Adapt Centre launches Horizon 2020 ICT standards fellowship programme

1 Feb 2019

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A new fellowship programme launched by the Adapt Centre will offer 16 researchers a chance to examine ICT standards in a variety of areas.

The Science Foundation Ireland-funded Adapt Centre, led out of Trinity College Dublin (TCD), has launched a Horizon 2020 programme that will be instrumental in realising the goals of the European Digital Single Market through ICT standards research.

Today (1 February), the research centre of excellence for digital content technology opened an offer of 16 two-year fellowships in the area for future industry ICT standards leaders.

ICT standards are vital in achieving interoperability of new technologies. The Adapt Centre’s activities encompass a wide range of research subjects, including artificial intelligence, social media analysis, machine learning and cognitive systems, among others.

Horizon 2020-funded project

The new programme – Elite-S – is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie co-fund and has received more than €1.1m in funding from the EU Horizon 2020 initiative.

Dr Markus Helfert from the Adapt Centre at Dublin City University (DCU), who is a coordinator of Elite-S, said: “The Elite-S programme provides a mechanism to build up the skills of researchers in ICT standards, and these 16 researchers can help industry to actually engage in the standardisation process.”

Building standards for cutting-edge technologies

The programme aims to provide fellows with industry-specific training and secondments in crucial sectors such as 5G, IoT, cloud computing, cybersecurity and data technologies. With the support of Ibec and the National Standards Authority of Ireland, Adapt will match fellows with industry partners to help shape future ICT standards.

Liam Cronin, commercial director at Adapt, said: “Participating companies will have access to the Elite-S network of leaders, which together will play a central role in influencing and shaping national and European ICT standards and work of international standards committees, presenting a huge opportunity for creating competitive advantage in the global marketplace.”

The Elite-S programme will run for a five-year period, with recruitment of fellows beginning today. Adapt academics from DCU, TCD, Technological University Dublin and University College Dublin are taking part in the programme.

Fellowships will be offered in four core research areas: regulations and compliance, content analytics and preservation, data and process management, and interoperability.

Updated, 4.22pm, 1 February 2019: This article was updated to clarify the four research areas of the fellowships.

Ellen Tannam was a journalist with Silicon Republic, covering all manner of business and tech subjects

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