The Smart Data Foundry has unveiled its inaugural board.
Joining chair Dame Julia Unwin and chief executive Frank Gauld, the new board members are drawn from government, industry and academia, bringing expertise across data and financial services.
The new board comprises:
- Zachery Anderson, chief data officer, NatWest Group.
- Professor Kim Graham, provost, University of Edinburgh.
- Stephen Ingledew, chair, FinTech Scotland.
- Fiona Duncan, independent strategic advisor, The Promise.
- Professor Chris Speed, director, Edinburgh Futures Institute.
Smart Data Foundry, formerly the Global Open Finance Centre of Excellence, was founded in September 2020 with initial funding of £23m from the UK Government through the UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) Strength in Places Fund.
Based in Edinburgh, the not-for-profit has delivered several data projects in collaboration with financial institutions, including research into the impact of Covid-19 and the cost-of-living crisis on the over-50s.
Unwin commented: “We have demonstrated that we can work collaboratively to create clarity through data which can inform policies and decision-making - we want to inspire financial innovation and with this team, I am confident this ambition can be realised.”
Anderson commented: “NatWest were the first UK bank to partner with Smart Data Foundry and safely share data.
“Data helps us make better decisions and power research into areas that complement the wider NatWest purpose to champion potential, helping people, families and businesses to thrive.”
Ingledew said: “Scotland has one of the fastest growing fintech clusters in the UK, if not the world, and essential to financial innovation is the ability to access and share data, so the groundbreaking work that Smart Data Foundry is leading to create synthetic data unlocks the huge opportunities to inspire financial innovation that will benefit so many consumers and businesses.”
Graham stated: “We have a world-class reputation and standing for being a research-intensive institution - working with Smart Data Foundry can only continue to propel us forwards and enhance our reputation as one of the top five universities in the UK for research power.”
Duncan said: “I have spent my career working to encourage positive change, opportunity, fairness and growth of aspirations which improve quality of life.
“This will demand Scotland takes a different approach to how it thinks about data, moving beyond ‘system’ measures to what the data is telling us and what really matters to the people, so I look forward to using my experience and connections in government to help Smart Data Foundry improve people’s lives by unlocking the power of data.”
Gauld added: “As a young and growing business, to have the ability to attract such a talented board tells me we’re on the right track.
“Our ground-breaking work with the FCA to generate and supply synthetic data to support their work to tackle the growing problem of Approved Push Payment fraud is a great example of how we’re inspiring innovation in financial services.
“This level of insight is critical for policymakers to make decisions based on large-scale empirical data, no longer having to depend on survey data.”
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