Europe and Korea take research in ambient intelligence and ubiquitous computing to next level
Ambient intelligence promises to facilitate our lives through the IoT. Such technology must, however, be able to discern the needs of people, forecast their behaviour and customise their requirements. The EU-funded EKRUCAMI (Europe-Korea research on ubiquitous computing and ambient intelligence) project brought together European and Korean stakeholders to advance ambient intelligence in exciting new ways. EKRUCAMI built a sustainable network for research and development by inviting other global players to participate in refining this technology. Project partners established contacts with SMEs in both regions through visits to SMEs and incubators. They defined models and architectures, and developed applications for ubiquitous computing and ambient intelligence in the three main application domains: agrifood, healthcare and group decision support. The EKRUCAMI team identified the main tasks involved in the creation of a ubiquitous computing and ambient intelligence environment, and in the development of applications and ambient intelligence techniques for these environments. It successfully developed novel solutions to challenges in healthcare, smart meeting rooms and agriculture monitoring. As an exchange programme, EKRUCAMI supported the mobility and training of European and Korean researchers in ubiquitous computing and ambient intelligence, facilitated capacity building and enhanced the career development of gender-balanced early-stage researchers. Dissemination and knowledge transfer were achieved through the organisation of two workshops and six international conferences in Portugal, Spain and South Korea. EKRUCAMI produced over 130 publications, including 80 in scientific journals. By developing models and architectures that will further ambient intelligence and ubiquitous computing considerably, EKRUCAMI should bring civilisation much closer to a more efficient IoT. It will not only help usher in a brave new age of technology, it will have beneficial effects on the economy through innovation and competitiveness.
Keywords
Korea, ambient intelligence, ubiquitous computing, Internet of Things, EKRUCAMI
