A Study Group is a forum where academic mathematicians work on problems
directly related to industry. Workshops of this nature have taken place in Great Britain
for a number of years, going back to 1968 when Prof. Alan Tayler started the Oxford
Study Group with Industry. The coordination of Study Groups is now in the hands of
the European Consortium for Mathematics in Industry (ECMI), and the name is currently European
Study Group with Industry (ESGI).
At the ECMI Council it was decided that Study Groups should also be held outside Great
Britain. The first one in Scandinavia was held in Denmark at the Tecnichal University of
Denmark in 1998. Benefits to the Participants
The reasons for the continuing success of the Study Groups are simple: The industrial
participants get, for a very modest sum, a highly qualified `think tank' of mathematicians
to focus on their particular research problem. Besides a full or partial solution of the
problem as well as insight into existing industrial problems, the companies establish
useful contacts with international scientists.
The academics benefit from new ideas and challenges providing inspiration for both
education and their own research. They create new contacts with international researchers
and establish productive working links with companies thereby stimulating a greater
awareness in the community of the power of mathematics in providing solution paths to real
world problems.
Workshop Structure
The format of a Study Group is a week long meeting (Monday - Friday). On the first day of
the meeting a number of companies each presents a research problem, they believe to
be of a mathematical nature. The next 3 days are devoted to brainstorming, modelling and
solving the problems closely guided by the industrial representatives. Participants are
free to apply their expertise to any of the problems. On Friday the progress and
recommended routes forward are presented.
Reports on the problem considerations are produced after the meeting. The final report
from ESGI32 is available.
Previous European Study Groups with Industry
Future European Study Groups with Industy
- 36th ESGI, Eindhoven, Netherlands, 15th - 19th
November, 1999
- 37th ESGI (ESGI2000), The University of
Sheffield, England, 10th - 14th April 2000
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May 11 1999, Marit Hvalsøe Schou, e-mail: marit@mip.sdu.dk
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