From time to time I also attend sessions that are not specifically related to library stuff. There was a library-related reason though that made me go to Eindhoven for the 3TU Conference on Innovation and Technology on December 6, 2013, and that was signing off the consortium agreement of our 3TU.datacentrum (finally!).
So that gave me the opportunity to have a (brief) peek in other sessions. Our (Delft) Kees Vuik introduced the session on “Invisible mathematics: three tangible results”. I liked the “Intel stamp” that was used throughout this session: “Math Inside”. Perhaps one would not realize this but in so many topics related to e.g. optimising queuing (in a shop; for a helpdesk; or as part of a service bus); simulating maritime circumstances for large vessels; or thinking about your local electricity supply, the mathematics “inside” remains invisible, though is an essential part of the project. It reminded me of my study Materials Science. We had a similar problem, because – apart from fundamental research – in the applied scene material scientists facilitate other disciplines, essential yes, but somewhat invisible.
At the innovation market I found some other interesting stuff. What to think about LikeLines? Via a navigable heat map users can jump to interesting regions in the videos they are watching. Or the INSYGHTLab, where they work on multi-camera experiments for 3D reconstructions, to get to highly interactive screens.
I should also mention Federico Toschi – he spoke about “Fluid dynamics challenges for energy and health”, and showed us how understanding fluid dynamics is essential for health issues such as the rheology of blood in our vessels. Here we have a link to one of his datasets in our 3TU.datacentrum, which brings me back to the beginning – we can be proud to have our agreement finalized. Bring in the data!