Seldom has the world stood poised before economic changes destined to bring as much palpable improvement to people’s lives and desirable social transformation as “big data.”
Breathless accounts abound of the huge amounts of data that citizens, consumers and governments now generate on a daily basis in studies ranging from the French Prime Minister’s Commissariat général à la stratégie et à la prospective study on Analyse des big data: Quels usages, quels défis to Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and Kenneth Cukier’s seminal Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work and Think.
But the larger revolution will come not from the exabytes of data being generated on a daily basis, but through the vast advances in analytics that will help us convert this information into better lives, and better societies. Already, many companies are using the new information to offer more tailored products and services to customers; consumers are receiving more effective healthcare; clever administrations are cutting pollution and commuter transit times; people of all types are being entertained and educated in fascinating new ways; and entrepreneurs who seize the opportunity are helping raise North America and Europe from the longest economic recession since statistic-taking began.
Download the full report here.
Michael Mandel and Paul Hofheinz presented their paper today at the PPI & Lisbon Council joint event: New Engines of Growth: Driving Innovation and Trade in Data.
