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Big data can save lives, bridge gaps

As humanity stands in the middle of a big data revolution, the world has to work as one to make the most out of the opportunities it presents, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, said on the sidelines of the UN World Data Forum on Monday.

"The challenges facing the world are many, and opportunities for achieving a comprehensive sustainable development are huge, mainly amid the big data revolution produced by the fourth industrial revolution," he said as he toured the exhibition at the forum.

"We have to work as one team to come up with a unified vision that enables us to face various challenges, and to launch international initiatives to make positive changing and improve people's lives," Sheikh Mohammed added.

Speaking at the opening session of the forum, UN deputy secretary-general Amina Mohammed said data on disaster preparedness and early warning systems can save lives and livelihoods.

She revealed that last year, natural disasters cost $330 billion.

"Better data can help avoid some of these losses. Mexico's earthquake early warning system had issued 158 alerts since 1993, significantly reducing the potential impact," she said.

Robust and accessible data and information can provide a host of other benefits, she said. "It means students can find job opportunities and women can learn about laws protecting them from

For example, in Buenos Aires, Google data suggests that rooftop solar potential is equal to about 946,000 tonnes of avoided emissions a year - which is the equivalent of taking 200,000 cars off the road.

The United Nations World Data Forum 2018 is being organised by the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority (FCSA), in collaboration with the UN Statistics Division at Madinat Jumeirah. The three-day event brings together nearly 2,000 data leaders from over 100 countries and is playing host to data experts from national statistical offices, private sector, NGOs, academia and international and regional organisations.

As part of the event, the FCSA has signed 10 MoUs to better the UAE's data and statistics ecosystem.

The MoUs and strategic partnership agreements were signed at the UAE pavilion of the Forum, in the presence of Mohammad Abdulla Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and the Future, chairman of the FCSA and Abdullah Nasser Lootah, FCSA director-general and chairman of the organising committee of the UN World Data Forum 2018.

The agreements include a partnership with the Ministry of Interior (MoI), whereby the FCSA will work on surveying the ministry's basic performance indicators during 2018 and 2019.

(Khaleej Times)


Speaking at the opening day of the forum, Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence (AI), said AI could be the key to eradicating tuberculosis (TB).


"TB affects more than


10 million people, killing around two million every year," he said. "We are working on an algorithmic solution that can be used in the detection and diagnosis of TB from chest X-rays," revealed Olama. "You can upload an image of a chest X-ray and the system will identify if a person has the disease."


He added: "If AI is deployed, the detection process becomes a lot simpler."

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