Data Science Ireland September 2019: What We Learned

 | September 5 2019 | Alldus Recruitment

There was plenty of food for thought at the 18th Data Science Ireland meetup this past Wednesday evening, as another packed house at Huckletree D2 learned about more about the great work being done within AI and Data Science in Ireland.

First up was CEO at Journey Protector Anne Lawlor who talked about the inspiring work they are doing within human trafficking. Journey Protector believes in a future where vulnerable people are no longer at risk of dying from being trafficked in the rear of trucks and containers. According to Anne, New technology and government collaboration is key to combatting this growing issue.

She spoke about how they develop and supply IoT software/hardware combination security solutions for logistics companies, which provide continuous remote real-time monitoring of the conditions in their trailers. Machine learning generate will an alert should any anomaly occur, in which the chance of a stowaway dying due to the conditions in the truck are dramatically lowered.

Human Trafficking is a growing issue which is now second to the drugs trade, but Journey Protector has developed a solution in a bid to save thousands of peoples lives globally. Journey Protector’s work is a prime example of AI and Machine Learning for good. It is their mission to make the world a safer and better place for the vulnerable in our society.

Next up, Derek Coetzee, CTO at Getvisibility in Cork, spoke at how machine learning and natural language processing approaches to the un-addressed issue of unstructured document sprawl in many companies are becoming the only serious approach for data security vendors.

From how to find the data, how to process multiple millions of files, how to represent the results in an understandable way, or how to respond to alarming findings, Derek discussed conceptual approaches as well examples of real-world experiences of what works.

Both technical and human-factor challenges exist and both need solutions as scrutiny of companies. The data they collect and what they do with it are becoming far more controversial and regulated. This trend will certainly continue and overlaps with the security aspect. It’s an exciting time to be working on data with these powerful new tools, but companies need to step carefully.

Last but not least experienced C-Level executive Tom Halton talked about Strategy, Security and Sustainability in AI and Machine Learning. He spoke about the need for IT governance within organizations to focus value creation efforts on an organization’s strategic objectives and to better manage the performance for the best interest of stakeholders.

The success of many major corporations today is built largely on the innovative use of technology and analysis of data. AI and Machine Learning will help them become even more powerful and it is time to gear up and be ready to take advantage of and integrate new, innovative technology into your mainstream business.

A big thank you to Anne, Derek and Tom for their fascinating presentations and to everyone who joined us at Huckletree for another fascinating evening. We hope to see you all again at the next meetup, which takes place Wednesday 2 October with more details to be announced in the coming weeks. Stay tuned to our meetup page for all the latest updates.

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