IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2020 - 43

The Challenge Ahead
As part of that first institution,
To get the intersection right and capI'm deeply proud of what my team
italize on the full potential that
of fewer than 20 civil servants have
emerging technologies can bring to
been able to achieve. We are worktackle the climate crisis, a number
ing to build the enabling foundations
of important - and systemic - barfor AI and data driven technologies
riers must be overcome. These are
to be expressed in a myriad of ways,
barriers that exist globally and
and have since delivered on the
across domains, and while we cancommitments set out in both the
not hope to solve this particular
Review and Sector Deal [29]. We
Rubik's cube ourselves, we in the
also work closely with colleagues
U.K. Office for AI have been applyacross the U.K. government who
ing our efforts to help find useful
are looking at various applications
solutions to a couple of issues:
of AI; the Center for Connected
access to data, and the supply of
and Autonomous Vehicles and its
AI skills.
Future of Mobility Grand Challenge
are a natural fit, and teams
in the Government Digital
Service are looking at how
government itself can use AI
in the most appropriate and
As AI technologies grow
responsible way.
The U.K. finds itself in a
faster - with all their positive
strong position to capitalize
on the opportunities of AI.
transformative capabilities -
Based on recent estimates,
so too does the risk of their
the U.K. is third in the world
for investment, innovation,
becoming a significant
and implementation of AI
[30]. On skills, the U.K. is
environmental problem.
seen as the leader in Europe
[31], is third in research talAccess to data is fundamental to
ent and published research papers
any technology, but with AI the need
[32], and third in raising investis critical. AI technologies can scale
ment in AI [33]. The prize is signifiinnovation and unlock insights that
cant: embedding AI across t he
can optimize systems or generate
U.K. has the opportunity to crebreakthrough discoveries to help
a t e t hou s a nd s of h i g h - q ua l i t y
tackle climate change, but scaling
jobs and drive economic growth -
up to meet this challenge is d
- ifficult,
potentially contributing an estimatand the true value of data often
ed £232 billion to the U.K. economy
goes unrealized [35]. Public trust
by 2030 [34].
and confidence in how data is used
As the political tide rises on the
is also a significant factor, explored
need for increased action on climate
in the recent report by the U.K.
change, there is a need to consider
Center for Data Ethics and Innovahow these Grand Challenges intertion [36]. Business models for data
sect, and we must take a fresh look
collaboration and interoperability
at how our collective national efforts
therefore remain greatly underutican apply themselves across shared
lized. This is often caused by a lack
global threats, and in concert with
of capacity to collect data, unclear
the national efforts of others who
data ownership structures, and
acknowledge the same.

last year achieved the first coal-free
fortnight since the first industrial
revolution [24].
These are some wins for the U.K.,
but what comes next is the hard
part: an economy-wide overhaul
towards net zero, according to the
Committee on Climate Change,
the independent non-departmental
public body formed under the Climate Change Act [25]. This is not
to be underestimated, and for the
country that powered the first industrial revolution, this will require
decisive action.
The U.K. government built a
modern industrial strategy for the
country that nominated itself as
a vehicle for economy-wide transformation, choosing to squarely
embrace the fourth industrial revolution [26]. This was reflected in
the grand challenges it set for itself:
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data,
aging society, future of mobility,
and clean growth.
These grand challenges were chosen to represent larger global megatrends that can supercharge existing
strengths throughout the country. In
2017, Professor Dame Wendy Hall
and Jerome Pesenti led an independent review of how the AI ecosystem
could be further developed in Britain [27]. The review made a number
of important recommendations to
improve access to skills and data,
maximize AI research, and support
the uptake of AI.
Following the Hall-Pesenti review,
the nearly £1billion (U.S. $1.2 billion) AI Sector Deal was published in
2018 [28], which made clear the huge
global opportunity in AI, and the U.K.
government declared its intention
to become a global leader in AI and
data-driven technology. The AI Sector Deal led to the creation of three
new institutions: a U.K. government
Office for AI; a U.K. industry-led AI
Council; and the U.K. Center for
Data Ethics and Innovation.
JUNE 2020

∕

IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2020