Big Data Beyond The Buzzword

HALIFAX–Interconnected devices mean we are swimming in a sea of data. But how can companies use all that “Big Data” to improve productivity?

That’s the question being tackled at the Big Data For Productivity Congress being held in Halifax from October 19 to 21.

Saint John-based T4G started the Big Data Congress three years ago. After two successful events in Saint John, this year the organizers have partnered with the World Confederation of Productivity Science to jointly host the conference in Halifax with a focus on productivity.

It’s about moving big data beyond the buzzword according to Congress co-chair Dr. Mike Shepherd, a professor in computer science at Dalhousie University.

“Big data is really all about analytics. Companies can use data to improve productivity.”

The Congress features an impressive array of speakers. Ray Kurzweil has been compared to Thomas Edison, he’s an inventor and author who also heads up Google’s team developing machine intelligence and natural language understanding. Other speakers include Tim McGuire, a senior partner and McKinsey & Company, UNB professor Ali Ghorbani and Chen Shengchang from the Chinese Association of Productivity Science.

One of the conference’s areas of focus is “Smart Cities” – examining how cities manage transportation and resource allocation. “Some cities are using analytics to measure how we really live our lives in the city, and determining how things can be done more efficiently and effectively,” said Shepherd.

Other areas of focus include business productivity, healthcare and the fast growing “Internet of Everything” that will see everything from your fridge to a robot on a production line connected, generating an avalanche of data that will hold useful insights.

Shepherd expects up to 800 people to attend the Congress, with about 100 of those coming from outside Canada. “We’ve had registrations from the U.S., U.K., Malaysia, Turkey, India and Bahrain,” he said.

So when will the event return to New Brunswick?

“Geoff Flood [T4G’s CEO] always wanted Big Data to be a regional congress that rotated around the Maritimes,” said Shepherd. “We are hosting it in Halifax this year, but next year’s location has not been determined.”

You can find out more about the Big Data Congress here.