Frontier Labs

A data and artificial intelligence company, Frontier Labs makes software and intelligent systems for clients. The firm helps companies make sense of their customers, products and operations using data, and it trials concepts with actual customers through pilots before committing to a full build. The company describes its work as sitting at the point where data science meets human centred design.

Machine learning and artificial intelligence

The firm applies artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to find patterns in data and to turn those patterns into actionable insights. It says algorithms are the tools that help a business mine and shape its data into something useful for decisions, and it builds systems tailored to each client's customers and business needs.

Data discovery and insights

Frontier Labs runs data discovery projects that reveal opportunities and support faster decisions. Its client work includes a project for Shop Direct that moved the retailer's experimentation testing onto a Bayesian approach using Markov chain Monte Carlo methods, which the company says gives decision makers clearer and more reliable insight.

Rapid prototyping and pilots

Frontier Labs builds prototypes quickly and puts them in front of customers and experts so the team can learn and improve. The company says it understands human behaviour and business needs before it builds, and it cites a football scouting application built in twenty days that removes some of the bias in player selection and supports the decisions of scouts.

Experience and interface design

The design side covers user experience and user interface work. The company applies established practice in these areas to define and carry out new features that add value to a product, and it treats design research as part of the same process as data work.

Unified design systems

For one client, Frontier Labs created a single design system that the client's design, development and marketing teams can share. The company says this makes experiments faster across the three teams, because they all work from the same components.

Stadium data and fan engagement

The company has worked with Manchester City Football Club to measure the atmosphere in the stadium using data, so that marketing activities can be tested and fan engagement improved. This is one of several sports and entertainment projects in its portfolio.

Internet of Things and public sector clients

Projects include data visualisation, experimentation and machine learning for Internet of Things and big data products. The company names Merseytravel, the Natural Environment Research Council, Shop Direct and the University of Liverpool among these clients. Its design work has also included projects for technology and charity organisations.

Team background

The company says its founding team had already worked together at a technology start-up before it launched Frontier Labs. It describes the technical lead's background in data science and software development, and the design lead's experience of user interface work across web and mobile products, and it says it works with forward thinking businesses that want to design and build products.