Founders Factory has hired an ex-Imperial machine learning guru to support its startups

Founders Factory, a company that aims to create and scale startups, has hired former Imperial College London researcher Jeffrey Ng as its chief scientist. At Founders Factory, Ng -- who has cofounded several of his own software companies, including visual search and image recognition recognition company Cortexica Vision Systems -- will help to develop new artificial intelligence (AI companies, while also providing support to AI companies on the Founders Factory accelerator programme, such as Iris.AI and illumr. In an email to Business Insider announcing the hire, Founders Factory touted Ng's expertise in big data, natural language processing, computer vision and deep learning deployment of AI platforms. "Building and accelerating new startups in six diverse sectors opens up exciting new ways to apply AI," said Ng in a statement. "It's the energy and vibrancy of the Factory that's the main draw for me, coupled with the chance to open up the AI toolbox to bring new products to life."