235: How Data, Big or Small, Can Help Grow your Tourism Business

Joshua Ryan-Saha works at the University of Edinburgh where he leads on the application of data-driven innovation for the tourism, travel and festival sectors as part of the Edinburgh & South East Scotland City Region Deal. He previously worked at The Data Lab where he was responsible for programmes to improve data science skills across Scotland. He joined from Nesta where he established the £10m Longitude Prize, featured on BBC Horizon’s 50th Anniversary Episode. Joshua has also worked as in Bosnia and Herzegovina working with international organizations such as The Public International Law and Policy Group to design projects related to constitutional reform, tourism and reconciliation. Joshua started his career in local government as a participant in the sector’s National Graduate Development Programme, working at the London Borough of Newham transformation projects across a range of service areas including education, social care, housing, and crime reduction. Joshua will lead a session to explore how Scotland’s tourism sector can get started in using data technologies and methods to address the sectors most pressing current challenges.