data.org's Davos Digest

data.org’s story begins at Davos, with the World Economic Forum providing an? annual opportunity to connect with innovative voices, influential leaders, and promising problem solvers. It was there, in 2020, that we announced our commitment to building the field of data for social impact.

Back at the annual meeting four years later, I was reminded of how far we’ve come.?

No longer a new entrant to the #DSI community, we reconnected with partners who have long supported this work and met new believers who are ready to join the cause.?

At a salon-style conversation alongside Behshad Behzadi of 谷歌 , Jane Livesey and Prasad Sankaran of 高知特 Cognizant , and Nick Tzitzon of ServiceNow , my colleague Perry Hewitt talked with R "Ray" Wang of Constellation Research, Inc. about building trust in AI and addressing bias in technology.?

With our partners at the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth , we also hosted a full house for “A Front Row View to the Future of Impact AI.” Our event featured Shamina Singh from Mastercard, Kate Behncken from 微软 Philanthropies, Vukosi Marivate from Deep Learning Indaba , Ajaita S. from Frontier Markets , and David Bray, PhD from The Stimson Center , all of whom understand the risks but are excited by the potential and promise of how AI can advance social impact.

Coming out of an energizing event like this always begs the question: how do we harness that excitement and momentum and channel it into meaningful action and meaningful change??

We reach beyond the usual suspects and never stop growing the network. As a platform for partnerships, collaboration is a core value for data.org. Our Capacity Accelerator Network is a perfect example. We bring people together, share best practices, ideate and iterate, and co-develop solutions with the shared wisdom and force of the group. We have hubs already in the US, Africa, and India, and are excited to share that a new hub is being launched in South East Asia, based in Singapore.

From building playbooks to responding to public health crises, data.org partners are leading the way in interdisciplinary collaboration and creating digital public goods that serve the common good in their backyards and beyond.

I’m excited to see what else we will accomplish, together, before Davos next year.

Cheers,

Danil Mikhailov | Executive Director, data.org

One Degree of Kevin Bacon

The Anthem Awards

What do Kevin Bacon, Matt Damon, Pepsi, and data.org have in common? We all were recognized this year by the 2024 Anthem Awards, the world’s largest and most comprehensive social impact award. data.org received Silver recognition in the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion category for our under/over campaign to raise awareness of the urgent need for women and gender-diverse individuals to be better represented in data. Thanks to The Rockefeller Foundation for their support of this important gender work.

All About the AI

World Economic Forum , 微软 , Global Integrated Education Volunteers Association (#GIEVA), Myna Mahila Foundation , The Tipping Point in Education , Data Elevates , Mississippi AI Collaborative

Artificial intelligence was one of the most pressing topics this year at Davos, and there was a collective focus on how we ensure ethics and equity are centerstage while these emerging technologies take root. The winners of the Microsoft Generative AI Challenge are tackling that head-on, around the world. Global Integrated Education Volunteers Association (#GIEVA) in Nigeria, the Myna Mahila Foundation in India, The Tipping Point in Education in Greece, Data Elevates in Chile, and the Mississippi AI Collaborative in the US are skilling the workforce of the future and developing sustainable, scalable solutions in the process.

Cold But Delightful

The Atlantic

“Cold but delightful” is how Nicholas Thompson , CEO of The Atlantic , described his week at Davos, and we couldn’t have said it better ourselves. Thompson moderated eight—yes, EIGHT—conversations about artificial intelligence, which speaks to its omnipresence in Davos discussions. In this newsletter, he shares some highlights from those panels, as well as some articles, podcasts, and other content worth reading in regards to takeaways from Davos and the future of AI for social impact.

(Workplace) Safety in Numbers

The Female Quotient , S&P Global

Recent studies show that job flexibility, representative leadership, paid family leave, and transparent pay equity practices are all important for women in the workforce. And yet, too little data exists on the subject, and there is broad agreement that measurement of gender data is the first step to close the pay gap and tackle other gender disparities in the workplace. At the #EqualityLounge at Davos, The Female Quotient convened an important conversation on the need for gender disaggregated data, featuring CEO Shelley Zalis , and Douglas Peterson and Martina Cheung from S&P Global .