FAQ

Brainpool has a network of 500 artificial intelligence and machine learning experts. We are attracting new “Brainpoolers” every day and this number is constantly growing.

Brainpool has a global network of experts spanning 23 countries, with a particularly strong footprint in the UK, Western Europe and Canada.

The nature of many data science projects means that our Brainpoolers can undertake many projects remotely, even in a completely different country. For any project we undertake, we will use all relevant communication tools required to ensure that projects run as smoothly and seamlessly as possible.
Whatever your AI business needs are, we are confident that we have an expert in our network.

Brainpool has experts in nearly every area and discipline of data science, ranging from simple statistical methods, though machine learning algorithms to sophisticated Artificial Intelligence systems. The areas Brainpool members are strongest include machine vision, deep learning, neural networks, GANs, Natural language processing, recommender systems, genetic programming and various mathematical optimisation methods.
Whatever your AI business needs are, we are confident that we have an expert in our network.

Brainpoolers are evaluated based on their educational background, industry experience and area of expertise.
To be accepted into the Brainpool, candidates as a minimum must have a Masters’ degree in a relevant field that align with the types of projects Brainpool consults on; with data science or computer science being highly sought after specialisations. Many of our Brainpoolers are PhD qualified and possess a strong theoretical and practical knowledge of their area of expertise.
All candidates are interviewed by members of the Brainpool team to ensure that their knowledge, skill set and experience is a good match for the types of projects that we undertake and that their performance will be consistent with the Brainpool best-in-class approach – having the best people develop and implement the right solution that delivers on your business needs.

For any given project, Brainpool undertakes the following process:
1.As an outcome of the scoping program, Brainpool identifies the different roles and the requisite knowledge, skills and experience needed to deliver the project requirements
2.We identify and interview potential candidates in the Brainpool network
3.We present candidates to the client to be interviewed and approved
4.If necessary, repeat 3 until our client is satisfied with our recommendation
5.Project is approved and signed-off by the client. Proceed to implementation stage

Brainpool offers end-to-end consulting services for all your data science, AI and machine learning related needs
Our services include:
Workshops: Looking to build you understanding of what AI is, the AI landscape and what your business could potentially achieve through applying AI? Brainpool offers workshops aimed at commercial and technical audiences.
Scoping programme: Have a clear idea of what you’d like to achieve through AI and want to assess feasibility or translate them into a clear plan of action? Our scoping programmes provide a robust roadmap for implementing AI in your business.
Project Implementation: Convinced of our plan of action and want ideas turned into reality? Brainpool manages project implementation from start to finish including recruiting the experts, building and deploying the solution and providing full documentation on our approach and process.
Ad-hoc AI Support: Already have an in-house data science team and looking to augment your capability on a short-term basis? We provide ad-hoc AI Support that connects you with relevant experts.

The long and legal answer that you can find in all Brainpool contracts is as follows:
“All [Background] Intellectual Property (IP) remains vested in each party. Once the Client signs-off the project proposal the Intellectual Property Rights in the Deliverables shall vest with the Client. If the Client does not go ahead with the proposed solution the IP for the solution stays with Brainpool. The Client grants Brainpool a licence to the Client Materials for the term of the Agreement for the purpose of providing the Assignment to the Client in accordance with the Agreement.”
The shorter, simpler answer is that clients’ own the Intellectual Property (IP) for whatever they pay for.
For example, if Brainpool conducts a scoping programme and provides a recommendation (i.e. a proposed solution encompassing viable machine learning models and technologies) and you proceed with the project, your business would own the IPR resulting from the developed solution.
Even though in most of the cases our clients own the IP, it’s not uncommon that some of our partners share the IP with Brainpool. The reason for this is to ensure that the technology is kept state of the art in response to new developments resulting from research or breakthroughs. Because of the rate of discoveries and novel approaches in AI and machine learning, the technology is constantly evolving and remains a moving target.

In general, the size of your business is less relevant than the types of objectives you want to achieve and the data you have available to develop a fit-for-purpose solution.
Before embarking on a AI project, Brainpool encourages clients’ to develop an understanding of what they aim to achieve through AI and what data is available – or can be created – to help achieve it. These factors will influence the methodologies that we recommend.
If you’re still clueless about data, there’s no need to worry. If you have an idea of a business challenge to be overcome or an objective to be achieved, Brainpool can help with the rest.

The primary benefit of a scoping programmes is to de-risk a project by making an early evaluation regarding the feasibility of developing a solution to achieve your business objectives and subsequently create a detailed strategy that includes a recommendation of feasible AI / machine learning solutions and the infrastructure required to support these solutions.
Does the above read like tech jargon and you’re still not clear on the importance of scoping programmes?
Essentially, scoping programmes are so important because it’s easy for AI projects to go wrong without adequate preparation, planning and expertise. Many companies have invested lots of money assembling in-house data-science teams or paying expensive consultants to build an AI panacea to all their business challenges. The outcomes of these projects often range from anti-climactic to abysmal.
Why? Because when undertaking an AI project, planning is crucial to success. Too often in the above scenarios, the business imperative is to deliver a solution – or sometimes, even just to ‘be innovative’ - and so people leap straight into problem solving mode rather than problem understanding and exploration.
It’s the AI-equivalent of diving into a pool without knowing the depth; high risk, low reward. We recommend avoiding making projects riskier and more expensive than they need to be. Begin every project with a proper scoping programme.

No two industries or businesses are exactly alike. The same goes for AI projects.
Each business has its own business objectives and unique “technological DNA” (e.g. data infrastructure, data sources, available data, software etc.) that will impact on viable solutions and project complexity. This is before you even consider internal decision-making process and sign-off.
In short, the answer depends on your business. Brainpool has scoped and implemented AI projects within a fortnight whilst others extend for half a year of straight planning and development.
For any project undertaken, Brainpool will provide a detailed project timeline as an outcome of completing a scoping programme so you can make an informed decision.

There is a broad range of factors that will influence the cost of an AI project including the project deliverables, complexity of the technologies required, time and resources required to complete the project.
For any project undertaken, Brainpool will provide a comprehensive breakdown of the project timeline, resources and cost as an outcome of completing a scoping programme.

AI and the environment in which your business operates are in flux. The wants and needs and expectations of clients and consumers are constantly changing, and AI will continually evolve not only to keep pace with these needs, but to anticipate and shape them.
What does that mean for you? AI won’t stand still, and neither can your business. As with any other area of business, AI will challenge you to continually evaluate your performance and refine your approach to achieving your business goals.

The journey to build your knowledge and understanding of AI can be intimidating, but also exciting. A great resource to begin developing your knowledge of AI and Machine Learning is on the ‘Accessible AI’ section of the Brainpool website. In this section, you can find useful information on the history of AI, important terminology and examples of how AI is applied in various industries.
If you’ve finished reading the Accessible AI section and would like more information or to discuss how AI can be applied in your business, please feel free to complete our contact form giving a brief overview of what you’d like to discuss and a member of our team will be in contact within 24 business hours.

It’s very easy for the subject of AI make things more complex than they need to be. Rather than asking “which areas of my business can be improved by AI”, try brainstorming “which areas of my business can be improved?”.
If you can identify areas of your business that can be improved, Brainpool can apply our expertise in AI to provide the most robust recommendations possible to achieve them.

Some basic steps we encourage all clients to take before engaging us:

1. Define the business objectives and outcomes that your business aims to achieve through AI. Ask questions such as:
1. What areas of my business can be improved?
2. What processes are completed manually that could be done faster and more accurately if automated?
3. In an ideal world, what operational pain points would I solve?
4. What do I want to achieve as an outcome of implementing AI?
2. Understand what data your business has available that can help achieve this objective.
Think of data as the fuel that powers many AI and machine learning solutions; with limited or no data, the engine will not start or perform as you want. Understanding the different data types you have available will help guide Brainpool with understanding viable solutions to your business problems.
3. Decide what you are prepared to invest in developing an AI solution.
Scoping, developing and maintaining AI and machine learning solutions requires an on-going investment on behalf of your business. This investment should be considered holistically rather than solely financially. This involves investing the time to understand how AI can benefit your business now, developing a strategy to incorporate AI into your business’ future and then understanding what you are prepared to invest in actual technology.

No two industries or businesses are exactly alike. The same goes for AI projects.
Each business has its own business objectives and unique “technological DNA” (e.g. data infrastructure, data sources, available data, software etc.) that will impact on viable solutions and project complexity. This is before you even consider internal decision-making process and sign-off.
In short, the answer depends on your business. Brainpool has scoped and implemented AI projects within a fortnight whilst others extend for half a year of straight planning and development.
For any project undertaken, Brainpool will provide a detailed project timeline as an outcome of completing a scoping programme so you can make an informed decision.

Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon and top contender for richest man alive once said, “it’s hard to overstate how big of an impact (AI and machine learning) will have on society over the next 20 years”. This is no exaggeration. AI and machine learning are already having a tremendous impact on industries and our lives, often in ways that we can’t even see or detect.
The content you consume via social media, streaming services and even news websites? Shaped by algorithms. The discount offers you receive and product recommendations on e-commerce platforms? Algorithms again.
The assessment of your lendability for credit purposes? Algorithms.
Inventing new drugs and pharmaceuticals in healthcare? Algorithms.
We think you’re getting the picture. Algorithms – the ‘DNA’ of AI and machine learning – are all around us. We interact with them every day and they shape our lives to such a degree that often we don’t notice until something goes wrong. As AI technology improves, our exposure to AI is only going to become more seamless, leading to increased expectations of performance from products, services and brands.

AI has a broad range of applications across industry and the benefits from these applications is almost as expansive. The specific benefits that your business can realise through AI will depend on your business objectives, available data and the competitive forces in your industry.
To learn more about how AI can benefit your business, we recommend visiting “Applications of AI in Business” under the “AI in Business” section of the Brainpool website.

Artificial Intelligence is considered by many to be the fourth technological revolution. Therefore, a more appropriate question could be “what are the consequences of not preparing my business to adapt to this revolution?”
Regardless of how the question is phrased, the consequences are consistent for any business, regardless of industry, that fails to keep pace with innovation and changing consumer needs and expectations.
These businesses experience intensified competition from emerging competitors and from existing competitors who successfully adapt to the new landscape. Over time, this results in declining sales, lost market share and decreased profitability. If this pattern endures, this becomes a long-term performance trend ultimately leading to the decline of the business.

While there are opportunities for AI to be applied in almost any industry, not every business is well positioned to take advantage of AI and machine learning.
There are several reasons for this:

• Data Quantity - many AI applications and machine learning methods require extensive data sets (“the input”) to deliver the benefits AI can create (“the output”).
  
• Data Quality - how ‘clean’ (noise-free) the data is, and how well it reflects the reality of real-world events. Evaluating the suitability of your data for the business objectives you aim to achieve is completed early in the discovery process to make an informed recommendation regarding project feasibility.
  
• The ‘predictability’ of the business and/or the market in which it operates. For example, businesses that undergo frequent structural changes that makes it difficult to connect past trends (derived through data) with future performance.
  
• Economics of AI – as covered previously, AI is a solution that requires significant time invested to understand the landscape and financial investment in a solution or product pipeline. In some cases, there may be human-driven solutions that are more cost-effective or where the efficiencies gained from implementing AI are marginal and deliver insufficient ROI.
  

This list is far from exhaustive and simply used to capture some of the high-profile and current applications of AI and machine learning. The best way to know if Brainpool can help is to contact us directly, provide us with some background on your business, such as your business objectives and topline overview of your data, and we can explore relevant AI opportunities from there.

A Brainpool product partnership combines your industry knowledge with our AI expertise to create products that push the boundaries of what is possible in your industry. These partnerships are a literal and figurative joint venture that leverage our shared resources to develop a product that addresses a real but unaddressed need in your industry and possibly beyond.
Brainpools’ first successful product partnership is Daisy AI. The ‘brainchild’ of Earlybird Technologies and Brainpool, Daisy AI is the first fully automated construction design system powered by AI. Using an AI approach known as ‘genetic algorithms’, Daisy finds the optimal timber-floor plan design in order to reduce design-time and cost of building a floor. In the future we aim to expand the functionality of Daisy so its capable of producing the most material-efficient designs to reduce waste. You can learn more about Daisy AI, please visit https://daisy.ai/ or email [email protected] for more information.
If you think you have a product idea that you would like to productise together with Brainpool, please get in touch. We are all ears when it comes to building products industry experts know they need the most.