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Formed in 1991, and part of the Electronic and Computer Science School, the IT Innovation Centre (ITINN) is an applied research centre specialising in the advancement of innovative information technologies and their deployment in industry and commerce. It has a rich history of winning EU funding, working collaboratively across Europe and establishing consortia that work to help solve the big societal challenges that we face in the world today.
IT INNOVATION SUCCESS We spoke to Dr Stefano Modafferi, Professor Michael Boniface, Dr Stephen Phillips and Dr Steve Taylor from ITINN and asked them to give us the lowdown on their EU successes. Why do you think IT Innovation has been so successful with EU funding? It is a combination of factors. The most important point, and something we are proud of, is our collaborative approach that aims to help multiple stakeholders work together to address important societal challenges. This is supported by a large network nurtured by active involvement in European research and innovation communities, e.g. the Big Data Value Association (BDVA), the Future Internet Research and Experimentation (FIRE) initiative, the Future Internet Public-Private Partnership
(FI-PPP) and the Networked European Software and Services Initiative(NESSI).
we’ve helped the EU formulate through strategic research agendas and community engagement.
And importantly we have a track record of being able to deliver results: the IT Innovation Centre is a well-known player in the EC programs having participated for almost 30 years. Examples of successful projects originated from our community engagement are FLAME, BigMedilytics and DataPitch.
The starting point can be research ideas, ongoing partnerships or looking at the work programme for inspiration, often brainstorming with colleagues. A good idea must have a few characteristics: i) fit the call (and not the other way around); ii) have the right level of vision (disruptiveness versus ready to market – a.k.a. Technology Readiness Level (TRL)); complement and additive to other ideas, ideally from other partners, so contributing to a larger proposition. The integration of research objectives into a larger proposition is an essential part of EU funding. Vision, completeness (with respect to the call objectives), and an eye to the impact (always
In your experience, what are the key steps to successfully securing EU funding? There is no one way to write a successful proposal but, in the end, you must bring together a ground-breaking idea with worldleading European partners to address work programme priorities. Often priorities that
FLAME (Facility for Large-scale Adaptive Media Experimentation – Jan 2017 – Sep 2020 – H2020) delivered a platform providing high quality, interactive and personalised media experiences to end users by means of an innovative software-defined network using advanced media services and innovative content distribution systems managed through a control plane providing design time specification and run time monitoring and control.
BigMedilytics (Big Data for Medical Analytics – started Jan 2018 – H2020 Big Data PPP) is a 36 month project comprising 35 partners. It aims t0 transform Europe’s healthcare sector by using state-of-the-art Big Data technologies. Specifically, it will lead to reducing costs of emergency care in hospitals and improving patient wellbeing with the delivery of advanced care services on prevention, diagnosis, treatment and home-care around Europe.
www.it-innovation.soton.ac.uk/projects/ flame
www.it-innovation.soton.ac.uk/projects/ bigmedilytics
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DataPitch (Jan 2017 – Dec 2019 – H2020) was a data innovation lab led by the University of which further accelerated the growth of the European digital economy. It helped businesses, from sector leaders to new startups, unlock the commercial value of data. www.it-innovation.soton.ac.uk/projects/ datapitch
