Freek Bomhof
Data Science, TNO
Regulating data as
an essential AI resource
He works in the Data Science department of TNO as business consultant and project manager.
His first job was at KPN Research (1990): creating Optical Character Recognition systems for the letter mail sorting process of the Dutch Postal services. I started as a researcher / developer, and eventually became the project and programme manager of all postal R&D activities.
After that, since 1997 he had had several positions within KPN, being an R&D manager in the field of Systems and Multimedia, and project manager / program manager in innovative business processes. I have become increasingly interested in the way individuals and organisations adopt ICT innovations, and how they react.
At TNO (2003) he continued to work in research on ICT-supported business processes. He has been managing a part of the knowledge transfer programme of TNO for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises; for instance in the building & construction sector (application of BIM), sustainability, and in-house technology for the engineering & installation sector, for instance energy-related or domotics.
Since 2014, he is back in the field where I started: the application of data analytics. In the meantime, the field has progressed significantly and I have learned other things as well. I am now better able to translate challenges into research questions, convert research into practically applicable results and to organize it so that the needs of users, organizations and society are well addressed.
Defining and managing international research projects (Horizon 2020) is a significant part of his work. He is leader of the taskforce ‘policy & societal implications’ in the Big Data Value Association. Last but not least, He really love to tell about the fantastic possibilities that they are currently creating (without forgetting that we are also creating fantastic ethical and practical challenges at the same time), so he is a regular speaker at conferences and other meetings.
