From Telematics to InfoMobility - Challenges & Opportunities in rapidly convergent industries
Speaker: John Humphreys, Global Innovation Centre Pty Ltd
When: 2008-03-27 17:30:00
Venue: Hawken Auditorium, Engineering House, 447 Upper Edward Street, Brisbane.
Host: Lauren Moon
Abstract:The field of telematics commenced in the health sector, but has
evolved to refer to the automotive/transport industries and its
convergence with the electronics, GPS tracking and wireless sectors.
It "combines computing and wireless telecommunications technologies
to provide the capability effectively to convey information over
networks, to improve government, business, and consumer services".
The success of telematics projects is dependent on the strength of
the partnerships developed between the contributing sectors. It has
been widely noted by futurists that "many of the more important
technology trends of recent years have points of intersection.
Indeed, convergence has been seen as a 'mega- trend', with
cross-fertilisation of technology trends driving each other further
and faster". (Australian Electronics Industry Mapping Report, 2005)
Within this ICT-convergence 'mega-trend', the 'mobility of
information' is rapidly becoming an overriding theme; whether it
relates to the 'smart, & connected' backpack for the remote mining
engineer, the personal and support tools of the mobile health
worker, or vehicle to vehicle (V2V) and vehicle to infrastructure
(V2I) interconnected systems.
The Italians first recognised the 'InfoMobility' convergence
paradigm in their conduct of the M2M Infomobility 2003 Brokerage
event in 2003 at the Lingotto complex in Turin. To the Italians,
"Infomobility synthesizes the world of information, telematics and
mobility, and encloses all of the activities finalized to perform,
on the condition of access and use of these networks and systems,
the users of the viability networks and of the transport system".
In addition, Infomobility is being increasingly embedded in the
language of the European Union, as it moves towards its 7th
Framework program.
The Canadians recently established the "InfoMobility Network" which
is a Canada-wide partnership comprising the municipal, federal and
private sectors, and co-ordinated by the "Moving the Economy" (MTE)
program. The network's objectives is to provide practical and
seamless door to door urban traveller information for the Canadian
public, develop an information exchange to serve transportation
professionals, the public sector and business leaders in sustainable
transportation, and to provide information about sustainable
transportation to Canadians directly and through links to the
traveller information portal.
Taking a lead from the Europeans and the Canadians, a suitable (and
concise) definition of infomobility in the Australian context may
well be "the convergence between telematics and a range of other
mobility-based ICT technologies across a broad spectrum of industry
sectors".
The emphasis on a new, broader field of "infomobility" is
consistent with Toyota's world view. Didier Stevens, who manages
government affairs for the company in Europe notes that Toyota's
official definition of sustainable mobility is that used by the
World Business Council for Sustainable Development as part of that
organization's Mobility Project 2030: "...mobility that meets the
needs of society to move freely, gain access, communicate, trade and
establish relationships without sacrificing other essential human or
ecological requirements today or in the future".
In the light of the above, what is the argument posed by this talk?
There are several industry clusters in the convergent ICT sectors
that operate independently, whether in telematics, location
technologies, electronics, mobile communications, intelligent
transport systems, digital content, home automation or other
relevant fields of interest. A 'total systems approach' is
recommended, one that promotes a new global 'infomobility' paradigm.
Recognition of this new, and broader infomobility agenda in
Australia is the first step in this process.
Please register your attendance with Lauren Moon
Phone (07) 3832 3749
Email lmoon@engineersaustralia.org.au
Biography:John Humphreys BA MIMC is Managing Director of the Brisbane-based
Global Innovation Centre, a knowledge-based organization focused on
new industry development (including cluster facilitation),
strategies for advanced communications infrastructure, and
technology commercialisation. He has adopted a leadership role in
the development of knowledge-based 'frontier industries' in
Australia, anticipating new global and national trends before they
occur. Current and immediate past activities include:
- Chair of Australian Square Kilometre Array Industry Consortium -
the proposed (A$1.7B) world's next radio-telescope (2005 - 2008)
- Strategic leader of the Australian Telematics Industry Consortium -
including next generation vehicles incorporated in the 'AT Signature
initiatives (2007-2008)
- Consultant/Mentor to National ICT Australia (NICTA) in the establishment
phase of the new Embedded Systems Australia Cluster (2008)
- Convenor of the Australian Telematics Industry Cluster and Chair of the
Australian Telematics Industry Steering Committee (2004 to 2006)
- Consultant to Holden Innovation for a range of telematics-related
activities (2006-2008)
- Convenor of AEEMA's (now AiGroup's) 'best practice' Industry Cluster
in Queensland (2002-2008)
- Inaugural member of Location Australia - a newly-formed Industry Cluster -
Australia's response to global GNSS initiatives (2007-2008)
- Consultant for the formulation of the Australian
Telematics Industry Roadmap, the Australian Photonics Industry
Roadmap, the Australian (and Queensland) electronics industry mapping
initiatives. Also involved in a National Health Communications Strategy,
a major industry cluster study and the (former) 'Connect Australia' program.
Type: The 2008 IET Informatics Lecture
Contact:Lauren Moon, seminar host (lmoon@engineersaustralia.org.au)
or Guido Governatori (ITEE seminar co-ordinator)
(guido@itee.uq.edu.au)