Event review: What can big data do for chemistry?

The academic community are producing research papers at an exponential rate, so much so that good research and innovation can easily become lost in the sheer volume of information produced. How scientists and industry can shift through the noise was the basis for SCI's Fine Chemicals group'What can big data do for chemistry?' event, held on 11 October 2017. Delegates heard from experts on the importance of computational research in drug discovery and development, as well as the chemical sciences. Highlights included talks from Prof Gisbert Schneider, ETH Zurich, on his work into big'dada' in medicinal chemistry and the need for a balance between'the mind and the machine', as well as an update from Dr Aileen Day on the data science project at the Royal Society of Chemistry, which is working towards building a database of their work that can help disseminate knowledge to researchers. Artificial intelligence (AI) was a common theme at the event, with many of the speakers from biotechnology companies.