Tracerco duo demonstrate intelligent data insights to secure top spot in mini-hackathon

Two employees from Tracerco, part of Johnson Matthey Plc are celebrating their recent success at The Environment Agency and The Water Hub River Basin Planning mini-hackathon.

The event, which was held 14th March at Sunderland Software Centre, north east of England, brought together end-users, technical experts and potential solutions providers. The challenge set was to explore and rapidly develop creative and revolutionary ideas that could help transform how environmental information could be better shared and communicated to deliver local action.

Steve Heasman and Owen Jones beat off stiff competition within the 24-hour period from other big data companies to claim joint first prize with their concept entitled “Water Heroes”. Using our rapid data visualisation and product prototyping techniques the team presented a prototype platform using Environment Agency data to drive local community action projects. This system would provide easy to understand data visualisations and insights which can then be turned into projects at the click of a button. The platform would provide a way to recruit people to your project as well as link experts and local sponsors to ongoing efforts.

Steve, Software Engineer at Tracerco said “I was very happy to be part of the mini hackathon at Sunderland Software City on behalf of the Environment Agency and The Water Hub, even more thrilled to say that Owen Jones and myself came joint first place. It was a great day for promoting different types of innovation”.

Owen, Development Physicist at Tracerco “I feel very proud that we were able to showcase our data visualisation expertise and show results using real data within the tight timescales set for the challenge. Great teamwork and an opportunity to build upon our existing knowledge in intelligent data insights to put forward actionable outcomes”.

For 60 years, Tracerco has captured, analysed data and provided valuable process optimisation insights to our customers. Tracerco is well known for its agile, rapid problem solving and creative solutions. Owen and Steve are members of our multi-disciplined team of qualified scientists, mathematicians and software developers with a track record for handling big data and advanced analytics. Ultimately, we offer innovative data insights, improve profitability, reduce costs and increase asset utilisation.

Paul Featonby, Research and Development Director, Tracerco “I am really proud of what Steve and Owen have achieved. To compete in the same arena as creditable and high profile big data companies and come away with first prize is a testament to the outstanding aptitude and abilities that exist within Tracerco’s team.”