Delegates were welcomed by Professor Philippe de Wilde, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) to an event on 20th June 2019 at the University of Kent to understand the future of machine learning and its impact on society.
Organised by the University’s business and innovation gateway, Kent Innovation and Enterprise, businesses and other organisations attending the event heard from wide range of speakers about how machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) is disrupting traditional business models in key sectors.
Speakers included KROHNE, a world-leading manufacturer and supplier of solutions in industrial process instrumentation. Edward Jukes, General Manager and Technical Director, KROHNE Ltd outlined the benefits of adopting a collaborative approach to complex flow measurement through data-driven modelling.
The issue of cyber security and the role of machine learning was presented by the University’s Professor Shujun Li while the likely future role of robotics was discussed by Dr Konstantinos Sirlantzis from the School of Engineering and Digital Arts.
As an example of a key sector where AI and machine learning will have a significant impact, Professor Jian Zhang from the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science focused on whether these developing technologies could power new drug discovery and affect the timescales between discovery, development, testing and availability of new drugs in the healthcare market.
Delegates attending were able to spend time looking at new areas of research in a series of posters presented by PhD and graduate students. Dr Fernando Otero, School of Computing, offered some insights into how organisations make sense of data through the power of machine learning, and the role of Network Structure Learning was explored by Sa Ren, a PhD student in the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science.
The event was closed with concluding remarks from Professor Farzin Deravi, Head of the School of Engineering and Digital Arts.