What is e-Science?

What is e-Science and how is it connected to my company/organization?

The term e-Science appeared for the first time about ten years ago. It describes computationally intensive science, or science requiring new computational tools to manage massive amounts of heterogeneous, distributed data that must be efficiently stored, processed, analyzed and visualized. These computational methods and tools allow and accelerate the production of new knowledge in many different areas of science.

Examples of e-Science research:
• Atomistic calculations in chemistry and physics that produce information about the physico-chemical properties of substances.
• Analysis of the enormous data volumes produced in particle physics experiments, as for example in the search for the Higgs particle at CERN.
• Bioinformatics
• Pattern recognition and machine learning
• Advanced automatic text translation
• etc

Many knowledge-intensive industries with R&D are also utilizing some of these methods and tools. For example in the development of pharmaceuticals, biotechnological products and services, new materials, design of cars and airplanes, among many others.

Today, we are surrounded by a myriad of wireless sensor networks and mobile devices that are constantly sensing, capturing and transmitting all sorts of data about the physical world, its objects and inhabitants. Many sectors of business, industry and public service are utilizing similar methods and tools to manage the massive, ubiquitous production of data in our modern societies.

Examples of non-scientific applications of e-Science methods and tools:
• Weather forecasting
• Social media e.g. Facebook and Twitter
• Search engines e.g. Google
• Mobile communications
• Movie animations
• Computer game development
• etc