What is Big Data? The term is now ubiquitous and all the hype will have us believe that it’s a magic wand that can solve all problems. However, how much of this is hype and how much is reality?
To debate this question and develop meaningful insights, we must understand the concept of “Big Data” - data sets that are so large or complex that only recent innovations in data processing applications have provided us the capability to manage and process them – data sets whose volumes are measured in petabytes (1015bytes) of data. We also need to understand the three primary sources of such data:
Finally, we must be able to answer the questions of how developing economies can leverage Big Data to support sustainable and equitable development, bring together public and private sectors efforts and create the appropriate policy environment in service of achieving the SDGs. The panelists will explore these questions. They will look at case studies that illustrate the ways in which Big Data contributes to their industries and their relation to specific SDGs to assess how much is hype versus reality including:
