The 9th Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange (SDMX) Global Conference is set to launch on 29th October, marking the first time that the event is held in the Middle East, and will be held under the theme ‘Empowering Data Communities’.
The conference is being co-organized by the Information and eGovernment Authority (iGA) and a group of international organizations including the United Nations (UN), World Bank Group, International Monetary Fund (IMF), Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Bank for International Settlements (BIS), European Central Bank, Eurostat, and the International Labor Organization (ILO), with the support of the Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA) and the Bank of Italy. It is scheduled to run until November 2.
The event will bring together a diverse group of participants, including data scientists, government officials, international organizations, statisticians, data users from national, regional, and international agencies, academic experts, and representatives from the private sector. Its sessions will delve into crucial topics such as new techniques and technologies for SDMX, statistical metadata, and the artificial intelligence (AI)–based StatGPT query-building assistant. The event will underscore the importance of data exchange as an enabler of AI.
Additionally, there will be a focus on the role of open-source Large Language Models (LLMs) in making official statistics more accessible and easier to discover. The discussions will also cover the utilization of AI techniques in fostering innovation.
The conference will also highlight the role of the SDMX tool in enhancing economic data research to create a tailored experience for data consumers. It will underscore the importance of collaboration, execution, and lessons learned from SDMX. In addition, there will be discussions on capacity-building initiatives in this field and more.
The conference will feature a wide range of papers from both local and international organizations. This includes contributions from the IMF, UN Statistics Division, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies in France, and others.
Talented developers and data experts from local, regional, and international organizations will be recognized through a hackathon. This competition, announced in August of this year, aims to develop an open-source interactive web application that efficiently reads specification files and retrieves data from the application programming interfaces (APIs) of the SDMX initiative to create a dynamic and interactive dashboard.
The conference will include an accompanying exhibition featuring major companies and commercial organizations, which will showcase products, projects, and initiatives related to this year’s conference theme and official statistics. Some notable global participants include Regnology, Bank of Italy, FIS Global, Quant Hub, and others.
This year’s conference will offer training courses over two days that aim to enhance the capabilities of SDMX data exchange and statistical data users from the participating entities and organizations.
The conference is a major international event that takes place every two years. Its primary goal is to explore the latest global developments in statistics, data exchange, and SDMX descriptive data, in addition to capacity-building and knowledge exchange through specialized workshops.
