New perspectives and priorities for EU 2030 Indicators

Indicators and methodologies for describing society in the Information Age
Organizers: ESAC, EUROSTAT, Department of Statistical Sciences

 

ROME JUNE 8 2018,

Aula Corrado Gini, Dipartimento di Scienze Statistiche,
Sapienza Università di Roma

 

  • Programme
  • Registration (deadline May 31, 2018). We accept on a first come first serve basis as limited seats available

 

 

Abstract:

In May 2016, ESAC held a workshop on ‘Indicators: user requirements, methodological issues and communication challenges’. This workshop was a first initiative to address the topic of indicators in the context of EU policies and programmes. The report of this 2016 workshop and the resulting recommendations can be found at http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/european-statistical-advisory-committee-esac/other-documents

As we experience on a daily basis, our society is developing quickly, not in the least because of the constant release of new technologies and applications. The Information Age, as created by the Digital Revolution, had - and still has – an important impact on our lives. This creates challenges for the establishment and use of indicators and European statistics. We might have to adapt existing indicators or create new indicators to describe and include the complexity of the phenomena giving a clear view of the reality. Technological novelties related to information collection and to ‘improving the knowledge-base’ offer new methods for the collection, dissemination and use of statistical data collections.

The extended discussion which opened up in 2009 after the "Go beyond GDP" initiatives, programmes at EU and international level, and the impetus created by the world-wide adoption in 2015 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has clarified - in the world of statistics - that economic performances, societal and technological changes and sustainable development are complex phenomena that need an overall approach for indicators, at international, national and regional levels.  At the same time, one of the 17 SDGs specifically addresses the need for multi-stakeholder partnerships to ‘Enhance the global partnership for sustainable development, complemented by multi-stakeholder partnerships that mobilize and share knowledge, expertise, technology and financial resources, to support the achievement of the sustainable development goals in all countries, in particular developing countries’.
 

At first, a more in-depth view is needed on what exactly is meant by these new developments in our societies in the context of the Information Age. This relates to the content and direction of the indicators and the related European statistics: What existing indicators might need a closer look? What ‘new’ issues/topics should we measure? Do we measure using appropriate analyses? 

In a similar way, a more systematic description is needed on how new technologies could modernise and improve statistical production and communication and how new data sources (big data, geospatial data) could be integrated. This relates to the methodological aspects and to dissemination and communication of indicators.

So this workshop wishes to identify - from the viewpoint of the users of European statistics - the priorities of new or ‘adapted’ indicators and methodologies to better describe our European societies with a time horizon up to 2030.