BY VALERINA CHANGARATHIL

KEY insights from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s ongoing projects that link data and technology to economic and social equity goals will be shared at the three-day Electric Dreams conference, which starts tomorrow as part of this year’s Fringe Festival. Dan Calacci, from MIT Living Lab in Boston, will talk about the “Atlas of Inequality”, which captures the “hidden income inequality in cafes, restaurants, and other places in cities”.

“The data collates information on the diverse people that are attracted to a shopping district for example and at ways in which it could be used to engineer the diversity and prosperity of that region,” explains Thomas Hardjono, MIT’s CTO of Connection Scienceand Engineering.

“We are seeing fewer people of different income bands Electric ideas at Fringe meeting at one place. Generallythe rich don’t want to share space with the poor.

“MIT’s project is about using mobility data to showcase this inequality in income and spending to decision makers, governments, urban planners who can then try different approaches to build a healthy ecology,” Mr Hardjono said.

The work being undertaken by MIT and Berklee College to use technology to simplify the way music rights owners are identified and compensated will also be shared at the event, supported by Fringe sponsor and MIT partner BankSA.

“We have the second largest arts festival in the world in the Fringe, so leveraging this relationship to lead in the use of these new technologies is exciting,” BankSA chief executive Nick Reade said.

“It is ensuring that as a state, we engage on and explore issues as a leader, not a follower, and be at the front of this technology.”

TUESDAY FEBRUARY 18 2020 ADVERTISER.COM.AU