The 2023 Creative Informatics Innovation Showcase will explore and celebrate a host of inspiring data-driven projects taking place across the creative industries in Edinburgh and South East Scotland.

Come along to this free event to find out more about the innovative products, services and experiences that have been developed by creative individuals and organisations with funding and support from Creative Informatics.

Early registration is open now! There are 2-day tickets, 1-day tickets and online tickets available. Full programme details will be announced soon.

The Scotsman Data Conference 2023 is bringing together key decision makers, data sciences business leaders, media and thought provoking influencers – this hybrid conference is a must attend event for those who want to be part of the discussion and influence Scotland’s Data community.

Hosted with the University of Edinburgh, this year the conversation evolves from the 2022 conference and will feature a range of virtual and in person panel discussions and keynote presentations. Join the conference for a day of industry keynote speakers, informative breakouts and panel discussions and extensive networking opportunities.

DigitalScotland: Tayside, supported by The Times Scotland, will bring together policy makers, business leaders, educators and community stakeholders to explore the opportunities and challenges of economic growth and digital transformation in Tayside.

Like many parts of Scotland and the UK, the region is remaking itself in a new era. The digital age is disrupting industries old and new, with Tayside seeking its own place in the firmament of global digital pioneers. With government support through city region deal funding, civic leaders are determined to bring to bear new skills and press their economic advantages to become more productive, competitive and ambitious to connect to global markets.

We will be joined at the conference by the Estonian Ambassador H.E. Mr. Viljar Lubi who will highlight the policy and local government levers that have inspired and led enormous growth in the Estonian life sciences, gaming and cyber industries, and will share how Tayside, and the rest of Scotland, can learn from these experiences.

The full day conference will also provide:
• An update on the progress of the Tay Cities Region Deal
• A focus on key sectors, skills and infrastructure investment to stimulate the region’s digital economy
• An insight into locally funded programmes that are helping to boost jobs, productivity and innovation
• An insight into the local tech ecosystem, start-ups and funding opportunities for growth
• Understanding how regions can learn from one another, work together and partner with local and national agencies
• Networking opportunities and sharing best practice

With the world being in constant change over the last few years with the pandemic, geopolitical events and climate change is it time to take stock and build some resilience into your business? See what challenges can be turned into opportunities, and allow you to grow and prosper?

Join this event to hear about where the Dairy industry is at currently and heading, what the Digital Dairy Chain can do to support you, where technology is taking us and what expertise and funding is available.

Everyone connected to the Dairy supply chain is welcome; from farmers, to milk processors, cheesemakers, ice-cream manufacturers, agricultural suppliers, hauliers and technology businesses.

A day to be informed, to network and collaborate.

This event will unpack what Techscaler means for you and your region.

Open to everyone, connect with CodeBase representatives, regional partners, ecosystem stakeholders, and members of the tech community.

Representatives of CodeBase will be joined by regional partners and members of our community to discuss how Techscaler activity will provide support, enable collaboration, and facilitate growth within the Scottish tech ecosystem.

This event will feature a panel discussion and a Q&A session with the audience, followed by an opportunity to network with fellow attendees.

This event is taking place in-person at:
The Abertay CyberQuarter
Abertay University
Bell Street
Dundee
DD1 1HG

For more information go to https://www.techscaler.co.uk/

A chance to gain insight into how Natural Language Processing (NLP) is evolving and how various sectors are realising business benefits.

The UKRI CDT in NLP is hosting its annual Natural Language Processing Research Day in Edinburgh. This is an event for key decision makers from industry and is focused on a two-way flow of ideas to develop new collaborative opportunities that meet industry challenges.

The CDT programme is now at a stage where there is a wide mix of innovative concepts and also students at a stage where their next career choice is imminent, and we would really appreciate the chance to have industry experts share views on how such students can best prepare for this next stage in their careers and hence we invite dialogue specifically to support the student cohorts (details to follow).

Attendees will get a chance to explore strategic themes with academic research staff and postgraduate research students as well as meet with current industrial partners already immersed in the field of NLP.

The CDT is specifically designed to equip a new generation of future leaders and experts with skills for advanced research in NLP and language science, giving them foundations in: linguistics, machine learning, statistics, algorithms. programming, working with other modalities such as vision, design, ethics, and responsible innovation as they apply to NLP systems.

Unlocking Potential (U>P) – a powerful people analytics platform helping organisations of all sizes to optimise their workforce 

Background 

Nectis Ltd focuses on optimising wellbeing, performance and productivity in the workplace through people analytics and understanding business ecosystems.  Founder and CEO, Colin Campbell has a wealth of experience in this area, having spent more than 20 years building company ecosystems (the people related to your company). 

The Challenge 

Nectis Ltd successfully competed to deliver against CivTech 5, in 2021 with sponsor Transport Scotland.  Their Challenge – How can tech help foster the development of informal networks when people are working at home or in Work Local hubs? 

To assist in addressing the challenge and through the partnership between CivTech and Interface, Colin approached us to help facilitate collaboration with academia on three 3 different projects: 

• Data Visualisation 
• Business analysis of Serviceable Available Markets 
• Security and Anonymised Data Cloud Analysis 

The Solution 

The solution developed by Nectis Ltd is Unlocking Potential (U>P) Unlocking Potential – Optimising Business Agility & Performance, a SaaS people analytics platform that visualises patterns of collaboration and uses insight to create agility and wellbeing. This solution uses data driven insights of individuals and teams, to understand their patterns, overcome barriers and breakdown work silos.  In addition, it provides an evidence base for fair working practices, supporting positive working relationships. 

People analytics is a very powerful tool and up until now, the science behind it has been the reserve of researchers and programmers. 

Unlocking Potential (U>P) is a software tool that works by creating a digital model of a company ecosystem (the people related to any organisation) and then analysing it to deliver unique and powerful insights that can help achieve high levels of business agility and performance. 

To assist in addressing the challenge set by Transport Scotland Interface helped facilitate collaboration with academia on three 3 different projects: 

• Data Visualisation 
• Serviceable Available Market 
• Security and Anonymised Data Cloud Analysis 

The first related to Data Visualisation where a Data Science for Business MSc student at the University of Stirling undertook a project working with data that was already on the U>P platform and also tested data, to find ways to increase the rate at which data is added, through motivational feedback loops. This was achieved by identifying which forms of data design and delivery optimised insight creation for individual users to help them solve problems and/or take meaningful action.  

Beyond the initial contract with Transport Scotland, Nectis wanted to understand market potential and their initial B2B target market i.e. organisations with remote/complex workforces. Masters marketing students at the University of Glasgow carried out research to establish the serviceable available market for their offering and establish what Nectis could legitimately claim they could deliver on and how to articulate it to these customers.  Other student projects looked at innovation within Nectis’ pricing strategy and at finding ways to reward people for adding data that builds the aggregate picture, as well as, providing value for them individually. 

The third project relating to Security and Anonymised Data Cloud Analysis was as a result of a successful Advanced Innovation Voucher application and involved the School of Computing at Edinburgh Napier University.  This collaboration built on work already done by U>P with the aim of improving the levels of security in the application, focusing on the collection and processing of personal data, as well as, introducing advanced security measures to enable intelligent analysis of anonymised data.  

A key aspect of the work involved the use Big Data analysis methods in understanding the complex relationships involved in projects, roles, business relationships, behaviours, and so on, to determine good practice in achieving strong outputs, and thus more clearly identify how best to both understand the metrics to be gathered, but also in how to best define KPI (Key Performance Indicators). Understanding that the collection of data around business relationships requires to be kept private, Nectis wanted to develop privacy enhancing methods, which could be used to assess successful engagement, but respect privacy and consent. The collaboration with the School of Computing at Edinburgh Napier University with their strong background in cryptography, and other privacy related areas, along with their experience in building production ready systems was crucial to the success of this project.   

The Benefits 

The academic rigour awarded by the collaborations with academia have been good for the Nectis U>P brand and have resulted in Nectis achieving the following: 

• An SE SMART grant of £92K to continue the collaboration with Edinburgh Napier University as a result of the AIV scheme.  Total investment £160K 
• Accepted onto the UK Cyber Accelerator – one of only 3 Scottish companies to do so 
• Proof of concept for Scotland IS Cyber 
• Proof of concept for Scottish Government 
• Plan to raise £500K investment in forthcoming year 
• New patent application – Patent is for a distributed key system so individuals have a say in how their data is managed 

About Opportunity:

Energy used by domestic and non-domestic buildings accounts for approximately 30% of UK carbon emissions, so there is significant opportunity for better management of building energy systems. Technological advances mean that innovative wireless sensors and metering systems can gather fine granularity data on building function and performance.

GCU have developed a building management system which continuously monitors sensors responsible for controlling environmental parameters; room temperature and humidity, air quality, lighting, room occupancy, power usage etc. The system is able to optimise these parameters through remote energy monitoring.

Key Benefits:

• More efficient building energy control
• Greater building energy efficiency
• Higher levels of occupant comfort
• Reduced building carbon footprint
• Lower building energy costs

Applications:

• Domestic building energy management system
• Non-domestic building energy management system
• Industrial control system
• Smart meters

IP Status:

A patent application has been filed to protect the technology and the University is seeking commercial partners interested in developing, licensing or exploiting this technology.