Our Founder and Director, Dr. Ewan Kirk, was recently interviewed by Penny Horwood, Associate Editor at Computing.
In the interview, Ewan explained that the political and media obsession with AI is drawing funding away from important ventures which could prove more beneficial to climate science and the wider shift to more sustainable living – as these ventures tend to be based on technologies with a longer and slower development cycle.
Ewan said: "Whether it's battery technology or new ways of creating dyes or other biodegradable materials, these are complex technology problems. Deep technology, by definition, requires long cycle investment and funding and right now everything is focused on AI. If you've got AI in your company name you can get funding. If you're a bio plastics producer or doing something really interesting generating new materials you're going to find it a lot harder to secure investment."
He also discussed a new project the Turner Kirk Trust is funding, which will teach maths skills in a visual-spatial way to eight- and nine-year-olds for a term, and measure how this impacts achievement. The project is designed to further our understanding of how we can improve STEM skills, particularly among children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Penny wrote: “Some of the children involved in this scheme have had a tough start in life, and Kirk acknowledges the vast scale of the challenge when it comes to STEM education. His charitable trust can make a small difference to some childrens lives today, and maybe a bigger one to to improving skills in the long term.”
For the full article, click here.
