- Scotland’s AI and data science innovation centre has appointed 20 new board members to sit across its Governance, Innovation, and Education Advisory Boards.
- Representatives from across industry, academia and the public sector have all assumed their position, with the governance board convening for the first time last week.
- New members include individuals from the Bank of England, Amazon, Scottish Government Digital Office, Sainsbury’s Bank and FanDuel.
The Data Lab, Scotland’s innovation centre for AI and data science, has appointed 20 new members across its three advisory boards – Governance, Innovation and Education. The new board members have already assumed their terms, which will last up to three years.
Each of The Data Lab’s boards has its own remit. The Governance Board’s responsibilities include setting the strategic direction, compliance and finance for the innovation centre. The Innovation Advisory Board consists of data leaders who provide strategic direction for The Data Lab’s innovation activities and approve investment in projects activity. Finally, the Education Advisory Board seeks to identify and understand the needs of local industry in terms of skills and education requirements and provide strategic direction in scaling The Data Lab’s education portfolio.
New members to the innovation centre’s Governance Board are:
- Abel Aboh, Data Management Lead at the Bank of England
- Anne Widdop, Founding Director at The VR Hive
- Kirsty Brown, Managing Director at SMBC Bank International
- Martyn Wallace, Chief Digital Officer at the Digital Office for Scottish Local Government
- Simon Hewitt, Principal & CEO at Dundee and Angus College and Chair of the Education Advisory Board
- Stephen O’Neill, Head of Digital Economy and Data Driven Business at Scottish Government
The six new advisors will join Chair, Les Bayne and nine other existing board members who work alongside The Data Lab’s senior leadership team.
The new members of the Innovation Advisory Board include a blend of representatives heavily involved in data and AI research and innovation:
- Adam Sroka, Director at Hypercube Consulting
- Christos Tachtatzis, Reader at the University of Strathclyde
- Duncan Buchanan, Head of Health Data Transformation at Research Data Scotland
- Dr Jasmina Lazic, Head of Research and Development at Bigtincan
- Marcus Harrison, Director of Health and Social Care Data Driven Innovation at the University of Edinburgh
- Orla Kelly, Knowledge Exchange & Innovation Collaboration Manager at the University of the West of Scotland
- Paul Van Loon, Applied Science Manager at Amazon
- Saber Khayatzadeh, CEO and Founder of ilosta
- Simon Smith, Consultant at Connected Places Catapult
The Education Advisory Board has appointed the following new members who will contribute to further scaling of The Data Labs education portfolio:
- Alison Muckersie, Programme Director at Data-driven Innovation Skills Gateway
- Damian Grech, Director of Engineering – Data Platform at FanDuel
- Gosia Paterson, Head of Data and Digital Transformation at Sainsbury’s Bank
- Nicholas Bobb, Program Manager, Barclays
- Per Hammer, Senior Director, Education at GitHub
- Simon Hewitt, currently serving on the Education Advisory Board, moves to the Chair role.
“The Data Lab is ideally placed to ensure Scotland maximises the economic and social opportunities from the current global inflection point in data science and AI. The experience our new board members will bring to The Data Lab will be immeasurable. The 20 new non-executive advisors will bring a wealth of relevant and exceptional experience.
“It is particularly exciting to see so many broad and varied backgrounds within our new members. I would also like to thank those members of our boards that have completed their term for their support and guidance including Shona Cowan from NHS NSS, Grant Smith, Dave Shaw, and Dr Helen Brown.”
Les Bayne, Chair of The Data Lab
“We were overwhelmed by the volume and quality of applications for our boards; a true testament to the reputation of The Data Lab and Scottish data and AI innovation. The newly appointed board members bring an exceptional range of skills and perspectives across industry, academia and the public sector as we continue in our vision to create the world’s most impactful data and AI community”.
Brian Hills, CEO of The Data Lab
The Data Lab also recently announced its first partnership outside of Scotland with Leeds-based consultancy, The Data Shed. The partnership will boost the profile of The Data Lab in England while raising awareness of what Scotland can offer in terms of data skills and business opportunities.
More information on The Data Lab’s new partnerships is available here:
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