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3rd International Forum on Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals Held in Beijing

September 10, 2023

The 3rd International Forum on Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals (FBAS 2023) opened in Beijing on September 6, 2023, attracting more than 500 experts, scholars, government administrators, entrepreneurs, engineers and other stakeholders from nearly 50 countries to discuss the role of big data in promoting global sustainable development transformation, and the ways to accelerate the implementation of sustainable development goals (SDGs).

The forum was organized by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and hosted by the International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals (CBAS), together with the Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR) under CAS. 

During the opening ceremony, CBAS released the world's first atlas of urban nighttime light remote-sensing data, providing support for the research on urban sustainable development. The atlas contains 10-meter resolution nighttime light data on 147 cities in 105 countries around the world.

CBAS Fellowship Program was unveiled at the forum, with the goal to improve global collaboration on data and technology towards informed sustainable development within the United Nations framework. 

The forum also witnessed an agreement signing ceremony between CBAS and the Group on Earth Observations (GEO). Both organizations agreed to conduct cross-disciplinary cooperation in terms of data sharing, talent exchange and capacity building, and jointly explore ways to accelerate the progress in the second half of the UN 2030 Agenda.

Prof. GUO Huadong, Director-general of CBAS pointed out that during the past two years, CBAS has strengthened its capacity building in data infrastructure, carried out research on satellite constellations for sustainable development, and developed and shared multiple sets of monitoring data products for SDG indicators, thanks to the multidisciplinary and institutionalized advantages of CAS. 

“Timely, open, and high-quality data are urgently needed to provide decision-making support at global, regional and national levels, and push the implementation of SDGs back on track,” added Prof. Guo.