Massachusetts’ Big Data Ecosystem – A Success Story

Written by Simone Schmieder,  swissnex Boston

Success stories often begin with collaborations of different partners. This is also the case for the Massachusetts Big Data ecosystem. A main pillar for the success of the state’s big data ecosystem was the Massachusetts Big Data Initiative launched by then-Governor Deval Patrick in 2012. The initiative engages collaboratively with industry, academia, government, and nonprofit partners.

The Innovation Institute at the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative directs the Mass Big Data Initiative to expand, leverage, and deploy regional big data assets and resources, supporting strategic development of new opportunities that will boost Massachusetts’ comparative advantages, and addressing the ecosystem’s unmet needs and barriers.

Massachusetts Technology Collaborative http://masstech.org/

Human Capital Development for Big Data in South Africa

written by Jacquelene Friedenthal, Embassy of Switzerland in South Africa

Even though South Africa used to lag a little behind other countries in developing new technologies, it is now fully committed to catching up in certain areas. As described in this article, the progress in research linked to Big Data has been tremendous thanks to the implementation of appropriate measures. For instance, the government is creating new higher education and training institutions to overcome the lack of qualified personnel for the development of Big Data. Furthermore, the authorities also support the implementation of real policy for opening data gathered by the government. The private sectors has picked up on these trends and has also begun to invest in new tools using big data to develop predictive models. However, the government is making sure that privacy is preserved thanks to the Protection of the Personal Information Act. Read more about these subjects in this article.

Courtesy of ATA, a SETI Institute. Photos taken by Seth Shostak

An exemple of Big Data’s impact on your holiday

Recommended by Mark Engler (swiss Embassy in Australia)

The potential of Big Data is not only used by public institutions. The private sector has a growing interest in the exploitation of all the Data they gather during their daily activities.  This article illustrates how airlines companies usethe information you provide to optimise their prices. What if the price paid by the person next to you was lower because you live in a wealthy inner city neighbourhood and they live in a cheaper suburb? Or maybe you paid more for the flight because the airline knows from your booking history that you fly the same route at the same time every year to visit family overseas?   If you want to learn the answers, read the article here.

 

Open Government Data Projects in Japan

Written by Matthias Frey, Science & Technology Office Tokyo, Embassy of Switzerland in Japan 

When it comes to new technologies, Japan is often at the forefront. Already in the 1960’s the Japanese Government used computers to automate a large amount of paperwork and form-filling: large main frame computers for business were installed. This article describes the development and future trends of big data in Japan and it also touches upon the related topic of “open science”.

 

Russian Government Supporting International Cooperation in the Big Data Field

written by Andrey Melnikov – Embassy of Switzerland in Russia

Mega-grants are considerable funding provided on a tender basis by the Government of the Russian Federation to offer state support to the scientific research led by world-famous scientists in Russian universities, research institutes and centers. This program was started back in 2010. Very often such grants are awarded to former Russian/Soviet scientists working currently abroad, S. Smirnov for example, and foreign top-notch researchers like Osamu Shimomura and George F. Smoot. One of the program’s goals is to create research laboratories capable of competing with the world leading institutions, thus creating conditions required to improve the professional quality of the faculty and research specialists of Russian institutions and encourage young people to pursue professional development. In 2014-2016 the research carried out in 23 Russian universities will be supported by such mega-grants.

Ural Federal University (URFU)