A new cross-sector consortium is working on a solution to the challenge of data access for regulated industries. The new platform is designed to deliver intelligence from previously inaccessible data whilst preserving privacy. So convinced they are of its potential, that its developers say it could do for data what the internet did for communication.

The UK Innovate-backed platform is being developed in conjunction with the Financial Conduct Authority, two international banks, Ashurst, Oasis Loss Modelling Framework, Wilson Wright Accounting and Tax Practice, University College London and Loughborough University. Led by regtech firm, Regulaition, it is hoped that the AIR Platform will deliver a ‘generational breakthrough’ in the way the private and public sectors operate and interact with each other locally and globally.

Regulaition CEO, Sally Sfeir-Tait (pictured) said the company's vision for the AIR Platform is to provide the digital infrastructure required for scalable, automated, repeatable, and responsible data-access, supporting the UK's role in the fourth industrial revolution.

“We’re facing the perfect storm; there is simply more data in the world than we can handle, it is suffocating businesses, industries and regulators. Equally, data silos mean organisations are unable to develop meaningful solutions, and privacy concerns such as GDPR and commercial interests stand in the way of delivering collaborative efforts to share knowledge from data," she explained.

“Tackling these challenges as individual businesses or sectors is not only prohibitive but also limiting in terms of what can be achieved that is of real value. However, a collaborative, sector-agnostic approach driven by artificial intelligence, machine learning and other analytical technologies can work. The AIR Platform will be that generational breakthrough.”

Stephen Browning of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund Next-Generation Services, commented, “A common hurdle when trying to develop and apply AI solutions is accessing data, often across organisational boundaries. This is particularly true in regulated sectors such as legal, accountancy and insurance where concern for the privacy of client data is paramount. The AIR Platform project has the potential to overcome some of these issues and unlock the potential of applying AI to professional and financial services and I’m excited to see what this project can deliver in privacy enhancing data solutions.”

The Innovate UK backed consortium is joined by both UCL and the Institute for Digital Technologies at Loughborough University.

“The AIR Platform has the potential of doing for data what the Internet did for communication. We are creating ‘the datanet’ and doing so from the bottom-up in collaboration with the regulators and service industries,” said Professor Philip Treleaven, director of the UK Centre for Financial Computing, UCL.

“To thrive, the UK economy needs a new generation of agile data driven businesses. The AIR Platform has the technology stack to preserve security, privacy, regulatory and commercial protections in an automated way; it will break down barriers, allow true collaboration and drive economic innovation.”

The AIR Platform is under development with commercial and collaborator use cases being developed concurrently to establish real-world return on investment. Full project delivery is scheduled for Innovate UK’s deadline of June 2021.

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