Timely, high-quality data is critical to reaching the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals — but harnessing it requires new ways of thinking, collaboration, and investment in national statistics systems. Learn more about what’s needed to catalyze data for real-world impact in this Nature article, featuring insights from TReNDS’ experts and partners.
Read MoreCovid-19 has given rise to an enormous amount of data. Everything from satellite data and mobile data to big data are providing insights on how the virus is spreading and where vulnerable communities are located. Collaboration is essential for leveraging this data, and the pandemic has prompted an increase in data partnerships. However, many of these data collaborations are raising privacy and security concerns - there are at least 27 countries currently using data from cell phone companies to track entire populations for COVID-19 purposes, and we don’t know how long this will continue. The crisis has also underscored many of the barriers to collaboration, including the lengthy negotiation process for negotiating data sharing agreements (DSAs) and the lack of trust and accountability between parties that can arise. Establishing the right legal frameworks and policies for managing the data are key to overcoming these obstacles.
Read MoreAllowing data, particularly big data, to be shared between the public and private sectors has significant benefits. These include improved public services, transparency and citizen engagement – not to mention the potential for driving economic opportunities and business innovation. And the private sector has an important role to play, not only in leveraging the value of government open data, but in making some of its own data open or available to the public sector through collaboration. Many of these data-driven public-private partnerships have already proven successful. For instance, Uber released their data on traffic to aid transportation planners and city officials; Statistics Canada has partnered with smart meter companies to access electricity consumption data to better understand consumption patterns; and the telecommunications company, Airtel, shared data with the World Health Organization to help combat tuberculosis in India…Yet with great potential comes great risk. Big data sharing raises pressing questions about security, privacy and consent. These questions have become even more salient in recent years, as we’ve learned more about how our data has been handled by technology companies and others.
Read MoreIncreasingly, policymakers and the general public demand both timely and quality data so we can understand how the world is developing. But despite living in an era of unprecedented technological boom and innovation, the truth is that much our data is wildly out of date. Many claim there is a silver bullet. Public-private partnerships (PPPs) between governments and the data and technology giants, all supposedly sitting on a goldmine of big data just waiting to be tapped. But for every one of these exciting shiny examples, there is a graveyard of failed collaborations. Why do some data collaborations succeed while others fail, and what can be done to ensure more effective public-private data sharing and collaboration?
Read MoreOn September 23, 2019 at One World Trade Center, in the context of the United Nations General Assembly, TReNDS co-hosted a workshop with partners to further advance its Contracts for Data Collaboration project, expanding the field’s understanding of the needs, opportunities, challenges, and risks related to establishing the basis for data collaboration. More than fifty participants from across the data ecosystem explored how greater transparency, access, and understanding of data-sharing agreements can advance data collaboratives and improve people’s lives.
Read MoreTReNDS, the GovLab at New York University, University of Washington’s Information Risk Research Initiative, and the World Economic Forum are joining forces to create an online library of data sharing agreements.
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