ICL to partner on big data lab
18 Jul 2014
Imperial College London (ICL) and Zhejiang University, China launch data science collaboration.
Following news in January that ICL and information and communications technology firm Huawei were to launch a data science innovation laboratory in London, the college today announced it was forming a second ’Big Data’ partnership with Zhejiang University (ZJU) to help boost the potential of data science and its applications.
“Data scientists are making profound contributions to the development of new medicines
Sir Keith O’Nions
Although the two projects are separate bilateral partnerships, they both form part of ICL’s wider Data Science Institute, an ICL spokesman told Laboratorytalk.
Today’s announcement will be formally made today at a ZJU/ICL conference held at ZJU’s campus in Hangzhou, China.
The new laboratory, however, will be located in London.
ICL president Sir Keith O’Nions said: “Bringing together data scientists from two of the world’s great universities will spur creativity and innovation as we use our respective strengths to push scientific discovery forwards.
“Data scientists are making profound contributions to the development of new medicines, solutions to environmental challenges, and helping create better ways to live in smart cities.”
Likewise, O’Nions counterpart, Jinhua Lin, president of ZJU, said: “Data is opening new doors and spurs a revolution that will transform every aspect of lives. In a world where data is everywhere with increasing volume, velocity and variety, collaboration enables us to leverage each other’s strength to make insightful discoveries.
“I believe the conference is a great opportunity to share expertise, but in a more important sense, to spark new ideas of using ’Big Data’ for the well-being of human society.”
