The road to Bern via Geneva
In its final report in June 2019, the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation recommended that ‘a broad, multi-stakeholder alliance, involving the UN, create a platform for sharing digital public goods, engaging talent and pooling data sets, in a manner that respects privacy, in areas related to attaining the SDGs’.
Geneva’s vibrant ecosystem of international organisations, the private sector, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), already plays an important role in creating data commons for users worldwide. For instance, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) is the biggest data-processing facility on earth and the biggest source of scientific data as global commons. Similarly, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) provides climate and meteorological data as a global public good. Nowadays, it is hard to find an international organisation in Geneva that does not attribute an increasingly central role to data.
As the main operational hub of the UN and the multilateral system, Geneva’s ecosystem can contribute substantially to identifying and fulfilling some of the most pressing data demands of the 2030 Agenda.
About the road to Bern via Geneva
The 2020 UN World Data Forum (UNWDF), originally planned for October 2020 has been postponed to 2021 in Bern, Switzerland. Due to the unfolding of the pandemic, a Virtual UN World Data Forum was held instead from 19-21 October 2020 online in preparation of the Forum. The Data Forum provides a unique opportunity to stock-take the progress made on the 2030 Agenda, to identify missing gaps in data development, and to mobilise the resources needed to bridge these gaps.
In the lead up to the UNWDF, a series of events known as the Road to Bern are being organised. To initiate the discussions among multistakeholders, the road to the UNWDF in Bern will pass through Geneva with the organization of thematic dialogues on digital and data co-operation.
In particular, four aspects of key relevance were addressed in 2020: (a) the collection of data; (b) the sharing of data; (c) the use of data; (d) the protection and privacy of data. You will find the summary of these Dialogues under event below.
The objectives of the Cross-sectoral Dialogues on Digital Cooperation are to:
- Foster exchanges and learning across sectors and thematic areas
- Create a new multisectoral network with key international organisations, key institutions, and missions dealing with data
- Promote a data commons in International Geneva
The objectives of the Cross-sectoral Dialogues on Digital Cooperation are to:
- Foster exchanges and learning across sectors and thematic areas
- Create a new multisectoral network with key international organisations, key institutions, and missions dealing with data
- Promote a data commons in International Geneva
The objectives of the Cross-sectoral Dialogues on Digital Cooperation are to:
The road to Bern via Geneva: Calendar of dialogues
The main focus of these dialogues is to identify good practices related to data challenges through cross-sectoral exchanges, in order to achieve the 2030 Agenda. The events will also bring together various policy communities to further identify current needs, discuss cross-cutting issues, and mobilise the necessary resources to achieve a data commons.
First dialogue: Collecting data: How can big data contribute to leaving no one behind and achieving the SDGs?
Climate and health, with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the World Health Organization (WHO)
19 February 2020, WMO
Second dialogue: Protecting data against vulnerabilities: Questions of trust, security, and privacy of data
Humanitarian and intellectual property, with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)
22 and 23 April, 2020
Third dialogue: Sharing data: Towards a data commons
Science and trade, with the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) and the International Trade Center (ITC)
26 May, 2020
Fourth dialogue: Using (big) data: Making data user-friendly
Interoperability and communication, with the International telecommunication Union (ITU) and the World Economic Forum (WEF)
14 October, 2020
Fifth Dialogue: Data and Technology for Development
The EPFL , the World Bank Group, the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations in Geneva and the Geneva Internet Platform – in cooperation with host organisations and other supporting organisations – have the pleasure to invite you to the Fifth Dialogue of the Cross-sectoral Dialogues on Digital Cooperation
25 March 2021, online
Sixth Dialogue: Environmental Data
Science and trade, with the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) and the International Trade Center (ITC)
19 May, 2021
Cross-sectoral digital cooperation: How the international Geneva ecosystem can bring its contribution towards an enhanced data integration to better achieve SDGs
Monday, 19th October 2020
Online
The 2020 Virtual UN World Data Forum (WDF), originally planned for October 2020, has been postponed, and will be held in 2021 in Bern, Switzerland. Due to the unfolding of the pandemic, the Virtual UN World Data Forum will be held online instead during 19–21 October 2020. This provides a unique opportunity to stocktake the progress made on the 2030 Agenda, identify missing gaps in data development, and mobilise the resources needed to bridge these gaps.
Most importantly, this will be the perfect opportunity to present the outcomes of the four cross-sectoral dialogues on the collection, protection, sharing, and communication of data that have been taking place in Geneva since the beginning of 2020.
The session will offer the international organisations’ co-hosts of the dialogues a chance to present the needs and challenges relating to data and data policies that they are facing, and ask for support and solutions that should be provided at the 2021 UN World Data Forum to be held in October 2021.