Patrick Buckley How IoT technology is helping candy producers make sweet profits! From chocolate bars to lollipops, gumdrops to Haribos, the confectionary industry is now worth an estimated 210$ billion worldwide. With the industry experiencing strong growth, it is no surprise...
Olivia Brookhouse When will Robots find a place in the Smart Home? With the mass introduction of smart speakers, smart doorbells, smart fridges and even smart toilets there is a world of possibilities when it comes to innovating our homes. Whilst...
LUCA GDPR 101: What you need to know On 25 May, the much talked about General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), came into force. This new regulation has the primary objective of governing the gathering, using and sharing...
LUCA The AI Hunger Games – Why is modern Artificial Intelligence so data hungry? (Part II) Guest Post written by Paulo Villegas – Head of Cognitive Computing at AURA in Telefónica CDO Modern AI can achieve the impressive performance in perception & recognition tasks mentioned in...
LUCA Deep Learning and satellite images to estimate the impact of COVID19 Motivated by the fact that the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic has caused worldwide turmoil in a short period of time since December 2019, we estimate the negative impact of...
LUCA Success Story: LUCA Transit and Highways England The transport industry is very receptive to the application of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence strategies, as there are clear use cases that can maximize a companies’ efficiency and...
LUCA Chiemsee-Alpenland Tourism and Telefónica Next Examine visitors to the Chiemsee lake Original post by Cécile Schneider, Telefónica NEXT The touristic region of Chiemsee-Alpenland and our colleagues at Telefónica NEXT used data analysis to examine the profile of visitors to the Chiemsee...
LUCA Mobility and transport planning in Neuquén There are more and more cities who, thanks to technology and the use of data, are hoping to improve the quality of life of their citizens though carrying out...
A data-driven football seasonLUCA 2 October, 2017 A game of football lasts 90 minutes, features 2 teams, each with 11 players, and it will hopefully (from a fan’s perspective) contain some goals. In recent seasons, an increasing number of clubs are making the most of the fact that each game will also contain millions of data points and events. Sports such as baseball and American football have a long history of using data. Now, soccer (or football as it will be called in this blog) appears to be the latest sport to become data-driven. In this post, we will see how data is driving teams from the summer transfer window until the final game of the season. Data-Driven transfers For fans, one of the most exciting days of the season is transfer deadline day. Although last minute deals can happen, the vast majority of signings are the result of months of scouting. Historically, this would involve assigning a scout to watch a player, to write reports on their performances, and then provide feedback to the club. For the majority of clubs this is still a vital job for the scouting team, but data-driven scouting is on the rise. For example, Arsenal paid over £2million for the US company StatDNA, whose data has since been used to advise their signings. Figure 1 : Data can help clubs make better signings Perhaps the poster boy of this new approach is Matthew Benham, the owner of London’s Brentford FC and Danish club FC Midtjylland. Benham made his millions using an analytical approach to bet on football matches and he brought the same mindset to running a club. The data collected on players is used to build a database within which the club can search for a player who can better suit the team’s playstyle. Brentford signed both Andre Gray and Scott Hogan using this approach, and both signings were very successful. The huge profits made on these players shows that the data-driven approach also has financial benefits. Additionally, signings are not made on ‘hype’, which arguably means that decisions are more rational. Wage negotiations can often be an obstacle to transfer talks, as the various interested parties often disagree on a ‘fair’ wage. A report from the International Journal of Computer Science in Sport reveals how Big Data can be used to analyze the salaries of top players in Europe. The data scientists computed the salaries of players based on 55 metrics (from goals scored, to aggression and ball control) and compared this to the actual salaries from the previous year to reveal overpaid and underpaid players. Arguably, this method could be used in any industry where there are identifiable attributes in order to determine fairer wages. Training using wearable technologies Figure 2 : Training with connected equipment TSG 1899 Hoffenheim having been playing in the German Bundesliga since 2008 and data science from their partner SAP forms a vital component of their training sessions. The players use wearable technologies and balls are fitted with sensors to provide real time performance statistics. Information can include distance covered on the pitch, passes completed, tackles made and much more. These insights can help managers to decide who has performed well enough to earn a place in the starting eleven for the next match. The power of Big Data is the sheer volume of events it can analyze – “in just 10 minutes, 16 players with 6 balls can produce almost 13 million data points”, according to Hoffenheim’s Director for Sports and Youth Training, Bernhard Peters. Data collected during training sessions can also prevent injuries (through the detection of metrics as detailed as stress levels) which is likely to improve the team’s chances of a successful season. One of the keys to a data-driven club is that data-driven training methods are instilled into the squads from the youth teams to the first XI, as is the case at Hoffenheim. Real-time tactical approaches Data insights from training sessions can be used alongside statistics from previous games to aid tactical decisions before and during the match. Many clubs work with data from not just their past matches but also data collected from their next opponent’s performances. Big Data solutions are also extremely powerful during the match itself. Coaches can receive a half-time report thanks to real-time analysis. Figure 3 : Tactics can benefit from data insghts Another benefit of a club becoming more data-driven is that algorithms can reveal insights that human statisticians would most likely miss. Many fans of FC Midtjylland point to Matthew Benham’s takeover of the club as one of key reasons why the club managed to win the first league title in 2015. Analysis of the data of previous seasons revealed the team’s strength from set pieces. This insight was used to turn this strength into a vital part of how the team played. In that title-winning season, “The Wolves” scored almost half of their goals from set pieces! The future Given the success stories of these football clubs who use a data-driven approach, it is likely that an increasing number of clubs will follow suit. One could argue that the question is no longer “how can a football club rely on data?”, and is now “how can a football club not rely on data?”. At LUCA, we believe that Big Data will become increasingly important for sports teams. If you would like to read more about this, you can read about our partnership with Movistar Team on the recent Vuelta a España (article in Spanish). Don’t miss out on a single post. Subscribe to LUCA Data Speaks. Big Data – Driving the Future of the Automobile IndustryFeel Free to browse: How online retailers are driving sales with sponsored data
Patrick Buckley How AI and Machine Learning help to develop vaccines As Christmas approaches this year, we have all been gifted the great news that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine has shown to be both safe and effective in creating an immune...
Patrick Buckley Is AI key to successful Real Estate investment? As Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to shape the world around us, in today’s post we explore the impact of AI on commercial Real Estate investment. To what extent is...
LUCA Deep Learning and satellite images to estimate the impact of COVID19 Motivated by the fact that the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic has caused worldwide turmoil in a short period of time since December 2019, we estimate the negative impact of...
Patrick Buckley How should you speak to children about Artificial Intelligence? In previous years, people’s relationship with technology in general, and with artificial intelligence in particular, was based on “text”, usually using specialised programming languages. Today, however, artificial intelligence has...
Patrick Buckley The Smart Train – The key to future sustainable mobility Governments know that a functional and efficient transport system is key to economic growth and social development. Well run transport infrastructure unlocks the productive potential of an economy. Naturally,...
Patrick Buckley COVID-19 Shines a light on the huge possibilities of AI in Education In 2020 remote learning platforms have become essential for students around the world as a result the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of these platforms incorporate Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology which continues to...