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Top Construction Conferences for 2023

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Top Construction Conferences for 2023

We know a leader like you wants to stay competitive in the ever evolving construction industry. Conferences are the perfect opportunity for you to expand your network and make lasting connections, build your business or boost your career. From the leading construction technology event to the world’s largest green building symposium, we’ve got you covered for 2023. Check out the list below of our must-attend construction conferences starting with the earliest.

World of Concrete 2023

When: Jan. 16 to 19

Where: Las Vegas, NV  

Why Attend: World of Concrete is one of the industry’s oldest and largest events for concrete and masonry professionals in the world. With more than 60,000 industry professionals expected to attend and an estimated 1,500 exhibitors, there will be plenty of networking opportunities and the chance to get your hands on cutting-edge technology and machinery. Numerous workshops and seminars offer something for everyone.

Learn more here.

New York Build 2023 Expo

When: March 8 & 9

Where: New York, NY

Why Attend: With more than 300 speakers across 11 tracks and over 300 exhibitors, the conference is one of New York’s biggest events for AEC, design and real estate professionals. AIA CES-approved workshops are also available. The expo offers a wide range of networking and learning opportunities.

Learn more here.

AGC Annual Convention

When: March 13 to 16 

Where: Las Vegas, NV

Why Attend: For contractors of all sizes, the AGC convention is your chance to gain valuable industry insights, connect with like-minded professionals, and prepare for the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. The construction trade show also features award-winning keynote speakers and breakout sessions. AGC attendees receive a pass with their registration to CONEXPO-CON AGG, the largest trade show in North America.

Learn more here.

Groundbreaking Women in Construction (GWIC)

When: May 11 & 12

Where: San Francisco, CA

Why Attend: The Groundbreaking Women in Construction (GWIC) returns to San Francisco in 2023. GWIC helps women expand their presence and influence, and provides them with tools to be successful in an evolving industry. The conference has also grown into one of the leading talent development and networking events for construction professionals. 

Learn more here.

ENR FutureTech

When:  June 5 – 7

Where: San Francisco, CA

Why Attend: ENR FutureTech is for business and IT leaders in architecture, engineering and construction. Through a series of thought-provoking and interactive sessions and intimate networking, attendees will take away the latest knowledge of what technologies work best, what doesn’t and what’s coming next for the future of the construction industry.

Learn more here.

CFMA’s Annual Conference and Exhibition

When: July 15 to 19

Where: Aurora, CO

Why Attend: The Construction Financial Management Association (CFMA) Annual Conference & Exhibition provides unparalleled education to help you become a better construction financial professional. Learning opportunities include general sessions, mini-conferences, breakout sessions (including advanced sessions), dawn peer groups, and a multitude of social and networking experiences.

Learn more here.

Procore’s Groundbreak 2023

When: Sept. 18 to 20

Where: Chicago, IL

Why Attend: Join thousands of your colleagues and industry leaders at Groundbreak 2023, the industry’s leading construction technology conference. The multi-track event features the industry’s top experts and innovative thought leaders. Learn about the future of the industry, hear lessons learned, and discover the latest construction tech from a broad range of breakout sessions and hands-on workshops. Award-winning keynote speakers, unmatched expo hall and networking opportunities will leave you inspired and empowered.

Learn more here.

Greenbuild 2023

When: Sept. 26 to 29

Where: Washington, D.C.

Why Attend: Greenbuild International Conference and Expo is the largest annual event for green building professionals worldwide. Greenbuild brings together sustainability to learn and source cutting-edge solutions to improve resilience, sustainability, and quality of life in our buildings, cities, and communities.   

Learn more here.

Lean Construction Institute | LCI Congress

When: Oct. 24 to 27

Where: Detroit, MI

Why Attend: In its 25th year, the LCI Congress brings together owners, general contractors, trade partners, members of the design community and other Lean professionals to engage in cutting-edge Lean methods, expand networks and foster collaboration. LCI Congress is where the Lean community comes together for unparalleled knowledge across disciplines.

Learn more here.

COAA Connect Fall 2023

When: Nov. 13 to 15

Where: Orlando, FL

Why Attend: Hundreds of planning, design, and construction industry professionals will gather at the Construction Owners Association of America’s (COAA) biannual conference for three days of high-quality, owner-focused educational sessions, great networking opportunities and lively exhibit hall.

Learn more here.

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Jobsite Editorial Staff

Our Contractor of the Year: Linda Hudek – The ‘Can Do’ Kid

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Our Contractor of the Year: Linda Hudek – The ‘Can Do’ Kid

FAIRFIELD, OH — Swimming in the extremely murky 60° water with waves constantly smashing her face when she would come up for air, Linda Hudek began to question her sanity, as she asked herself, “Why on earth did I sign up for this? What happens if a shark comes around? Would I get in trouble for punching that guy for kicking me in the face?”

You see, Hudek participated in the Alcatraz Sharkfest Swim some years back in the frigid waters of the San Francisco Bay. It was a 1.5-mile swim, “and stupidly it was my first major open water swim,” she recalls. “They hauled more than 800 of us out on to two ferries from the mainland out to Alcatraz Island, where they stopped and said ‘jump in.’”

It was very cold, says Hudek, but also a very “cool” experience. “If and when I do it again, I’ll be sure to drink way more water, practice more and maybe wear more than a bathing suit,” says Hudek.

Contractor of the Year: Say What?

Upon hearing the news that she had been selected CONTRACTOR Magazine’s “Contractor of the Year,” Linda Hudek, Master Plumber, LH Plumbing Services LLC, responded, “Why me? There are certainly better candidates out there that do better work.”

But it’s that selflessness and “Can Do” attitude that separates Linda from the rest. And that “Can Do” has become a mantra for Hudek as she strives for excellence in her professional and personal life. Both Hudek’s mom and dad—Herma and John—taught her from an early age how important a solid work ethic was. “I saw firsthand how my dad had to overcome adversities within his company and our trade in general, and he always persevered,” says Hudek.

Hudek’s father’s “Can Do” attitude, which was adopted from his time as a Seabee in the U.S. Navy, was passed down to both Hudek and her sister. One of their mottos for a long time, “He’s been screaming ‘Can Do’ since I was a little girl. He calls me his ‘Can Do Kid,’” says Hudek.

And, Hudek’s faith was a big part of her upbringing. “My parents’ faith in Jesus Christ, keeping us in church and teaching us about God has shaped me into who I am today,” continues Hudek.

The Beginning

Hudek began working in the trades at the age of 17 with her dad in commercial new construction plumbing. Although she had plans to attend the Ohio State University at the time for agricultural studies, Hudek decided it was plumbing that was enjoyable and challenging, and it really helped her come out of her shell as an “awkward” teen at the time.

“I began working for my father the summer before my senior year of high school just to have a job and I decided that I really loved it. Although much to his displeasure at the time, he didn’t want me in such a rough environment,” jokes Hudek. “I enjoyed the new challenges on a daily basis and the feeling of accomplishment that comes with physical, tangible work. I also loved the constantly varied workplaces and meeting new people on each and every project. I went to college at night and also obtained an Associates in Business Management degree while working for him, as well,” says Hudek.

It always seemed like a natural progression for Hudek to eventually run her own company and work for herself one day. Hudek went through a brief phase when she thought about working for someone else or even pursuing a career as an inspector, but none of that fit the bill at the time. She was not interested in taking over her dad’s company either. “I wanted to start something of my own, that was wholly mine and that no one could ever say was handed to me. If that sounds a little prideful and vain, well I’ll be the first to admit those faults,” says Hudek.

Getting It Done

Heading into year 13, Hudek has owned her business since 2010, not without its challenges. Much of her early work as a sole proprietor was still commercial new construction plumbing. There were definitely times when she was concerned with finding projects to bid on, recalls Hudek. “As a few years went by, I began to transition more into service plumbing, and there were many times that I was frustrated that the phone wasn’t ringing.”

With that “Can Do” attitude, Hudek kept charging forward. For Hudek, networking with other contractors was huge. Within her own field and in her local area, Hudek always offered to help other shops—usually one-person shops like her own—that needed help on a project or were overrun. Hudek mailed advertising flyers out to various areas in her county.

When Hudek eventually transitioned into service, she would also ask her local plumbing supply house to refer her to customers that might call. She tried participating in local ad campaign mailers, which, by the way, she would never do again due to the quality of customers that would respond.

She branched out into drain cleaning; many other contractors who don’t like to do it or just don’t have the equipment would refer Hudek for those jobs. And, word-of-mouth advertising was critical as the years progressed.

Hudek has been in the shop location of her dreams, and has since migrated to a majority of service work in both commercial and residential sectors with some plumbing remodeling. In addition to residential and commercial service plumbing and drain cleaning, her talents include natural gas, sewer and water line replacements, backflow testing, and plumbing projects that require scuba diving.

Getting Involved

Hudek joined her local Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors (PHCC) chapter as a board member, became the Vice President of PHCC Ohio, and currently is the sitting PHCC Ohio President. The PHCC progression started when she was asked if she would like to become Vice President after attending one of the state meetings and providing some ideas as to how to garner support for the residential licensing bill.

Hudek is very proud and honored to be President of PHCC Ohio, which lobbies the state legislature—and often national—to protect and benefit not just the trades, tradesmen and companies, but the end consumer as well. “The health of the nation is always top priority,” says Hudek.

“Currently, we are working on passing a residential plumbing licensing bill in Ohio and opposing another bill that would harm Ohio businesses—including plumbing contractors,” says Hudek. “We also support our up-and-coming young plumbers through scholarships, competitions and apprenticeship programs, and I am continuously looking for new ways to reach out to young people in order to promote the trade as well.”

Inclusion & Perseverance

Overall, Hudek would like to see more women—and men—entering the trades. She will be the first to say that the trades are not for everyone—you need to be physically fit, you need to be able to get your hands dirty, you need to be mechanically inclined, and not every job will be rainbows and butterflies, says Hudek.

“But what you often have is steady income, honest money, and a trade where there is such as huge variety of avenues to take. You can specialize in backflow testing, you can aim to do new construction, or you can gear your company toward remodels, drain cleaning, boilers, etc.—the sky is the limit.”

Hudek considers herself a mentor for anyone wanting to join the trades. If you are willing to work, willing to learn and can turn a wrench, says Hudek, you can be taught. “And if you’re a woman, there’s a place here for you. I’m a woman, but when I’m on the job, I’m a plumber first and foremost,” says Hudek.

Admittedly, there are many days Hudek comes home late, tired and filthy. “I frequently ask myself if it’s all worth it—both plumbing by itself and owning my company as well. Plumbing can be difficult, labor intensive and exhausting on some days and on others it’s more on the technical side and troubleshooting,” says Hudek.

Yet, Hudek finds that the finished product of providing a necessary service to homes and businesses outweighs the negatives. “I enjoy the latitude and variety that this trade provides for me. I made so many mistakes when I was a younger plumber and to see the knowledge I have acquired and the progress I have made is supremely satisfying. I enjoy being called to get a business or home back up and running as it should,” says Hudek.

Work/Life Balance

Throughout it all, the trades have provided Hudek with a good life, a life that allows her to do things she enjoys the most. “In the summer, I love to scuba dive and swim. Right now, I get in the hot tub and I pretend I’m diving. I also enjoy being outdoors in general—hiking, kayaking and swimming. Reading is also a great respite for me; action movies are great, too.”

Hudek also collects vintage Chanel handbags and buys and sells them as a hobby. She loves to dress and act as femininely as possible outside of work. “It helps me balance that part of me,” says Hudek.

One last thing: when asked once about the last time she said it was a great day, “I was running a new gas service outside in the sunshine on a job with no one on site to bother me—just me, the track hoe and some Nine Inch Nails.”

Social Connections

Social media has introduced Hudek to more contractors, both near and far. Networking via social media has brought her mentors, introduced her to new equipment and products that have helped her business immensely, and also helped her reach more customers. You can follow Linda on Instagram @thebrunetteplumber.

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Anthony Grumbles

Solar-powered cells: Light-activated proton pumps generate cellular energy, extend life

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Solar-powered cells: Light-activated proton pumps generate cellular energy, extend life

Science & Nature

Science & Nature mitochondria
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

New research in the journal Nature Aging takes a page from the field of renewable energy and shows that genetically engineered mitochondria can convert light energy into chemical energy that cells can use, ultimately extending the life of the roundworm C. elegans. While the prospect of sunlight-charged cells in humans is more science fiction than science, the findings shed light on important mechanisms in the aging process.

“We know that is a consequence of aging,” said Andrew Wojtovich, Ph.D., associate professor of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine and Pharmacology & Physiology at the University of Rochester Medical Center and senior author of the study.

“This study found that simply boosting metabolism using light-powered gave laboratory worms longer, healthier lives. These findings and new research tools will enable us to further study mitochondria and identify new ways to treat age-related diseases and age healthier.”

Mitochondria are organelles found in most cells in the body. Often referred to as cellular power plants, mitochondria use glucose to produce (ATP), the compound that provides energy for key functions in the cell, such as muscle contraction and the electrical impulses that help nerve cells communicate with each other.

Production of ATP is the result of a number of reactions made possible by the exchange of protons across a membrane that separates different compartments in mitochondria, ultimately forming a process called membrane potential. It has been shown that membrane potential declines with age, potentially playing a role in a number of age-related diseases, such as neurodegenerative disorders.

The new research involved C. elegans, a microscopic roundworm that—like the fruit fly Drosophila—has long been a research tool used by scientists to understand basic biological principles that, in many cases, apply throughout the animal kingdom.

To carry out the experiments, a team of researchers from the U.S. and Germany adapted an existing research tool that allowed them to manipulate activity in mitochondria. The technique, called optogenetics, has been traditionally used to target and activate specific neurons, thus enabling researchers to more precisely study patterns of brain activity.

The researchers genetically engineered C. elegans mitochondria to include a light-activated proton pump obtained from a fungus, an achievement the team first described in a 2020 paper in the journal EMBO Reports.

In the new study, when exposed to light, the proton pumps would move charged ions across the membrane, using the energy from the light to charge the mitochondria. This process, which the researchers dubbed mitochondria-ON (mtON), increased membrane potential and ATP production, and resulted in a 30-40% increase in lifespan of the roundworms.

Brandon Berry, Ph.D., who received his doctoral degree in physiology from the University of Rochester and is now a post-doctoral scholar at the University of Washington, is first author of both studies. “Mitochondria are similar to industrial power plants in that they combust a source of carbon, primarily glucose, to produce useful energy for the cell,” said Berry.

“What we have done is essentially hooked up a solar panel to the existing power plant infrastructure. In this instance, the solar panel is the optogenetic tool mtON. The normal mitochondrial machinery is then able to harness the to provide the ATP in addition to the normal combustion pathway.”

The study is important because it provides researchers with more insight into the complex biological roles that mitochondria play in the human body, a topic that the scientific community is only now beginning to understand. The study also creates a new method to manipulate and study mitochondria in the environment of a living cell. This could serve as an important platform to study mitochondria and identify ways to intervene and support function.

“We need to understand more about how mitochondria truly behave in an animal,” said Berry. “First in worms, like the current study, but then in human cells in culture and in rodents. That way future research will be well informed to target the most likely players in human disease and aging.”

More information:
Optogenetic rejuvenation of mitochondrial membrane potential extends C. elegans lifespan, Nature Aging (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s43587-022-00340-7. www.nature.com/articles/s43587-022-00340-7

Citation:
Solar-powered cells: Light-activated proton pumps generate cellular energy, extend life (2022, December 30)
retrieved 1 January 2023
from https://phys.org/news/2022-12-solar-powered-cells-light-activated-proton-generate.html

This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no
part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

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Tami Redner

Wildcat review: Come for cute animals, stay for nuanced psychology

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Wildcat review: Come for cute animals, stay for nuanced psychology

An unusual nature documentary features a battle-scarred soldier who finds salvation in the Amazon rainforest, caring for an injured ocelot cub and developing a complex relationship with the founder of a wildlife rescue centre



Comment



30 December 2022

By Jon O’Brien

New Scientist Default Image

Harry Turner and the ocelot named Keanu.

Trevor Frost/Prime Video

Wildcat

Prime Video (from 30 December)

Amazon Studios reportedly paid almost $20 million for the rights to Wildcat, an astounding figure for a documentary on a streaming service, surpassed only for superstar portraits of Beyoncé and Billie Eilish.

But while this documentary might be short on generation-defining pop icons, it does have stunning animals, breathtaking shots of the Peruvian rainforest and, perhaps unexpectedly, an unflinching insight into the effects of combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder.

This condition is brought into focus by Harry Turner, a …

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NHS-funded AI diagnosis tool benefits stroke patients

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NHS-funded AI diagnosis tool benefits stroke patients

Jakub Jirsák – stock.adobe.com

NHS England hails Brainomix stroke diagnosis tool for a tripling of the number of patients recovering to perform daily activities from 16% to 48%

Brian McKenna

By

Published: 29 Dec 2022 14:20

A Brainomix stroke diagnosis tool that received funding from the first round of the government’s AI in Health and Care Award, in 2020, has shown it can reduce the time between patients presenting with a stroke and receiving treatment by more than 60 minutes.

The then secretary of state for health and social care, Matt Hancock, announced the £140m competition for AI healthcare technology providers in January 2020. The award formed part of a £250m NHS AI Lab announced by then prime minister Boris Johnson, in 2019.

Current health and social care secretary Steve Barclay said of the Brainomix project: “AI has the potential to transform our NHS – delivering faster, more accurate diagnoses and making sure patients can get the treatment they need, when they need it.

“Brainomix is an incredible example of how this can be achieved, using the power of AI to shave life-saving minutes off one of the most time-sensitive diagnoses in medicine, meaning patients get the treatment they need faster.”

The Department of Health and Social Care has credited the technology with a tripling in the number of stroke patients recovering with no or only slight disability, from 16% to 48%.

As it now stands, the AI in Health and Care Award is backed by £123m and run by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), the Accelerated Access Collaboration at NHS England and the NHS AI Lab. It is said to support speeding up the testing and evaluation of technologies which have the potential for greatest patient and clinician benefit.

This funding, it is said, has enabled more than 111,000 suspected stroke patients to benefit across five stroke networks in England.

The department said the Brainomix e-Stroke system uses AI algorithms to support doctors by providing real-time decision support in the interpretation of brain scans which help inform decisions for stroke patients.

The technology allows stroke specialists to access scans and images remotely, so they can support other hospitals to deliver stroke care. This supports clinicians working across integrated stroke delivery networks (ISDNs).

The technology has been deployed at sites spanning 11 stroke networks across the country, of which five have been funded through the AI in Health and Care Award. This funding has supported the detection of more than 4,500 large vessel occlusions (LVOs) in stroke patients. LVOs are reputed to be one of the most time-sensitive diagnoses in medicine, with early diagnosis leading to better patient outcomes.

NHS England director of transformation Timothy Ferris said: “Every minute saved during the initial hospital assessment of people with stroke-like symptoms can dramatically improve a patient’s chance of leaving hospital in good health.

“The NHS is harnessing the potential that AI has to support expert staff in delivering life-changing care for patients with a range of needs, and through the AI in Health and Care Award we are testing, evaluating and supporting the most promising technologies which could transform the way we deliver care.”

Strokes affect 85,000 people in England every year, for whom getting into hospital and starting the right treatment quickly is key to making a good recovery.

The department cited a teaching assistant and grandmother Carol Wilson who suffered from intense cramp and rapidly lost sight and use of her limbs in June 2021. She was transferred to hospital where, with the help of the Brainomix e-Stroke tool, her consultant was able to rapidly diagnose a blood clot on her brain and recommend a thrombectomy. Thanks to the quick diagnosis and access to treatment, Carol has now recovered and is back at work and able to live her life as she was before the stroke.

She said: “This technology is just amazing. I was able to sit up and text my family later that day, and was back at home and able to walk around two days after having a stroke.

“I often think about how lucky I am to have made the recovery I have – to be able to go back to work and spend time with my grandchildren – especially when you consider not everyone who has a stroke has such a good outcome.”

For the supplier, Riaz Rahman, vice-president healthcare global at Brainomix, said: “The Brainomix e-Stroke platform has fast become a cornerstone of integrated stroke delivery networks’ ability to deliver best-in-class stroke care. We have collated multiple examples of hard evidence, spanning several networks, confirming the use of e-Stroke helps deliver more consistent treatment decisions and faster patient transfers. This is vitally important in a highly time-sensitive pathway.

“Having successfully deployed the system at pace and scale across the NHS, we have seen in some regions the tripling of post-operative patient functional scores and more than double the access to life-saving mechanical thrombectomy treatment.”

Read more on Artificial intelligence, automation and robotics

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Zonia Schildgen

The importance of improving data quality at source

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The importance of improving data quality at source

SA Mathieson

By

Published: 29 Dec 2022

The UK can blame its bad immigration data on Hungary, one of the eight countries which joined the European Union in 2004. Unlike most existing EU countries, the UK government allowed its citizens to move and work without restrictions, expecting 5,000 to 13,000 people to arrive each year. But this was a massive underestimate, causing accusations that immigration was out of control and arguably contributing to Britain’s exit from the EU.

Based on the results of the 2021 Census, the country which sent the most people to the UK was Poland, followed by Romania. But Hungary is the home of budget airline Wizz Air, which as part of keeping down costs tends to use smaller airports such as Luton, Birmingham and Sheffield Doncaster.

Also to keep down costs, the International Passenger Survey run by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) at the time focused on Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester. As a result, it didn’t notice increasing numbers of eastern Europeans using budget flights run by Wizz Air and others.

Georgina Sturge, a statistician for the House of Commons Library research service, highlights the episode in her new book, Bad data, as an example of how data collection can go awry. The passenger survey had been set up in the 1960s, when far fewer people travelled internationally, more left the UK permanently than arrived, and most people required visas.

“People didn’t tend to travel in large droves from Poznań to Doncaster in the past,” says Sturge. “Unfortunately for the statisticians, who hadn’t even stationed anyone there to do the survey at the time, that was exactly what people started to do.”

Sturge says the UK has excellent official data in some areas, including health, traffic accident statistics and much of the ONS’s output. The Office for Statistics Regulation maintains a list of approved national statistics which she describes as the gold standard.

“But ultimately, if we’re asked a question or we need to produce some briefing material on something and there is any data out there which seems remotely reliable, we will pretty much end up using it,” she says of her work for MPs and their staff. “From our perspective, it’s about explaining the caveats.” This means thinking about where data comes from, how it is collected and for what purpose, considering the human processes involved rather than just the technical matter of getting hold of it.

Replication crisis

Parliamentarians are not alone in being hungry for data, and not too picky about what they consume. Recent years have seen several scientific fields threatened by a replication crisis, where the results of research published in peer-reviewed journals cannot be reproduced by others repeating the work, in some cases because the data has errors or is faked.

Researchers who rely on such research data may find their work is undermined, but the risk can be lessened by using services that carry out reliability checks on papers. Healthcare journalist and academic Ivan Oransky co-founded Retraction Watch, a database of scientific papers that have been withdrawn. Its data is used by publishers and companies to check references through bibliographic management software including EndNote, Papers and Zotero, as well as digital library service Third Iron. “We would be happy to work with more, and to have our database integrated into the manuscript management systems that publishers use,” he says.

However, he adds, the bigger problem lies in inaccurate papers and data that have not been retracted, making it worth using post-publication review services such as PubPeer, of which he is a volunteer director. More generally, he adds that researchers are well-advised to follow the Russian proverb, “trust, but verify”, adopted by former US president Ronald Reagan in nuclear disarmament talks with the Soviet Union.

Researchers should aim to obtain and analyse the original data before relying on it for a project or further research. “That may seem inefficient, but it’s far better than being caught unaware when a project is much further along,” says Oransky.

Another approach is to improve the classification of scientific data, particularly that held in text. Neal Dunkinson, vice-president of solutions and professional services for semantic analytics company SciBite, says the word “hedgehog” in a genetics paper may refer to the sonic hedgehog gene that helps control how bodies develop from embryos, named after the video game character, or it may refer to the small, spiny mammal in general. 

Cambridge-based SciBite, which was bought by Dutch scientific publisher Elsevier in 2020, has developed a service to automate the tagging mentions of 40,000 genes to standard identities, making searches of papers, slides and electronic lab notebooks more precise. To do so, it has built lists of acronyms, alternative names and spellings, and common misspellings. As well as applying it to existing material, it offers a real-time option that prompts researchers to add tags through drop-down lists or the equivalent of a spellchecker.

Dunkinson says that good-quality data in life sciences should be “fair” – findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable. “We don’t at the moment critique the quality of the information written down – that’s about repeatability in the experimental process – but how usable is that information, is it tagged properly, is it stored correctly, do people know where it is, is it in the right formats,” he says.

Dependency chain in financial auditing

Financial auditing, like much scientific research, relies on other people’s data. Organisations are responsible for their accounts, but auditors have to extract data so they can check its accuracy and integrity. London-based audit technology company Engine B has worked with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and audit firms to build a common data model that can extract material from common enterprise resource planning suite packages.

The company’s head of audit and ethics, Franki Hackett, says the system uses knowledge of common software and practices to present what it thinks will correctly transform a file so it can be loaded into this common model, but it remains wise to include human checks. “You can take the human out of the loop, but when you do, you quite often see errors in fidelity, or mistranslation of data or inappropriate transformation and loading,” she says. “Keeping a good balance between the machine and the human being is a critical part of that stage of data quality.”

If it has processed a previous version, Engine B’s system flags any changes in the data’s structure, such as new fields. Hackett says organisations tend to be weak at reviewing data processes after they have been set up, meaning that such changes get missed. “An ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ mentality can miss that creeping brokeness,” she says.

Auditors working to decide if they can verify the accuracy and completeness of an organisation’s financial records often compare two sets of data recording the same things, such as the general ledger with details of all transactions and the trial balance which summarises debits and credits. These should match up, but it’s common to find discrepancies such as different dates for transactions, which can indicate poor controls. Hackett says she has seen senior financial professionals sticking their usernames and passwords on their monitors for others to use, risking outright fraud but also making mistakes more likely – and different dates in the two data sets can indicate attempts to fix such mistakes.

In similar fashion, through academic research on tax transparency, Hackett has found that country-level data that a European directive requires some large companies to publish often doesn’t tally with global figures. The parameters of the required national data are badly defined, she says: “They can produce something which is fundamentally kind-of unusable, a nonsense that’s a public relations exercise a lot of the time.” It demonstrates the need to know exactly what questions data collection is trying to answer.

Waseem Ali, chief executive of diversity-focused consultancy training business Rockborne, previously worked as chief data officer for insurance market Lloyds of London and head of analytics for healthcare provider Virgin Care. For insurers, bad data can mean wrongly priced premiums, but in healthcare, it can mean failing to provide potentially life-saving advice.

“There is a high likelihood that I will have some sort of heart disease, based on my family history and my ethnicity,” says Ali. “Having the right quality data about me allows healthcare providers to intervene sooner, so they can ensure that someone like Waseem goes to the gym regularly and eats properly.” As well as being in the interest of patients, data-driven predictive work could cut healthcare system costs by reducing the number of major interventions later.

Ali says organisations can seek to improve data quality by understanding its end-to-end journey and focusing on the most business-critical material. Improvements can be made through simple changes such as standardising how teams calculate the likes of profit margins and customers’ experience so these can be properly compared. “I’ve been in organisations where the same statistic is reported with different numbers due to the way it is being interpreted,” he says.

Anthony Scriffignano, chief data scientist of Dun & Bradstreet, a Florida-based company that has published data on businesses for two centuries, sees four types of data quality: accuracy, completeness, timeliness and veracity. Completeness and timeliness are relatively easy to check, although a blank field can mean the data doesn’t exist rather than it has been missed – such as because a business does not have a telephone number – and data collected today may have been created or updated some time previously.

Checking accuracy is harder. In some cases, Dun & Bradstreet can draw on official documents, but if there is no authoritative source, “it becomes a little bit of an art”, says Scriffignano. It can consider the reliability of the organisation providing information and whether numerical data is within likely ranges, although the latter needs to be. It may sound unlikely that a removal and storage provider is more than five centuries old, but as it says on its lorries, Aberdeen’s Shore Porters Society was founded in 1498. The key is to have rigorous checking processes. “You can’t just wing it,” he says.

The hardest of the four is veracity. Scriffignano points out that “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth” can be three different things, with the first broken by lying, the second broken by omission and the third only fulfilled through being entirely truthful.

There are ways to check that a set of data satisfies all three, such as statistical analysis of its distribution. If a graph of a set of data would normally look like a bell curve with a high point in the middle and tapering sides, but instead only includes the high middle, it indicates that some data is being excluded – the truth but not the whole truth. Dun & Bradstreet saw data on bankruptcies being warped during the Covid-19 pandemic, as smaller ones were missed or not reported.

Despite all the ways that data can be tested, Scriffignano says the biggest problems are caused by organisations unintentionally ingesting data that has unknown issues. “As a consumer of data, depending on what you’re doing with it, you probably should think about where you’re getting it from and how you know that you trust it,” he says.

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Becki Lupo

CIO interview: David Schwartz, vice-president, PepsiCo Labs

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CIO interview: David Schwartz, vice-president, PepsiCo Labs

David Schwartz has a passion for innovation. As vice-president of PepsiCo Labs, a specialist team that aims to exploit digital technology, he is charged with accelerating growth and identifying new opportunities for creativity.

At the food and drinks giant, Schwartz has the opportunity to put his broad experiences in corporate strategy, product innovation and finance into practice. Before joining PepsiCo, he worked for Home Depot, completed an MBA at Harvard Business School, and spent a couple of years at consulting firm McKinsey. He joined PepsiCo in its strategy function in 2011, becoming vice-president in 2017.

Schwartz says his time at Home Depot provided a great education about how IT works on the shop floor and business. While he learnt key concepts at Harvard, his time with McKinsey taught him how to use these tactics to solve business challenges. His role at PepsiCo gives him the opportunity to drive technology-enabled change at a global business.

“It’s been a phenomenal experience,” he says. His work at the company has ranged from thinking about how to help the business grow to pursuing market-leading innovations in drinks and snacks, and on to explorations of new opportunities in eastern Europe. He looks back on his transition to PepsiCo Labs and explains how one of the company’s senior executives in Europe asked him to take the vice-president role.

“He said, ‘David, you’re one of those few people who has the strategy background and the business understanding to know what the problems are’,” he says. “They wanted me to understand the challenges, find technologies that solve them, and bring a strategic lens on how we could use that technology to help PepsiCo grow.”

Bringing structure to innovation

Schwartz says he takes a four-step approach to exploiting creativity in his role. First, he and his team spend a couple of months understanding the problems in the business. That process involves going “really deep” into the challenges people across the organisation face.

“What is the problem that you see today that you can’t solve?” he says. “And what’s that magic wand – if you could change anything in the future, what would it be?”

As his team begins to understand those business-led briefs, they reach out to hundreds of venture capital firms to find the best startups. Each time they go out to market, they work with another batch of innovative companies. That plethora of emerging ideas are filtered down to 20 interesting solutions that might solve key business challenges.

“My working day starts with understanding a problem,” he says. “And then you see all these technologies that could solve that challenge. And there’s almost this micro-euphoria you get each time you find a technology that could potentially solve the problem for PepsiCo.”

Schwartz’s team takes those 20 interesting solutions and works with the business to focus on 10 specific ideas. PepsiCo then pilots these startup solutions. As part of this process, his team might even speak with competing firms with similar ideas. Schwartz says this transparent approach is all about working towards one aim. 

“We want to find the best solutions for PepsiCo,” he says. “We bring some key performance indicators and everyone knows what we’re measuring them against. And then, at the end of the pilot stage, we choose which are the best ideas to scale up.”

Boosting enterprise capability

Schwartz says this four-step process – which centres on understanding business requirements, finding the best solutions, piloting them and, if they’re successful, scaling them up – has produced some great results. It’s also a process that continues to excite him.

“Of the 10 we pilot, we usually have one or two at least that scale globally across PepsiCo and integrate into the business,” he says. “What’s so fun about the job is that it’s a combination of conceptual thinking, the analytical process of thinking about how these solutions might work in the real world, and then seeing the fruits of your labour come to fruition.”

“We want to find the best solutions for PepsiCo. We bring some key performance indicators and everyone knows what we’re measuring them against. And then, at the end of the pilot stage, we choose which are the best ideas to scale up”

David Schwartz, PepsiCo Labs

Schwartz says PepsiCo is always looking to build out its innovation programme. The company will run six startup programmes in 2023, and one of the big themes is sustainability, which covers key business areas, such as fleet management, human resources and front-line services.

The innovation programme is best seen as a boost to enterprise capability. While PepsiCo can draw on strong talent internally, the company also wants to scour the best ideas from outside the enterprise, says Schwartz.

“We do innovation and we can pull the lever of investing for strategic reasons. But we’re a food and beverage company. We have a clear objective, which is to put more smiles on faces every day and to get the bottles and cans in the stores to our consumers,” he says.

“That’s a sophisticated challenge. Technologies are evolving so quickly, such as machine learning and image recognition. And as that evolution continues, we want to be at the tip of the innovation spear.”

Piloting emerging technologies

Schwartz says PepsiCo Labs has helped to scale up more than 30 startups so far. One of the startups is WINT, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning algorithms to prevent water leaks in PepsiCo factories.

Water flow data is collected through digital monitors and analysed via pattern matching and machine learning. Estimates suggest PepsiCo can cut annual water consumption by up to 25% using WINT’s technology.

“We can see anomalies in the water flow. We use can use the technology to detect anything from a pipe that isn’t turned off all the way to using too much or too little pressure at different stages of the process. Now, by doing that, we can see double-digit reductions in water usage in our factories,” says Schwartz.

Other examples of technologies that have emerged through the programme include: a digital tracking system for sorting and recycling waste, built by Security Matters; a technology created by UBQ Materials that converts household waste such as unrecyclable plastic into a bio-based material; and an AI-based failure-detection technology for production factories from Pulse Industrial.

The innovation-filtering process undertaken by Schwartz and his team continues at pace. PepsiCo Labs announced recently that six startups have been selected through its outreach programme to pilot ground-breaking technologies that aim to provide sustainability solutions to the environmental challenges the business faces.

He says PepsiCo plans to foster further collaborations as part of the ongoing project during the next 12 months: “The aim of this work is to create results that really impact the business and its sustainability goals.”

Creating a charter for success

The startup programme wants to make it as easy as possible to pilot great ideas, says Schwartz – and one of the keys to success for this approach is the establishment of a charter.

“What that means is we’re doing it professionally,” he says. “The charter includes the scope, the cost, what’s included, what’s not included, who’s involved, and who’s accountable. That way, everyone involved is crystal clear on what we’re trying to do.”

Another key element to the piloting process is what happens behind the scenes, Schwartz says. These support mechanisms draw on the internal expertise a big enterprise such as PepsiCo possesses. The ambition here is to reduce distractions and to help startups focus on generating innovative results.

“Those supports include data, security, IT procurement and legal. We always have fit-for-purpose support from those teams. So, for example, we do the right amount of data security checks at the right stage of working with a startup,” he says.

“We say, ‘Look, we’re just working with you right now to see if the technology works. Here are a few questions. So we know we’re protecting you and that we’re also protecting us.’ Then, as we move beyond the concept stage and get more engaged – and we get more confident, and they become more confident they want to work with us – we go deeper.”

Schwartz says his team also undertakes a detailed assessment of the startup solution. This process helps ensure key performance indicators are met and that the technology is likely to deliver in practice what it promises in theory. His team considers scalability, evaluating whether the solution will integrate seamlessly into PepsiCo’s existing IT infrastructure.

Last, they focus on economics and whether the proposed relationship works for the startup and PepsiCo. “We need to ensure our products continue to be affordable for the end consumer. We’re a large company and we want to make sure that they’re set up for success long term, and that they’re going to continue to succeed,” he says.

Reaching new goals

Schwartz is particularly proud of his team’s ability to bring various internal and external parties together to achieve a common goal: “When they all come together, there’s a magic that happens.”

He’s also proud that his team is not just incubating great ideas, but is continuing to help bring increasing numbers of useful innovations to the business every year: “When our leader first put our programme in place a few years ago, we did one programme. Then we did two the following year, and now we’re up to six – and I hope to expand next year.”

When it comes to long-term aims, Schwartz says the objective is to keep finding creative solutions to the business’s challenges.

“The goal is that we continue to evolve at the right pace to meet consumers’ needs. If we can continue building great technologies that make us faster, stronger and better, then I think that’s a great success,” he says.

“The more successes we have in the near and medium term, the more we can experiment and really push the boundaries to further-out solutions. So 24 months from now, I hope we have more successes and programmes, but that we can also talk about lives we’ve changed.” 

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Elida Damron

A Computer Weekly buyer’s guide to data visualisation

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A Computer Weekly buyer’s guide to data visualisation

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December 2022

A Computer Weekly buyer’s guide to data visualisation

Data visualisation is proving its value throughout a period of economic uncertainty. In this 16-page buyer’s guide, Computer Weekly looks at the rise of embedded analytics, the advantages of real-time data and Siemens’ exploration of industrial metaverse use cases.

Table Of Contents

  • Why suppliers are increasingly offering embedded analytics.
  • Where real-time data fits on the path through economic turmoil.
  • Looking at the exploration of industrial metaverse use cases by Siemens.

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Anthony Stoval

How Finland develops its national plan for investment in innovation

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How Finland develops its national plan for investment in innovation

In 2021, Finland set a goal of raising its expenditure on research, development and innovation (RDI) to 4% of GDP by 2030. The government plan includes basic principles for allocating funding and stipulates that a third of RDI funding will come from public funds and the other two-thirds from private funding. But the specifics of where to spend that money are still subject to debate. 

The general view of the government and the research community is that the country should direct its effort towards areas that already have state-of-the-art research and where there is the potential to produce sustainable, scalable and commercially viable solutions. 

One of the best perspectives on where Finland should invest comes from VTT, the Finnish research and technology organisation. VTT’s role is to help bring the fruits of research to industry. The organisation is funded by the Finnish government and is the largest recipient of European Union (EU) research funding in Finland. Researchers at VTT are very well placed to describe Finland’s strengths and to provide a well-founded opinion on where the country should be heading. 

VTT recently outlined its views – and the views of other leading researchers in Finland – in a vision paper, called Most promising technologies: Perspective on sustainable growth and effective innovation policy in Finland.

The authors of the report reinforce the idea that two-thirds of the increase in RDI investment should come from private companies. The report also echoes the ambient view that funding for research and development should focus on areas in which Finland already has strengths and where the country would benefit from a stronger position in the future.  

A history of strategic technology in Finland 

One of the members of the report’s steering group, Laura Juvonen, sat down with Computer Weekly to discuss the vision paper. She started out by providing a history of Finland’s thinking on its national advantages and how some of those areas will continue to push the country into industries of the future. Juvonen is senior vice-president of strategy at VTT. 

She tells Computer Weekly that at certain points in history, Finland made conscious decisions to invest in technologies in a strategic way. The first time was after World War Two, when Finland was required to pay the Soviet Union wartime reparations, as stipulated in the Moscow Armistice signed on 19 September 1944. The treaty, signed between Finland on one side and the UK and the Soviet Union on the other, called for Finland to pay the Soviet Union $300m in gold (equivalent to around $5.78bn now). 

Subsequently, both sides agreed for the payment to be made in the form of ships and machinery, instead of gold, and that the payment would be made over a period of several years. Finland would need to ramp up its manufacturing capacity to fulfil this obligation, and forward-thinking members of the government saw this as an opportunity to build a more competitive manufacturing industry.  

With investment in equipment and training, Finland made the promised deliveries and came out a winner in the process. As a result of this agreement, the country developed a world-class manufacturing industry, proving once again that necessity is the mother of invention. Thanks to continuous investment in new technology, manufacturing is still big in Finland. The industry is now undergoing digital transformation to make it more efficient and to reduce CO2 emissions. 

The second wave of strategic investment came in information and communications technology (ICT) in the 1980s and 1990s, when Finland recognised the importance of electronics. There was a conscious decision to invest in ICT, and the move in this direction created a big community of digital experts. It also helped Nokia grow – so much so that, during the late 1990s and early 2000s, on several occasions, Nokia was the biggest company in Europe by market cap. 

After 2008, times were difficult for Finland. Nokia was huge, compared with the size of the country, and that had an adverse impact on the national labour market. Seeking to minimise vulnerability, the government made major changes in the industrial infrastructure as Nokia’s revenue declined. 

Historically, one of Finland’s strengths was the cooperation between researchers and companies. Now, many other countries in the world have built strong ecosystems to encourage communication between researchers and industrial players. To avoid being left behind, Finland would like to put more effort into such ecosystems in the future. 

“Finland is now ready to make more conscious decisions on strategic technologies,” says Juvonen. “There is a big change going on now globally, with green and digital transitions. We need to invest in these areas. We have the skills to contribute to these global challenges. We see moving in this direction as good business as well.”

She adds: “We want to offer solutions that are high quality, but also sustainable. A good example is in steel production. There is a big effort to cut up to 90% of CO2 emissions from steel production, which is a huge generator. New technologies are being piloted, and there is a plan to scale it up. This promises to revolutionise steel production, making it more efficient and more environmentally friendly at the same time. We can make a difference in this area, and we are in the process of making investment decisions that could allow us to really push forward.”

Areas of focus 

Juvonen goes on to describe the 11 most promising areas of technology expertise that VTT proposes as key areas of investment in the vision paper. 

Wireless networks: Finland is already a leader in mobile technology, thanks in part to Nokia. But beyond Nokia, the country also has an extensive ecosystem around wireless information networks, consisting of research institutions and companies that export their technologies – and the fruits of their research – globally. 

New networks, based on 5G and 6G standards, will replace Wi-Fi, providing services in restricted environments, such as factories, airports and ports. Finland is well positioned to help in the resulting transformation. Thanks to new data communications services, industrial processes in remote locations will be more automated, minimising the unnecessary movement of resources, including people. 

Artificial intelligence: Finland has some of the world’s best data archives in specific areas, including medicine – and the expertise for using those archives. The country can apply this strength to machine learning in the future. 

However, this is not enough to lead the country into the future. VTT encourages the government to invest more in pure research in artificial intelligence (AI) and in building a strong ecosystem including not only researchers and industrial players, but also users of AI. 

Microelectronics and photonics: Finland has been investing in research in microelectronics and photonics since the 1950s, producing state-of-the-art results. During the years when Nokia was dominant, investment increased to support the production of mobile phones, along with camera components. Finnish expertise in these fields is still among the best in the world. 

Currently, both the price of facilities and lengthy procedures for getting permission are obstacles preventing startups to easily make use of existing research and development infrastructure, which is usually located in or around universities and research institutes. One of VTT’s suggestions in this area is to streamline the time spent on procedures so that ideas can be turned into business more rapidly. 

Quantum technology: Finland has been conducting research on quantum technology for more than 50 years. Several centres of excellence are already in full swing, and some Finnish companies export some of the key platforms used in quantum computing and sensing. For example, Finnish company Bluefors is a global market leader in manufacturing ultra-low temperature refrigeration equipment that enables quantum computing. 

Finland now aims to take a lead in software and algorithm development for quantum computing. The country has recently set up a hybrid quantum supercomputer system to help researchers experiment with new software and algorithms. 

New materials: Finland’s expertise and innovation in materials has been among the best in the world for a long time, focusing on three areas: renewable bio-based materials, the circular economy, and advanced material design. 

The problem is that new material solutions don’t always make it to local industry. To ensure that material expertise is converted into commercially significant solutions more often, VTT calls for public RDI funding to support the creation of long-term cooperation between researchers and companies. It also calls for financial support for new test sites and pilot projects to test new sustainable materials. 

Biotechnology: Finland has been investing in biotechnology for over 30 years – and the effort has paid off. Industrial enzymes are produced in Finland, and traditional industries, such as the forest industry, are becoming increasingly dependent on biotechnology in production. Biotechnology startups have emerged, with particular focus on health technology, such as diagnostics and pharmaceutical development, or new food and material innovations.  

Because biotechnology is evolving so fast, Finland needs long-term funding for research. VTT believes artificial intelligence and biotechnology expertise can be combined to create new biosynthetic materials, among other things. 

Energy technology: Finland has a great deal of land mass, which is exactly what’s needed to produce renewable energy. The country is well suited for wind power, for example. Finland’s strength in manufacturing could be used to produce synthesis reactors, electricity supply devices, energy storage and battery technology. Moreover, the country’s strong process industry offers opportunities for producing and supporting synthetic fuels.  

The potential is there, but new investment is needed. Long-term funding should be increased for basic research and for specific projects. An ecosystem needs to be developed to ensure communication between researchers and businesses. 

Manufacturing technology: Finland is strong in production based on robotics and flexible automation. Many smaller companies have begun to develop technological solutions around robotic manufacturing. However, progress in this area is currently limited by an acute shortage of expertise.  

VTT calls for investment in education and training for manufacturing. It also calls for ecosystem development to encourage cooperation between researchers and companies in the manufacturing industry.  

Health technology: Finland has well-developed health data archives, along with legislative support for the secondary use of that data. Thanks to this data, Finland has developed world-class expertise in measurement technology, to identify and diagnose health risks and monitor treatment and the condition of patients. 

There is potential in data-based innovations to identify risk patients, monitor the effectiveness of treatment or improve the efficiency of healthcare service units.  

Finnish health technology companies have significant international growth and business opportunities, but more funding is needed. It is too hard for startups to obtain the early funding needed to develop commercially viable products and to break into the market. 

Security technology: Finnish research institutes and universities conduct research in cyber security, with particular focus on access and privacy, quantum cryptography and critical communication solutions. Companies are also involved in some of the research. Finland also has both startups and large companies that specialise in security. 

Funding is needed for more academic research to support industry as techniques evolve. VTT believes that, as is the case with many other technological areas, a stronger ecosystem should be developed to include researchers and industrial players. 

Space technology: Finland has developed expertise in the production of small satellites, and in the telecommunications services and know-how needed to operate them. Small satellites are more affordable and can produce valuable data, when built correctly. Finnish space technology operators have recently improved the miniaturisation of the technology that goes into the small satellites. 

VTT calls for public funding and pilot projects to achieve successes and references at the national level. Doing so, it says, would build momentum and attract international investors. 

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Erasmo Menjivar

Samsung taps a former Mercedes-Benz designer to lead its mobile design team

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Samsung taps a former Mercedes-Benz designer to lead its mobile design team

Samsung’s mobile division has a new design chief. On Friday, the company announced the appointment of Hubert H. Lee to head up its Mobile eXperience (MX) Design Team, the unit responsible for designing some of Samsung’s most visible products, including its flagship Galaxy S series phones. Lee joins the electronics giant after a stint as the chief design officer of Mercedes-Benz China, a position that saw him lead the automaker’s design teams in China and the US. “His unique and visionary perspective will help shape the look and feel of Galaxy, building on the distinct design ethos that users know and love,” Samsung said.

It will probably be at least a year before we see Lee start to leave his mark on Samsung’s products. Prelease leaks of the company’s next Galaxy S series phones suggest they’ll look a lot like their Galaxy S22 predecessors. What’s more, with the way smartphone development timelines work, Samsung has likely already settled on a design for its 2024 flagship. Even then, don’t expect dramatic changes; from a design standpoint, phone companies have played it safe for more than a decade. Still, Lee could push for small but meaningful tweaks to Samsung’s design formula — much like Evans Hankey did at Apple after Jony Ive’s departure. 

All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. All prices are correct at the time of publishing.

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Igor Bonifacic

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