A future for digital public goods for monitoring SDG indicators

Dong Liang; Huadong Guo; Stefano Nativi; Markku Kulmala; Zeeshan Shirazi; Fang Chen; Gretchen Kalonji; Dongmei Yan; Jianhui Li; Robert Duerler; Lei Luo; Qunli Han; Siming Deng; Yuanyuan Wang; Lingyi Kong; Thorsten Jelinek

doi:10.1038/s41597-023-02803-x

A future for digital public goods for monitoring SDG indicators

Sci Data. 2023 Dec 7;10(1):875. doi: 10.1038/s41597-023-02803-x.

Authors

Dong Liang^{1

2}, Huadong Guo^{3

4

5}, Stefano Nativi⁶, Markku Kulmala⁷, Zeeshan Shirazi^{1

2}, Fang Chen^{1

2

8}, Gretchen Kalonji⁹, Dongmei Yan^{1

2

8}, Jianhui Li¹⁰, Robert Duerler^{8

11}, Lei Luo^{1

2}, Qunli Han¹², Siming Deng^{1

2}, Yuanyuan Wang^{1

2}, Lingyi Kong^{1

2}, Thorsten Jelinek¹³

Affiliations

¹ International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals, Beijing, 100094, China.
² Key Laboratory of Digital Earth Science, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100094, China.
³ International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals, Beijing, 100094, China. hdguo@radi.ac.cn.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Digital Earth Science, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100094, China. hdguo@radi.ac.cn.
⁵ University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China. hdguo@radi.ac.cn.
⁶ National Research Council of Italy, Institute of Atmospheric Pollution Research - Unit of Florence, Roma, Italy.
⁷ Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 64, 00014, Helsinki, Finland.
⁸ University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
⁹ Sichuan University-The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Institute for Disaster Management and Reconstruction, Chengdu, 610207, China.
¹⁰ Computer Network Information Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100083, China.
¹¹ State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
¹² Integrated Research on Disaster Risk, International Science Council, Beijing, 100094, China.
¹³ Taihe Institute, Beijing, 100022, China.

Abstract

Digital public goods (DPGs), if implemented with effective policies, can facilitate the realization of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, there are ongoing deliberations on how to define DPGs and assure that society can extract the maximum benefit from the growing number of digital resources. The International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals (CBAS) sees DPGs as an important mechanism to facilitate information-driven policy and decision-making processes for the SDGs. This article presents the results of a CBAS survey of 51 respondents from around the world spanning multiple scientific fields, who shared their expert opinions on DPGs and their thoughts about challenges related to their practical implementation in supporting the SDGs. Based on the survey results, the paper presents core principles in a proposed strategy, including establishment of international standards, adherence to open science and open data principles, and scalability in monitoring SDG indicators. A community-driven strategy to develop DPGs is proposed to accelerate DPG production in service of the SDGs while adhering to the core principles identified in the survey.