Naimuri’s innovation and engagement lead, Dr Phininder (Phini) Balaghan has been appointed as the global capability area lead for Artificial Intelligence (AI) within Naimuri’s parent company QinetiQ.
The new role will see Balaghan take the lead on exploring how QinetiQ can support its defence and security customers to exploit AI.
Balaghan has been with Naimuri for two years, after joining from the University of Hull.
He is renowned for his innate understanding of the workings of the world of academia and its cutting-edge research, which led him to develop Naimuri’s highly-acclaimed tech event – Tech, Academia and Government (TAG) – which has been instrumental in enabling customers to engage with academia to explore and find solutions to real-world customer challenges.
The role will see Balaghan split his time, supporting the QinetiQ Group Technology and Operational Excellence (GTOE) Technical Capability Team with the growth of its AI capability globally, while continuing to grow innovation and engagement at Naimuri, including the Data Intelligence Centre of Excellence (DICE).
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a technological revolution that is impacting customers in defence and security across the world, and QinetiQ is keen to accelerate the development of its existing capability globally.
Balanghan said: “AI data science and machine learning will be at the core of what we do for the coming generations. We must place ourselves at the forefront of this technological revolution. We need to ensure that we are world leaders in this field, focusing on what we have always been great at. I am extremely excited to be taking on this role, working across the company globally and building a strategy that places us at the forefront of AI”.
Alice Spreckley, managing director Naimuri, commented: “Growth of our data science & AI capabilities has been a significant focus for Naimuri over the last couple of years. We are delighted to further support this work with Phini’s new role.”
David Rosewell, group director science and technology engagement at QinetiQ, added: “Our global technical capabilities are the building blocks for supporting our defence and security customers, and AI is a vital component of all our solutions and a focus area for our customers in Australia, UK and US. I’m delighted that Phini’s expertise from Naimuri will support in driving forward our approach to AI globally and with our customers and partners.”
As part of the new role, Balanghan will be responsible for developing the global AI strategy and capability roadmap in collaboration with QinetiQ ’s sectors and global campaigns. He will also lead technology horizon scanning in AI and identify potential opportunities for building additional capability and offerings.
He will also be focused on creating and managing a thriving AI community across Naimuri, QinetiQ company and its partners, which promotes information sharing and learnings to grow business and capability. This will include fostering a collaborative environment with other technical capability areas to identify synergies across strategic growth capability areas.
