Data Science for Social Good: Opportunities and Challenges

Abstract

The value of big data and advanced analytics lies critically in the opportunity to make better decisions and to design better policies. Identifying needs, targeting interventions, and measuring impact are all challenges that can greatly benefit from more quantitative approaches and data-intensive methods. This opportunity is currently stimulating new research lines in academia, new data sharing initiatives in industry, and new programs in the non-profit sector, while also calling for novel crosssector collaborations around data. This talk will reflect on the complex interplay of new data sources, data science methods and algorithmic decisions, discussing selected case studies in the domains of health and mobility, and highlighting opportunities as well as challenges for the generation of public value and social impact.