KPMG and Imperial College to invest £20m in the 'Big Data' market
New centre to drive advanced analytics and data scientist skills
KPMG and Imperial College London are looking to invest more than £20m in a big data scientist centre in efforts to help the UK unlock value in the market.
Called the KPMG Centre for Advanced Business Analytics, the eight-year project aims to identify growth opportunities in the market and develop data scientist methods and tools for using big data.
The KPMG centre, which will be led by researchers at Imperial College Business School, will train hundreds of PHD students with the aim of completing 15-20 projects per year
As part of the launch, KPMG and Imperial unveiled the Global Data Observatory, which aims to help researchers to spot patterns and gain insight into complex patterns.
Professor G Anand Anandalingam, Dean of Imperial College Business School, said: "Processing huge swathes of data is a major challenge for leading businesses. Today's datasets are so big and complex to process that they require new ideas, tools and infrastructures.
"The KPMG Centre for Advanced Business Analytics aims to address these challenges by looking at how we can translate complicated information and turn it into potential solutions. Doing this successfully could help businesses solve a range of issues and develop more commercial ideas."
Alwin Magimay, KPMG UK head of digital and analytics, added: "The fact is that one in five of the UK's largest companies now measure the value of corporate data on their balance sheets.
"Businesses realise that finding better ways of analysing data is the key to unlocking its profitability and we hope to help them unleash new waves of productivity, growth and innovation.
"Our new Global Data Observatory, for example, will act as 'the Hubble of Business Data', offering a unique platform to use leading analytical methods and solve complex business issues."