One Region One Sector One Statement

Today sees the publication of One Region One Sector One Statement, a document that sets out to establish the North East as a world leader for creative digital and tech Innovation. It has been a labour of love, developed over many months, by a small team from across the sector in the region. The real … Continue reading One Region One Sector One Statement

AI and social sciences

A few months ago, Ed, a colleague of mine from Durham University, asked if I would chair a panel session on artificial intelligence and social sciences at Proto in Gateshead. These are not subjects that I had any real experience in though this has never stopped me before from having opinions nor contributing to a … Continue reading AI and social sciences

Ethics? Whatever

If there was ever a fascinating subject to get your head around then ethics is it. Someone’s ethics are the moral principles that govern their behaviour or the way they conduct an activity. At its simplest, ethics is about doing or being right or wrong. People have argued about the subject for years and no … Continue reading Ethics? Whatever

A&E App

Matt Hancock, the Heath Secretary is proud of the NHS’s latest app. It is designed to help patients find the accident and emergency department with the shortest waiting time. He claims that the app will be’ good for patients, good for clinicians’. It won’t work for two reasons, firstly it is tackling the wrong problem … Continue reading A&E App

Teapot Lid

I can’t be an expert in everything. In fact I’m not sure I am an expert in anything other than perhaps helping people to take a step back from their issues and helping them to put forward a solution. At least that is what I like to do and I am convinced that people are … Continue reading Teapot Lid

Getting suppliers involved early

Perhaps it seems counter-intuitive that getting potential suppliers involved early will help shape a procurement yet it is beyond doubt true. So many requests for goods and services are issued without much thought as to whether the market exists to realise them and this will ultimately result in either poor purchases or dissatisfied customers. I … Continue reading Getting suppliers involved early

Freeconomy

Free is a four letter word! Freeconomy has nine letters. I first came across the word consciously in the Economist’s new magazine 1843 in an article about how people are playing the system. They scour the media for offers promising free stuff and use their technical skills to create spreadsheets and algorithms to maximize the … Continue reading Freeconomy

Cake is a powerful weapon

  Earlier last week I was at the Dynamo North East office for one of our regular weekly meetings. To be honest, they are regular but I am not. Due to, in the main self-imposed time restraints and diary clashes I have only been able to attend sporadically, so infrequently in fact that I don’t … Continue reading Cake is a powerful weapon

Large Hadron Collider

The Large Hadron Collider is the biggest machine that mankind has ever built. It is designed to collide sub-atomic particles at speeds close to that of light and watch what happens after the impact. It is hoped that in this way we can get a better understanding of how the universe was formed. I am … Continue reading Large Hadron Collider

Building credibility

How can you build credibility? By being credible of course. It is easily said but not so easily done. Hopefully you are aware that I am trying to help build a cyber (information security) cluster in the North East. I want to see the region positioned as a leading player in this important and growing … Continue reading Building credibility