RTÉ archives announced an ambitious collaboration with the newly announced SFI “Big Data” Research Centre called INSIGHT and the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI ), which will be carried out in DERI (NUI Galway ) at INSIGHT, to develop an innovative semantic content discovery platform to open up the treasures of the RTÉ Archives.
At the 2013 European Data Forum in Dublin, head of RTÉ archives Bríd Dooley, together with Professor Stefan Decker (INSIGHT and director of the Digital Enterprise Research Institute at NUI Galway ), and Dr Sandra Collins, director of the digital repository of Ireland, announced an ambitious, ground-breaking collaboration to develop an innovative cross-archival semantic content discovery platform as part of the new SFI INSIGHT data analytics centre. This combined initiative is heralded by UCD, NUI Galway, UCC, and DCU.
Opening the event, Alan Shatter, Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence, said: “A key part of the Irish Government’s plan for growth and jobs is identifying areas where we believe Ireland can compete and win on the global stage. One such sector where our ambition is to be amongst the world’s best is in ‘Big Data’ and its analytics. The Irish Government believes that given our climate, educational and skills base and our existing major strengths in ICT, we can benefit significantly in terms of quality jobs and growth from the global expansion of this sector.”
Minister Shatter also referred to the “need for a coherent and practical set of data protection rules at national and European Union levels. Data protection standards keep pace with the emerging technologies and new business models”. He added that progressing the new EU data protection regulation and securing agreement on its content he stated is “a priority of the Irish presidency of the European Union.”
With the big data sector growing by an estimated 40 per cent on an annual basis, ascertaining the required specialised skills that will ensure the nation’s global competitiveness is paramount.
INSIGHT is a new national research centre that will allow the academics and industry specialists to work in tandem and the SFI Research Centre will undertake research and develop new technologies that will attract dynamic partnerships with industry, further leverage investment for Europe, and ultimately help create high value jobs in Ireland and deliver economic and societal impact.
Big Data is a global challenge that asks us to turn vast quantities of ubiquitous raw data into knowledge that will inform people and improve society, business, and health. The Government, under the stewardship of Science Foundation Ireland, is making a major investment in INSIGHT, the mega research centre that will use world-class data analytics to address Big Data. Minister Bruton, and Minister Sherlock, Minister of State, Enterprise, and Jobs announced this ground-breaking initiative in February 2013.
RTÉ is a partner in the INSIGHT research centre, and Bríd Dooley will work with Professor Stefan Decker (INSIGHT ) and Dr Sandra Collins (Royal Irish Academy ) to bring together the skills and experience of the internationally recognised semantic web and linked data centre and the national trusted digital repository, with the rich essence and curation skills of RTÉ, to open up the wealth of treasures in the RTÉ archives.
