Success in the f ield

“For me, that is really about applying the scientific method to that data, so thinking about experiments that you want to run on the data to find out different things and learning from them along the way,” says Hills, who has 17 years’ experience in analytics and software engineering.

Globally, it is an exciting time for data innovation. New data sources are becoming available and are opening up possibilities for data innovation and generating considerable value.

Hills highlights the international success of companies that are leading the way in data science research such as Apple and Amazon.

However, collaboration between companies, universities and government partnerships has raised Scotland’s profile as a destination for data innovation.

Glasgow-based Aggreko, an international supplier of temporary power generators with offices in the United States, Australia and across Europe, teamed up with Strathclyde University to develop a way to use data to benefit the organisation. Aggreko wanted to be able to monitor and predict when problems are likely to occur across power generators in the US.

Through the partnership, it created an algorithm by using the latest machine-learning techniques – a field of computer science that allows computers to “learn” without being programmed.

“It helped them take preventive measures on one of the generators in time to stop it failing,” explains Hills.

“By demonstrating that value, Aggreko was then able to make more investments in its Glasgow office and built up its analytical expertise and started running that for the whole of the global organisation.”

There are now more than 160 databased companies across Scotland.

One of the country’s leading startups is Edinburgh-based Amiqus, a legal-technology company that was established in 2015.

It has been improving the UK’S justice system by addressing the issues that lead to 1 million legal cases going unresolved annually.

It does so by using historical case data to predict the likely outcome of a new claim or dispute and it supports individuals as well as small businesses.

The Data Lab, a multi-millionpound innovation centre supported by the Scottish Funding Council, enabled a link between Amiqus and Strathclyde University’s computer science and law departments.

Through that partnership, the company built a functioning prototype software that analyses historical, open source, court and legal case information to predict outcomes of new cases.

Data innovation is also having a positive impact on healthcare.

“At the Data Lab, we recently won an award in collaboration with the Scottish Government and the NHS for a project looking at delayed discharge in hospitals,” says Hills.

The collaboration focused on bed blocking by people who are clinically able to leave hospitals but do not have the appropriate care provisions in place at home for them to do so.

“Delayed discharge has a large impact on society, as well as being a major cost to the NHS,” says Hills.

“The project attempted to predict the probability of someone’s circumstances being likely to lead to delayed discharge at the time of admission, so that there was time to put in place an appropriate care package before the person was ready for discharge.

“We piloted it with one health board and its success has led to the trialling of it across other health boards and the NHS is now looking to roll it out.”

Project members worked to resolve data access issues and produced a successful algorithm before being awarded a Holyrood Connect ICT Award.

The adoption of data technologies is booming globally and there has been recent growth across the US and China to reflect the increasing number of industries that the sector is impacting.

“Data is touching most organisations now and our role is to support those that need help through the advice and support that we offer. We also need to be connecting them to companies that specialise in those areas,” says Hills.

Data innovation is helping the oil and gas sector identify new wells and develop new ways to extract economically remaining oil in mature fields.

There is also a focus on data collection to assess how renewables are producing electricity and where to place wind farms effectively, according to Hills.

As the use of data continues to rise, the industry is increasingly faced with ethical challenges.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force in May and aims to put individuals back in control of their personal data and to simplify the regulatory environment for international businesses.

“It is the European Union regulation on how data should be used,” says Hills.

“But it goes beyond that in terms of if we have data and we make a decision based on that, we have to consider if that is an ethical decision regarding people and the environment. The ethical side of data is coming to the fore.”

The GDPR means that companies built on data and that compile information about their clients need to be clearer about what information it is that they hold and to be more secure with that data.

In the near future, data science is going to continue to grow.

Dark data – information deemed unusable due to a lack of resources – will be streamlined thanks to business intelligence tools.

Similarly, businesses will benefit further from the rise of the internet of things and there will be a greater shift from the use of remote servers to cloud storage.

“Data innovation provides the opportunity to deliver real value to businesses through transformational insights and helping businesses to make the right decisions faster and with greater accuracy,” says Hills.

“Ultimately it is about enhancing your productivity and competitiveness.

“Not taking advantage of the benefits of data innovation is an increasing risk to the competitiveness of your business.

“It is exciting to be involved because everything is cutting-edge stuff; it impacts on every aspect of business and society and has the potential to deliver so much good for society too.”n