Digital revolution could lead to creation of thousands of jobs

Leaders from the county’s digital sector gathered at an event which highlighted the economic benefits of using data to help solve problems and identify opportunities.

Big Data Week is taking place in 25 cities across the world. The festival connects cities through local events designed to educate and inspire.

Organisers of Big Data Week in Leeds believe the city is “uniquely placed” to take advantage of an industry estimated to add £216bn to the UK economy and create 58,000 jobs by 2017.

Speaking at an event held at the Cross Keys in Leeds, Peter Laflin, the co-organiser of Leeds Big Data Week, said: “Big data isn’t something to be feared. We should focus people’s minds on getting value from the data they hold.”

According to Mr Laflin, who is also head of data insight at digital marketing agency Bloom, lives can be saved by using data to help the NHS manage its resources more effectively. It could also improve the performance of the transport system.

“There’s a new industry evolving in Leeds, which is for real time analytics on this data,” said Mr Laflin. “We will need hundreds, if not thousands, of people to work in this space over the next 10 to 20 years. This is an emerging area and Leeds can help shape what it looks like.”

Mr Laflin quoted a study which had used a wide range of data to try and find out why teenage pregnancies were higher in some areas.

According to the study’s findings, there were lower levels of teenage pregnancies in areas where teenage girls could get the ‘morning after’ pill on Friday afternoons, because the chemists hadn’t closed early.

Mr Laflin said: “One of the really exciting things about using all this data is that, historically, you were tied to using the data that only you had access to.

“The great thing about ‘open data’ is that it allows you to access data that you might have wanted to investigate, but never had the opportunity to.

“You can start to correlate seemingly unrelated things and spot patterns.

“We have a number of NHS bodies based in Leeds, and we’ve got two world class universities that are providing research and graduates. There’s a talent pool that will go on to work in this area.

“That is what gives Leeds the edge. It can be seen as the place outside London to do business in data.”

The speakers at the event – which had the title ‘Bring Your Own Data’ – included Christopher Hassall, a researcher at Leeds University, who is working with conservation bodies to protect wildlife by collecting data.

Mr Hassall wants to ensure that the data collected by conservation bodies is stored properly and used effectively. He’s involved with the Yorkshire Dales Environment Network, which is based at Leeds University, and seeks to connect conservationists and landowners.

Mr Hassall said: “There’s a wide array of animals and wildlife in the Yorkshire Dales and, sometimes, we don’t even know they’re declining. Big data allows us to look at ways in which we can collate more data and quantify how these species are doing, and if something is going wrong we can do something about it. These kind of approaches haven’t been used to their full potential,’’ he added.

“So what we’re looking to do is work in partnership with local IT companies to develop the tools which will allow us to do that.

“It’s great to see a community that’s really passionate about local causes. One of those causes can be wildlife conservation in the national park.”

Malachi Rangecroft, Leeds City Council’s corporate intelligence manager, described how the Leeds Observatory had been established, as part of a collaboration between West Yorkshire’s local councils. The observatory provides data on health, crime and the economy. It was established last year, and has around 2,700 visitors a month.

Mr Rangecroft said: “We wanted a web platform that was accessible to everybody to promote a range of data including health and community safety information. Most of the users are members of the local council, and I’d like to see the public use it more often. We don’t make decisions based on hearsay, we try and make them based on data and intelligence.”

The Yorkshire Post is media partner for Leeds Big Data Week.

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