1.
FuturICT: An Introduction
Andrea Omicini
andrea.omicini@unibo.it
Alma Mater Studiorum—Universit` di Bologna
a
Info Day ICT, 14 February 2012
Andrea Omicini (Universit` di Bologna)
a FuturICT Intro ICT InfoDay 14/2/2012 1 / 17

2.
Outline
1 Premises
2 Facts
3 Benefits
4 Further Information
Andrea Omicini (Universit` di Bologna)
a FuturICT Intro ICT InfoDay 14/2/2012 2 / 17

3.
Premises
Outline
1 Premises
2 Facts
3 Benefits
4 Further Information
Andrea Omicini (Universit` di Bologna)
a FuturICT Intro ICT InfoDay 14/2/2012 3 / 17

4.
Premises
Why do we need FuturICT? I
From the Project Summary
It seems that we know more about the universe than about our
society. Therefore it is time to use the power of information to
explore social and economic life on Earth and discover options for a
sustainable future.
Andrea Omicini (Universit` di Bologna)
a FuturICT Intro ICT InfoDay 14/2/2012 4 / 17

5.
Premises
Why do we need FuturICT? II
From Dirk Hebling’s Presentation (2010)
We know a lot about the universe, but know so little about our society
We are not good at predicting and facing crisis
We observe global forces along with a myriad of local impulses
altogether producing novel societal phenomena, at any level and at
any scale
Why are we not “good”?
Complexity, social phenomena, ICT work altogether, but are faced /
understood separately
techno-socio-economic-environmental systems are inherently complex
The EC means to spend 1 billion euros in the next 10 years for ICT
and society: how could we ensure all that money is well-spent?
Andrea Omicini (Universit` di Bologna)
a FuturICT Intro ICT InfoDay 14/2/2012 5 / 17

6.
Premises
What would we need from FuturICT? I
Understanding & Predicting
Science means building models and making predictions
we need predictability of complex socio-economic-environmental
systems
we need to put in a working feedback loop big data + complex
models + forecasting + validation, towards predictions & policies
Andrea Omicini (Universit` di Bologna)
a FuturICT Intro ICT InfoDay 14/2/2012 6 / 17

7.
Premises
What would we need from FuturICT? II
The Basic Idea (Rosaria Conte, 2010)
The basic idea of FuturICT is to integrate different disciplinary areas like
complexity science
social science
ICT
in order to
provide a new foundation for a science of society
answer some foundational transformative problems of society, like
preventing spreading of crime, how to face health care issues, how to
predict financial crises etc.
create a new science of the co-evolution of ICT and society
Andrea Omicini (Universit` di Bologna)
a FuturICT Intro ICT InfoDay 14/2/2012 7 / 17

8.
Facts
Outline
1 Premises
2 Facts
3 Benefits
4 Further Information
Andrea Omicini (Universit` di Bologna)
a FuturICT Intro ICT InfoDay 14/2/2012 8 / 17

9.
Facts
What is FuturICT?
From Project Summary
FuturICT is a visionary project that will deliver new science and technology
to explore, understand and manage our connected world.
This will inspire new information and communication technologies (ICT)
that are socially adaptive and socially interactive, supporting collective
awareness.
Andrea Omicini (Universit` di Bologna)
a FuturICT Intro ICT InfoDay 14/2/2012 9 / 17

10.
Facts
How will FuturICT work? I
FuturICT Platform
FuturICT will build a sophisticated framework for simulation,
visualisation and participation, called the FuturICT Platform
The FuturICT Platform consists of
the Planetary Nervous System
the Living Earth Simulator
the Global Participatory Platform
Andrea Omicini (Universit` di Bologna)
a FuturICT Intro ICT InfoDay 14/2/2012 10 / 17

11.
Facts
How will FuturICT work? II
The Vision
A suite of models forming the Living Earth Simulator will power
Observatories, to detect and mitigate crises plus identify opportunities
in specific areas
These models will be driven, and calibrated, by data aggregated in
real-time, which are gathered by a digital Planetary Nervous System
Both models and data will support the decision-making of
policy-makers, business people and citizens, through a Global
Participatory Platform which is intended to facilitate better social,
economic and political participation
Andrea Omicini (Universit` di Bologna)
a FuturICT Intro ICT InfoDay 14/2/2012 11 / 17

12.
Benefits
Outline
1 Premises
2 Facts
3 Benefits
4 Further Information
Andrea Omicini (Universit` di Bologna)
a FuturICT Intro ICT InfoDay 14/2/2012 12 / 17

13.
Benefits
Which benefits from FuturICT?
FuturICT will. . .
. . . be the first large-scale ICT project in the world addressing the
socio-economic challenges of humanity
. . . be a global project, including leading international scientist in the
US and all over the world: Europe has triggered off and will
coordinate this global research initiative
. . . come up with a Knowledge Accelerator, which will help to identify,
stimulate, and promote innovations, strengthening both Europe’s
science and Europe’s economy
. . . revolutionise the social sciences and economics through a
multi-disciplinary approach
. . . foster Europe’s leadership regarding a multi-disciplinary approach
to the social and economic sciences
. . . be a competent partner of politics when it comes to difficult
questions, the drawbacks of which are hard to overlook
. . . be fully in line with Europe’s Agenda 2020 and its humanitarian
tradition
. . . enable societies to be self-aware and better perceive their
challenges and opportunities
. . . be not expensive: it requires not even a permille of the costs that
the financial crises has created
Andrea Omicini (Universit` di Bologna)
a FuturICT Intro ICT InfoDay 14/2/2012 13 / 17

14.
Further Information
Outline
1 Premises
2 Facts
3 Benefits
4 Further Information
Andrea Omicini (Universit` di Bologna)
a FuturICT Intro ICT InfoDay 14/2/2012 14 / 17

15.
Further Information
Web References for FuturICT
Basic URLs
Webpage (including publications, media response, events etc)
http://www.futurict.eu
Facebook (including videos)
http://www.facebook.com/FuturICT
Twitter (including interesting quotes)
http://twitter.com/FuturICT
Visioneer White Papers
http://springerlink.metapress.com/content/1951-6355/195/1/
Andrea Omicini (Universit` di Bologna)
a FuturICT Intro ICT InfoDay 14/2/2012 15 / 17

16.
Further Information
Local References for FuturICT
FuturICT at the Alma Mater
Reference people
Andrea Omicini (DISI)
mailto:andrea.omicini@unibo.it
Pierluigi Contucci (DM)
mailto:pierluigi.contucci@unibo.it
ARIC support
Silvia Vecchi
mailto:s.vecchi@unibo.it
Michela Cozzi
mailto:michela.cozzi@unibo.it
Andrea Omicini (Universit` di Bologna)
a FuturICT Intro ICT InfoDay 14/2/2012 16 / 17

17.
FuturICT: An Introduction
Andrea Omicini
andrea.omicini@unibo.it
Alma Mater Studiorum—Universit` di Bologna
a
Info Day ICT, 14 February 2012
Andrea Omicini (Universit` di Bologna)
a FuturICT Intro ICT InfoDay 14/2/2012 17 / 17