The National Innovation Centre for Data (NICD): Unlocking the transformative power of data and AI

At a time when data is changing the way we live more than ever, The National Innovation Centre for Data (NICD) is working to make sense of data-led insights and harness them to build a better world.

Based in Newcastle Helix, the centre is the only one of its kind in the whole of the UK, and supports the collection, interpretation and use of data and AI across the country, helping SMEs and businesses to harness their information for growth and innovation.

NICD’s Director Paul Watson works with a team of experts to help businesses across every sector understand what data can do, and how using it effectively can significantly transform industries and society as a whole.

"Data is all around us. It's all the information that's generated right across the world in lots of different forms,” Paul explains. “It can include emails, spreadsheets, the photos we take on our mobile phones, the data coming from sensors when we're in hospital. Everything is data."

"It's very easy to collect data. The problem is, how do you extract value from it? How do you use it to do your job better?

"What we use AI for is to make sense of that data, so that we can extract value from it and use it for our benefit. It is able to process vast amounts of data...it can process it and build models, models that can make predictions and models that can generate new sources of information."

Despite the impressive capability of this technology, NICD has an acute awareness that AI and data is not a ‘silver bullet’ or a magic fix, but rather a tool that must be implemented alongside legacy expertise.

"Companies often come to us thinking they need the latest AI solution to solve their problem, when we dig into it and understand what they really want to do, we can find some old statistical technique from 200 years ago that solves the problem with no risk, and so that's the one we will use," Paul explains.

Louise Braithwaite, Data Scientist at NICD, adds: "We need to be making data driven decisions...making decisions about all elements of the organisation. We have lots of software and services available to support businesses and to make the most of their data.”

According to NICD, the key to embracing and harnessing data and AI is for businesses and organisations to draw on the expertise and knowledge of their best asset: their people. For NICD, humans still have a vital role to play in the successful implementation of AI and data solutions.

"The best thing to do is upskill the people you already have in some data skills so they can solve their own problems,” explains Richie Ramsden, NICD Alumnus, “They've already got that business knowledge. They've been working in your organisation for a long time. Equipping them with some data skills, or some digital skills, means that they can do that job - but even better.”

Through this integrated and human-led approach, NICD believes that data and AI can create meaningful change.

"My hope is that data can help us to benefit society more widely,” Paul says, “Because I think the public sector, as well as the private sector, will be able to make better decisions, and that will be to the benefit of all citizens, not just the companies."

Newcastle Helix presents... The Future of Data and AI is available to stream free now on our YouTube channel: