ScotlandIS Data

After a short hiatus the Aberdeen Data Science meet-up is returning on the 6th October! This is a new partnership between ScotlandIS, The Data Lab and Opportunity North East. Hitting on a theme of Net Zero and how data is key to achieving that goal we will be hearing from two Scottish companies who are at the forefront of this: Zoex and Topolytics.

Talk 1 – Zoex

Aslihan Penley, MSc. Chem. entrepreneur, co-founder of ZoeX Power Ltd, had 15 years experience in the Oil&Gas sector before converting her skill set and investments to Renewable Energy. Ash was involved in complex subsea and topsides Oil & Gas installation projects globally. In the recent years, with her passion to advance wave energy sector, she became the Finalist in AccelerateHER, Young Professionals Green Energy Award and nominee for Most Powerful Woman by Powergen Magazine.

Talk 2 – Topolytics

Michael Groves, CEO, Topolytics is a geographer with a PhD in aerial and satellite earth observation. He has over 20 years’ experience in environmental management and sustainability reporting in the UK and Asia. Mike worked for the global inspection company SGS, where he managed forest audits and environmental management systems projects across South-East Asia. He then co-founded a pioneering sustainability communications and reporting agency, which was bought by a global investor relations business in 2011.

This event will be taking place online with Virtual Networking from 6pm and talks from 6:15pm.

Join us at 6pm for an hour of comfortable chat and discussion on the topics raised by our speakers and a catch up with the local data science community in the North East.

Click Learn More to sign up for this event on Meet-up.

As part of Cyber Security month we are collaborating with Women in Cyber Wales.

Join us on 13th October to network, share insights and discuss collaboration ideas for future events together.

Ciara Mitchell, Head of ScotlandIS Cyber will be joined by Clare Johnson, Founder of Women in Cyber Wales and Clare El Azebbi, Head of Cyber Resilience Policy for The Scottish Government. They will give an overview of the cyber community in both Scotland and Wales.

Ciara Mitchell and Katy Guthrie will provide an overview on clusters and cluster management organisations before leading a panel discussion on the benefits of being part of a cluster.

Does recognising a tech sector as a cluster add value?

How can clusters make a difference?

How can clusters help stimulate growth and innovation?

Panelists:

Gavin Neate, Founder of Neatebox, Tech for Good sector

Joshua Ryan-Saha, Director of Traveltech for Scotland

Click Learn More to sign up for this event on the Digital Leader’s website.

Do you have an idea for an innovative cyber security product or service? Are you looking to perfect and get feedback on your pitch for investors or customers? Would you like advice from experienced cyber experts?

Our first Cyber Innovation clinic will be a friendly forum allowing Scottish cyber companies to practise their business pitch and receive insights and feedback from our panel of cyber experts.

The panel:

• Peter Jaco, Co-Founder Scottish Tech Army, Cyber Board member and Chair and cyber investor
• Jamie Graves, Founder of ZoneFox and Managing Director of L-Point Ltd
• Andy Williams, DIT Cyber Advisor
• Federico Charosky, Founder of Quorum Cyber  
• And more to be confirmed

Criteria for applying:

• You need to be a start-up, a company emerging into the cyber security sphere or a scaling cyber security company 
• You need to have a clear ask from the panel – i.e. feedback on pitch/products, introductions etc. If you do not need anything from the panel then please do not apply

To apply please send in the following to Ciara.Mitchell@scotlandIS.com :

• A brief description of your company covering size and focus with a brief history. 
• Why do you want to apply? (One line response is fine!)
• What are you hoping to get from participating? (one line response is fine)

The increase in the use of AI brings with it the risk that results are biased. To achieve public trust, the outputs of an AI algorithm need to be explainable, particularly when an algorithm is making decisions about people.

The recent guidance published by the ICO on Explainable AI also makes it clear that there is a legislative requirement for explainability.

Join ScotlandIS Data on 28th October for a roundtable discussion about what exactly is meant by Explainable AI, how it can be achieved and the implications for companies of making AI explainable.

We will be joined by Dr Andy Starkey, University of Aberdeen, and Mark Graham, Product Manager, Sharktower, to lead the discussion but we encourage delegates to participate for an open dialogue and debate on the topic.

Covid-19 is the first pandemic to be tackled by a truly data-driven approach, with real-time information at the heart of life-or-death decisions throughout the crisis.

How did Government, health services and other public bodies collaborate – often at great speed – to inform those decisions? What lessons have we learned to help us emerge from the pandemic and ensure we share and analyse data more effectively in future?

More broadly, how is data being harnessed in Edinburgh to tackle huge challenges like global financial inclusion and a creaking elderly care system? Why is collaboration across the public and private sectors so important – and why must a strong ethical framework support everything we do with data?

Join a range of experts to discuss the enormous challenges – and real opportunities – in our increasingly data-rich world.

The quarterly S.E.L.F grouping provides a forum for software engineering leaders, CIO’s and CTO’s across the Scottish tech sector to share ideas and explore common challenges. The meetups also provide opportunities for informal mentoring and potential opportunities for joint working.

The topic for this meetup is building a talent pipeline.

This event is exclusive to ScotlandIS members only 

Click “Learn More” to register