U.S. government agencies will spend more than dollar 200

United States of America : Six U.S. government agencies will spend more than dollar  200 million to help the government better organize and analyze large volumes of digital data, in a new "big data" research&development effort announced by United States  President Mr.Barack Obama's administration Thursday. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy's Big Data Research and Development Initiative will focus on building state-of the-art technologies to collect, store and manage huge quantities of data. Office of Science and Technology Policy's wants to use the technology to accelerate discovery in science and engineering fields and improve national security and education, the White House said. Among the new research is a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) effort, which costs about dollar  25 million a year, to develop methods to analyze large volumes of data, including unstructured data such as text documents and message traffic. "In the same way that past federal investments in information-technology R&D led to dramatic advances in supercomputing and the creation of the Internet, the initiative we are launching today promises to transform our ability to use big data for scientific discovery, environmental and biomedical research, education, and national security," MR.JohnHoldren, director of Office of Science and Technology Policy's, said in a statement. The IT industry has been buzzing about the use of big data in recent months, and the U.S. government collects and holds massive amounts of digital data. Universities and private companies can join the White House effort to explore the benefits of big data, MR.Tom Kalil, Office of Science and Technology Policy's deputy director for policy, wrote in a blog post.

"We also want to challenge industry, research universities, and nonprofits to join with the administration to make the most of the opportunities created by Big Data," MR.Tom Kalil, wrote. "Clearly, the government can't do this on its own. We need what the president calls an 'all hands on deck' effort." Some companies are already sponsoring big data competitions, and universities are creating courses to train a new generation of data scientists, MR.Tom Kalil added. Agencies involved in the new initiative include the National Science Foundation (NSF), the United States  Department of Defense and the Department of Energy, the White House said in a press release. Among the new projects at the NSF are a $10 million project based at the University of California United States, Berkeley, that will explore three approaches for turning data into useable information, machine learning, cloud computing and crowd sourcing. The NSF will also provide grants to support EarthCube, a project to allow geo scientists to access, analyze and share information about the planet. The United States  Department of Defense will spend about dollar  250 million a year, includingdollar  60 on new research projects related to big data. One United States  Department of Defense goal is to harness big data in ways that can lead to autonomous robotic systems. The United States  Department of Defense will announce a series of big data prize competitions in coming months, the White House said.

Source: Computer World