Fireside chat with Marc Warner and Louis Barson

Marc Warner is the cofounder and CEO of ASI Data Science. He founded ASI in the belief that the benefits of AI should extend to everyone and has shaped the company so that it can support organizations of all shapes and sizes to take advantage of rapid advances in this field. In the two years since founding ASI, Marc has overseen its growth to more than 50 employees and expanded its scope from a small fellowship scheme to a cutting-edge range of software, training, project, and advisory services. He has led over 50 data science projects for clients ranging from multinational companies like EasyJet and Siemens to the UK government and NHS. His work has been covered by the BBC, the Telegraph, the Independent, and many more. Previously, Marc was the Marie Curie Fellow of Physics at Harvard University, studying quantum metrology and quantum computing. His PhD research, in the field of quantum computing, was awarded the Stoneham prize and was published in Nature and covered in the New York Times.

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Louis Barson is Deputy Director of the Future Sectors team in the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy. The Future Sectors team lead the Industrial Strategy approach to new and emerging sectors, such as Robotics, Quantum Technologies and Drones, as well as ministerial reviews into clusters of disruption in ‘transforming sectors’ such as EdTech, InsurTech and GovTech. The team led work on the Artificial Intelligence policy framework in partnership with DCMS leading up to the Grand Challenge, Sector Deal, and establishment of the new Office for AI.

Prior to this role, Louis was Head of Technology for Aerospace, Marine and Defence, responsible for the £3.9bn Aerospace R&D budget, and Deputy Director for Science and Innovation in UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), where he was responsible for leading the UKTI Innovation Gateway – a ‘front door’ to the UK innovation system for large international investors and corporates.

Prior to joining the Civil Service, Louis spent four years in Japan studying Japanese language to fluency, and carrying out post-graduate research into Japanese Philosophy and non-classical Mathematical Logic. He graduated from Kings College London in 2005 with a first-class honours degree in Philosophy. In his spare time, he is studying Physics with the Open University and enjoys recreational flying as a private pilot.