Dublin conference on Big Data aimed at putting Ireland on global analytics map

Demystifying and democratising big-data analytics to make it accessible and available to everyone, will be the central theme of the Predict Conference taking place in Dublin this week.

The conference, organised by Irish software company Crème Global, aims to put Ireland on the map as the place to learn about and discuss advances in data analytics, technology, and predictive modelling.

More than 40 international and Irish speakers will reveal how algorithms are predicting future health outcomes, how data is discovering novel food ingredients and selecting investment strategies, and how predictive analytics are changing the nature of decision-making. The speakers include SOSventures managing director Seán O'Sullivan, SAP vice-president Erik Marcade, Openet chief scientist Alan McNamee and Nuritas founder Nora Khaldi.

The conference, which is taking place in the RDS from Tuesday to Thursday, will also explore how the worlds of food safety, risk, finance, dieting, crisis management, investment, artificial intelligence and journalism are been driven by effective processing and modelling of data.

Panel discussions will examine diverse topics from how the media are utilising data-driven journalism and innovative storytelling by data visualisation and how public bodies are protecting consumers.

“We wanted to push the boundaries of traditional conferences to match how people really learn, connect and become inspired,” conference organiser Cronan McNamara said.

“Outside of the 40 speakers from three continents over two days delivering ground-breaking case studies, the workshop series on the third day, the face-to-face meeting brokering and the live data innovation on the exhibition floor – we have built an ongoing programme of events in the lead-up to and following the conference,” he added.

The third day of the conference will feature three workshops. World-renowned predictive analytics expert John Elder will provide a full-day workshop focusing on how to create valuable predictive models for your business, while a health analytics workshop will centre on food safety, exposure assessment and health impact analysis.

The Insight Centre for Data Analytics will host a workshop on data ethics. The workshop will ask how the citizen can be protected in the Big Data age, how ethical data research can be conducted, how Big Data can be made work for the good of society, and whether we need a Magna Carta for data. Speakers at the workshop will include +The Data Revolution author Prof Rob Kitchin, UCC data security expert Dr Simon Foley and barrister Pauline Walley.