Brussels, 10 February 2015/ CTA/ ACP: The explosion of digital data offers new technological opportunities for enhancing agricultural development; it has also become a key asset for all economies in the world. A seminar at the ACP House next week will seek to shed light on the impacts of the global data revolution for agriculture.
The Briefing, organised the Technical Centre for Rural and Agricultural Cooperation (CTA), the ACP Secretariat, the European Commission, and Concord on Wednesday 18th February, will look at significant trends, approaches and experiences in using open data for food and nutrition security.
Expert panellists from the FAO, African Development Bank, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Panafrican Famers Organisation, amongst other key agencies, will share insights with more than 120 key stakeholders including ACP-EU policy makers, regional organizations, representatives of EU Member States, European Commission services, Members of the European Parliament, private sector, civil society groups, European research and development practitioners and international organizations.
The increasing volume of real-time data represents both a challenge and an opportunity for developing countries, and in particular, Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP). Whether it is geographical information, statistics, weather data, research data, transport data, energy consumption data, or health data, the need to make sense of "Big data" is leading to innovations in technology, development of new tools and new skills.
Harnessing the opportunities offered by this new digital landscape of open data systems shall be crucial: to meet acute data gaps throughout the value chain; to collect reliable data and statistics; to accurately plan and influence policies and interventions; to benefit from private-public partnerships, especially in the food industry; to inform global development efforts, donor decisions, and policy.
The Briefing on 18th February 2015 will focus on the potential the data revolution can bring to the agrifood sector of ACP countries. The objectives of the briefing are to: (a) document and review the key initiatives in data-driven development and agriculture; (b) present some achievements and successes of ACP countries on new tools for data and statistical management; (c) promote multistakeholder dialogue and transformative partnerships for data revolution of benefit to the ACP agrifood sector.
To participate, please register online: http://brusselsbriefings.net