KPMG Luxembourg has announced today that a series of key investments in Data & Technology have now come to fruition with the establishment of a local AI and Machine Learning powerhouse, dubbed “KPMG Lighthouse Luxembourg”. Investments have centred on people, platforms and infrastructure with the aim of using data-driven technology to support KPMG clients in the areas of growth, costs and risk management.

Frauke Oddone, Head of Markets at KPMG Luxembourg, commented:

“We’ve led with investments centred on people, and notably key hires in the area of data analytics. Our leading data scientists in Luxembourg have the creative freedom to work on projects that could change the face of the country. For example, we have exciting concepts under development and a thorough framework to help the public sector to leverage technology for intelligent fraud detection and prevention. Another project involves looking for ways to help banks reduce cost-to-serve and improve customer experience using chatbots and RPA to help take the pain out of simple recurring tasks like increasing credit card limits. This space is experiencing a monumental shift and in Luxembourg we have lots of potential to bring exciting benefits to industry players allowing them to transform their business. We see the Lighthouse as an innovative engine for unlocking future technology to deliver real results.”

Head of Advisory, Pascal Denis, highlighted the importance of alliances in the development of new data-driven solutions:

“We team up with companies like IBM Watson, Google or Microsoft to act as a laboratory for daring ideas that can revolutionise industries. We’re also able to draw on a pool of over 12,500 experts around the globe including data scientists, software engineers, and consultants. The work they have produced to date has been ground-breaking – from helping Amsterdam better protect its citizen’s digital identities to supporting a national basketball association in the intelligent scheduling of its basketball matches.”

These capabilities can bolster Luxembourg’s commitment to the smart city model by embracing innovative ideas with the aim of improving the life of citizens in areas such as environmental protection and facilitating improved mobility and administrative processes, all using data-driven technology.

Lighthouse lead Sven Muehlenbrock, expanded on the key role that the Lighthouse would play in KPMG Luxembourg:

“It shouldn’t be AI at any cost, but rather algorithms you can trust. The Lighthouse focuses on data-driven technologies related to Machine Learning, Intelligent Automation, Dashboarding and Business Intelligence. These technologies can be used to tackle a wide range of complex national and industry problems but AI is not something you buy, it is something you build and to solve these problems the right platforms, methodology and people need to be in place. As AI evolves, we’re seeing the negative impact of poor management of AI with a tendency towards bias becoming clear. Take, for example, recruitment systems which have in some cases shown a susceptibility towards gender bias.”

Frauke Oddone further elaborated on how the Lighthouse is already working on local projects in intelligent automation, such as building chatbots for some of the local financial services institutions. She noted the current position of intelligent automation in Luxembourg, highlighting that “although many businesses are still in the early development stage for cognitive automation, our recent study shows a significant appetite for this technology and it is coming into sharper focus with nearly 50 percent of organizations aiming to use cognitive automation approaches at scale within 3 years, while 29 percent anticipate selective use only.

This is reflective of a willingness to embrace the opportunities created by this new era of technology. We believe that Luxembourg can play a central role in solving business and societal challenges using data-driven technology and we look forward to being part of this journey.”

To find out more, please visit our website: kpmginfo.lu/lighthouse.