Baggott (pictured) will be responsible for developing the organisation’s data science strategy, focused on research that promotes financial wellbeing, economic resilience and policy change.

Before joining Smart Data Foundry, Baggott spent more than 20 years working across healthcare, banking and insurance on data science, machine learning and generative AI approaches to gaining insight from data.

Baggott is also co-founder and commissioning editor for the Business AI Alliance, which is a cross-party parliamentary group to help small and medium organisations use AI and drive growth in the UK. 

Smart Data Foundry was set up in 2022 as a subsidiary of the University of Edinburgh and is located in the Edinburgh Futures Institute. The company was created to use financial data to tackle big issues like poverty and inequality and create positive impact across society, the economy, and the environment. 

In April, Smart Data Foundry launched an Economic Wellbeing Explorer tool, which uses data from more than five million bank accounts to track economic resilience and wellbeing at national, regional and local levels and between age groups and income ranges.   

Dougie Robb, chief executive at Smart Data Foundry, said: “Gordon’s skills and ambitions fit perfectly with our mission to unlock financial data for the good of all and to drive real societal change. His technical expertise coupled with his commercial acumen will play a key role as we develop our range of data services into new areas.”

Baggott added: Gordon added: “It’s a great opportunity to bring my experience of analytics, machine learning and AI to help the team unlock the huge potential that financial data holds. 

“With much of the focus of modern data technology being applied to the accumulation of wealth for the few, it’s critical to use our capability to better support positive societal change and work towards a more equitable UK.”