The fifth annual Big Data Congress, one of North America’s premier conferences on data analytics, will be held in Halifax on November 6-8 and will focus on oceans and agriculture. The congress organizers have announced that the keynote address will be delivered by renowned American sociobiologist Rebecca Costa.

Since its inception in Saint John in 2013, the Big Data Congress has strived to help make Atlantic Canada a centre for analyzing data in all segments of the economy – from business to government to academia to healthcare. This year, the congress will meld that with Atlantic Canada’s ambitions to become a world leader ocean industries and sciences. And advances in data research are quickly reshaping the business of agriculture from blueberries to wine and potatoes.

“There is an incredible amount of oceans-related investment and work happening in the region and big data is playing a vital role,” said Michael Shepherd, the former dean of Computer Science at Dalhousie University and the chair of this year’s congress.  “For any business in the oceans and agriculture sector, this conference could be a game-changer.”

Panels, workshops and discussions on both oceans and agriculture will include energy, food and maritime security complemented with a technology track.

Costa, is an expert in adaptive management and technologies. Her book, The Watchman's Rattle: A Radical New Theory of Collapse, was published in 26 countries and has remained in the top 1 percent of Amazon book sales for five straight years.

The 2017 congress is being organized by the Big Data Alliance of Nova Scotia, a non-profit group that promotes data analytics in industry and academia in Nova Scotia. The alliance achieves this through promotion and management of the Atlantic Big Data Congress and through education and awareness programs such as the Big Data Education day for junior and senior high-school students.

“With so much complexity around our oceans and agricultural sectors worldwide, Big Data can play the vital role of making it all work, from tracking fish to improving grape yields in vineyards,” said a statement from the alliance. “And that’s what the Big Data Congress is all about: sparking ideas to innovate using Big Data.”

Read Our Report from the 2016 Big Data Congress