Public Servant Lifestyle

The science fiction dream of a remote control life moves ever closer with thinking homes, talking cars and digital shopping assistants.

We may not quite be flying about in personalised Jetsons-style air-cars or stepping into matter transporters in Star Trek fashion to avoid the long commute just yet, but a great number of new innovations that might have seemed science fiction ideas ten years ago are rapidly becoming reality.

Douglas Alexander, E-Commerce Minister, has announced the participants in a research initiative into new technologies, which will pioneer remote home security services - and even intelligent fridges! The Next Wave virtual Interdisciplinary Research Centre (NWvIRC) is a coalition of cutting-edge companies, high-tech businesses and innovative universities, which will bring organisations together to conduct and share research.

Projects will examine how the very latest in innovation and technology can benefit consumers and test the mass-market appeal of new products. The virtual research centre will also examine security and privacy issues of such revolutionary technologies.

Potential Technologies

Examples of some of the gadgets include:

Domestic appliances, such as fridges, boilers and washing machines that alert a service centre when parts need replacing. This would mean a faulty boiler is detected before a carbon monoxide leak, cutting safety risks for homeowners and cutting costs for business

Home security appliances linked direct to security service providers, raising the alert if for example, windows or doors are opened at unexpected times, or without lights being turned on

LCD displays making extra television screens on any domestic appliance – watch TV on your wristwatch, access the internet on the microwave or play a DVD on the fridge!

Systems to reduce energy consumption of domestic appliances - such as when people are away from home - offering huge potential savings on energy bills and reducing environmental impact

Retail systems which will allow you to programme your mobile phone or PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) when shopping for a certain item. Your mobile will alert you when you pass an outlet selling the item

Access audio-visual clips on your mobile or PDA, for instant information about a place or product. Cars that will alert the nearest service control centre of a potential fault

Science Fiction

Douglas Alexander says: "Only a few years ago, these kind of technologies and devices were only seen in the movies. The virtual Interdisciplinary Research Centre will help to make these innovations a reality. We already have the technology and expertise. What this centre will do is test the business potential of employing that technology, allowing the UK to maintain its strong lead in high-tech industries. I am delighted to see so many organisations taking part in the centre. This programme will bring us closer to mass-market products and services with the potential to improve home security, cut energy consumption and improve quality of life."

Members of the NWvIRC were selected following a bidding process and include household names such as Hotpoint, Dyson, Siemens and IBM. Universities including Cambridge, Warwick, Nottingham, Surrey and Kings College London will offer research and technical expertise. The centre will also have representation from a number of trade associations and umbrella organisations, inclluding AIM UK and BEAMA. The Department for Trade & Industry (DTI) and the participating organisations jointly fund the centre.

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More information available in Ideas, Home Electric, Home Computing, Dream Machines