Bristol startup to work with GCHQ and combat fake news
Bristol-based tech startup, Geollect is one of ten companies chosen to take part in a special mentoring programme being run by the UK’s intelligence, security and cyber agency.
The aim of the scheme is to develop creative products based on data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques that have the potential to help communities and businesses.
A GCHQ spokesperson said the programme will play a crucial role in helping to keep UK businesses and consumers safe:
“This 12-week programme will give these companies, using cutting-edge tech, unique access to GCHQ technologists to help hone their products - from helping to prevent the spread of fake news to countering people trafficking,” they added.
The GCHQ Innovation Co-Lab is a joint venture with The Landing, a tech mentorship hub based in MediaCityUK in Greater Manchester and global tech accelerator UP Ventures.
Emer Coleman, Project Director at UP said: “Our goal is to help emerging businesses make technical and commercial breakthroughs with their ingenious products and services by giving them access to world-class GCHQ technologists as well as industry experts and dedicated coaches.”
As part of the programme, Geollect will be working with GCHQ software engineers and scientists to develop their innovative media insight and sentiment analysis tool called MOSAIC. The platform uses machine learning and automation to process vast amounts of open source data from the internet. It provides an understanding of the sources of information in society and how different narratives and fake news spread.
Geollect specialises in using machine learning and geospatial intelligence techniques to collect, analyse and visualise vast amounts of data. They work with customers in defence, cruise lines and insurance to develop software that simplifies complex information and puts it in an easy to understand format that aids decision-making.
CEO, Cate Gwilliam said the company’s selection represents a huge opportunity to learn from some great minds, “we want to use this as a springboard to scale our machine learning solutions to the next level and make a real difference in the UK and the US. We’ve generated significant interest in our software and we’re excited to use the Co-Lab to further validate our capabilities.”
