Stephen Emmott

the science and the scientists of tomorrow
Professor Stephen Emmott
Group Director & Chief Scientist
External Research Office
Microsoft Research

transformation of academia & business underway

1. ‘new kind of science’

2. relationship between basic research & innovation

ace to win ‘next wave’ of science-based innovation

ace will be won by the scientists of tomorrow

1: the science

a computational revolution : ‘new kind of science’

computational biology

molecular biology
genomics
proteomics
systems biology
programming the cell

iological computation

‘classical’ computing just subset of what’s possible
non-classical computing occurs in nature
3.5Bn years of natures own R&D

computational chemistry
computational physics
computational earth science
computational engineering

2: the scientists

computational scientists =
new skills, new tools, new problems

scientifically AND computationally excellent

problem 1: decline in interest in science

problem 2: failures in science pre-university

problem 3: complexity & volume of data

obot scientists?

finale: education, science & innovation

tomorrow’s scientists needed to underpin ‘next wave’
Europe must train world-leading intellectual capital

make science exciting
improve training of scientists
better recognise & reward scientists

develop new forms of collaborations