since 2014, a member of The Norwegian Biotechnology Advisory Board and a past member of regional and national commitees of medical and health research ethics. May Thorseth co-edits the journal "Etikk i praksis - Nordic Journal of Applied Ethics". Previously, she was a jury member of European Foundation Awards for Responsible research and innovation (RRI) and, currently, she is a member of Task force RRI as part of CESAER. Her areas of expertise and current research interests covers research ethics, information ethics and environmental ethics.

Towards the European Open Science Cloud - The role of Computer Science

Abstract

The idea of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) is to leverage European research data management to the next level of excellence. The EOSC will connect existing and future research data centres with one another and will offer a free point of use, open and seamless services for storage, management, analysis and re-use of research data. Based on the experiences made during the German contribution to the EOSC, namely the GeRDI project (Generic research data infrastructure), and during the international GoFAIR initiative, the talk will highlight technical challenges from a computer science perspective. This will include the design of a micro-service architecture, the role of standards for metadata, the design of a central search index to allow cross-repository search and retrieval as well as the role of large storage and computing capacities.

Short Bio

Prof. Dr. Klaus Tochtermann studied Computer Science at the University of Kiel and the Technical University of Dortmund (Germany). After his PhD he spent 1 year as a Post-Doc at the Center for the studies of digital libraries at Texas A&M University (USA). From 2000-2010 he has been the director of Austria's competence center for knowledge management (Know-Center) and professor for Computer Science at Graz University of Technology (Austria). Since 2010 he has been the director of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics and professor for digital information infrastructures at the University of Kiel. He is a member in various scientific and governmental advisory boards, among them the high level expert group "European Open Science Cloud" for the European Commission. His field of research includes open science, research data management and digital information infrastructures.

Computational creativity

Abstract

Computational creativity is the study of creative systems. It involves the scientific principles and philosophy of creative systems, as well as their engineering and applications. As a research field, computational creativity is in many ways comparable to artificial intelligence. Both aim to give computers the ability to do something valuable in a non-trivial, autonomous manner. There are major differences however: while AI systems typically aim to solve or optimise a given problem, creative tasks typically are open. “Write a poem” is an ill-defined task, where part of the task is to decide what the objective is in this particular context with these particular capabilities and constraints. In this talk, Hannu will give a brief introduction to the field of computational creativity and some of its key concepts and questions.

Short Bio

Hannu Toivonen works in the areas of artificial intelligence and data science, more specifically in computational creativity and data mining. Hannu obtained his PhD in 1996 on data mining. Since then, he has introduced and solved several novel research problems in the area of data mining; his definitions and algorithms have become standard references and textbook material in the field. His current research focus is on using data science for computational creativity, on self-aware and creative systems, and on analysis and generation of natural language. Hannu has published some 200 papers and has been cited over 20,000 times.

Hannu is a professor of computer science at the University of Helsinki since 2002. He has meanwhile served as Head of the Department of Computer Science (2007-09) and as director of the Helsinki Doctoral Programme in Computer Science (2007-11); he is the founding director of the Data Science MSc programme (2016-) and the Vice Dean for teaching of the Faculty of Science (2018-). Hannu has six years of industrial experience at Nokia Research and also holds 10 patents.