2 June 2017: The UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and Statistics Korea, a government agency of the Republic of Korea, jointly organized a forum on ‘Innovative Data Approaches to the Sustainable Development Goals’ (SDGs). The regional forum brought together government representatives to discuss how the use of big data could support their efforts to achieve the SDGs.

Kilaparti Ramakrishna, Director of the ESCAP East and Northeast Asia Office, called data “our most valuable currency,” and highlighted the importance of data in policy making, implementation, monitoring and reporting. Youngsoo Bae, Director-General, Statistical Research Institute, Statistics Korea, pointed to the potential uses of big data from mobile telephone and satellites in providing reliable statistics.

The forum highlighted possibilities for the use of big data in: quality education (SDG 4), transportation (as covered under SDG 11 on sustainable cities and communities), and disaster management (relevant to target 1.5 on building the resilience of the poor, SDG 9 on industry, innovation and infrastructure, and SDG 11). Participants discussed the possibility of establishing an “SDG Data Science Lab” in the form of a regional platform for sharing and experimenting with innovations. They agreed to continue collaborating on the use of big data in working towards sustainable development. [ESCAP Press Release] [ESCAP Workshop Announcement]