The second and final day of Big Data LDN (London) 2022 closed in style, with a crowd-pleasing session delivered by Headline Keynote Speaker Matt Parker, AKA the Stand-up Mathematician. In his talk – When Spreadsheets Attack! (and Other Maths Disasters) – Matt, together with brave members of his audience, looked at some of the worst horror stories about times that mishandling data has led to disaster.

Also attracting large audiences in the Big Data LDN Keynote Theatre were talks from Microsoft’s Karthik Ravindran on Scaling Digital Innovation with Responsible Data Democratisation, KFC’s Mick Ayling on How KFC UK and Ireland Plans to Move the Business Forward with Answers to Bigger Questions, and Autotrader’s Darren Haken on Harness Your Customer Data With a Composable Customer Data Platform (CDP).

Among the high-profile organisations and blue chip brands sharing best practice, ideas and real-world experiences in the other 11 conference theatres were Schroders, AWS, Google, Philips, Microsoft, the NHS,  the BBC, Channel 4 and the Bank of England. Each of these theatres was dedicated to delving deep into a specific hot topic or trend, including Data Driven Culture, Modern Analytics and DataOps.

Of the 170 exhibitors at Big Data London, more than 75 were first-timers at the show. Visitors had the opportunity to discover a host of  inventive start-ups, including Data Pipeliner, which aims to revolutionise how data lakes are built, IOblend, a disruptive advanced enterprise DataOps platform, and the Data Toolkit Company, a new initiative from Red Olive that develops ground-breaking new tools for data professionals.

Once again, a number of exhibitors at Big Data LDN took the opportunity to make announcements and share their latest innovations, including:

• Immuta, which called on enterprises to scale compliant data access and security strategies, urging them to develop more advanced systems that adhere to upcoming post-Brexit UK data regulations.
• IOblend, which demoed its new advanced data engineering product that, “aims to disrupt a lot of the tech at the expo”.
• Tamr, which showcased the fruits of its partnership with Dun & Bradstreet to deliver the world's first self-driving data cloud. The team said: “It's a monumental moment with enormous benefits for businesses looking to access clean, curated, and accurate master data. The solution will impact how companies develop and implement their data strategies — including data mesh strategies.”

Bill Hammond, Big Data LDN’s Event Director, says: “Big Data LDN 2022 was our biggest event yet and as we close the doors, we can say with certainty that it exceeded even our highest expectations. Visitors immersed themselves wholeheartedly in the conference programme, taking full advantage of the chance to learn from specialists on the frontline of the industry. Session after session, our theatres were packed. On the show floor, visitors grasped the opportunity to meet with leading technology providers from every discipline, ranging from start-ups to industry titans. They will be returning to their organisations with the solutions and tools they need to deliver an exceptional data-driven strategy.”

Big Data London returns to Olympia London in 2023.