The Big Data Congress wrapped up on Tuesday, after bringing true thought-leaders on digital society to Saint John. Here are a few notable quotes from some of the speakers at the two-day conference:
On the impact of Big Data on society:
“Society soon will be data-driven, for better or worse. It’s our job to make it for the better.”
-- Sandy Pentland
Director of MIT’s Human Dynamics and Media Lab Entrepreneurship Program
On what Big Data means for business:
“The end goal is understanding your business and finding whatever opportunities there are to improve. What’s holding you back is really not the computational part. It’s the imagination to ask the right questions.”
-- Jason Limongelli
Vice President Woodlands, JD Irving Limited
“It isn’t just the technology but it’s the business model that’s transformative. Every company out there that’s, you know, in retail is out to figure out how they can be the next Amazon.”
-- Vivek Kundra
Former CIO of US Government; Executive Vice President, Industries, Salesforce
On social interaction:
“The more people interact with other people, the more they exchange ideas, the more money they make. High income people have a support network, but they also talk to a lot more people.”
-- Sandy Pentland
Director of MIT’s Human Dynamics and Media Lab Entrepreneurship Program
On how digital citizenship expands citizenship:
“Estonians are not just people who live in Estonia. It’s people who share the same values. Even if you take Estonia away, we will do whatever it takes to act as Estonians.”
-- Taavi Kotka
Chief Information Officer, Estonia
On using Big Data in healthcare:
“Big Pharma is now convinced that this [using genetic data] is one of the most exciting and efficient ways to do drug discovery. This is undoubtedly the new paradigm.”
-- Tyler Wish
Co-Founder and CEO of Sequence Bio.
“This is where Big Data can help but only in how it affects the patient. It’s not whether there was an infection during the back operation but, Did the operation make the patient better?”
-- Jamie Heywood
Co-Founder and Chairman, PatientsLikeMe
On replacing human workers:
“I’m sick of hiring humans. I will not hire any more humans. I will only hire robots.”
-- Alec Ross
Author and Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Johns Hopkins University
(Quoting a Taiwanese industrialist, who subsequently laid off 60,000 employees)
On cybersecurity:
“One area that will be a centibillion dollar industry – and this is important for New Brunswick because New Brunswick has made some smart investments in this space – is cybersecurity.”
-- Alec Ross
Author and Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Johns Hopkins University
