The judging panel for Futurescot’s public sector AI Challenge was unveiled today – which includes a senior UK Government AI official, a professor of AI and a data science and AI lead at a major UK bank.
Victoria Bew, deputy director at the UK Government’s incubator for Artificial Intelligence, within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, is joined by Professor Michael Rovatsos of the University of Edinburgh and Lloyds Banking Group’s data science and AI lead, Sean Harkin.
Together, they will assess the entries to this year’s Futurescot AI Challenge, run in partnership with technology consultancy Storm ID and which is designed to encourage Scottish public sector bodies to conside use cases for AI within their organisations.
Paul McGinness, the Edinburgh-headquartered firm’s founder and chair, will also join the judging panel, which begins when entries for the competition close on August 22.
He said: “I am really pleased to announce the judging panel for the second annual FutureScot AI Challenge, in partnership with Storm ID. We have brought together an exceptional group of experts from industry, government, and academia, each with deep, practical experience in developing and deploying AI solutions. We are very grateful for their commitment to the Challenge.
“The potential for AI to positively impact our economy and improve productivity has been written about extensively. However, from experience we know that public sector services and health systems tend to adapt more slowly than the underlying pace of technological innovation. The potential value of AI will be unlocked only when it’s embedded in the tools that public sector organisations use every day. Bridging that gap is the core purpose of this Challenge.”
He added: “I look forward to working with our judges to identify high-impact use cases. Storm ID will then develop these into proofs of concept, with the ultimate goal of scaling them into real-world applications that deliver tangible efficiencies and make a genuine difference to public services in Scotland.”
The Judges:
Victoria Bew, Deputy Director, Incubator for Artificial Intelligence, UK Government (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology).
Victoria is Deputy Director, Strategy for i.AI, the Government’s incubator for Artificial Intelligence. This is a technical team sitting at the heart of UK Government – the team was founded in November 2023 in Number 10, and now sits alongside AI and digital delivery teams in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. Prior to joining i.AI, Victoria worked at HM Treasury, Nesta and in Management consultancy.
Michael Rovatsos, Professor of Artificial Intelligence, University of Edinburgh.
Professor Rovatsos has over 25 years of experience in AI research, where he develops AI algorithms and architectures to support collaboration between human and/or artificial agents. For the past ten years, his research has focused primarily on ethical and responsible AI. Since 2017, he has held key leadership roles at the University as Director of The Bayes Centre, Deputy Vice Principal for AI, and institutional lead on AI adoption. He currently serves on the Scottish Government’s Tech Council, the Board of The Data Lab and acts as academic University liaison at the Alan Turing Institute. He has published over 100 scientific articles on various topics in AI and has been involved in research and innovation projects that have received over £20 million of external funding.
Sean Harkin, Data Science & AI Lead, Lloyds Banking Group
Sean is Data Science and AI Lead at Lloyds Banking Group, leading the delivery of cutting-edge Generative AI and predictive machine learning solutions for improving customer journeys in key long-term insurance products. He previously led machine learning in a FinTech startup and another UK bank and has eighteen years’ experience in the UK financial sector. He works with top level stakeholders in defining AI and ML strategy, and is experienced in building and deploying machine learning models across a range of programming languages and technology solutions. He holds a PhD in applied statistical modelling.
Paul McGinness, Founder and Chair of Storm ID
As a founder and the Chair of Storm ID, Paul brings over 25 years of experience leading digital and data transformation programmes in the UK and internationally across diverse sectors, including central government, justice, healthcare, and financial services. For the past five years, he has specialised in healthcare, building predictive, explainable, and ethical AI tools to support earlier diagnosis and delivery of guideline-directed therapy for patients with chronic conditions. Today, Paul advises organisations at board level on AI, leveraging his experience to help them harness the full potential of AI – from identifying high-impact use cases to scaling intelligent solutions safely to drive productivity and efficiency improvements.
