Communications
Futures Research Group
Head: Dr. David Clark, MIT Laboratory
for Computer Science
Associated Faculty and Staff:
Prof. John deFigueiredo, MIT Sloan School, Behavioral Policy Science
Group
Prof. Charles Fine, MIT Sloan School, Operations Management Group
Sharon Gillett, MIT Center for Technology, Policy and Industrial
Development
Dr. William Lehr, MIT Center for Technology, Policy and Industrial
Development
Dr. James Short, MIT Sloan School, Information Technology Group
Description:
The Communications Futures Program (CFP) is a partnership between
university and industry at the forefront of defining the roadmap
for communications and its impact on adjacent industries. CFP’s
mission is to help our industry partners recognize the opportunities
and threats from these changes by understanding the drivers and
pace of change, building technologies that create discontinuous
innovation and building the enablers for such innovation to be
meaningful to our partners.
The Communications industry is witnessing
emerging and destabilizing events where an industry structure
built around centralized intelligence and control is being challenged
with intelligence and control in many instances shifting to end
users and vice versa. Just as the Internet, the PC wave and Digitization
of Multi-media were transforming events, this trend in communications
is likely to have an even greater impact on industry. An example
of this trend is VoIP, where control over a centralized switching
application is moving to the edge of the network. In what ways
will shifting control between the edge of the network and vice
versa, play out?
CFP believes that while the role of technology in industry transformation
is important, equally important business drivers in the communications
industry can accelerate or slow this process. Drivers include
widespread availability of broadband infrastructure, role of regulation,
role for enabling capabilities such as privacy and security, and
effective business models and rights management for companies
to profit from. Other drivers include alignment across the communications
value chain for speedy rollout of new services.
CFP is focused on four important issues:
1. Invent technologies that create
discontinuous innovation
2. Create enablers of industry transformation around broadband
infrastructure, regulation, privacy and security, edge core dynamics,
rights management, and others
3. Align members across the communications value chain to speed
innovation
4. Develop awareness around big opportunities from emerging technologies
CFP’s working group structure allows industry participants
to be engaged closely with faculty in the research and to provide
valuable input into the direction of the program. Working groups
are chaired by faculty and industry sponsors. Working groups are
fluid and are launched as new issues emerge and disbanded as issues
become less relevant. Initial working groups are:
1. Technologies That Create Discontinuous Innovation,
2. Last Mile Broadband Infrastructure,
3. Security and Privacy, and
4. Edge Core Dynamics: Business Models and Technologies.
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