A week-long series of events aimed at explaining how data can be used to deliver better services and help businesses grow is being held in the north.
Development agency Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) is co-ordinating a fringe programme as part of the Scotland-wide DataFest18 festival. Running from March 19 to 23, it will feature talks, exhibitions, business challenges and breakfast briefings, covering topics including AI, the impact of data on public service delivery and its significance to the creative industries.
DataFest18 is the second data festival run by the Data Lab, a publicly-funded team of experts from the public and private sectors and academia. April Conroy of HIE said: “According to the experts, data innovation is ‘disrupting our lives’. We see evidence of it everywhere; its use has created a boom in self-health monitoring, the relevant ads that appear in our online streams and in fully integrated online journey planning and ticketing that make booking easier.
“Data is not just about storing your database for business intelligence anymore – but about how you can use available techniques to establish how customers may react and behave.”
The Data Lab Chief executive Gillian Docherty added: “It’s brilliant to be able to extend the Data Lab to the Highlands and islands, allowing us to promote the benefits of data-driven problem-solving further than ever before.”