DatSci Awards doubles in size and adds international dimension

The 2017 DatSci Awards will take place on the 21st September in Croke Park.  The awards, hosted by Next Generation in association with CeADAR, will bring together more than 400 data science industry leaders and honour those who have accomplished and contributed most in the rapidly expanding field of data science and analytics.

Data Science and analytics are rapidly becoming big business in Ireland. It has been approximated that there will 40,000-60,000 analytics roles in Ireland by 2020, with a large proportion in “emerging” roles, including both deep analytics roles, and “analytics-savvy” roles.  In recent years many multinational corporations such as Apple, Amazon, Zalando, Google and Microsoft have positioned their global analytics centres of excellence in Ireland, and 9 of the top 10 global software companies have invested in Ireland . There has also been the recent creation and expansion of analytics centres by Deloitte, AON, SAS, and IBM who use use Irish based Developers and Data Scientists for Watson. Recently Akamai stated that Ireland has the fastest average broadband speed in Europe and 2nd fastest globally.

The growth of importance in Data Science roles is also borne out by figures announced by UCD which show a  40% rise in enquiries about Data Science-related courses and applications up 65% on the same time last year. As well as this, Next Generation’s Head of Data Science Recruitment Laura Kennedy  has said they are experiencing triple the demand for Analytics talent compared to this time 12 months ago.

As such 2017 marks a significant increase in both the size and scale of the DatSci Awards reflecting the growth of the sector. This year will feature 8 awards in 8 different categories, as well as the introduction of a level 9 industry scholarship in the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School. The course director, Dr. James McDermott, welcomed the scholarship which acknowledges the current surge in demand for well-trained data scientists.

“The analytics sector is growing quickly in Ireland and businesses are increasingly telling us they want to hire more people who have deep analytical skills, an understanding of business needs and customer needs, and an ability to make a connection between the two. That’s what the UCD Smurfit School MSc in Business Analytics aims to produce.”

The DatSci Awards celebrates this bright future for Ireland as a prominent and respected global voice in one of the fastest growing sectors and this unique event is a central building block in Ireland’s journey to becoming a European Data Science Hub.

Linda Davis, the CEO of Next Generation Recruitment, recognises the increasing importance of data science across a number of different sectors.

“It is really wonderful to see the evolution of data science as a business tool and how the use of this data is making major impacts in the field of health, sport and general commerce. It is a very special evolution that is happening and I can’t wait to look back in years to come to see how data science has contributed to the world as a whole.”

Next Generation are delighted to announce their partnership with UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School to offer 2017/18 candidates applying for the MSc Business Analytics, the chance to win a scholarship to cover full-time EU Fees worth up to €13,350.

Also announced in anticipation of the awards is Deloitte as title sponsor and sponsoring the Data Scientist of the Year Award last year won by David Sheehan, while Core Media will sponsor the Data Science Student of the Year, won in 2016 by Kevin Brosnan of UL. Deutsche Bank will sponsor a new award this year too – Best Use of Data to achieve Social Impact. FTI Consulting will sponsor Best Use of Data in a Large Company which will be opening companies with more than 250 employees.

In total his year there will be 8 different categories of awards to be judged by a panel 20+ Data Science Leaders;

• Data Scientist of the Year sponsored by Deloitte

• Data Science Student of the Year sponsored by Core Media

• Best Use of Data to achieve Social Impact sponsored by Deutsche Bank

• Best Contribution to Data Science from an Academic Research Body

• Best Use of Data Science in a Startup

• Best Use of Data Science in an SME

• Best Use of Data Science in a Large Company sponsored by FTI Consulting

• Best Use of Data Science in a Public Sector Body

Entries are now open for the 8 categories and will remain open until May 31st 2017.

For more information about this year’s event and tickets visit https://www.datsciawards.ie/ or follow @DatSciAwards and if you want to get in touch email [email protected].