Governing Data: Unlocking new and existing data sources for public decision making

07/08/21 • 27 min

We talk to Stefaan Verhulst, Co-Founder and Chief Research and Development Officer of the Governance Laboratory (The GovLab) at New York University (NYU), about his extensive work and insights on improving the sharing of new frontier data sources (including business-to-government sharing).

We hear from Stefaan about his latest work on the Data4Covid19 call for action, which helps organisations use innovative data sources to address Covid-19 and future threats in a responsible, systematic and sustainable way. We also talk to him about what AI governance is, why it matters for international development work, and what practitioners can do to strengthen AI governance for local good.

Please take a look at the links below to the initiatives and projects that Stefaan speaks about in the podcast:

Data Collaboratives: https://datacollaboratives.org/
Data Stewards Network: http://datastewards.net/
Data4Covid19 : http://data4covid19.org/
Mobility Data for Covid19: https://mobility.data4covid19.org/
The new intelligence paradigm: https://www.afd.fr/en/ressources/emerging-uses-technology-development-new-intelligence-paradigm

More on Stefaan: https://www.thegovlab.org/stefaan-verhulst.html

Please take a look at the links below to the initiatives and projects that Stefaan speaks about in the podcast:

Data Collaboratives: https://datacollaboratives.org/
Data Stewards Network: http://datastewards.net/
Data4Covid19 : http://data4covid19.org/
Mobility Data for Covid19: https://mobility.data4covid19.org/
The new intelligence paradigm: https://www.afd.fr/en/ressources/emerging-uses-technology-development-new-intelligence-paradigm

More on Stefaan: https://www.thegovlab.org/stefaan-verhulst.html

Previous Episode

Complex Cities, Digital Data: Building urban climate resilience through the locally led production of new data

We talk to Edward Anderson, Senior Technology and Resilience Specialist for the World Bank based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Edward works at the nexus of urbanization,climate risks, and the leveraging of frontier data technologies for greater resilience in African economies.

A critical challenge for many developing country Governments is the limited availability of spatial data that can inform planning and coordination for climate risk reduction, especially in fast-changing urban areas like Dar es Salaam. Giving examples from his work on the World Bank- and FCDO-funded Tanzania Urban Resilience Programme, Edward explains how to work alongside local government institutions to support the production and use of frontier data technologies to enhance the capacity to identify and respond to climate shocks and disasters.
Links

Frontier Technology Hub blog post: Medium
Full FCDO report: Frontier Data Study - releasing the power of digital data for development

Next Episode

Testing beyond the tech

We first speak to Ruth McPake from the Frontier Technologies Hub. Ruth is a Senior Consultant at IMC Worldwide, one of the partner organisations that make up the Hub.
The Hub has explored the use of drones predominantly through its Livestreaming programme, which since 2016 has partnered FCDO staff with technologists and other actors to test an idea for impact within a pilot project. Ruth talks about what we’ve learned from testing drone technology in a wide variety of use cases.
Next, we hear from Kush Gadhia, Senior Business Development Manager at Astral Aerial Solutions, a drone company and affiliate of Astral Aviation, an all-cargo airline based in Kenya.
Kush has been working on one of the pilots supported by the programme, which has looked specifically at whether drones can be used as a complementary solution to tackle the desert locust problem in East Africa. We discuss Kush’s experience of leading a small, local team, and what the next steps are when it comes to testing drones in this nascent use case.
Links:
Village Reach Evidence Generation Guide - https://www.updwg.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/UAS-Evidence-Generation-Toolkit-V2-Nov-2019.pdf
UNICEF sustainability toolkit - https://unicef.github.io/drone-4sdgtoolkit/

FTL UAV Portfolio Review - https://www.frontiertechhub.org/resources/uav-portfolio-review
Frontier Technology Hub Website - https://www.frontiertechhub.org/