ESSAY COMPETITION - The Social Impact of Computer Vision

This essay competition reflects the importance of considering the "real world" social impact of technology alongside the fundamental goals of basic R&D. Computer Vision is an area of scientific and technological development that will continue to have a profound impact on society. It will redefine the way in which information technology intersects and interfaces with medicine and other disciplines, it will play a key role in the care of an ageing population and it is already a fundamental aspect of modern security technology.

Participants in the competition may write a piece of original work on the topic reported below. There are no style guidelines, or "correct answers". You may reference any sources you wish (from any field of thought/endeavor). You may contextualize the discussion to your specific area of investigation and research interest. It is however requested that the discussion be scientific and grounded on current technological and research achievements, e.g. start-ups, patents, publications. There is a strict word limit of 1,500 words, excluding citations and footnotes. Through an entirely subjective, qualitative and irreproducible selection process, one successful essay will have his €525 attendance fees at the ICVSS 2017 reimbursed. The essay competition prize is sponsored by GIRPR.

Submissions should be sent in PDF or Word format to icvss@dmi.unict.it. Your name, email address and university/organization should be written at the top of your essay. Deadline for submission is 15 June 2017. The winner of the competition will be announced on 14 July 2017. The essays will be shared with fellow summer school attendees.

Essay Topic

Visible and invisible assistive computer vision around you