From Unemployment to the Refugee Crisis, says New
Report From the Center for Data Innovation.
Data-driven innovations can help tackle pressing social
challenges in Europe if policymakers break down regulatory
barriers and devote more resources to bridge digital
inequalities, according to a new report from the Center for Data
Innovation. The Center, a think tank that focuses on data policy,
points to examples throughout Europe where data is being used to
address issues from high unemployment to the refugee crisis, but
suggests that the continent is failing to fully capitalize on
opportunities to use data for social good.
“Changing demographics plus shifting economic and political
tides in Europe are creating enormous challenges,” said
Daniel Castro, the Center’s director and the report’s
co-author. “The population is getting older, many young people
are struggling to find work, and the population of migrants and
refugees is swelling. Data-driven tools hold the key to tackling
many of these challenges by better informing policy and program
design, improving service delivery, and spurring innovations.
Unfortunately, progress has been uneven across the EU due to
resource constraints, digital inequality, and restrictive data
regulations. Europe will be missing an opportunity to address
these challenges unless policymakers commit to using data for
social good.”
The Center points to several examples where governments and
nonprofits are already using data-driven tools to address issues
like employment or refugee integration. For example, the EU is
funding the development of a tool to help job seekers navigate
the labor market. It combines a large volume of data in one
place with tailored recommendations to help job seekers save
time and money in their searches. Another tool available across
Europe is RefAid, an app that compiles information on all aid
services in a given area, so aid workers can coordinate outreach
and refugees can easily see what resources are available to
them.
While these examples illustrate the potential to use data
to address social challenges, the Center says relatively few
European governments and nonprofits are taking full advantage of
these opportunities. The report concludes there are three main
reasons: First, nonprofits and government agencies typically
lack a “culture of data” or organization-wide strategies and
processes around the collection and analysis of data. Second,
the European labor market suffers from a shortage of data
scientists, data-literate managers, and even employees with
basic IT skills. Third, European policies and practices impede
the kind of data collection, use, and reuse that is critical for
innovative approaches to social inclusion and protection.
The Center proposes a number of actions policymakers in the EU
should take to enable the public and private sectors to more
effectively tackle the social challenges of a changing Europe
through data-driven innovation.
These include:
Supporting the collection and use of relevant, timely data on
the populations they seek to better serve;
Participating in and funding cross-sector collaboration with
data experts to make better use of data collected by governments
and nonprofit organizations working on social issues;
Focusing government research funding on data analysis of social
inequalities and requiring grant applicants to submit plans for
data use and sharing;
Establishing appropriate consent and sharing exemptions in data
protection regulations for social science research; and
Revising EU regulations to accommodate social-service
organizations and their institutional partners in exploring
innovative uses of data.
“With advances in digital technology, we are better equipped
than ever to collect, analyze, and act on data to help build a
more inclusive, welcoming, and prosperous Europe,” said Nick
Wallace, the Center’s Brussels-based senior policy analyst.
“But these benefits will not be widespread unless the EU and
member states adopt a coherent strategy for putting data at the
service of society. Doing so will not only help address
important social problems, but will also support the EU’s
budding data economy.”
Full Report