L/R Datfest1: Jim McCumesty, Head of Core Technologies, SAS,Lucida Rivers, Head of UNICEF UK in Scotland, Brian Hills Head of Data, The Data Lab, Mark Hunter, Chief Data Officer, Sainbury’s Bank, Warwick Baresford-Jones, Joint CEO, Aquila Insight
Pic Peter Devlin
A week-long festival focused around an industry expected to contribute £20bn to Scotland’s economy by 2020, gets underway in Edinburgh today.
Celebrating data innovation and attracting international experts to the capital, Scotland’s first data festival, DataFest17, will also showcase Scotland’s world class data science capabilities.
L-R Brian Hills, Head of Data, The Data Lab, Mark Hunter, Chief Data Officer, Sainbury’s Bank, Lucinda Rivers, Head of UNICEF UK in Scotland, Jim McCumesty, Head of Core Technologies, SAS and Warwick Baresford-Jones, Joint CEO, Aquila Insight
Pic Peter Devlin
The Travelling Bus (launch in the Grassmarket today) is one of the many fringe events taking place as part of DataFest. It hosts art work by German artist KP Brehmer ‘Soul and Feelings of a worker’ which sees data, graphs and charts used to map the daily emotions of workers from very happy to uneasy.
Scottish Government Minister for Business, Innovation and Energy Paul Wheelhouse, said: “I am delighted to support DataFest17 which is putting the spotlight on Scotland’s impressive data resources, the leading research we are carrying out in our universities and the growing business sector, and world class facilities, such as University of Edinburgh Centre for Informatics, that undertakes analysis and use of data to drive innovation and to grow our economy in areas such as public services.
“With international speakers coming to speak at the event, it’s a fantastic opportunity to showcase Scotland to the world. I wish DataFest every success and very much look forward to hearing of the good news stories resulting from this week of events and positive examples of Scottish and International companies in the sector.”
Gillian Docherty, CEO of The Data Lab, said: “Scotland already boasts one of the most sophisticated data science landscapes in the world. We have a growing pool of talented data professionals which is feeding the growing skills demand. This skills base is supporting the industry’s growth – Scotland now boasts over 150 companies engaged in creating data centred solutions across various sectors. And there are still so many untapped opportunities.
“Bringing together data experts from across the globe, DataFest17 will help underline and strengthen this position. Ultimately it is about inspiring further innovation showcasing the significant social and economic impact that can be created through data insights.”
DataFest takes place from 20-24th March. Find out more here.
L-R: Jim McCumesty, Head of Core Technologies, SAS, Warwick Baresford-Jones, Joint CEO, Aquila Insight, Lucida Rivers, Head of UNICEF UK in Scotland, Mark Hunter, Chief Data Officer, Sainsbury’s Bank and Brian Hills, Head of Data, The Data Lab.
Pic Peter Devlin
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
