Alderman Barbara Kathmann is vice-mayor of economy, districts and small localities: “Cities need to establish a strategy, build their analytics capacity, and work with partners, including academia, to establish a data commons that can benefit all. The collaboration with ECDA helps the municipality to become more data-driven. Multidisciplinary teams participate in the training programmes and develop concrete proof of concepts; it’s hands-on training. We’re helped by the research and student engagement in European smart city innovation programmes to develop the new insights that we need to become smarter and more sustainable. Our partnership with ECDA provides us with the opportunity to position the municipality as an attractive employer among young talents who want to work on societal impact.”

ING has ambitions to use advanced analytics in its operations globally; the bank believes that it’s key to providing a smooth customer journey for its clients. Empowering customers to stay a step ahead comes from understanding how and when they need the bank’s services, and then by providing personalised service in an effortless and frictionless way. Annerie Vreugdenhil, head of innovation at ING Wholesale Banking: “Academic partnerships ensure that we are inspiring our people to innovate at the cutting edge, enabling them to build differentiating experiences for our customers. The Erasmus Centre for Data Analytics provided the ING team with the content, context and coaching necessary to actively contribute to our goals.”

‘Becoming a data native’ Executives from technology pioneer and founding partner Siemens took part in the eight-day leadership programme developed and delivered by ECDA. The programme, Leadership Challenges with Data Analytics, focuses on the organisational change involved in becoming a data-driven company. It included working on business cases about Siemens’ use of its own data in a learning-by-doing exercise, alongside coaching from ECDA academics and expert practitioners. The Siemens executives learned to apply data analytics technologies and AI, improved their business and communication skills, and boosted their understanding of privacy, security, ethics and accountability. “For every organisation, public or private, this leadership challenge is an amazing opportunity to work on data analytics with outstanding professors in order to become a data-native organisation,” said Robin Kroonenberg, chief digitalisation officer at Siemens Nederland NV.

‘We measure everything’ Online retailer Coolblue is a founding partner and will work with ECDA for at least three years. Pieter Zwart, founder and CEO said: “At Coolblue, we measure everything. We continuously use this data to amaze our customers. As a partner of ECDA, we'll continue to exchange knowledge in the field of data analytics with academics and students. This won't only help us to become a little bit better with data every day, but it'll allow students to kick off their career by adding relevant analytical skills to their academic expertise. We want to challenge them to transform data challenges into even more happy customers.”