LCM leads the way towards a digital Southampton
LCM has teamed up with Business Southampton and Professors Dame Wendy Hall and Nigel Shadbolt from the University of Southampton to set up a ‘Digital Southampton’ Action Group.
The Action Group will seek to take advantage of the biggest digital communications opportunity since Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web.
Business Southampton has already set up six working groups including those for the construction, cruise and marine industries, which have made serious inroads into developing and improving the way the city works together with its wealth-creators to ensure it attracts and retains growing businesses. Digital Southampton will be inviting some of the most influential visionaries in business to join the action group, to commercialise the opportunity afforded by the development of the semantic web at the University.
The initiative includes a series of open events, commencing with a working digital lunch at the Macdonald Botley Park Hotel on 26 March.
The next is a digital Masterclass, again held at the Macdonald Botley Park Hotel on 23rd April for those wanting to learn about the semantic web, how it operates and how it can be exploited by the region’s businesses.
Managing Director, Lizz Clarke, said: “The UK government is already using this new technology, and every day new applications are being developed to enable the general public to access government data. The technology was invented here in Southampton – we are determined that it gets commercialised here too."
Professor Dame Wendy Hall said: “In the mid 90’s people were convinced that the World Wide Web had nothing to do with them. In five years from now the new technology will be having a similar world-changing effect and the time to get involved is now.”