Big data, networks and the Internet of things: a mathematician’s perspective, a talk by Professor Des Higham (University of Strathclyde) A joint meeting with Café Scientifique
Abstract
The “Internet of Things” is a phrase describing the set of technologies, systems and methodologies that underpin the spread of internet-enabled applications. Ultimately, the Internet of Things should involve physical objects seamlessly integrating into the information network for social and economic benefit.
At the heart of the Internet of Things is data–digital records of human, technological and natural interactions. The data streams are large-scale, varied and rapidly changing. Making sense of this data raises many interesting challenges for those of us working in mathematics, statistics, computer science and related disciplines. I therefore plan to discuss some of our success stories, bottlenecks and wish list entries. Along the way, I will mention how Google used classical graph theory in order to tame the WWW, how new ideas in network science allow us to rank supermarkets according to on-line brand allegiance and how we can compare the cliquiness of ten UK cities.
About the Speaker: Des Higham holds the 1966 Chair of Numerical Analysis at the University of Strathclyde. His research interests revolve around the design and evaluation of computational methods. He was awarded a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award in 2011 and currently holds a five year Established Career Fellowship from the EPSRC/Digital Economy Theme to work in Data Analytics for Future Cities.
No charge is made to attend meetings; non-IMA members are welcome.