The University of Birmingham, in partnership with Siemens, is combining digital sensor and analytics technologies, artificial intelligence, decentralised energy generation and storage, renewable energy and concepts that help change users’ behaviour to transform the university’s Edgbaston and Dubai campuses into the world’s smartest global campus, creating a “Living Lab” where research, teaching and learning all benefit from access to new data and connectivity.
The “Living Lab” will capture data from the university’s building technologies, estates infrastructure and energy plants and use it for innovation, R&D activities, as well as teaching. Scrutinizing energy demand and production–from systems to individual consumers/producers (prosumers)–with live data from across the sites provides a unique opportunity for applied learning for students and creates a platform for cutting-edge research.
Siemens will sponsor a team of PhD studentships at the university based in the UK and Dubai. Their research projects will be co-designed by Siemens and the university to address important challenges in data, technology, urban systems and the net zero goal.
This year, the University of Birmingham will become the first university in the world to roll out Internet of Things (IoT) technology at scale, claimed an official statement. Starting in autumn 2021, the first phase of this major energy efficiency project will include the roll out of 23,000 Enlighted IoT sensors across the university estate.
In addition, Siemens will deliver a 10-year bureau for Energy and IoT services to ensure that the university reaps the full potential of both the technology and industry expertise. The university has already made significant progress in making its operations more sustainable, including achieving its 2020 target of reducing carbon emissions by 20 percent.
Earlier this year, the University of Birmingham signed up to the United Nations Global Compact–the world’s largest corporate responsibility initiative–as part of its commitment to reducing its environmental footprint and maximizing the impact of its research. The University of Birmingham is also a participant in the COP26 Universities Network and will have a presence at the COP26 conference, in Glasgow, in November.
