Innovating Through Data - National Innovation Centre for Data

INNOVATING
THROUGH DATA
Solving problems. Delivering insight. Creating value.

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WELCOME TO NICD
"We work with your organisation to enable you to innovate through data.
We do this by exploring your business problems and working with your
people to transfer data science skills into your organisation, using your
platforms, your technologies and, of course, your data".
STEVE CAUGHEY, NICD Director
BARRY HODGSON, NICD Deputy Director

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Our aim is for the National
Innovation Centre for Data
(NICD) to transform how
companies are doing business across
the globe by utilising their data in
ways they have never explored
before.
A beacon for data science
NICD builds on the world-leading expertise
in data science and its application developed
within Newcastle University over the past
decade. We are very grateful to our funders
(£15m BEIS funding managed through EPSRC
and £15m matched by Newcastle University)
and our collaborators (The National Innovation
Centre for Ageing) for working with us to
create The Catalyst building – our new ground
breaking facility designed to encourage
and create a vibrant ecosystem around data
science.
We’ve already attracted global leaders in Red
Hat and AkzoNobel and are looking forward to
filling the building with interesting innovators
in data science.
Let the data answer your questions
At NICD, we enable you to consider the data
expertise required by your organisation and
to ‘grow your own’! We act as a 'critical friend',
rather than as a consultant, to enable the staff
in your organisation to explore your data and
achieve your goals.
As you will see from our case studies, the
key to success is to consider the business
questions that your data can help you answer.
You supply the domain knowledge and we
explore the data with you.
Realise your data potential
Why not read our case studies, consider the
network and ecosystem we are building and
ask yourself – can your organisation afford not
to get involved? If not… give us a call.

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As a region we’re incredibly lucky to have NICD as a
major asset, playing a vital part in the development
of the local, national and global digital economy.
As well as turbo-charging the North East’s data
science skills and cutting-edge data analytics
capacity, NICD is already recognised by businesses
of all shapes and sizes as a hub for digital
transformation and data-led business growth.
The centre and its networks offer a huge
opportunity for long-term collaborations that will
make an impactful difference to the local economy
and it’s great to have it as a key partner.
LAURA PARTRIDGE
Digital Programme Lead
North East Local Enterprise Partnership

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IMPROVING PRODUCTS
WITH MACHINE LEARNING
Procter & Gamble (P&G) was founded
in 1837 and owns numerous worldrenowned
personal care, health and
hygiene brands, such as Pampers,
Herbal Essences, Olay, Ariel and Gillette.
P&G wanted to move towards ‘measured
behaviour’ – learning about customers' habits
through direct observation, which can offer
more accurate predictions on what people
think about their products.
After struggling to find systems that enabled
us to collect data effectively through direct
observation, P&G decided to develop a
machine learning platform in-house, but we
needed a steer on how to bring it to life and
equip employees with the skills to do so. This
is where NICD stepped in.
NICD worked with us to create new predictive
systems for capturing and processing
customer insights, and to better understand
the skills needed to develop such systems
in-house. This project has changed the way
we think about approaching the development
of new data models. What we’ve learned from
NICD is that our principle-based approach is a
welcome step up and we’re now applying that
knowledge to a number of projects.
ANDY PATTON
R&D Fabric and Homecare Digital Innovation Sector Leader,
Procter & Gamble
"Data enables companies to
know themselves and their
industry better."
Stephen Dowsland
NICD Data Engineering

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KEY RESULTS
• Implemented a measured behaviour system, which uses machine learning to make informed
decisions about what consumers think about products, and product improvement.
• NICD was a ‘critical friend’ during the project to help challenge the feasibility of the machine
learning platform P&G required.
• Learned how to develop similar systems in the future, and the skills required to do so.

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TRANSFORMING DATA QUALITY TO
CREATE SOLUTIONS COMPANY WIDE
LKQ is a global leader in alternative and
specialty auto-parts.
Formed in 1998, it has expanded through the
acquisition of more than 220 suppliers and
manufacturers globally. Each of its operations
retains data, including stockists, manufacturers
and self-service retail businesses.
We knew that LKQ’s data could add value to the
business as a whole, from increasing revenues to
streamlining supply chains. The key to improving
our business and maintaining our position as a
dominant player in the industry was there all the
time – within our data.
The next step was to explore how strategic
data analytics could impact the way the
company operates, challenge longstanding
assumptions, and reveal new opportunities.
We also wanted to make vital investment
and growth decisions based on the best
information, which starts with data.
Our team co-located with NICD experts at
Newcastle Helix to help take us out of our
normal day-to-day mindset and into a dataled
one. The NICD team worked alongside us
to ‘clean’ and validate our data, which was vital
to the success of the project.
Together we took a properly structured
approach to working with the data, and built
trust within the company in using our new
method. NICD brought skillsets to the team
that were beyond our ability at that stage.
The solution we developed in the UK was
rolled out to subsidiary companies across
22 European countries. The project was
shortlisted for Outstanding Big Data Industry
Project at Computing’s 2018 Big Data
Excellence Awards.
MARCIN LISOWSKI
Head of Data Analytics
LKQ Europe Limited
“Data supports companies'
decision making and creates
confidence in their systems.
The more they use data in
this way, the more they feel
comfortable with it.”
Peter Michalák
NICD Real-time Streaming

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KEY RESULTS
• Gained insights on how to transform data quality across the company.
• Encouraged management to invest in a dedicated data analytics unit.
• Identified substantial potential savings and sources of additional revenue.
• Shifted company ethos towards a more data-led mindset.

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HARNESSING DATA TO CREATE
PRODUCTS FOR THE FUTURE
We are leaders in the field of paint
and coatings, and active in a variety
of industries including aerospace, oil
and gas, mining, power and the marine
shipping sector.
For instance, we sell anti-corrosive coatings,
which help to protect hulls from everything
from saltwater damage to barnacles.
We have extensive insight into the factors
that cause corrosion and a range of data sets
to go with it, including the global positioning
of more than 80,000 vessels, taken every
15 minutes for the last 11 years. We needed
a solution that would allow customers to
predict the condition of their underwater
hulls, without having to wait for a docking or
carry out a dive inspection.
We realised this was a much larger project
than just building predictive models, this
was about data engineering – bringing
data from multiple places, understanding
the cloud aspect of the project and scaling
the computing.
By collaborating with NICD, we created an
online predictive tool that helps AkzoNobel
customers make better decisions about
how to maintain and protect their fleet. This
allows us to provide Vessel Operators with
data insight into their vessels. At AkzoNobel,
we’re not just providing paint or coatings;
we’re selling data that makes performance
more understandable.
RICHIE RAMSDEN
Section leader functional services
Data Insight Team, AkzoNobel
"We took information about
when a ship would need
painting and augmented it
with additional data, such as
where ships have travelled,
and the chemical content of
the water they travelled on."
John Brennan
NICD Machine Learning

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KEY RESULTS
• Cleaned and analysed data from different locations, and in different formats.
• Developed a Minimum Viable Product that could offer real value to customers.
• Learned a variety of skills in predictive modelling and machine learning.
• Encouraged other AkzoNobel staff to consider how they could develop their own ideas.

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BUILDING LONG LASTING
RELATIONSHIPS AT THE NORTH EAST'S
LARGEST BUILDING SOCIETY
Newcastle Building Society is the largest
building society in the North East of
England with more branches than any
other society in the region.
A core element of its purpose is helping
people own their own home. We wanted to
understand how customer behaviour and
characteristics impacted their decision to stay
or leave a lender.
Working with NICD presented an opportunity
to use their experience and expertise in data
to approach this challenge from a different
perspective using skills, thought processes
and software not held within the society.
The project approached the challenge from
a different starting point when compared to
our standard approach. The early phase of the
project focused on data cleansing techniques,
whilst building a single customer view to
analyse and understand customer behaviour.
Due to the way the project worked, we have
received intensive and focused training
resulting in our data analysis skills being
significantly improved. This means we now
have the skills to apply to future business
challenges.
The model that we developed is now live
in the business and is being used to make
business decisions.
JACK PATTULO
Product Analysis and Planning
Manager, Newcastle Building Society
“They had no coding
experience whatsoever, now
they’re driving the questions
they want to ask from their
data and exploring new ways
to run their business.”
Matt Edwards
NICD Predictive Modelling

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KEY RESULTS
• We have not only developed key technical skills in learning the R programming language, but
also analytical skills to interrogate our data and drive the questions we should be asking about
our business.
• The skills we have learnt will create efficiencies, reduce workloads and enable us to confidently
start data projects of our own.
• The tool we have developed is live and assisting business decisions designed to extend
borrowers' relationship with the society.

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CREATE CONFIDENCE IN WARRANTIES
FOR INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES
Connected Energy specialises
in technology systems for grid
decarbonisation through the design
of energy storage systems that utilise
second-life EV batteries.
We wanted to know how to use data from
second-life EV batteries to predict their future
capacities and monitor the battery systems to
optimise their outputs.
It was enlightening for us to see where we
were missing data, understand what data we
had, and produce ways for external people to
interact with our data.
NICD helped us to validate data from battery
systems and get our data into the format we
needed. They also made sure we had the right
data skills in place to make these methods a
part of our future work.
The project helped us gain a clear picture
of our data to understand what was missing
and develop accurate predictions for planned
maintenance and warranties.
FRAZER WAGG
Energy Storage Analyst
Connected Energy
"Our job with Connected
Energy is to understand
how reliable second-life EV
batteries actually are, and
how they’re degrading, so
they can advise their clients."
Jonny Law
NICD Time Series Data

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KEY RESULTS
• More accurate monitoring ensured that our batteries are used equally and that outputs
are accurate.
• Gives confidence in offering customers warranties on second-life battery systems.

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USING DATA TO CREATE SAVINGS
OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE NHS
The NHS Business Authority is a Special
Health Authority and arm's length body
of the Department of Health and Social
Care (DHSC).
We provide a range of critical health services
to patients, members of the public, NHS
organisations and NHS employees, and
have large volumes of NHS data that we
wanted to derive value from. This included
primary care prescriptions, NHS Pensions
and job applications, European Health
Insurance Cards, and Help with Health Costs
applications.
We worked with NICD on two business
problems based on primary care prescriptions
data. One project aimed to assess whether a
particular policy was achieving the intended
outcomes, another project built a model to
report on variation in behaviour across a range
of metrics. NICD taught our staff a range of
approaches, from collaborative coding and
discussion, to challenge and demonstration.
NADINE MORRISROE
Data Scientist
NHS Business Services Authority
“There’s huge change in how you
can make use of a programming
language to automate or semiautomate
processes. It’s incredible
how efficient that can be.”
Jacek Cala
NICD Scalable Computing

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KEY RESULTS
• Learned new programming skills, analytical approaches, when and how to use those
approaches, and how to interpret the results.
• We anticipate that the projects with NICD will lead to improved ways of working, behaviour
change and savings for the NHS.

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CONNECTING WITH THE RIGHT
SALES LEADS AT THE RIGHT TIME
Prospect Path is a web platform that
connects software vendors with buyers.
Our company Converted Media designed the
platform to qualify sales leads for our software
vendor customers, which are recorded
every time a contact enters their details and
downloads a website resource.
Our challenge was how to use that data to
predict which customers would respond to a
sales phone call. With thousands of leads to
go on, it can be tricky to contact the right lead
at the right time. We asked – ‘is there a better
more data-driven solution to our problem?’
Converted Media worked with ARROW,
Newcastle University’s £3.4m innovation
programme, set up to accelerate and
enhance North East economic impact.
ARROW brings together the University’s
research, knowledge and innovation projects
with the needs of Small and Medium-sized
Enterprises (SMEs).
ARROW matched our challenge to experts in
NICD, and they helped us to fine tune our data
based on tens of thousands of calls, so our
project could work with a new model that was
within reach of the company’s expertise.
GABRIEL RUBINSTEIN
Sales Manager
Converted Media
"We helped to make the
sales process less random,
so they could better reach
customers interested in their
products."
Saleh Mohamad
ARROW Data Scientist

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KEY RESULTS
• Tuned data parameters to fit software used by the company.
• Equipped us with the knowledge and skills to question why particular statistical approaches
may not work.

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Photo: Graeme Peacock

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The team at Invest Newcastle work very closely
with NICD to help drive investment and jobs into the
city. The activity of NICD plays a fundamental part
of the inward investment proposition to highlight
the strengths and opportunities of locating a
business in Newcastle, and working with the centre
to understand the importance of data.
This has been of significant interest, not just for
traditional tech companies, but also companies
across other key sectors including financial and
corporate services, offshore and renewable energy,
and health and life sciences. The teams often work
together to identify and attract projects and host
them in the city.
JEN HARTLEY
Director
Invest Newcastle

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HOW TO WORK WITH US
1. We have an informal chat to discuss your data-related problems.
2. We invite you to a FREE Discovery Workshop where you will meet our
technical team of data scientists to better understand your domain-related
issues and data sets.
3. If a project is feasible, you define the business question; we agree the
scope, duration and cost and sign a formal contract.
4. We run a collaborative project led by your team. Our core technical team
work with your people, using your data and your technology.
5. We aim for meaningful business outcomes. Immediate ROI through
actionable insights, including operational efficiencies, new products and
services and most importantly new data skills.
"Whether you are based in the UK or
abroad our technical team is here to help
you begin your journey in data innovation."
Georgia Carr NICD Operations Manager

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Get in touch
nicd@newcastle.ac.uk
ncl.ac.uk/nicd
@NICDATA
Photography
Adobe Stock, Ben Clarkson (cover image), Graeme Peacock, and Alan Wallace
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AlphaGraphics
© Copyright National Innovation Centre for Data 2020