More than 19 research centers, R & D companies and a cultural center will join a European project that aims to create an observatory of the economic crisis and social dynamics, with the intensive use of new technologies and supercomputing, using ideas drawn from Physics, Mathematics, Biology, Sociology, Psychology and Economics.
What can Twitter tells us about the emergence of the 15-M movement and its subsequent evolution? Can we understand the origin and predict the social and political changes of events such as the election of Obama or protests in Arab countries? Are there alternative participatory mechanisms for today's democracy? Are there ways to anticipate the effect a bill will have before its approval? Can we identify concrete and simple actions to reduce unemployment? What measures can prevent a crisis? Do epidemic models and protocols work in managing the banking crisis?
More than 19 research centers, R & D companies and a cultural center will join a European project that aims to create an observatory of the economic crisis and social dynamics with the intensive use of new technologies and supercomputing, with ideas dawn from Physics, Mathematics, Biology, Sociology, Psychology and Economics.
The FuturICT pilot project is a candidate for a FET (Future and Emerging Technologies) Flagship project of the UE, with will receive funding of €1,000 million over 10 years.
The project has about a hundred of the best European scientists, experts in their respective fields, to promote new ways of research, management and even prediction on various aspects of contemporary society.
The spanish node (FuturICT Spain) is coordinated by Maxi San Miguel from the Interdisciplinary Institute of Physics and Complex Systems (IFISC), joint center of the Higher Council for Scientific Research and the University of the Balearic Islands), and Albert Diaz - Guilera (complexitat.CAT-University of Barcelona.)
Among the 19 participants of the node, two research centers from Madrid are included Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and the Institute IMDEA Networks which will have an important role in the project. Universidad Carlos III de Madrid will work with other the theoretical teams involved in applying complex system techniques in order to understand socio-economic phenomena, based on an interdepartmental and interdisciplinary collaboration. IMDEA Networks will provide its vast experience on networks, protocols and communications, as well as skills specific to tackle this project, such as trace and data gathering from social and peer-to-peer-networks, mobile networks and sensor networks. Anxo Sánchez shall coordinate the work of Universidad Carlos III of Madrid’s team in the FuturICT project, and Antonio Fernández Anta shall do likewise for IMDEA Networks.
Read more:
Download press release (72KB)- Madridmasd – Noticias (in Spanish only)
- Interview with Dirk Helbing, Scientific Coordinator FuturICT