RISK AND SECURITY
fraud and contaminations , which – given the food chain ’ s globalisation – have the potential to affect every person in every country .
He points to a well-known case in China where chemicals with high protein content are added to milk : “ Protein is seen as good ,” he explains . “ But babies drinking that milk are developing kidney stones because of the added chemicals .”
Professor Xu is now researching the design of a global traceability system that would prevent reccurrences of events such as Britain ’ s 2013 horsemeat scandal , when the nation was shocked to discover that some ‘ beef ’ products were actually horsemeat .
He says the technology underpinning such a system would store and authenticate information about where a food was produced or grown , how it was processed and how it arrived at the supermarket . This information would be available to consumers in a QR code .
Professor Xu ’ s interest in data management is as broad as it is deep , and he works closely with companies looking for ways to maximise the opportunities that modern digital technologies offer .
In the UK , he worked with a healthcare company to develop software that increased the speed at which patient data was transferred between hospitals and GP surgeries .
Twenty years ago , his PhD study of more than 200 company managers in five industries revealed that their main issue was lack of awareness of information that was relevant to their businesses . It raised in his mind a key question : “ Do they know what problems they could be solving ?”
He says the question has not dated and is often at the core of his research .
“ Knowing your data and what it holds changes how you manage , respond to or plan … it can change everything .”
That , he says , is the power that data management can unlock . It can drive digital transformation , strategic planning and exponential efficiency gains , and it can prevent risks to community health and safety being hidden within the deluge of information the globalised world generates . with research that can better the world .
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Knowing your data and what it holds changes how you manage , respond to or plan … it can change everything .
– Mark Xu
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