What do termites and telecommunications have in common?
More than you might think.
While trying to make a telecoms network more efficient, Dr Fabrice Saffre, a chief researcher at the Etisalat BT Innovation Centre (Ebtic) in Abu Dhabi, experienced his eureka moment in an unlikely place.
The answer was inspired by how the insects build their vast, labyrinthine nests.
"Wireless networks use a lot of power even though that power could be used more efficiently," says Dr Saffre, who holds a doctorate in theoretical biology and has been granted more than 15 patents, mostly in the area of nature-inspired computing.
"By looking at the way termites construct their nest, we're able to create an algorithm that can switch off networks when they are not being used and move more power to others at peak times," he says of his network efficiency research.
Dr Saffre is not alone in trying to think outside the box. Other projects being developed at Ebtic include fibre-optics and mobile health and data management, and technologies designed to make your smartphones and computers run faster.
"What's missing in the Middle East is [bridging] education with industry [and Ebtic] could bring things together," says Abdul Aziz al Mutawa, the senior vice president of technology innovation at Etisalat. "Otherwise, you have a lot of people doing research but there is no common goal. You have to have that common goal to bring applications to life."
The research centre hosts students from the Abu Dhabi branch of the Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research (Kustar) in a bid to stimulate technology innovation in the Middle East.
"We want our students, faculty and staff to be involved with innovation projects while keeping close links with industry so when they graduate, they are ready to join the workforce or create their own businesses," says Dr Mohammed al Mualla, the interim provost at Kustar.
The centre is funded by a US$33 million (Dh121.2m) grant split equally among the main backers, Kustar, BT and Etisalat. In the three years, Ebtic plans to expand its staff to 70 scientists.
"This represents an absolutely fantastic opportunity to work not only with an academic institution in the Middle East but an operator in the Middle East and develop research from that base," says Mike Galvin, the head of research at BT.
"There's no monopoly, if you like, on good ideas. By using these interactions, I think we'll get some excellent products out of this in terms of research."
Ebtic has made a bright start. After opening in 2009, the centre has been hard at work, with 20 researchers submitting findings which have been published in more than two-dozen journals, conference papers, and books. Two patents are also in the process of being filed, one in "green" technology and the other in process monitoring.
For Etisalat, Ebtic can help with innovation in areas such as cost cutting and capital expenditures. By using computer modelling techniques, Etisalat can figure out the best places for installing network base stations or the optimal way to lay fibre-optic cable connections.
It is simple stuff, but if it can save up to 20 per cent of a network's energy bill, it will be worth it, says Mr al Mutawa.
"From Etisalat's side, we're looking at specific problems in IT. We are looking to solve some of our daily problems with congestion," he says.
The venture could also turn out to be financially sustainable. Every researcher's goal in Ebtic is to file patents, which can later be used to commercially launch a new product or be licensed to another operator.
"If I said that everything that we sell today in BT has gone through the research department, it gives you an idea of how important good research is," Mr Galvin says. "Good research telegraphs what's coming up in the market, and let's you know what the art of impossible is as well."
But then, Ebtic is not alone in the region when it comes to pushing the boundaries in technology research.
In Riyadh, the Centre of Excellence for Wireless Applications, a telecoms research and development facility in partnership with the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology and the chip maker Intel, recently opened its doors.
Intel has also donated 21 technology labs throughout the region, including one in Kustar, and has trained 5,000 students and professors.
In Abu Dhabi, the capital's high-tech innovation plans are also being driven by Advanced Technology Investment Company (Atic), the majority owner of the chip maker Globalfoundries.
Atic has signed a number of memorandums of understanding with Kustar and the UAE University to develop microchip research in the country.
"There's also the objective to create a centre of excellence here at Kustar where it can start identifying pieces of research unique to this part of the world," Mr Galvin says.
"There's an untapped source of innovation here. We'd like to exploit that further."
He says in addition to hiring more researchers, there are plans to expand Ebtic into a regional "centre of excellence".
Mr al Mutawa adds Etisalat's engineers can now make use of Ebtic and its research facilities. "One thing we want this centre to do is to bring a culture of innovation," he says.
As Dr Saffre has shown, that culture of innovation is alive and thriving in his computerised nest of termites.
