Computer Challenges to emerge from e-Science.

The UK e-Science programme has initiated significant developments that allow networked grid technology to be used to form virtual colaboratories. The e-Science vision of a globally connected community has broader application than science with the same fundamental technologies being used to support eCommerce and e-Government.

The broadest vision of e-Science outlines a challenging research agenda for the computing community. New theories and models will be needed to provide a sound foundation for the tools used to specify, design, analyse and prove the properties of future grid technologies and applications. Fundamental research is needed in order to build a future e-Science infrastructure and to understand how to exploit the infrastructure to best effect.

A future infrastructure needs to be dynamic, universally available and promote trust. Realising this infrastructure will need new theories, methods and techniques to be developed and deployed. Although often not directly visible these fundamental infrastructure advances will provide the foundation for future scientific advancement, wealth generation and governance.

• We need to move from the current data focus to a semantic grid with facilities for the generation, support and traceability of knowledge.
• We need to make the infrastructure more available and more trusted by developing trusted ubiquitous systems.
• We need to reduce the cost of development by enabling the rapid customised assembly of services.
• We need to reduce the cost and complexity of managing the infrastructure by realising autonomic computing systems.