Tech & Innovation

Insight Centre for Data Analytics announces AI collaboration with Samsung

By Business & Finance
10 January 2018
A photo of two heads with circuitry on the face

The Insight Centre for Data Analytics at UCD will join forces with the electronics giant in a €4 million AI research project.

The Insight Centre for Data Analytics is a joint project between researchers at University College Dublin (UCD), NUI Galway, University College Cork (UCC), Dublin City University (DCU) and other partner institutions. The €75 million centre is funded by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI).

Today’s announcement will mean a deeper look into aspects such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, user modelling and recommender systems to help Samsung create better, more customisable products for their customer base.

The three-year project will be led by Professor Barry Smyth, Dr Aonghus Lawlor and Associate Professor Neil Hurley, and will oversee 25 researchers from Samsung and UCD. 12 new posts will be established at UCD.

A distinct element of this collaborative project will be the transfer of research information and skills between Samsung and UCD. Placement opportunities will also be provided at Samsung’s research facilities in the UK and South Korea for computer and data science students from the Insight Centre.

Individuals involved with the project had their say on the announcement:

“Until now, we have been living in what can be termed the era of ‘search’, but this is now changing due to converging technologies”, said Baekjun Lim, Vice-President and Head of the Data Intelligence Lab at Samsung Electronics. “Today people are searching less, with recommendation features filling the gap. Given this environment, we are extremely excited about the opportunity to work with world-class experts in the field of recommendation systems at UCD, and we expect to see impactful results from this collaboration.”

Professor Barry Smyth, Digital Professor of Computer Science, UCD School of Computer Science; a Founding Director of the Insight Centre for Data Analytics; and an expert in AI and recommender systems, said: “Ireland has an excellent reputation in machine learning and recommender systems and the Insight Centre for Data Analytics is delighted to be working with Samsung to help bring our innovative technologies out of the lab to Samsung devices and customer base.”

Dr Aonghus Lawlor, Assistant Professor, UCD School of Computer Science and a funded investigator, Insight Centre for Data Analytics, and a lead researcher on this research project said: “We are particularly excited to be working with Samsung on leading-edge topics in recommender systems such as on-device privacy-preserving recommendation systems with the ability to explain their suggestions to end-users.”

Professor Orla Feely, UCD Vice-President for Research, Innovation and Impact, said: “I warmly welcome today’s announcement of this exciting new research collaboration between Samsung and the Insight Centre for Data Analytics at UCD. This research project will leverage UCD’s internationally recognised strength and expertise in recommender systems which will underpin new artificial intelligence applications for Samsung’s customers and users. The announcement also reinforces UCD’s strategy of building a portfolio of strategic and mutually-beneficial partnerships with international industry partners, such as Samsung, to deliver global impact.”

Professor Mark Ferguson, Director General of Science Foundation Ireland and Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government of Ireland, said: “SFI research centres such as Insight are a driving force for linking industry with world-class researchers in Ireland. Science Foundation Ireland strongly welcomes this collaboration between our researchers and their international peers. Internationalisation is an increasingly vital aspect of research and this new agreement clearly demonstrates that Irish research is highly regarded across the globe. We look forward to seeing the fruits of this collaboration: the development of cutting-edge technologies, enhanced training opportunities for Irish students and mutually beneficial sharing of expertise.”

Oliver Daniels, CEO of Insight Centre for Data Analytics, said: “Insight is looking forward to collaborating with Samsung over the next three years on this strategic research project. This collaboration will see us working together in areas of AI and deep recommendations to enable Samsung leverage our world-leading research capabilities to provide significant impact and business benefit to the company.”