GradValley Data Science, an institution dedicated to data engineering, analytics and science, has been launched in Coimbatore.

The centre, located at Annamalai Industrial Park in Kalapatti near here, is all set to lead the data science revolution in tier II and III cities, said its founder and director Vimal Veereshwarayya. The training centre has partnered with technology giant IBM.

“We will be commissioning a Data Innovation Lab by February-end. Start-ups in this region will be able to use this facility,” he said.

On the need for such a facility, he said that GradValley is looking to develop a community of data scientists. “There is huge demand for data scientists. The requirement is estimated at over 40,000+ positions. The industry itself is in its early stage. There is an urgent need to groom people.”

“Further, India is data-rich, but most of it is unleashed. We call this “dark data”. There is a need to find the right skillsets to analyse the data; it is not sector/ industry specific,” he added.

He said the centre would focus on healthcare – both business and clinical side.

“There are over 3,000 hospital beds in Coimbatore, but there is no electronic data capturing system here. If we can analyse, find out the kind of diseases that is widely prevalent in this industrial hub, the hospital infrastructure can be aligned to take care of the patients’ needs. Right now, this is not clear. Data anaytics will help analyse the epidemiology of data,” he explained.

On the clinical side, the data innovation lab would assist in finding the safety vigilance of drugs. Right now, the risk signal for drugs is very slow. We will have to come out from traditional use to data-driven analysis for drug safety, said Veereshwarayya.

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