International Symposium on the use of Big Data
for official statistics

  • Hangzhou, China
  • 16 - 18 October 2019

Overview

In September 2015, the international community agreed to 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with 169 targets to be achieved by 2030 - a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. To monitor progress, a global set of SDG indicators has been developed which all countries are required to regularly report on. Traditional data collection methods, such as surveys or censuses, are not sufficient to address the increased demand for timely, frequent and granular data.

For this reason, the UN Statistical Commission created – in 2014 – the UN Global Working Group (GWG) on Big Data for official statistics to develop and test the use of new data sources and new technologies. The aim of the GWG is to lower the barriers of entry, particularly for developing countries, in the use of Big Data, such as satellite data, mobile phone data, scanner data, and social media data.

The symposium aims to increase the knowledge and skills of statistical offices in using new data source, tools and methods, and to foster collaboration among countries in the Asian-Pacific region in the use of Big Data for official statistics. The symposium will give an overview on the work of the GWG and its Task Teams. Special attention will be devoted to the UN Global Platform as a digital platform enabling international and regional collaboration. This platform enables statisticians, data scientists and other researchers from different countries and locations to work together on projects involving, for example, satellite data to estimate crop production.

The UN-China Centre on Big Data is being set up as a regional hub of the UN Global Platform, giving countries in Asia a better opportunity to advance the work on Big Data. This Centre will be useful to initiate and execute innovative data projects. The Centre will also serve as a training institute to develop new skills for staff of national statistical offices.

Participants at the symposium will be statisticians from national statistical offices in Asia as well as resource persons from national and international statistical agencies as well as from private sector and other stakeholder groups. The symposium will be conducted in English with simultaneous translation to Chinese.


Wednesday, 16 October 2019

09:00 - 09:20
Opening Ceremony
  • Opening Statement by Mr. Xian Zude, Deputy Commissioner, National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBS)
  • Opening Statement by Mr. Stefan Schweinfest, Director, United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD)
Chair: Ms. Song Shaoying, Deputy Director-General of Statistical Education and Training Center, NBS
09:20 - 09:30
Group Photo
09:30 - 10:20
Session 1: Introduction on the Use of Big Data for Official Statistics
10:20 - 10:40
Tea Break
10:40 - 11:10
UN Global Working Group and its Task Teams
11:10 - 11:40
Session 2: Introduction of the Big Data Center in Hangzhou
11:40 - 12:00
Q&A on the Role of Big Data in Production of Official Statistics
12:00 - 14:00
Lunch Break
14:00 - 14:30
Session 3: Introduction in the Use of Satellite Data for Official Statistics
14:30 - 15:50
Case Studies in the Use of Satellite Data in Agriculture Statistics
15:50 - 16:00
Tea Break
16:00 - 16:30
Use of Satellite Data in Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery
16:30 - 17:00
Discussion

Thursday, 17 October 2019

09:00 - 10:20
Session 4: UN Global Platform
  • Mr. Karoly Kovacs, UNSD
  • Mr. Mark Craddock, UN Global Platform team
10:20 - 10:40
Tea Break
10:40 - 11:40
Case Studies in the Use of Satellite Data for SDG Indicators
  • Joy Garraez, Mae Oberos, Philippine Statistics Authority
11:40 - 12:00
Discussion
12:00 - 14:00
Lunch Break
14:00 - 14:20
Session 5: Introduction to the Use of Mobile Phone Data for Official Statistics
14:20 - 15:20
Case Studies in the Use of Mobile Phone Data in Population Estimates
15:20 - 15:40
Tea Break
15:40 - 16:40
Case Studies in the Use of Mobile Phone Data in Human Mobility
  • Ms. Rina Indriani, Statistics Indonesia
  • Mr. Aleksandre Ambokadze, National Statistics Office of Georgia
16:40 - 17:00
Discussion

Friday, 18 October 2019

09:00 - 10:00
Session 6: Case Studies in the Use of Big Data in Economic Statistics
  • Mr. Liu Song, Alibaba Group
  • Mr. Chen Jianhua, Information Center, China Academy of Transportation Sciences
  • Mr. Gao Hansong, NBS China
10:00 - 10:10
Discussion
10:10 - 10:30
Tea Break
10:30 - 11:30
Session 7: Case Studies on the Use of Big Data in Official Statistics
  • Ms. Norzarita Samdurin and Mr. Mohd Arif Ahmad, Department of Statistics of Malaysia
  • Ms. Karuna Lehmann, National Statistical Office of Thailand
11:30 - 12:00
Session 8: Quality Assurance While Using Big Data
  • Mr. Li Jinchang, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics
12:00 - 14:00
Lunch Break
14:00 - 14:30
Session 8: Quality Assurance While Using Big Data (Cont.)
14:30 - 15:50
Session 9: Round-table Discussion on Regional Issues of Using Big Data in Official Statistics
Chair: Mr. Stefan Schweinfest, UNSD
  • Mr. Cheng Zilin, NBS
  • Mr. Soumendra Chattopadhyay, CSO, India
  • Mr. Ronald Jansen, UNSD
  • Mr. Mark Craddock, UN Global Platform
15:50 - 16:10
Closing Ceremony

Documents


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