Turing Award Winner Raj Reddy Speaks in Qizhen Global Vision Lecture Series

On November 15, Prof. Raj Reddy, a winner of the Turing Award, delivered a speech tilted “IoT Intensive Smart Cities Enable Innovative Engineering Industries”. This speech is part of the Qizhen Global Vision Lecture Series in celebration of the coming 120th anniversary of Zhejiang University.

Prof. Raj Reddy began his speech with the concept of the Internet of Things (IoT), which refers to the internetworking of physical devices, vehicles, buildings and other items―embedded with electronics, software, sensors, actuators, and network connectivity that enable these objects to collect and exchange data. He said that information technology is a vital tool in modern life and that via IoT, we can cope with contingencies, handle urgent problems and improve social services in a spontaneous and effective manner. He presented as a prime example the timely intervention in and the flexible response to typhoon, mirroring the indispensable role of IoT in future life in a vivid way. He also mentioned that how to spot problems by using programs is of supreme importance. We can predict what future will hold for us by means of science and technology, but there is also a risk of the leakage of personal information on the Internet.

Prof. Raj Reddy is one of the early pioneers of artificial intelligence and is currently serving on the faculty of Carnegie Mellon University. In 1994, he received the ACM Turing Award―the highest award in Computer Science, for his work in the field of artificial intelligence.