Alan Turing Institute

The Alan Turing Institute is the United Kingdom's national institute for data science and artificial intelligence, founded in 2015. It is named after Alan Turing,[1] the British mathematician and computing pioneer.

This article is about the UK national institute for the data sciences. For the institute based in Glasgow 1983–1994, see Turing Institute.

Alan Turing Institute
Founded2015 (2015)
FounderUK Government
TypeResearch institute
Registration no.England and Wales: 09512457
FocusData sciences
Location
Membership
CEO
Adrian Smith
Websitewww.turing.ac.uk

Governance

The Alan Turing Institute is an independent private-sector legal entity, operating not-for-profit and as a charity.[2] It is a joint venture among the University of Cambridge, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Oxford, University College London (UCL) and the University of Warwick, selected on the basis of international peer review.[3] In 2018, the institute was joined by eight additional university partners: Queen Mary University of London, University of Leeds, University of Manchester, University of Newcastle, University of Southampton, University of Birmingham, University of Exeter and University of Bristol. The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the primary funder of the institute, is also a member of the joint venture. The primary responsibility for establishing the Alan Turing Institute has been assigned to the EPSRC, with continuing engagement in the shaping of the Institute from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Government Office for Science. The Chair of the Alan Turing Institute, appointed in June 2015, is Howard Covington; the Institute Director and Chief Executive, appointed in 2018, is Sir Adrian Smith.

Location
The Institute is named in honour of Alan Turing,[1] often considered the father of Computer Science

Concurrently with the selection of founder universities, the EPSRC initiated a process to find a 'location partner'. The selected location is the British Library in London. This was announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 4 December 2014 as a key part of the Knowledge Quarter.[4] The Alan Turing Institute is housed within the current British Library building and it is anticipated it will occupy new premises in a development planned on land between the Francis Crick Institute and the British Library.

Background, history and origin

The Alan Turing Institute is the indirect product of a letter from the Council for Science and Technology (CST) to the UK Prime Minister (7 June 2013), describing the "Age of Algorithms". The letter presents a case that "The Government, working with the universities and industry, should create a National Centre to promote advanced research and translational work in algorithms and the application of data science".

Funding for the creation of the Institute came from a £600m investment for the '8 Great Technologies',[5] and specifically so-called 'big data', signalled by the UK Government in 2013[6] and announced by George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, in the 2014 Budget.[7] The bulk of the investment in 'big data' has been directed to computational infrastructure. Of the remainder, £42m has been allocated to the Institute to cover the initial five-year period of its operation.[7] The five founder universities have each contributed £5m to the Institute. Additional funding from industry, foundations and government bodies has already been indicated.

The Alan Turing Institute fits into a complex organisational landscape that includes the Open Data Institute, the Digital Catapult and infrastructure investments. The specific role of the Institute will be to provide the expertise and fundamental research into mathematics and algorithms needed to solve real-world problems.

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References
  1. Newman, M. H. A. (1955). "Alan Mathison Turing. 1912–1954". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 1: 253–226. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1955.0019. JSTOR 769256.
  2. Charity Commission. The Alan Turing Institute, registered charity no. 1162533.
  3. "Business Secretary Cable announces partners in the Alan Turing Institute". Retrieved 13 May 2016.
  4. "New Turing Institute at London's Knowledge Quarter announced by Chancellor". Retrieved 13 May 2016.
  5. "Eight great technologies: infographics". Retrieved 13 May 2016.
  6. "'Eight great technologies' benefit from £600m in government funding". The Guardian. UK. 25 January 2013. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
  7. "Alan Turing Institute to be set up". BBC News. 19 March 2014.

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