This stuff matters - seriously. We're living connected, digital lives in a world that's been radically changed by our use of technology. Many of devices, applications and services we rely on today, and the technologies that underpin them, were inconceivable to previous generations. What happens next will be driven by the next generation of researchers coming out of universities. I need this new generation of research leaders to understand the ICT industry they will be inheriting - because they will be shaping our world from now on, and we all need them to get it right!
I run the Tommy Flowers Network (TFNetwork) (formally the Tommy Flowers Institute) to bring together the ICT industry with the new generation of our universities' postgraduate researchers to understand the biggest challenges we're facing. For me, this is an incredibly exciting opportunity. Sure, so academics publish papers, companies serve customers, the government implements public policy - but if we pulled together, just imagine the amazing things we could do!
TFNetwork is making this happen.
Let's get together and nurture the next generation of researchers, because this stuff matters - seriously.
The network will:
TFNetwork was first launched on 29th September 2016 under the name of 'Tommy Flowers Institute', with the aim to bring the ICT industry and UK academia together to improve collaboration, and to enable future research leaders to ensure that research outcomes will be fully exploited for a world-leading knowledge economy.
TFNetwork is hosted at Adastral Park by BT, its biggest stakeholder, which puts it into the natural centre-of-gravity for industrial telecoms research in the country.
TFNetwork is named in honour of the GPO (General Post Office) engineer Tommy Flowers, who worked on the code breaking machines at Bletchley Park during WW2 and built Colossus. It was an academic/industrial collaboration that delivered major impact on the end of the war: Cambridge graduate Bill Tutte deciphered the Lorenz code, Professor Max Newman saw the potential for mechanisation, and Tommy Flowers created the working machine. TFNetwork is building on this legacy of collaboration and innovation, supporting the development of future research leaders.
If you want to make the most from collaborative technological research and really understand the ICT industry's challenges, then you need look no further than the TFNetwork. Join us and make amazing things happen.
TFNetworkSpring22 on Digital Transformation will be yet another virtual conference streamed from the Adastral Park Hybrid Studio. This time we have teamed up with DIGIT Lab, a UKRI Next Stage Digital Economy Research Centre. We already have fantastic speakers lined up with some speaking live at the studio.
4th May, 10:00 – 12:30, Research Challenges and Opportunities in Digital Transformation - The speakers will explore why research in the digital world is fundamentally different and what that means for the future of research. This session will offer insights especially for early career researchers into their future challenges and opportunities and will open ways for joining the Digital Transformation community.
5th May, 10:00 – 12:30, Delivering Impact in Digital Transformation - With incredible activities around digital transformation happening all over the world, the speakers will tackle the questions: What are the big impact opportunities where we can really make a difference? What are the barriers for big companies to make progress? Where does Digit Lab come in? And again this session will offer opportunities especially for practitioners who deal with large amounts of data to join the Digital Transformation community.
Find out more about speakers, ways to engage and register on our TFNetworkSpring22 conference website.
We held a pre-conference thought leadership event: "Delivering Digital Transformation - Facing 5 dilemmas for a sustainable future" with Professor Alan Brown, Director, DIGIT Lab Research Centre and Professor in Digital Economy, Exeter Business School. As more and more organizations adopt digital first strategies, they must overcome a number of challenges to accelerate change and build sustainable business value. Based on the experience in the DIGIT Lab, a UK national research centre exploring digital transformation in Large Established Organizations (LEOs), a good starting point to gain a perspective on the issues is to focus on the areas of concern where tensions and questions are being raised. At the heart of these concerns lie 5 fundamental dilemmas being faced today:
Alan reviewed each of these dilemmas to surface key questions that will dominate future digital strategies. This was an engaging and interactive discussion on research challenges and opportunities facing digital transformation as organizations invest in a sustainable future.
Our conference on "Data Science - The beating heart of AI", delivered from the Hybrid studio at Adastral Park, was a great success. We even had a small live audience, making this a truly hybrid event.
With fantastic expert speakers from industries like BT, Google, Rainbird, TUI, Cambridge Spark, AWS, Liverpool Victoria General Insurance (LVGI) and academics from Lancaster University, University of Essex, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and University of Suffolk we learned about how to build models, how to handle bias, glitches and anomalies, and then how to put it all into practice.
Recordings are available on the TFNetworkAutumn21 conference website.
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Are you interested in publishing on our blog? Whether it's a whitepaper or a poster, or are you interested in hosting a Thought Leadership event? Please fill in the publication request form.
Become a TFNetwork member by completing the subscription form. You can unsubscribe at any time. For enquiries please send us an email.
Join us on social media through LinkedIn and Twitter (@TommyFlowersNet).
The Tommy Flowers Network is a cross-industry initiative to develop ICT post-graduates to become better research leaders (both for industry and academia) by exposing them to industrialists and their real-world research challenges. We do this is with a conference series, pulling in over 120 attendees each time, including postgrads, academics, SMEs, vendors, BT, local and national government.
Follow our blog for the latest updates via Google or email by using the widgets on the blog side bar.
Are you interested in publishing on our blog? Whether it's a whitepaper or a poster, or are you interested in hosting a Thought Leadership event? Please fill in the publication request form.
Become a TFNetwork member by completing the subscription form. You can unsubscribe at any time. For enquiries please send us an email.
Join us on social media through LinkedIn and Twitter (@TommyFlowersNet).
