Participants gathered in Macao on April 25, 2023, for the 2023 World Data Forum Macau Satellite Event. During the full-day conference, academics, members of government agencies, professionals in the private sector, civil society members and students discussed data dilemmas across a variety of themes, while reflecting on whether taking a human-centred systems approach can help solve these.
The Macao event “Dealing with data dilemmas: Risks and opportunities of a human-centred systems approach to data and digital technology development” was a satellite event of this year’s United Nations World Data Forum, which was being held in Hangzhou, China, from April 24 to April 27. The Macao conference was organised by the United Nations University Institute in Macau (UNU Macau) in partnership with Centre for Data Science, University of Macau, Faculty of Innovation Engineering, Macau University of Science and Technology, and University of Saint Joseph.
Insights from the conference have been gathered in the report “Dealing with Data Dilemmas. Towards a Human-Centered Systems Approach to Data and Digital Technology Development. Report of the United Nations World Data Forum Satellite Event in Macau, April 25, 2023“, authored by UNU Macau’s Senior Research Advisor Dr. Franz Gatzweiler, academic coordinator of the event.
About UNU Macau:
The United Nations University Institute in Macau (UNU Macau) is a UN global think tank specialised in research on digital technologies for sustainable development. It works with UN Member States, UN entities, regional bodies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), academia, and the private sector to contribute for evidence-based and data-driven decision-making and policy development. It also helps transform the digital future of the UN system and member states through learning and capacity development. First established in Macau in 1992, UNU Macau consists of an international and multidisciplinary team of researchers in fields including computer science, economics, psychology, public health, and communication studies. In addition to its research work, the institute offers several training programmes under the themes of “Smart usage of digital technologies for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”, “Data for a sustainable digital future”, “Ethics of Artificial Intelligence”, “Modelling for policy making & Computational Behavioural Science”, and “Digital behaviour and wellbeing”.
About the United Nations World Data Forum (UNWDF):
Following one of the main recommendations contained in the report entitled “A World That Counts”, presented in November 2014 by the United Nations Secretary-General’s Independent Expert and Advisory Group on Data Revolution for Sustainable Development, the Statistical Commission agreed that a United Nations World Data Forum on Sustainable Development Data (UN World Data Forum) would be the suitable platform for intensifying cooperation with various professional groups, such as information technology, geospatial information managers, data scientists, and users, as well as civil society stakeholders. The Forum’s community has grown from 2,000 people who attended the first and second Forum in Cape Town, South Africa and Dubai, United Arab Emirates to an active list of over 20,000 interested stakeholders. This growth in interest was due to the more open and accessible Forums held virtually in 2020 and as a hybrid format in Bern, Switzerland in 2021, and the establishment of a regular webinar series to maintain interest and focus between Forums. The stakeholder community represents a diverse range of governments, civil society, the private sector, donor and philanthropic bodies, international and regional agencies, the geospatial community, the media, academia, and professional bodies.