Tallinn Digital Summit 2021: I-DAIR’s call for a more generous data paradigm
Invited to speak at the 2021 Tallinn Digital Summit, I-DAIR’s CEO and Project Director, Dr. Amandeep Singh Gill, presented his insights on the Global Free Flow of Data and the necessity to move towards a new, more generous and collaborative paradigm for AI and data.
Dr. Gill noted that the flow of data still remains fragmented and in the hands of a few big and autonomous players. He then introduced I-DAIR’s framework for a global and collaborative architecture of digital commons in the field of digital health, with the example of the Global Pandemic Surveillance Scheme, derived from I-DAIR’s R&D portfolio. The Scheme would bring together data from traditional and unusual sources, such as sewage networks or sampling of air at airports, in a neutral trusted architecture to generate alerts for timely public health responses and mitigation measures.
The unfortunate experience of Covid-19 has highlighted the necessity for transdisciplinary collaboration with enhanced participation of the Global South to build a science-based digital architecture for the anticipation, preparedness and response to pandemic waves. This would require free flow of data fostered by a neutral and trustworthy platform for co-creation of research, innovation and exchange of best practices in the field of Digital Health and AI-based solutions for health.
The International Digital Health and AI Research Collaborative (I-DAIR) follows up the recommendations of the UNSG’s High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation, with the aim to foster global research collaboration in Digital Health (DH) and AI for health. I-DAIR envisions a co-created, multi-stakeholders and neutral platform facilitating access to DH and AI innovations for clinical researchers, policy makers and patients around the world, particularly in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs).
