The pandemic has been a perfect storm for Jaguar Land Rovers core business, including a two-month factory shutdown, a semiconductor shortage, and profound challenges with both supply and demand. But thanks to advanced data analytics, the British multinational automotive company not only weathered this storm, but has done so with more precision and profit than expected.

JLRs 40-person data science and analytics team has developed an innovative forecasting engine atop a mixed proprietary/open source stack to the tune of 100 million in revenue during each of the past three years, with 2 million in profit directly attributed to JLRs data team in 2020 despite a disastrous global pandemic, says Harry Powell, director of data and analytics at JLR.

One of the key parts of our strategy has been implementing graph technology in the business, and weve had some reasonably good results applying it to the supply chain, says Powell, noting that JLRs use of graph database technology from TigerGraph has been critical in reducing the automakers supply chain planning from three weeks to 45 minutes.

JLR now plans to deploy graph database technology to address quality improvement and pricing applications for its automobiles.

As opposed to relational and non-SQL databases, graph databases detect, capture, and leverage connections among data stored or actively in use in business processes in real time, making them superior to relational databases when tackling challenges involving incidental and unpredictable relationships, says Carl Olafson, a research vice president at IDC.

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Jaguar Land Rover gets more from graph analytics - CIO UK

Vinehealth, a 2018-founded, London-based digital health startup thats built an app offering personalized support for cancer patients while also making it easier to gather patient-reported outcome (PRO) data, including for drug development and clinical trials, has closed a $5.5 million seed round as it prepares to expand into the U.S.

The round, which co-founder and CTO Georgina Kirby describes as a late seed ahead of a planned Series A in the next 12-18 months is led by Talis Capital with participation from previous investorsPlayfair CapitalandAscension.

A number of angel investors have also joined the round, including Keith Gibbs, former CEO of AXA PPP Healthcare; Pam Garside, partner at Newhealth; Voyagers Health-Tech Fund, led by David Rowan, founding editor of Wired; David Giampaolo, healthcare entrepreneur and founder of PI Capital; Deepali Nangia, venture partner at Speedinvest and Atomico Angel; Faisal Mehmud, VP and former medical director of Bristol Myers Squibb; and KHP MedTech Innovations, a collaboration between Kings College London, Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Guys and St Thomas NHS Trust.

The startup which we billed as one to watch back in 2019 when we saw the founders pitching at Entrepreneur Firsts demo day combines behavioral science and AI to deliver timely patient support and nudges (for things like medication reminders) so they can more easily self-manage their treatment.

Vinehealths platform also acts as a channel through which patients can be remotely monitored by their clinicians as they provide feedback on symptoms and report any treatment side-effects.

So far its app has been downloaded around 15,000 times since being made available in January 2020 which Kirby confirms covers all usage to date, so both for pure patient-support and for trials/research.

The patient-support app is offered free for cancer patients to download themselves currently available in the U.K. and Ireland.

For pharma, Vinehealth provides its platform as a software as a service supporting drug companies in recruiting patients for trials and gathering PRO to help with R&D and drug development.

Weve been focused on pharma since the very beginning and were getting a lot of traction there and seeing a lot of opportunity, said Kirby. The patient support program and the clinical trial are extremely similar [products]. For pharma theyre different parts of the drug development process but in terms of the delivery of software, the things that patients need throughout that process its extremely similar. So weve really narrowed down to that life science offering.

She confirms Vinehealth is not going down the procurement route of trying to sell to healthcare services directly. So essentially the idea is for life sciences research to fund a free provision of the support software to patients. (Although it cant disclose any pharma customer names as yet.)

For monetization, its focused on serving the needs of drug companies, Vinehealth is equally keen to be seen as patient-centric and wants its app to play a key clinician support role that promotes better patient outcomes.

We have a web dashboard that is accessible through any browser for clinicians and doctors who want to be able to track their patients remotely and do this through running research studies or even within clinical trials, said Kirby. Those doctors and nurses can see that data in real-time but they can feed that into either appropriate points of the care pathway obviously theyre not sitting there on the dashboard all day, but there may times at which its very useful for them to see specific red flags and be able to know which patient to see first and also to know how to make better clinical decisions using that kind of more real-time data rather than the typical [fortnightly or monthly catch up with a patient].

So its kind of giving them that context and that rich longitudinal data that theyve never had, she added.

Vinehealth has digitized the traditional paper-based questionnaires that cancer patients would typically be asked to fill in during a visit with their clinical team to report their symptoms and provide any wider feedback.

Its premise is that moving that legacy process to a dedicated, user-friendly digital interface supports better patient self-management, treatment outcomes and improved quality of life for people living with cancer given the relative ease of reporting data via an app, combined with the wider support package it offers (its worked with charities Macmillan and Bowel Cancer UK to supply support content to the app).

For example, Kirby said they use A/B testing and AI to configure personalized and timely recommendations to surface appropriate resources, as well as to determine how best to nudge and motivate patients to take medications and manage what can be complex medication regimes for cancer treatment.

Vinehealths app wrapper can also dole out positive feedback to encourage patients to provide PRO.

Kirby points toevidence that when patients track their PRO data effectively, survival rates can increase by up to 20%. Better self-management can have such a huge impact on survival, she said. We want to show not only improvements in survival but in quality of life. too.

The blend of behavioral science and data-driven support Vinehealths approach involves stems from the combined expertise of the co-founders.

Raynas [Patel; co-founder and CEO] background is really in behavioral science; mine is in data science, said Kirby. And so when we came together, we thought we can really leverage both sides here and use the data to understand what people are going through and where those nudges can be most effective. And use behavioral science to deliver some really key nudges at the right time with the right wording that can really nudge people to build their habits and be able to feel more in control and be able to actually understand whats going on and make some better decisions for their own care.

There are a number of nudges in the app some small ones, some bigger ones. We build medication nudges and reminders to be delivered in a certain way that is really effective and isnt just dismissed by patients. We have nudges for logging certain symptoms and what that leads on to so certain supportive content. So youre logging anxiety at certain levels, heres some supportive content that could really help you with dealing with this particular symptom or side effect of your drug.

At different times its about the timing, the wording and the delivery of that nudge, she added. If you try to change too many things at once research shows that you dont change anything at all so weve really carefully thought about how we nudge and how we try to help patients build better habits and how often we do that as well.

Kirby says the goal in time is also to use AI to incorporate more advanced suggestions into the platform in the future, such as predictive symptom logging, i.e., what is likely to occur for this particular drug for this particular patient.

For now, Vinehealth has built a content recommender system that is specialized in oncology and personalized to the patient: tuned to their diagnosis, adapting to their ongoing input, and factoring in content that other similar patients are reading and finding supportive.

On the research side, Kirby says the largest study the platform has been used for to date is an ongoing study involving nine NHS Trusts and 300 patients which is a piece of research that Vinehealth is undertaking itself.

Health data is of course highly sensitive, and Kirby confirmed that consent for any third-party research purposes is sought separately to the consent a user of the patient-support product is asked for so that Vinehealth can process their medical information to provide the service and give them personalized treatment support.

That data is not shared with anybody unless they have [given] explicit consent to do that. By just signing up to the platform, theyre not consenting to sharing their data as part of a clinical trial. That is a completely separate piece of consent, she said.

We make it extremely clear and dont want to hide any sharing in any way it has to be really obvious and really clear to a patient. Ultimately everyone wants to support patients. They want to give more opportunities for patients to be in those clinical trials, to be able to capture that data and feed that back in a way where normally theyre suffering at home with these kind of side effects and thats never getting back to the pharma company, for example so were making it really clear what were doing and why were doing that and we give patients a choice.

Kirby suggested that, in the future, the startup may also look to be able to provide properly anonymized data sets based on purely aggregated insights provided by patients so it might, for example, be able to highlight demographic groups that experience particular side effects of certain drugs. However, she added that that is not something its doing at the moment given our focus on trials and patient support programs.

In the near term, Vinehealth is gearing up for growth via a U.S. launch which it hopes will happen early next year with the 18-strong team likely to double over the next six months or so and its first U.S. hire already locked in.

The main thing that weve been focused on since we fundraised is hiring a great team and growing that team and investing time in really building that out and making sure that everyones aligned on the mission and that were really building out a product thats scalable to be able to take into these new markets, Kirby said. Building a startup is all about having great people. You can have great technology but if you dont have great people, then you dont really have anything.

Commenting on the seed funding in a statement, Beatrice Aliprandi, principal at Talis Capital, said: Were hugely excited to be partnering with Rayna and Georgina: Wed been keeping a close eye on Vinehealths growth for several months before we invested in the company, given its unique value proposition where healthcare outcomes work in direct correlation with financial outcomes. Its a win-win-win for patients, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies, which is rarely the case in the healthcare space where parties are often at odds with one another.

From our first meeting, the resilience and mission-driven attitude of the founders was immediately clear and is really what made this opportunity so compelling. Both Rayna and Georgina are clearly incredibly driven to improve the lives and survival of cancer patients, and as a team they possess a unique combination of expertise, skills, and drive to make Vinehealth a success.

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Vinehealth, offering digital support for cancer patients and SaaS for R&D, gets $5.5M to launch in the US - TechCrunch

PARAMUS,N.J., Dec. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --SK Life Science, Inc., a subsidiary of SK Biopharmaceuticals Co., Ltd., an innovative global pharmaceutical company focused on developing treatments for central nervous system (CNS) disorders, will present new post-hoc, retrospective analyses of the long-term safety and efficacy of its anti-seizure medication (ASM) XCOPRI (cenobamate tablets) CV at the American Epilepsy Society (AES) Annual Meeting, held December 3-7, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois and virtually through AES 2021 Digital Select. The analyses examined data collected from a subset of 240 patients with partial-onset seizures who participated in the long-term, open-label multicenter phase 3 safety study (C021). As of the last clinic visit analyzed on or after September 1, 2019, 74% (n=177) of patients remained on XCOPRI with results showing early onset responder rates and high rates of sustained seizure reductions across a variety of seizure types for as long as 43 months (median 30.2 months).1,2

In an analysis of patients by focal seizure subtype including focal aware motor (FAM), focal impaired awareness (FIA), and focal to bilateral tonic-clonic (FBTC), seizure reductions of at least 50% occurred in 56% (15/27) of FAM patients, 51% (114/223) of FIA patients, and 70% of FBTC patients during the initial 12-week titration phase.1 Seizure reductions of 100% were observed during titration in 22% (6/27), 22% (48/223), and 50% (28/56) of the FAM, FIA, and FBTC seizure subtype groups, respectively. During months 24-27, complete seizure reduction occurred in 48% (11/23) of patients with FAM seizures, 54% (88/162) of patients with FIA seizures, and 91% (38/42) of patients with FBTC seizures.1 Additionally, in an analysis of patients (n=85) who had previously received epilepsy-related surgery and continued to experience frequent seizures (average 26 seizures per month), 31% (26/85) maintained seizure freedom for at least 12 consecutive months during exposure to cenobamate (median exposure ~2.5 years).2

"I am encouraged to see that patients across a variety of focal seizure subtypes are having a response to treatment with XCOPRI for an extended period of time," said William E. Rosenfeld, MD, epileptologist/neurologist principal investigator at the Comprehensive Epilepsy Care Center for Children and Adults in St. Louis, Missouri. "Based on these findings, XCOPRI may be an option for patients both early in their treatment regimen as well as later on, if prior treatments including surgery have been unsuccessful."

Safety data in this patient subset is consistent with the safety data in the larger cohort from the C021 study4, with the most commonly observed treatment-emergent adverse events being fatigue, dizziness, and somnolence.1,2

SK life science is presenting six posters at AES, which are available here. To see the SK life science virtual booth at AES, please visit StepIntoXcopri.com.

About Study C021Study C021 was a large, multi-center, open-label Phase 3 study assessing the safety of cenobamate as adjunctive therapy in 1,340 adults (18-70 years old) with uncontrolled focal seizures taking 1-3 anti-seizure medications (ASMs). The objectives of the study included the characterization of the long-term safety of cenobamate and to understand how to best add cenobamate to regimens that included phenytoin or phenobarbital. In addition, the study was designed to determine the rate of DRESS in at least 1,000 patients taking cenobamate for at least 6 months, using a low starting dose and every other week titration; no cases of DRESS occurred in the study. Cenobamate was initiated at 12.5 mg/day and increased at 2-week intervals to 25, 50, 100, 150 and 200 mg/day. Further increases to 400 mg/day using bi-weekly 50 mg/day increments were allowed.

AboutXCOPRI (cenobamatetablets) CVCenobamateis an anti-seizure medication (ASM)discovered and developed by SK Biopharmaceuticals and SK life science. While theprecise mechanism by whichcenobamateexerts its therapeutic effect is unknown, it is believed toreduce repetitive neuronal firing by inhibiting voltage-gated sodium currents. It is also a positiveallosteric modulator of the -aminobutyric acid (GABAA) ion channel.

Cenobamateis approved in the United States for the treatment ofpartial-onset seizures inadults andis available under the brand name XCOPRI (cenobamatetablets) CV.Cenobamatecan be combined with other ASMs or used alone.The recommended initial dosage ofcenobamateis 12.5 mg once-daily, with titration every two weeks; it is available in six tablet strengths for once-daily dosing: 12.5 mg, 25 mg, 50 mg, 100 mg, 150 mg and 200 mg.

Cenobamateis also approved in the European Union and the United Kingdomfor the adjunctive treatment of focal-onset (partial-onset) seizures with or without secondary generalization in adult patients with seizuresthathave not been adequately controlled despite a history of treatment with at least two anti-epileptic medicinalproductsand is marketed by Angelini Pharma under the brand nameONTOZRY.

Additionally,cenobamateis in clinical development in Asia. Ono Pharmaceutical and Ignis Therapeutics have the rights to develop and commercializecenobamatein Japan and in the Greater China region, respectively.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION AND INDICATION FOR XCOPRI(cenobamate tablets) CV

DO NOT TAKE XCOPRI IF YOU:

XCOPRI CAN CAUSE SERIOUS SIDE EFFECTS, INCLUDING:

Allergic reactions: XCOPRI can cause serious skin rash or other serious allergic reactions which may affect organs and other parts of your body like the liver or blood cells.You may or may not have a rash with these types of reactions. Call your healthcare provider right away and go to the nearest emergency room if you have any of the following: swelling of your face, eyes, lips, or tongue, trouble swallowing or breathing, a skin rash, hives, fever, swollen glands, or sore throat that does not go away or comes and goes, painful sores in the mouth or around your eyes, yellowing of your skin or eyes, unusual bruising or bleeding, severe fatigue or weakness, severe muscle pain, frequent infections, or infections that do not go away.Take XCOPRI exactly as your healthcare provider tells you to take it. It is very important to increase your dose of XCOPRI slowly, as instructed by your healthcare provider.

QT shortening: XCOPRI may cause problems with the electrical system of the heart (QT shortening).Call your healthcare provider if you have symptoms of QT shortening including fast heartbeat (heart palpitations) that last a long time or fainting.

Suicidal behavior and ideation:Antiepileptic drugs, including XCOPRI, may cause suicidal thoughts or actions in a very small number of people, about 1 in 500. Call your health care provider right away if you have any of the following symptoms, especially if they are new, worse, or worry you: thoughts about suicide or dying; attempting to commit suicide; new or worse depression, anxiety, or irritability; feeling agitated or restless; panic attacks; trouble sleeping (insomnia); acting aggressive; being angry or violent; acting on dangerous impulses; an extreme increase in activity and talking (mania); or other unusual changes in behavior or mood.

Nervous system problems:XCOPRI may cause problems that affect your nervous system. Symptoms of nervous system problems include: dizziness, trouble walking or with coordination, feeling sleepy and tired, trouble concentrating, remembering, and thinking clearly, and vision problems.Do not drive, operate heavy machinery, or do other dangerous activities until you know how XCOPRI affects you.

Do not drink alcohol or take other medicines that can make you sleepy or dizzy while taking XCOPRI without first talking to your healthcare provider.

DISCONTINUATION:

Do not stop taking XCOPRI without first talking to your healthcare provider.Stopping XCOPRI suddenly can cause serious problems. Stopping seizure medicine suddenly in a patient who has epilepsy can cause seizures that will not stop (status epilepticus).

DRUG INTERACTIONS:

XCOPRI may affect the way other medicines work, and other medicines may affect how XCOPRI works.Do not start or stop other medicines without talking to your healthcare provider.Tell healthcare providers about all the medicines you take, including prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins and herbal supplements.

PREGNANCY AND LACTATION:

XCOPRI may cause your birth control medicine to be less effective.Talk to your health care provider about the best birth control method to use.

Talk to your health care provider if you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant.It is not known if XCOPRI will harm your unborn baby. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you become pregnant while taking XCOPRI. You and your healthcare provider will decide if you should take XCOPRI while you are pregnant. If you become pregnant while taking XCOPRI, talk to your healthcare provider about registering with the North American Antiepileptic Drug (NAAED) Pregnancy Registry. The purpose of this registry is to collect information about the safety of antiepileptic medicine during pregnancy. You can enroll in this registry by calling 1-888-233-2334 or go towww.aedpregnancyregistry.org.

Talk to your health care provider if you are breastfeeding or plan to breastfeed.It is not known if XCOPRI passes into breastmilk. Talk to your healthcare provider about the best way to feed your baby while taking XCOPRI.

COMMON SIDE EFFECTS:

The most common side effects in patients taking XCOPRI include dizziness, sleepiness, headache, double vision, and feeling tired.

These are not all the possible side effects of XCOPRI. Tell your healthcare provider if you have any side effect that bothers you or that does not go away. For more information, ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist.Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088or atwww.fda.gov/medwatch.

DRUG ABUSE:

XCOPRI is a federally controlled substance (CV) because it can be abused or lead to dependence.Keep XCOPRI in a safe place to prevent misuse and abuse. Selling or giving away XCOPRI may harm others and is against the law.

INDICATION:

XCOPRI is a prescription medicine used to treat partial-onset seizures in adults 18 years of age and older. It is not known if XCOPRI is safe and effective in children under 18 years of age.

Please see additional patient information in theMedication Guide. This information does not take the place of talking with your healthcare provider about your condition or your treatment.

Please see fullPrescribing Information.

About EpilepsyEpilepsy is the fourth most common neurological disorder. There are approximately 3.4 million people living with epilepsy in the United States, with 150,000 news cases each year in the country.4,5Epilepsy is characterized by recurrent, unprovoked seizures. The seizures in epilepsy may be related to a brain injury or a family tendency, but often the cause is completely unknown. Having seizures and epilepsy can affect one's safety, relationships, work, driving, and much more.6,7People with epilepsy are at risk for accidents and other health complications,including falling, drowning, depression and sudden unexplained death in epilepsy (SUDEP).6,7Despite the availability of many antiepileptic therapies, almost 40percentof people with epilepsy are not able to achieve seizure freedom, meaning they have epilepsy that remains uncontrolled.8

About SK Biopharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. and SK Life Science, Inc.SK Biopharmaceuticals and its U.S. subsidiary SK life science are global pharmaceutical companies focused on the research, development and commercialization of treatments for disorders of the central nervous system (CNS). The companies have a pipeline of eight compounds in development for the treatment of CNS disorders, including epilepsy. Additionally, SK Biopharmaceuticals is focused on the discovery of new treatments in oncology. For more information, visit SK Biopharmaceuticals' website atwww.skbp.com/engand SK life science's website atwww.SKLifeScienceInc.com.

Both SK Biopharmaceuticals and SK life science are part of SK Group, one of the largest conglomerates in Korea. SK Inc., the parent company of SK Biopharmaceuticals, continues to enhance its portfolio value by executing long-term investments witha number ofcompetitive subsidiaries in various business areas, including pharmaceuticals and life science, energy and chemicals, information and telecommunication, and semiconductors. In addition, SK Inc. is focused on reinforcing its growth foundations through profitable and practical management based on financial stability, while raising its enterprise value by investing in new future growth businesses. For more information, please visithttp://hc.sk.co.kr/en/.

XCOPRI and ONTOZRY are registered trademarks of SK Biopharmaceuticals Co., Ltd.

References

SOURCE SK Life Science, Inc.

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SK life science Presents Long-Term Data of XCOPRI (cenobamate tablets) CV in Adults with Partial-Onset Seizures at the American Epilepsy Society 2021...

In many ways, compliance is the cost of doing business

It doesnt generate revenue, but it is an essential part of operating effectively as a business today. Whether its industry specific regulations, or the standout regulation of our timeGDPRwe are all acutely aware of the damage, both reputational and financial, that non-compliance can cause.

GDPR has equipped employees across industries with an appreciation of the context, usage, and security of data, but there is another factor that is essential for establishing an effective data strategy, which is data discoverability. To ensure regulatory compliance, data must not only be secure, it must also be discoverable so that compliance personnel can locate all information needed to prove compliance.

Increasingly, AI tools are being harnessed to automate workflows and governance, but such capabilities can only be delivered when a strong data foundation is in place.

Whats in a label?

The key risks when it comes to compliance lie in exposing or sharing the wrong information, or failing to produce the desired information when required by auditors. To minimise these risks, it is essential that all information within an organisations systems is made discoverable and delivered in a user-friendly format.

One of the first steps to enabling this is the process of data classification. For example, invoices contain sensitive financial information so are a prime example of documents that require strict governance protocols, such as those around access and shareability. These rules can, of course, be applied on an ad-hoc basis, but this is an extremely inefficient model and prone to human error. A much more robust model is a system that inherently understands which documents are sensitive and automatically applies governance rules to them. In short, a system must understand the classification of each data asset to understand its risk profileand its here where AI tools can deliver truly transformative value for organisations.

Through the use of classification machine learning models, a data asset that is of regulatory significance can be surfaced and automatically made compliant for its entire lifecycle. While this will require some pre-labelling work, in which sensitive assets are manually labelledor automatically labelled through clustering modelsto train the classification model, the long-term benefits for organisation are clear. One only needs to consider the time cost of the average data subject access request (DSAR), which can be anywhere between 3,000 and 6,000 to realise the efficiency and cost-reduction dividends of more advanced data discovery.

Uncover hidden risks

Classification algorithms are a great way to automate compliance rules for data and information across an organisation. Put simply, if a document looks like an invoice, it will be classified as one with a high degree of accuracy. But if a regulator requires multiple documents relating to a specific asset be collated, classification will only get you so far.

For example, within asset heavy organisations, every single site will often have a number of documents that will be needed to ensure compliance, such as maintenance history reports and schematic diagrams. To ensure that each asset is compliant, companies must be able to surface all the relevant documentation, but doing so with ease for potentially hundreds of assets presents a significant logistical problem. Building on the work of the classification models, named-entity recognition can be used with machine learning models to search and discover all documents that contain a specific asset code, bringing unstructured data into the compliance automation process.

Know the rules

Of course, before embarking on any machine learning project, it is essential that compliance requirements are fully understood. Its easy enough to make a model that will search for asset codes, but when there are specific regulatory nuances to consider, subject matter experts must be consulted for each area of compliance.

One compliance model will look very different to another when it relates to an entirely separate regulatory framework. Water companies, for example, must ensure compliance with Ofwat regulations and manufacturers must comply with a multitude of ISO standards for their products. Organisations may also have their own compliance policies that relate to business best practices or mission statements around the usage of data.

In each case, an initial discovery phase involving those most familiar with specific regulatory frameworks is crucial. This ensures data science teams are able to translate their knowledge into rules that result in high-performing models for compliance.

The path to deeper insights

For every file sitting in a records management system, there will likely be data that relates to it within multiple databases. The ability to understand the link between each relevant piece of information across an organisation is not only useful from a compliance point of view, its essential for gaining a holistic view of your data universe. This is where AI tools provide significant value for employees, as they make information discovery and deeper insights into that information seamless.

Reducing the cognitive load on users and improving employee experience is a key driver behind the uptake of AI tools and automation today. This is why the automation of governance is increasingly a valuable pay-off for organisations implementing more advanced data strategies, as employees no longer have to capture multiple datapoints for the sake of compliance as they go about their daily tasks.

The ultimate goal of any AI strategy, particularly when it comes to compliance, is to not only automate discovery and reporting, but to automate processes, compliance or otherwise, when new information is introduced to a system. To enable this model, advance your data strategy in line with the above recommendations and set yourself on a new path of data discovery.

About the Author

Paul Maker is Chief Technology Officer, Aiimi. Built for business, our Aiimi Insight Engine uses AI and machine learning to intuitively discover, enrich, and classify all information. By creating an enterprise-wide data mesh, our Insight Engine powers lightning-fast search and discovery, as well as automated compliance, smart migration, and turbo-charged data science.

Featured image: Amiak

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How advanced AI tools can give organisations a holistic understanding of their data and improve compliance - TechNative - TechNative

This Sponsored Content is brought to you by University of Canberra.

Thanks to breakneck advances in technology, datas integration into everyday life, and the increasing recognition of how it can be used to enhance and add value across various different areas, hard-walled silos in the IT industry are increasingly irrelevant.

According to the University of Canberras Professor of Affective Computing, Dr Roland Goecke, integration is key, and this creates a myriad of opportunities for the IT professional who wants to remain on the leading edge of the industry, and also make a real-world impact in peoples lives.

Realistically, were early in the development of the data revolution, still in the pioneering phase in terms of widespread adoption so now is the time to enter the field to shape its future, he said.

The first step is to have the understanding and knowledge to appreciate where data science, cloud computing or business informatics to name a few can make an impact.

I believe that everyone will need some of these skills to varying degrees, across many different areas including business, government and environmental organisations.

To make an impact in your field, its necessary to equip yourself with the relevant skills to tap into and create that impact, whether that is with a Master of Data Science or a Master of IT degree upskill with a program that keeps abreast of the latest developments in the field, yet gives a valuable grounding.

Fitbits and Apple watches everywhere

With an eye on the data science field, Professor Goecke sees some clear opportunities emergent.

In fitness-centric Australia, it seems that more wrists sport Fitbits and Apple watches than ever before and thats just data in a personal health and fitness setting.

One of the fastest-growing areas, in which we see data science playing a constantly expanding role, revolves around health and wellbeing-related data whether that is in a clinical or hospital setting, or your fitness tracker measuring your heart rate, Professor Goecke said.

Health data is everywhere.

However, in Australia, there is a shortage of data scientists who can deal with health-related data, because its not really taught as a direct specialisation in the health area.

Professor Goecke says that when working with health-related data, it is important to have both the technical skills and a keen understanding of health settings these could range from care provided at home to healthcare in rural and regional community settings.

We need multidisciplinary teams working with health practitioners to make sense of health-related data, he said.

This can include population data. For instance, if you have been following news and communications around the COVID-19 outbreaks, vaccination rates, and how they relate to spatial data the analysis of this would fall at the intersection of data science, informatics and epidemiology.

Applying data science and informatics knowledge to sports strategy and analysis is a natural segue from health-related data applications and it spans the spectrum from elite sport to everyday health and wellness.

Modelling plays a huge part in this aspect of data science, Professor Goecke said.

Sports data analysis has taken huge steps scientists can use data to measure not only performance, but the realities of training mode, and injuries incurred.

Most of the professional leagues have GPS trackers in their clothing, which track positioning, acceleration data but even if you have access to that tech, what do the results generated mean? How do you turn that into something meaningful for the coach for instance, how much recovery time might an athlete need?

Save the planet

With climate change a particularly hot topic even more so with the recent COP26, or 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, dominating global headlines Professor Goecke sees this as another area of opportunity for budding data scientists to make a difference.

This is an area in which data scientists can have a huge impact on conversations around conservation, for instance, Professor Goecke said.

Imagine the ability to model what it means for the ACT or the Yass Valley to receive more or less rainfall, or to interpret the data gathered by camera traps and drones for animal conservation, and present it in a way that will help people to understand a conservation message because the flipside of working with data is to be able to communicate what the data means.

Professor Goecke says that traditionally, there has been a lot of emphasis on data-related technologies and techniques, but less focus on communications.

While data science has grown out of maths and stats departments around the world, it is now one of the foremost areas highlighting the need for science communication skills certainly, if you want to translate any of your work into policy and impact, he said.

Ideally, we need to understand that a 10-page report could probably better be visualised via Virtual Reality (VR) or Augmented Reality (AR), as a way of closing the loop and getting the message across.

Professor Goecke also sees both an opportunity and a need in building the framework to scaffold data science work.

Not everything that is technically possible should automatically be done, and questions of ethics and privacy always need to be considered, he said.

We need to look at such questions in the broader social context, and seek answers to questions like how should data be used, where and for how long it should be stored, what kind of energy and environmental impact this could involve?

Professor Goecke feels this self-reflective questioning of the industry is a necessary ongoing process, as there is little current regulation.

This is an area in its infancy, and one of great promise but it needs to have safeguards built around it, the right oversight and ethics in place. There needs to be a balance of privacy and development as data scientists, we need to make wise, clear-eyed judgments on a daily basis.

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Why data is driving the world - ACS