Mosaic Smart Data (Mosaic), the real-time capital markets data analytics company, has appointed Oxford University Professor of Mathematical Finance, Rama Cont, as Scientific Advisor.

Professor Cont’s role will be to help Mosaic Smart Data utilise the latest academic quantitative finance research in the development of its machine learning, artificial intelligence and data analytics capabilities. Professor Cont will work directly with Mosaic Smart Data’s data science team to make the latest in data science technology available to Mosaic’s customers, as well as guiding Mosaic’s R&D activities.

In addition, he will contribute to Mosaic’s quant talent recruitment and to developing links with the broader research community.

Professor Cont was appointed Professor of Mathematical Finance at St Hugh’s College Oxford in 2018. Previously, he held the Chair of Mathematical Finance at Imperial College London and has 20 years of experience working with the financial markets.

Rama Cont said: “What intrigued me most about working with Mosaic Smart Data was the opportunity to take the theoretical work we are doing on the academic side and demonstrate its practical application in the cut and thrust of the capital markets. Mosaic Smart Data’s customer base, with some of the world’s top financial institutions, provides an unparalleled opportunity to apply this academic research for the best of the best.

“By bringing together Mosaic’s team of highly experienced data scientists with our own world-class researchers, we have an incredible opportunity to bring the most advanced data science ideas to real-world applications. This will strengthen both the Mosaic platform and academic research efforts.”

Matthew Hodgson, CEO and founder of Mosaic Smart Data, said: “The firms that succeed in tomorrow’s markets will be those which can harness their data most effectively, extracting the most useful insights in real-time to drive productivity and performance. Our mission is to provide the tools to make that happen.

“We’ve been working with the scientific community since our beginnings and in 2018, Mosaic became the first fintech to collaborate with the European Space Agency. By working with Rama, we will have direct access to the most promising research being developed at the world’s top institutions to ensure that Mosaic Smart Data’s analytics is always at the leading edge of what’s possible in the capital markets.