With the Fourth Industrial Revolution creating an increasingly digital world, the Aston Digital Futures Institute aims to tackle the greatest challenges and opportunities facing the world as it transforms
Throughout the world, developed economies are rapidly bringing together capabilities and skills to enhance citizens’ services and achieve efficiencies. This Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is led by a steady progression of digitally enabled transformations to create new opportunities for the economy and society and positively influence our lives. Advancements in technologies and changes in practices and processes abound, the social implications of which make previous industrial revolutions look like dress rehearsals in comparison.
As the 4IR progresses, a community of digital evangelists is spreading a message of opportunity. To add substance to this message, universities are using advanced technologies to engage with 4IR activities and support the development of technologies to power change. Aston University, showing real commitment, has placed this agenda at the heart of its bold new 2030 strategy.
The university is consolidating its technological capabilities and developing its digital reach by establishing the Aston Digital Futures Institute (ADFI), a major new research initiative to provide innovative solutions and thought leadership in digital transformation. Just as the Global Lighthouse Network brought together manufacturers to highlight the possibilities of the 4IR, the ADFI will light the way for high-impact research.
To exploit current commonalities, the ADFI will initially occupy a development platform, utilising the established norms of Industry 4.0 and leveraging existing expertise in big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, autonomous systems and people-centred inclusive development to bring together the best of the Aston University team. In this way, and by adding new expertise recruited from across the globe, the ADFI will help drive the growth of a massive range of 4IR opportunities, not least in advanced manufacturing, digital health and personalised healthcare, smart cities, sustainable technologies and intelligent transport.
For the UK, the ADFI aims to drive national development work with the potential to overcome the combined challenges of Covid, pressures on the healthcare system and low capitalisation of innovations due to lack of uptake through scale-up industrialisation, low productivity and the refocusing of trade away from Europe. “The Aston Digital Futures Institute will work at the frontier of development of the global digital economy and digital society, helping the UK create and share new value and opportunities using digital technologies,” says Aleks Subic, Aston University’s vice-chancellor and chief executive.
“The establishment of the institute represents a long-term commitment by Aston University to the digital research and innovation agenda, stretching beyond the next expected Research Excellence Framework in 2028 and well into the 2030s,” Subic says. “It is aligned with the strategic research priorities of the university and is one of the enablers of our new 2030 strategy.”
Subic is well placed to appreciate the importance of these trends. As a distinguished scholar in technology and innovation, digital transformation was at the heart of his research and leadership in Australia before he came to the UK to take charge of Aston University in August 2022. Subic was a leading member of the Australian prime minister’s Industry 4.0 Taskforce.
Simon Green, Aston University’s pro vice-chancellor for research, echoes Subic: “We have a distinguished heritage as a technological university. Building on this, our new strategy places digital innovation at the heart of all we do and positions us at the cutting edge of digital transformation by focusing strategically on the interfaces between health, digital and technology. The opportunity is to grow research capability and capacity in the digital futures space, particularly in AI in health, data science and bioinformatics, gamification and digital society.”
Subic emphasises that the university’s location is also a key advantage. “Digital health and medtech have been identified alongside advanced manufacturing, gamification and professional services as critical drivers of innovation in the West Midlands. As the UK’s second-largest city, with numerous specialist large-scale hospitals, institutes, digital tech and professional services, Birmingham provides a diverse community and a prominent location to advance this agenda.
“The university is based in the heart of Birmingham, and within the city’s designated Knowledge Quarter, an asset-rich area bringing together academic, technical, commercial and financial resources that will drive technological innovation in digital tech and health tech.
“Our location means that we’re firmly embedded in our community. We have partnerships across the region and work with organisations ranging from cutting-edge SMEs to big-name global partners. We want to attract the right people who share our ambition and enthusiasm to make a difference in the world – to lead our digital transformation research regionally, nationally and globally,” Subic says.
To realise the vision of the Aston Digital Futures Institute, the university has committed a multimillion investment into staff and facilities across the university and its three colleges over the next five years. The centrepiece of this investment will be the recruitment of exceptional and ambitious colleagues at the professorial level with international track records in the fields of artificial intelligence in health, data science and bioinformatics, gamification and digital inclusion. This will include an institute director to provide academic, managerial and strategic leadership. Start-up grants will be available to establish research teams and the required research infrastructure.
The closing date for applications is 12pm (GMT) on March 15. Interviews are scheduled for the end of April.
Find out more about joining the Aston Digital Futures Institute and apply now.
