The Whys and Hows of Machine Learning

Join Mat Larade as he gives an introduction to machine learning and what it can do for you and your organization’s analytical tools. He will begin by defining machine learning and basic terminology, before dispelling a few common myths. He’ll then discuss the internal resources you should ideally have in place from the outset of a project. He’ll also briefly outline some of the costs and processes to build the cornerstone of machine learning - a data pipeline - and talk about some of its specific parts and their respective challenges.

Finally, Mat will discuss the cost-benefits associated with starting a machine learning project, and ways to help safeguard its success and sustainability, before ending with a discussion of some of the common pitfalls to avoid from a managerial perspective. This is a beginner session oriented to business owners and project managers curious to learn more about machine learning, or who may have an idea that involves machine learning, but don’t know where to begin.

About the Presenter

Mat Larade, Research Consultant at ACENET

Mat joined ACENET in 2019 as a Research Consultant specializing in applied machine learning. He hails from Cape Breton, but has made his home on Prince Edward Island. He holds an undergraduate degree in chemistry from Cape Breton University, and is currently finishing up a Ph.D. in chemistry with a focus on applied machine learning. Mat’s specialties include the Python programming language, specifically with the Numpy, Keras, TensorFlow and Scikit learn packages. He is active in the local software development and business community.