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HSE ISSEK Researchers Use AI Technologies to Identify the Most Significant Topics on the Global Science and Technology Agenda
What’s going on
- The HSE Institute for Statistical Research and Economics of Knowledge (ISSEK) has identified the frontiers of modern science, its most significant areas of development, using the iFORA big data analysis system.
- The study analyzed more than 35,5 million documents submitted on the Microsoft Academic Graph platform for the period 2016-2020 – based on them, 973 frontiers of science were identified.
- The theme of the pandemic, which is part of the scientific direction “Health Organization and Policy”, received the highest significance index. Other top medical frontiers include breast cancer, coronavirus, lung cancer, colorectal cancer, and body mass index.
- The direction of machine learning is also leading in modern science: the top 20 frontiers of world science include convolutional neural networks, deep learning, and optimization problems.
- Other significant research topics include electrochemistry, apoptosis, and computational biology.
- A complete list of the top 20 frontiers of world science can be found here.
What does it mean
The frontiers of science are the most popular areas of research, where there is active development and a large number of breakthroughs. Their definition allows the state to increase the efficiency of spending on science, as well as to develop and adjust scientific and innovation policy documents.
In the era of the coronavirus pandemic, it is not surprising that this topic leads the top areas of scientific development. HSE researchers note that world science quickly responded to the challenges of the spread of the new virus, which led to a significant increase in publications in 2020.
In addition, research related to digital transformation and the development of artificial intelligence is currently playing an important role in world science. Modern technological developments will make it possible in the near future to move to the concept of the “Internet of Everything” (IoE), which will unite both objects and processes and people into a single network.