INTELLIGENT INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT (IIS) PROJECT PROGRESS REPORT
Current Phase
The Intelligent Infrastructure Systems Project is now in its final phase - Launch and Action.
The project outputs published on 26 January 2006 do not make recommendations for action, but provide an evidence based review of how science can enable the development of Intelligent Infrastructure Systems that are robust, sustainable and safe.
This phase of the project will conclude with a One Year Review, led by Sir David King, that will report to the Prime Minister on the outputs and impact of the project. This will take place in Q1. 2007.
Scoping workshops
Scoping workshops were held in Autumn 2004 to seek input on the focus for the project and to explore which areas of science would be relevant. Around 100 experts were involved with expertise in areas such as computer science, economics, engineering, sociology, sustainability, intelligent transport systems, energy generation and supply, complex systems and modelling.
From early scoping work, including the workshops, a short list of topics the project should address emerged.
Review of Futures work
A review of futures work was undertaken, looking at the other work in this area to ensure that our project built on other work that has been carried out.
State of Science Reviews
18 State-of-the-Science Reviews were produced:
The reviews set out current science capabilities, areas of interesting research, and the science community's view of future capabilities. ?These reviews provide the evidence base to help to answer the key questions the project sets out to answer. Each review has been peer-reviewed.
Scenarios
The project developed a number of scenarios (Adobe PDF 1618kb) which provide visions of the future which consider how robustness, sustainability and safety might vary in different scenarios.? Each scenario examines the movement of people and goods in rural areas, in urban areas and between areas.?
Scenario testing workshops
The scenarios were tested and refined in a series of workshops which were held in June 2005 and involved experts from a variety of disciplines.
Case study workshops
The implications of the scenarios in regional and local case studies were explored in workshops held in Birmingham and Telford.
Systems Mapping
The robustness of the scenarios has been underpinned by systems mapping which looks in depth at the parameters of the scenarios?and at the causes and effects of various drivers.
Technology Forward Look
This report reviews current road maps for the development and application of the technology, and considers what future technological capabilities might be possible or required. Technology Forward Look (Adobe PDF 1128kb)
Modelling
Artificial, Multi-agent Economic Modelling
We commissioned a piece of work from 3 leading academics, dr Sheri Markose, Director: Centre For Computational Finance and Economic Agents (CCFEA), Essex University; Professor Peter Allen, School of Management, Cranfield University, and Professor Phil Blythe, Director: Transport Operations Research Group (TORG), Newcastle University, to investigate how agent-based and transport models may be combined to allow us to explore Smart Market Protocols for Road Transport. This took a current local transport model and used it to consider how a virtual smart - market could be created where people would bid for journey slots (a concept common in air-travel for example) on a main commuter network and how infrastructure might evolve to support this in the face of demographic and other urban changes. This model investigated how such a system might respond to peak demand exceeding capacity and to other disruptive factors.
Port Traffic Modelling 163kb
A theoretical study which looks at an idealised redistribution of port traffic to investigate the potential impact on road freight.
Future work
The Next Steps sets out how stakeholders from across and outside Government will respond to the findings of the project. "Next Steps" document. (Adobe PDF 570kb)