topic: KM-01-KT05 Applications of Data Science

Learning Outcomes

  • KT0501: How did data science bring change to the world?
  • KT0502: Decision making in business, including competitive advantage, optimizing business practices, enhancing consumer experience, and healthcare applications.

KT0501: How did data science bring change to the world?

Data science has revolutionized various fields, driving both societal improvements and advancements in technology. Here are the key ways it is changing the world:

  1. Healthcare Advancements:

    • Data science has proven instrumental in solving significant health issues. For example, it is being used to prevent blindness, treat drug and alcohol addiction, and combat various diseases.
    • Data is also vital in identifying patterns that lead to better disease prediction, prevention, and treatment strategies.

  2. Global Warming and Climate Change:

    • Data science plays a crucial role in combating climate change. For example, satellite data helps monitor climate change from space, and collaborative platforms like the Climate Data Partnership focus on using combined data to understand the condition of the planet, including carbon emissions, deforestation, and global supply chain impacts.
    • Key efforts aim to reduce carbon emissions by 45% from 2010 levels, as advised by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

  3. Empowering Developing Countries:

    • Data science is helping developing countries overcome infrastructure challenges and improve areas like agriculture, disease control, and disaster management.
    • Companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, and Google support analytics programs to improve life expectancy, extend the quality of life, and mitigate risks like Ebola outbreaks.

  4. Social Good Initiatives:

    • Global initiatives like Data Science for Social Good bring together data scientists to work on projects aimed at improving societal outcomes. Past projects have addressed homelessness in the UK, biomedical research efficiency, and identifying at-risk students.
    • Platforms like Kaggle host competitions where data scientists work on issues such as identifying households in need of welfare assistance.

As technology evolves, data science is expected to play an even larger role in solving some of the planet’s most pressing problems.

KT0502: Decision Making in Business

Data science is pivotal for improving decision-making within businesses. Here’s how it influences key business areas:

  1. Role of Data Science in Decision Making:

    • Data science can significantly enhance decision-making by identifying and analyzing causal relationships in the data, not just by using standard machine learning tools.
    • The key to improving decisions lies in understanding how certain actions will impact outcomes and using this information to make informed choices.

  2. How Data Science Can Be Used in Business:

    • Data scientists analyze raw data to provide actionable insights, which help businesses forecast the success of their strategies.
    • By turning raw data into useful information (“cooked data”), businesses can better understand their performance, monitor product health, and improve business operations.

  3. Business Intelligence and Strategy:

    • Data science provides business intelligence, which is essential for developing strategies that offer the best risk-return trade-off.
    • Businesses today generate a massive amount of data daily, which is used to gain insights into customer behavior, market trends, and other key business factors.
    • The insights derived from this data can be used to optimize business practices, enhance consumer experiences, and maintain a competitive advantage.
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