CREATING A VISION FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE THROUGH TECHNOLOGY
The world is changing beyond recognition. Society is increasingly demanding that companies address sustainability as part of their transformation to a post-pandemic world. Sustainability is now firmly on the C-Suite agenda and it’s at the heart of NTT DATA’s vision for the future.
Every year we host the NTT R&D Forum, the result of an annual spend of $3.6 billion, the work of thousands of researchers, and over 16,000 patents. The Forum hosts over one hundred breakthrough initiatives, ranging from early proof of concepts to market-ready technologies.
The 2020 online event, on the concept of ‘Into the IOWN – Change the Future’, was a great success. 83 exhibitions and nine live streams were held over 4 days, covering eight research themes including IOWN Key Technologies, AI, Security, and Data Utilization and Management. Crucially, showcasing R&D in these areas helps NTT DATA clients to develop and execute their own agendas, now and in the future.
Highlights from the whitepaper
Artificial Intelligence and its Role in the Sustainable Revolution
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing our world, enabling organizations to make better decisions, faster. With AI, businesses are becoming more efficient and more sustainable, and NTT DATA is at the forefront of this change. We are applying this technology across multiple sectors, including in healthcare, where AI helps doctors with diagnosis and helps monitor patients undergoing treatment to improve their outcomes.
IOWN, NTT’s ‘Innovative Optical Wireless Networks’ technology, will increase the processing power behind AI, enabling its application in more situations. In the future, AI will help make our homes and cities smarter, safer, and more sustainable. As AI’s capabilities grow, NTT DATA remains committed to ensuring the technology is used ethically and responsibly, for the good of humanity.
Gastronomy, Fishing and Sustainable Trading Using Blockchain
The applications for blockchain technology go far beyond its original use in cryptocurrency. From facilitating sustainable trade to enhancing gastronomical experiences, NTT DATA’s projects involving blockchain demonstrate its capacity to be used for social good.
Blockchain’s transparency and traceability improve the visibility of supply chains. By securely tracing each step in a supply chain, we can increase our knowledge of where products come from and how they are produced. With these capabilities, blockchain will play a key role in helping us manage the world’s resources more sustainably.
How R&D is used at NTT DATA
We invest in R&D to help our clients, and to ensure that we are always leading in technology, not following. NTT DATA is investing in our six digital focus areas, and at the R&D Forum we saw demonstrations in areas such as 5G connectivity, augmented reality, artificial intelligence and edge computing.
Now more than ever, technology is shaping business life and NTT DATA is actively working with our clients to develop early-stage research into solutions that work for them. For NTT DATA, the R&D we do is part of our fundamental commitment to create long-term relationships with our clients. It’s about developing solutions which make them great at what they do.
Adaptive Design for a Future World
Design is the bridge between humans and technology. It’s what allows us to use products and services intuitively and with minimal effort. For NTT DATA, design is a way to humanize technology and to benefit specific societal causes. For example, an NTT DATA team recently developed an app to help caregivers and educators better support children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
To create solutions such as this, which fulfil the complex needs of a user, collaboration is necessary. NTT DATA promotes collaboration between designers across its network of design studios, providing digital platforms and virtual spaces to facilitate continued collaboration in an increasingly digital world.
Research Fundamentals & Quantum Computing
NTT Group invests in a vast breadth of research. NTT’s Basic Research Laboratories work in fundamental materials science, physical science and optical science.
There were some truly exciting technologies on show at the R&D Forum. We had a glimpse into a post-Moore era of computing with the emergence of quantum computers. These make direct use of quantum mechanical phenomena, such as superposition and entanglement, to perform operations on data instantaneously.
NTT’s research into quantum and also photonics-based promises to reshape how computers of the future will process data.
Harnessing the Power of IoT
The Internet of Things (IoT) connects powerful technologies together to bring about innovative solutions to problems. IoT networks collect vast amounts of actionable data that can be leveraged to produce huge efficiency gains.
With IoT technology, resources can be managed more sustainably on a vast scale, labour-intensive processes can become automated, and our lived environments can become responsive to individual wants and needs. NTT DATA is collaborating with experts around the world to bring such solutions into practice, and to harness the power of IoT technology to help us live more sustainably.
Delivering the Future Faster
DevOps is a combination of culture, practices, and tools that enables companies to deliver innovation quickly and securely. It is the key to delivering future technologies at pace, and it is at the heart of NTT DATA’s approach to software delivery.
For NTT DATA, DevOps is about delivering the future. We combine design-led thinking, engineering excellence, and agile orchestration to produce the best results. Our DevOps center of excellence brings together the best R&D from NTT DATA’s global footprint to deliver client success.
Insights from our R&D Forum
As our business, social and natural environments adapt to the shockwaves of the Covid-19 pandemic, never-before-seen collaborations between organisations have brought forth incredible advances in medicine and technology. Such innovations wouldn’t have been possible alone. Looking beyond the perimeter of the company to make strategic external connections is fundamental.
What was once the bustling heart of the capital is now little more than a ghost town. With office workers no longer in the City, much of the service industry has been decimated. At NTT DATA, we are committed to contributing to a more affluent and harmonious society. Businesses must recognise their role in rebuilding a world torn apart by COVID. As governments across the globe raise ambitions, so must businesses.
Today we hear about the need to have more women in STEM: when I decided which university to attend the context was a little different. I had a passion for science but as the daughter of teachers, I did not want to undertake a path that seemed marked. I hoped to enter the corporate world and became interested in what was then still called Information Sciences, a subject that I felt would be pivotal in the future. (Italiano)
What is the secret formula of innovation? Experts debate this issue relentlessly with no single answer. Steven Johnson, who traced the history of innovation in his book argues that it all depends on creating environments where ideas interconnect. Stanford professor Tina Seelig, sees innovation as a more complex set of elements - an “Innovation Engine” incorporating six internal and external factors.
Air taxis, cargo delivery drones or unmanned systems for emergencies is an ever-approaching reality. Urban air mobility (UAM) will help us create more sustainable and smarter cities. This new reality being on the horizon, has led to AMU-LED which is an H2020 project of the European Union whose main purpose is to demonstrate the safe integration of different types of drone operations in our city´s skies.
