2024 DataIQ Award highlights include:
- EDF’s transformation with data and AI impressed the judges and serves as a prime example of the benefits and improvements than can be achieved. The team also scooped the Grand Prix award.
- Smith Institute claimed the Most Innovative Use of AI (Enabler) award for creating an AI solution to combat energy poverty across the UK which will lead to tangible improvements and benefits for vulnerable people.
- Specsavers claimed the title for Best Place to Work in Data (Brand) for demonstrating why its data team is the best place to work in the industry with multiple benefits and programmes specifically for staff wellbeing and development.
The full list of 2024 DataIQ Awards winners can be found here.
“It was an exciting night bringing together so many that are making waves in the world of data, analytics, and AI,” said Adrian Gregory, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of DataIQ. “There is no doubt that the era of data-driven excellence is being turbo charged by developments in AI. In their 12th year, the DataIQ Awards are the premier occasion to highlight the incredible achievements of our amazing profession. The DataIQ Awards energise the industry and give the many that are driving change in data, analytics, and AI a platform to demonstrate why data is so important to the future of business, the wider economy, and societal change.”
Some of the businesses that won titles for their excellence included Coventry Building Society’s data academy which won Best Data Academy or Skills Development Programme; Sigma Labs was presented with Best Data Graduate Employer for its work with new talent; Edinburgh Futures Institute claimed Best Ethical Data Initiative for its development of the Responsible Innovation framework to improve the lives of children; Boots launched the first customer-facing generative AI chatbot in UK retail, winning Most Innovative Use of AI (Brand) for its efforts; and Breakthrough with Data or AI (Brand) was won by Lebara for its data-driven transformation to create a new era for the business.
Individuals across the industry were praised and celebrated for their achievements, including Steph Wright, Head of Scottish AI Alliance and Co-Founder of Diverse AI, who was crowned Data and AI for Good Champion; Marion Shaw, Head of Data and Analytics, Chaucer Group, won Data and Analytics Leader of the Year for her steadfast commitment to being a role model; Inigo Antolin, Head of Data Management at British Council, was named Data Champion for his work quelling the fears of data across his team and the wider organisation; NatWest’s Gordan Jackson won Global Data and Analytics Leader of the Year for his leadership and data-driven innovation; and Danique Hekkema, Data Literacy Consultant at Data Booster was named New Talent or Data Apprentice (Enabler) for her work promoting data literacy and data-driven decision making.
This year, the New Talent or Data Apprentice (Brand) award was presented in honour of Yusuf Mumtaz, the 2023 winner who sadly passed away, and was won by Clementine “Cici” Whitcomb, Data Engineer, EDF, for her work achieving towards a net zero future and actions as a data role model.
“As AI tools have come to define the new era of data, we must ensure the people behind the tech are kept front and centre, which is why it is so encouraging to see so many incredible teams and individuals behind the AI developments in this year’s submissions,” said David Reed, Chief Knowledge Officer and Evangelist at DataIQ and Master of Ceremonies for the awards night. “Over the last 12 months it has become evident that organisations are becoming far more data driven than ever before, and it is because of the tenacity, talent, and enthusiasm of the data leaders and teams we are celebrating. Without their input, the data and analytics industry would not be the rising powerhouse it is today, and it is for this reason that decision makers must keep investing in data excellence.”
The winners were selected by a judging panel of senior data practitioners. Each of the more than 500 entries were scored individually and then the judging panel’s scores were aggregated with the highest in each category identified as the winner. Each year, the Grand Prix is awarded to the entry with the highest overall score.
