The Center of Applied Data Science (CADS) is a private company established in

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

in October 2015. CADS's professed purpose is to nurture a new generation of

data scientists Data science is an interdisciplinary field that uses scientific methods, processes, algorithms and systems to extract or extrapolate knowledge and insights from noisy, structured and unstructured data, and apply knowledge from data across a bro ...

and data professionals through programs that focus on solving real business challenges.

Founding/History

CADS was founded by Sharala Axryd, a Malaysian entrepreneur; her unusual position as a female CEO was noted by several publications. In December 2015, CADS partnered with the

Data Incubator The Data Incubator is a data science education company. It offers corporate data science training and placement services. It is best known for an 8-week educational fellowship preparing students with Master's degrees and PhDs for careers in b ...

, which was founded with grants from

Cornell Tech Cornell Tech is a technology, business, law, and design campus of Cornell University located on Roosevelt Island in Manhattan, New York City. It includes the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute, a joint academic venture between Cornell and the Te ...

, the computer science school at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to ...

. The Data Incubator is considered among the leading data science incubators in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. Through this partnership, CADS was the first in the Association of South-East Asian Nations to offer a data science accelerator program to transform science and engineering talents in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

into qualified data scientists. With support from the Malaysian government, the programme was Data Incubator's first international campus.

Programs

In 2016, CADS collaborated with

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA ...

(HBS)

Executive Education Executive education (ExEd or Exec. Ed) refers to academic programs at graduate-level business schools for executives, business leaders and functional managers globally. These programs are generally non-credit and non-degree-granting, but sometime ...

to launch a customised

Big Data Analytics Though used sometimes loosely partly because of a lack of formal definition, the interpretation that seems to best describe Big data is the one associated with large body of information that we could not comprehend when used only in smaller am ...

(BDA) program, with

Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Malaysia ...

(MDEC) and Human Resource Development Fund (HRDF) as stakeholders. The four-day programme took place for the first time at Hilton Kuala Lumpur from 25th to 28 April 2016 with 53 C-level participants. It was also notable for being the first time Harvard Business School had conducted a program outside its Boston campus. The programme attracted criticism from the Malaysian newspaper ''The Edge''''.'' The paper questioned the integrity of the HRDF's spending allocations and CADS's role in the process. CADS stated in response, denying the allegation and filed a legal case against The Edge. It then ended in a settlement and The Edge had revoked its articles ever since. To position Malaysia as a big data hub in the region, CADS previously served as a delivery partner for the ASEAN Data Analytics eXchange (ADAX). Launched in March 2017, ADAX is an initiative by MDEC and Malaysia’s and the world’s first physical data exchange. The Data Star Program was then launched in October 2017 previously as a collaborative effort between ADAX and MDEC with CADS as a delivery partner. Now run exclusively by CADS, it is a training program for graduates that includes one to two months in-class intensive data science enablement training and mentorship with experienced data scientists. That same year, CADS collaborated with

Coursera Coursera Inc. () is a U.S.-based massive open online course provider founded in 2012 by Stanford University computer science professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller. Coursera works with universities and other organizations to offer online cour ...

, the largest ‘

massive open online course A massive open online course (MOOC ) or an open online course is an online course aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the Web. In addition to traditional course materials, such as filmed lectures, readings, and problem sets, ma ...

’ (MOOC) platform in the world to offer a host of data science courses to Malaysians.

Other initiatives

CADS has also moved forward with several nation-building initiatives in Malaysia to develop data-driven states. In 2018 alone, CADS delivered training through Sarawak Centre of Performance Excellence (SCOPE) to oversee the development of 2,500 data professionals by 2022 with programmes such as the Sarawak Talent Enrichment Programme (STEP). Furthermore, CADS collaborated with Penang Skills Development Centre (PSDC) to develop the first

Artificial Intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech r ...

(AI) Workforce Analytics platform to drive skills development in AI within Malaysia's Northern Region. More recently, CADS is collaborating with the Malaysian Technology Development Corporation (MTDC) in the areas of capacity-building, training as well as promote education, professional training and module development in

Data Science Data science is an interdisciplinary field that uses scientific methods, processes, algorithms and systems to extract or extrapolate knowledge and insights from noisy, structured and unstructured data, and apply knowledge from data across a bro ...

Analytics Analytics is the systematic computational analysis of data or statistics. It is used for the discovery, interpretation, and communication of meaningful patterns in data. It also entails applying data patterns toward effective decision-making. It ...

and

skills and specialisations. In 2019, CADS introduced its CADS Certification, a first-of-its-kind certification for data professionals to have their skills and talents recognised globally. This certification corresponds to global industry benchmarks and is a professional credential for any data professional. That same year, CADS launched Data For Her with the National Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Malaysia (NAWEM) that encourages the participation of women in data science through workshops and talks by female industry leaders.

References

External links

{{Official Website, https://www.thecads.com/ Big data companies Information technology companies of Malaysia