UK’s longest festival of data innovation kicks off in Scotland

The UK’s first two-week long data innovation festival kicked off across Scotland today.

DataFest19 launched today with events including Women in Data Science, which featured presenter Hannah Fry. Picture: Contributed

DataFest19 consists of more than 60 events throughout the country aiming to promote the economic and social benefits of data innovation.

Yesterday’s proceedings included renowned mathematician and science presenter Hannah Fry speaking at Women in Data Science, an event held at the National Museum of Scotland to inspire schoolgirls to take an interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths).

The festival will culminate with the two-day DataSummit on 21 and 22 March, which is set to feature a host of high profile speakers including the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie and Google’s chief decision scientist Cassie Kozyrkov.

Gillian Docherty, chief executive of festival organiser The Data Lab said: “DataFest will showcase Scotland’s leading role in data science and artificial intelligence on the international stage, while offering an unprecedented networking platform where you can interact with local and international talent, industry, academia and data enthusiasts.”

Meanwhile, the Direct Marketing Association has partnered with The University of Edinburgh to launch its Value of Data campaign which aims to help organisations to use data responsibly.

The first lecture is to be held at the Centre for Design Informatics tomorrow.