Ambient Intelligence (AmI) deals with a new world where computing devices are spread everywhere, included into objects, allowing the human being to interact in physical world environments in an intelligent and unobtrusive way. These environments should be aware of the needs of people, customizing requirements and forecasting behaviours. Ubiquitous Computing (UbiComp) means to have access to the information anywhere, in an integrated and coherent way, using computing devices.
EKRUCAmI is a multidisciplinary initiative based on a balanced exchange of scientists with a balanced level of expertise among four research organizations. The project consortium includes the following 2 institutions from Europe and 2 institutions from South Korea:
- IPP – Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Portugal, Project Coordinator
- USal – University of Salamanca, Spain
- CUD – Catholic University of Daegu, Korea
- SCNU – Sunchon National University, Korea
The main objectives of EKRUCAmI are the following:
- Building a lasting R&D network that will be open to other participants outside the current consortium in the future
- Training new researchers in UbiComp and AmI areas
- Supporting the exchange of ideas and techniques, promoting applied research and new project pilots development, technology transfer and, if feasible, the launching of new spin-offs
- Enhancing the career development of a series of gender-balanced early stage researchers
- Facilitating capacity building activities for researchers from Europe and Korea
- Developing new techniques able to provide effective solutions to current problems in Smart Rooms, Healthcare and Agri-food
Project results:
Description of the Main Achieved Results
The main project achievements during the first two years were the following:
- Contacts were established with Small and Medium Size enterprises of both countries (visit to SME and incubators in both countries)
- The research work of the groups involved in EKRUCAmI defined models and architectures for ubiquitous computing and ambient intelligence in the three main application domains envisaged: agrifood, healthcare, and group decision support
- Work in the identification of the main tasks involved in the creation of an UbiComp&AmI environment and in the application of AI techniques to these environments
- Two workshops were organized during 2014, one in Yeosu (South Korea) and another in Salamanca (Spain)
- Memorandum of Understanding between the Convergence Information Technology Research Center for Agrifood at Sunchon National University, Suncheon, Jeollanam-do, Republic of Korea, coordinated by Prof. Hyun Yoe, and the Polytechnic Institute of Porto. Carlos Ramos (IPP), and Juan Corchado (USal), coordinators of IPP and USal groups in EKRUCAmI, have been involved as experts in a big project in Korea concerning the Convergence of Information Technologies in Agrifood area
- The publication record in 2013-2014 was good, with a total amount of more than 67 scientific publications, including 40 in scientific journals.
Expected final results and their potential impact and use:
We expect to develop models and architectures for ubiquitous computing and ambient intelligence. These Architectures and Models will be tested in the application domains of agrifood, healthcare, and group decision support in smart rooms. We expect to contribute to involve SME of Europe and Korea in the areas of AmI and UbiComp, and to extend the network of academic cooperation between Europe and Korea in these fields, promoting new R&D projects as well. Several new publications are expected for the project, and the organization of workshops and conferences. Thus impact of the EKRUCAmI project in Economy and Academy is clearly envisaged.
Project partners:
INSTITUTO POLITECNICO DO PORTO Portugal
UNIVERSIDAD DE SALAMANCA Spain
Catholic University of Daegu, Korea
Sunchon National University, Korea
