Lithium, the future environmental and human disaster?

Brine extracting.

The production and recycling of electric car batteries poses major environmental and social problems: Lithium batteries are being used for vehicles but also for their computer and electronic equipment. This increases the pressure on this rare metal lithium, a material that has become one of the most strategic on the planet.

Lithium - also known as white gold - often comes from Latin America. Its production, very greedy in water, damages the ecosystems and the survival of the local populations in areas where the drought is already problematic.

Lithium is among the elements identified as particularly sensitive by the World Bank: "whose demand is expected to increase by 1,000%, driven by the production of electric vehicles. If the risk of depletion is lower, it is the conditions of its extraction in arid regions, and in particular the high demand for water, which are worrying."

Extraction of lithium

Bolivia has the world's largest reserves of lithium, 40% of the planet's stock. It has invested 1 billion euros, considering that lithium will be to the electric car what oil is to the gas car. The authorities want to make Bolivia the Saudi Arabia Lithium. They want to make Bolivia the world's largest producer of lithium and set world market prices.

Lithium extraction technology generates fewer emissions than mining. But the use of large evaporation pools 20-30 km long. Tons of brine pumped into the desert water tables are transported in huge ponds. It is this brine that contains lithium. The evaporation of pond water is a natural process that lasts twelve months. We obtain salts rich in minerals of all kinds. 

In the largest lithium mine in Bolivia, the environmental consequences of this practice could be considerable. In this already 'desertic' region, the consumption of water necessary for the production of lithium is gigantic. The surrounding rivers are already dry. Quinoa, the main agricultural resource of the dozens of Indian communities of farmers living of quinoa, raising llamas and sometimes tourism, in the region, are the most affected by this drought.
For a long time, tourism was the only wealth of the Bolivia Indian communities, but landscapes are today transformed to make way for the exploitation of lithium, essential for mobile phones, computers and batteries of electric cars.

In Argentina and Chile where Lithium extraction is already taking place on a large scale, social development expectations have not been met. Chilean , US multinationals, Chinese companies claimed to use 100 liters of water per second, when in fact they used 200!

the result: the area was dry, salinization was much more important due to the greater evaporation. The Indian communities were severely impacted. And most of the profit is taken by production companies.

Ultimately, do we have to destroy other ecosystems of the planet in order to reduce CO2 emissions using electric vehicles? Aren't we solving a problem by creating an even more devastating one?

Can't companies develop new technologies and processes to make sure that this metal extraction not only supports their own business, but also protects the local ecosystems AND helps a sustainable development of the local communities?

Amsterdam, the world's first "doughnut" city !!

From its humble beginnings as a 13th-century fishing village, Amsterdam is today a major hub for business, tourism and culture and has a long and well-respected tradition in the arts. Amsterdam is a metropolis of more than 1 million inhabitants (excluding the suburbs) with nearly 9 million international tourists visited the city in 2019.
This post is about Amsterdam city plan to implement, as first city in the world, the "doughnut" model. 

"In Amsterdam we want to ensure a good life for everyone, within the Earth’s natural boundaries. That can be done in a circular city in which we adopt a smarter approach to scarce raw materials, produce and consume differently." said the city mayor.

Amsterdam is rethinking what economic success looks like. In doing so, it’s not looking at traditional financial metrics. Instead, the city will be the first in the world to officially adopt the “doughnut” model of economics.

The model, developed by UK Oxford economist Kate Raworth, is a simple way to illustrate a complex goal. 

The inner ring of the doughnut represents minimum standards of living, based on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. This entails the basic essentials everyone needs to thrive, from food and clean water to gender equality and adequate housing. According to the model, no one should fall into the hole in the center of the doughnut, which would mean they don’t have enough to afford basic needs. 

The outer ring of the doughnut represents the ecological limits of the planet, from biodiversity loss and air pollution to climate breakdown. 

Amsterdam wants to stay between the inner and outer rings, in the green space. 

The overarching question is: How can Amsterdam city be home to thriving people, in a thriving place, while respecting the well-being of all people and the health of the whole planet?

The following is a key step that differentiates all other models:

Accepting the individual responsibility in what is produced, what is manufactured and what is consumed throughout the whole value chain, everywhere in the world, from global to local ! 

This approach also looks at the impacts the city has beyond its own borders, from the air pollution that’s created in China when Chinese factories make goods that are exported to the Netherlands, or the social impact of the cocoa grown in Africa—sometimes with child labor or slavery—that’s imported in huge quantities through the Port of Amsterdam. It stretches the boundaries of responsibility of the city.

The City of Amsterdam is focusing on 3 value chains:
Food and organic waste streams
Ambition 1: Short food chains provide a robust sustainable food system
Ambition 2: Healthy and sustainable food for the people of Amsterdam
Ambition 3: High-quality processing of organic waste streams

Consumer goods
Ambition 1: The City sets the right example by reducing its consumption
Ambition 2: Using what we have more sparingly
Ambition 3: Amsterdam makes the most of discarded products

Built environment
Ambition 1: The transition to circular development requires a joint effort
Ambition 2: The City sets the right example by formulating circular criteria
Ambition 3: A circular approach to the existing city

More details to come, will follow up this project.

Sources:

- Amsterdam city website

- Kate Raworth blog

Increase in GDP by up to 20 percent by connecting schools to the internet

An interesting study report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) report sponsored by Ericsson has found that nations with low broadband connectivity have the potential to realize an increase in GDP by up to 20 percent by connecting schools to the internet.

A well-educated workforce is more likely to be innovative and foster ground-breaking ideas, leading to economic development and job creation. EIU analysis shows that for every 10 percent increase in school connectivity in a country, GDP per capita could increase by 1.1 percent.

In the context of the West African country of Niger, the report finds that improvements in school connectivity to Finnish levels could increase GDP per capita by almost 20 percent - from USD 550 per person in the baseline, to USD 660 per person by 2025. 

The report focuses on four key actions to make a change:

1. Collaboration is key: A holistic, public/private partnership strategy is needed to coordinate efforts with stakeholders to overcome barriers to school connectivity.
2. Accessibility and affordability: Building infrastructure to enable access to the internet is a starting point. Quality of connection and cost are important factors as well.
3. Embedding internet and digital tools into education: Once access to school connectivity is achieved, it must be embedded into the curriculum. Teachers must be trained to integrate technology into everyday learning.
4. Protecting children online: School connectivity provides opportunities for children.  Additional steps must be taken to ensure healthy and protected online learning environments. Internet usage must be properly managed to ensure safe and secure use..

The report also recommends that public, private and NGO sector leaders around the world can make a dramatic impact towards bridging the digital divide by joining forces to make internet connectivity a global reality for school children of all ages.

As a result, Ericsson today appeals to these players to get behind the efforts of Giga (a school connectivity initiative founded by UNICEF and the International Telecommunication Union) through actions such as: funding, data sharing, technological expertise and reimagining sustainable business models for connectivity. Ericsson has committed its efforts through a three-year partnership with UNICEF to help map the current school connectivity gap across 35 countries.

will games disrupt traditional Marketing?

The lock down due to the pandemic has created a new phenomenon in social media & gaming industry: The real life moves into the virtual world!

The game "Animal crossing, new Horizons", was opportunistically launched on March 2020 in the middle of the world lock down. It  became very quickly a world best selling game. 

It's an easy game where there is no fighting and no winners. Where you can  buy a trip that will take you to a deserted island where you can get away with all your creativity, charm and the freedom to work hard to create the life you want on the island. The island offers creativity, freedom and lots of charm. A harmonious new life simply! Gather up different resources and see what you can do with them. Some things are clearly practical while others are more aesthetic. Make new friends, enjoy the seasons and explore the island! Create and shape your character and home in the game. 

Experience the new system for creating things! Collect materials to create everything from tools to furniture.

Online gamers discovered quickly the possibilities offered by the game and the lock down at home provided the time to be creative. 

As examples, lovers who couldn't meet in real life due to the forced separation and the lock down, they met in the game, and they even get married and organized a wedding party with guests et al, 

The Hong Kong activists who couldn't demonstrate in real life in the city, they did that inside the game. They organized the demonstrations in the game. see below screenshot.

 

In France, the yellow vests activists (with characters wearing yellow vests) met in the game to continue their demonstrations from inside the game. below screenshot.

    

Museums were totally rebuild in the game and any online gamer can join and have a 'guided' virtual visit of the museum. see screenshot.

Even TV shows are reconstructed with the host in his traditional suit and guests who are interviewed,  a guest telling jokes, a band playing live music and everyone is at home holding the game controllers. Music singles are also planned to be launched from inside the game. see screenshot

It's whole  second reality world that is becoming a virtual one.

The popular game Fortnite with its 300 million subscribers is also one of the largest meeting place. They have started organizing concert inside the game, The concert of rapper Travis scott has gathered more than 12 million fans in one single place !! 12 millions consumers in the same place.

Movie trailers are being projected inside the games.

The question for marketers: where are the targets hanging out? Well, the answer is becoming clearer: Meet them in the "real" virtual world !

Book Review: Measuring What Counts... (GDP?)

In 2009, a group of economists led by Nobel laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz, French economist Jean-Paul Fitoussi, and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen sparked a global conversation about GDP and a major movement among scholars, policy makers, and activists to change the way we measure our economies.

Book cover – November 19, 2019

For economists, metrics are the means to measure performance. “If we measure the wrong thing, we will do the wrong thing,” 

“The world is facing three existential crises: a climate crisis, an inequality crisis and a crisis in democracy. Yet the accepted ways by which we measure economic performance give absolutely no hint that we might be facing a problem.” says Stiglitz.

GDP gives no hint of environmental degradation or resource depletion, nor inequality, middle-class suffering, or lower standards of living.

“If growth is not sustainable because we are destroying the environment and using up scarce natural resources our statistics should warn us,” he says. “It is clear that something is fundamentally wrong with the way we assess economic performance and social performance.”

The new book, Measuring What Counts: The Global Movement for Well-Being, cowritten with French economists Jean-Paul Fitoussi and Martine Durand, provides a blueprint for how countries can use more appropriate metrics that account for details such as sustainability and how people feel about their lives.

This book provides an accessible overview of the last decade’s global movement, sparked by the original critique of GDP, and proposes a new “dashboard” of metrics to assess a society’s health, including measures of inequality and economic vulnerability, whether growth is environmentally sustainable, and how people feel about their lives. Essential reading for our time, it also serves as a guide for policy makers and others on how to use these new tools to fundamentally change the way we measure our lives—and to plot a radically new path forward.

"If we want to put people first, we have to know what matters to them, what improves their well-being, and how we can supply more of whatever that is."—Joseph E. Stiglitz

Moonshot, the World Bank plan for building an inclusive digital future across Africa

In 2019, global internet adoption has surpassed 50 per cent of the world’s population.

According to ITU, the strongest growth of the percentage of population using the Internet was reported in Africa, where it increased from 2.1 per cent in 2005 to 24.4 per cent in 2018.
According to Digital 2019 Report overview from January 2019, Africa has a population over 1.3 billion with 43 per cent living in urban areas; over one billion mobile users representing a mobile penetration of 80 per cent; and Africa has over 216 million Internet users which represents only 16 per cent of the African population. And more than half of urban African adults owned Internet-capable devices (McKinsey Global Institute 2013).

There is a need for a moonshot!!

The World Bank has launched 'Moonshot Africa', an ambitious initiative to connect individuals, firms, and governments in Africa to boost broadband penetration between 2021-2030.
The World Bank estimates large investment needs: about 20 billion US Dollars would be needed to double connectivity by 2021 in Africa and  Middle East, and about 51 billion US Dollars would be needed to achieve Universal Access to broadband by 2030 in Africa and Middle East.

Doubling connectivity by 2021 and expanding coverage by 2030 requires more than infrastructure investment, it requires a renewed focus on securing enabling policy frameworks and investment in digital skills and content.

Will Moonshot Africa create jobs on a continent where job creation is needed for Africa’s working-age population projected to rise by 70% in the next twenty years?

A recent paper by Jonas Hjort and Jonas Poulsen, “The Arrival of Fast Internet and Employment in Africa,” published in the American Economic Review in March 2019, gives technology optimists reason for hope. Using household survey data from 12 African countries with a combined population of roughly half a billion people, the authors document a large positive effect on employment.

There will still be concerns about a disruptive effect of technology (robots and algorithms replacing human labor) -when increasing digital transformation in a continent that needs jobs creation-, despite economists studies.  But Africa cannot stay behind any longer.

Digital transformation will certainly create opportunities for Africa to grow its economy, create jobs, and transform people’s lives. With the aim to digitally connect every individual, business and government in Africa the “moonshot” will help countries accelerate progress, inclusion, bring high-speed connectivity to all, and lay the foundations for a digital economy. 

An ecosystem approach beyond broadband deployment
Some have suggested that the new initiative should go beyond broadband connectivity to also cover “e-government , Fintech, investment in human capital and digital literacy, innovation-friendly policies that foster entrepreneurship.This digital transformation requires an ecosystem approach.

An impactful digital transformation must be inclusive
Others, have called for a digital transformation agenda prioritizing digital inclusion, including with a focus on women. If implemented with the appropriate policies and business incentives, a perspective on inclusion could help “mitigate the possible negative effects of the digital transformation.

Sustainable development
I would add that all investment should take into account impacts on environment and climate already in the beginning.
Africa must get the latest energy-efficient innovations and technologies to create a sustainable Africa that will support mitigate climate change effects on the planet.

In September 2019 at the UN General Assembly in New York, The Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development will release its report together with the report of the Moonshot Working group, we hope to have a good idea about the plans, ambitions and most of all the commitments of the donors.

Sources:

1. https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2019-global-digital-overview
2. https://www.itu.int/en/mediacentre/Pages/2018-PR40.aspx

Aadhaar: India’s massive digital inclusion project

Public advertisement

India is the second largest country in the world in terms of population. India has also a large number of villages; more than 600.000 villages with poor transport infrastructure making movement of goods and people extremely difficult.

The idea of a universal electronic ID was proposed by the Indian Department of Information Technology in 2006. Immediately, an organization was given capital and resources to implement a large-scale program with the objective to include all Indian residents in a single ID system housed in an electronic repository. 

They called it: Aadhaar, which means base or foundation in Hindi language. 

India’s program to provide a unique identity number for every resident was created; the largest biometric identification program in the world. Launched in 2008, the program has created biometric identities for over one billion people. The program also aims to achieve social inclusion and more efficient public and private service delivery. 

Aadhaar has also started to be used for several public purposes, such as digitizing government subsidy flows (government-to-person payments); financial services; recording attendance for government employees to reduce 'absenteeism'; and issuance of passports and voter identity cards. The impact of a strong digital identity scheme affects banks, payments, security, compliance and financial inclusion

How does it work?
Indian residents can apply for an Aadhaar number by submitting their proof of identity, proof of address and registering their biometric (fingerprints and iris scan) information.

What's in it for banks?
Money transfer is widely used through traditional brokers and biometric capabilities are turned on in India, so when someone wants to initiate a money transfer through an agent, they can identify and verify themselves using their biometric fingerprint, without showing any paper or plastic documents.
And nowadays, people are spending more time online or on mobile whether they’re on social media, they’re shopping, or even paying their bills and transferring money.

A great inclusion example for public governance 

Aadhaar is a great inclusion example of how a government-mandated program could work at scale to create positive impact and create sustainable development.
The impact of a strong digital identity scheme affects banks, payments, security, compliance and financial inclusion -- and Aadhaar's is already seeing results.

Although the value of this project is obvious in terms of digital inclusion, still macroeconomic studies need to be engaged in order to quantify the real economic value of such an effort, and its GDP impact on India's economy.

Finally, recently Aadhaar leadership initiated discussions with public institutions in African and Asian countries in order to support and replicate such a great inclusion project.

Aadhaar organization, website: https://uidai.gov.in/

Universal Basic Income pilot results from Finland and India

India Sikkim state landscape 

In a previous post, I was introducing the Basic Income concept together with few operating and announced pilots. I was also questioning whether we can find a link between the Basic Income and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

One of the possible link is the 'new' transient nature of poverty. Because of the increased global and local climate risks. Several studies of economists prove that poverty is transient in nature, i.e., individuals move in and out of poverty (Dercon and Shapiro 2007).
Therefore, the idea of a Basic Income is interesting to get the poor from their poverty and, given the transient nature of poverty, a Basic Income could provide insurance against economic shocks in many poorer countries. Policymakers should take into account the transient nature of poverty with including a much larger share of the population.

Finland pilot: self-perceived well-being improved, during the first year, no effects on employment. 

In the same previous post, I presented two pilots: the Kenya pilot with preliminary results that GiveDirectly, a New York-based nonprofit has initiated in a rural village in Western Kenya, in October 2016, and the pilot launch in Finland. Just a a reminder, in January 2017, 2000 Finnish unemployed people received their first cash transfer of 560 euros, which they will continue to receive each month, until 31 December 2018. They were randomly selected from 25 to 58 years to participate in a study to assess the impact of universal basic income. During the evaluation of the basic income experiment they study the effects of the basic income on the employment status, income and well-being of the participants. The results are preliminary, and it is not yet possible to draw any firm conclusions regarding the effects of the basic income experiment.

Preliminary results of the Finland pilot: the recipients of a basic income perceived their well-being as being better than did the control group. 55% of the recipients of a basic income and 46% of the control group perceived their state of health as good or very good. 17% of the recipients of a basic income and 25% of the control group experienced quite a high degree or a very high degree of stress.
The recipients of a basic income had less stress symptoms as well as less difficulties to concentrate and less health problems than the control group. They were also more confident in their future and in their ability to influence societal issues’, says a lead researcher at Kela.

India Sikkim state is on the verge of becoming the first place on Earth implementing a basic income

Sikkim, the second smallest state in India, has grown a reputation, over the years, for environmental consciousness, ethnical diversity and tourism. It is also the home of one of the most educated people on Earth, with a 98% literacy rate. 

The Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF), the democratically elected party governing the state since 1994, has written basic income into its manifesto for the 2019 Assembly elections, and aims to have it implemented by 2022.This initiative is not intended as a pilot test, but as an actual implementation.

As for financing the basic income scheme, SDF officials are considering surplus energy generation revenue (from hydropower) and redirecting costs from welfare programs which cease to be relevant.

Germany 
A  pilot is being prepared in Germany in 2019

Interesting projects to follow... 

Sources

Finland pilot
https://www.kela.fi/web/en/news-archive/-/asset_publisher/lN08GY2nIrZo/content/preliminary-results-of-the-basic-income-experiment-self-perceived-wellbeing-improved-during-the-first-year-no-effects-on-employment

Kela, the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, is a government agency that provides basic economic security for everyone living in Finland. 

https://basicincome.org/

Are electric vehicles really good for the planet?

Source: https://exponentialroadmap.org/report/

The electric car does not produce CO2 or atmospheric pollutants. It offers many benefits, especially in the cities.

Should we all run on electricity?

Is electric car good for the planet?

The electric car is powered solely by electricity. Its engine is powered by batteries, that can be recharged at home or via a special terminal (in the street, parking, gas stations).

But how are we sure that electric vehicles are good for the planet? is it only because they use electricity instead of fossil-fuel? Vehicles with lower tailpipe emissions are perceived as cleaner. However, does it make sense to look only to tailpipe emissions? What about the emissions during production of the specific components and their appropriate end-of-life treatment processes.

How Sustainability experts compare the environmental performance of different vehicle technologies?
Therefore, in Sustainability we talk about the complete life cycle of the vehicle that should be included in order to assess the true environmental performance.

The environmental impacts of different fuels and vehicle technologies are evaluated with the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. LCA is a standardized methodology.
The life cycle assessment considers the full life of a product system and is not only limited to the production and usage of the fuel or electricity. It includes the extraction of raw materials, the manufacturing of components, the assembly, the use stage and the end-of-life treatment.

Electric vehicles have advantages: No CO2 emissions or air pollutants. Reduced use of fossil fuels (diesel and gasoline). Silent. Economic. Low maintenance.
And they have one disadvantage: the batteries !

The production and recycling of electric car batteries poses major environmental and social problems: Lithium batteries are being used for vehicles but also for their computer and electronic equipment. This increases the pressure on this rare metal lithium, a material that has become one of the most strategic on the planet.

Lithium - also known as white gold - often comes from Latin America. Its production, very greedy in water, damages the ecosystems and the survival of the local populations in areas where the drought is already problematic.

Lithium is among the elements identified as particularly sensitive by the World Bank: "whose demand is expected to increase by 1,000%, driven by the production of electric vehicles. If the risk of depletion is lower, it is the conditions of its extraction in arid regions, and in particular the high demand for water, which are worrying."

Extraction of lithium: the future environmental & human disaster

Bolivia has the world's largest reserves of lithium, 40% of the planet's stock. It has invested 1 billion euros, considering that lithium will be to the electric car what oil is to the gas car. The authorities want to make Bolivia the Saudi Arabia Lithium. They want to make Bolivia the world's largest producer of lithium and set world market prices.

Lithium extraction technology generates fewer emissions than mining. But the use of large evaporation pools 20-30 km long. Tons of brine pumped into the desert water tables are transported in huge ponds. It is this brine that contains lithium. The evaporation of pond water is a natural process that lasts twelve months. We obtain salts rich in minerals of all kinds. 

In the largest lithium mine in Bolivia, the environmental consequences of this practice could be considerable. In this already desertic region, the consumption of water necessary for the production of lithium is gigantic. The surrounding rivers are already dry. Quinoa, the main agricultural resource of the dozens of Indian communities of farmers living of quinoa, raising llamas and sometimes tourism, in the region, are the most affected by this drought. 

In Argentina and Chile where Lithium extraction is already taking place on a large scale, social development expectations have not been met. Chilean company, including US multinationals, Chinese claimed to use 100 liters of water per second, when in fact the company used 200! 

the result: the area was dry, salinization was much more important due to the greater evaporation. The Indian communities were severly impacted. And most of the profit is taken by production companies.

For a long time, tourism was the only wealth of the Bolivia Indian communities, but landscapes are today transformed to make way for the exploitation of lithium, metal essential for mobile phones, computers and batteries of electric cars. Under the salt desert.

So finally, if you holistically apply LCA, would you easily conclude that electric cars are good for the planet & people?

Prevent spread of epidemics in the world, using ICT

Source: Report's proposed governance model led by international organizations

The UnitedNations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will shape the world agenda for at least the next 12 years. Governments, private sector, and the civil society adopted the 17 global goals to ensure prosperity for all as part of a new sustainable development agenda.

The idea that suggests that businesses are here to create value for their shareholders only, at the expense of the society, is gradually becoming obsolete. This tremendous awareness created by the agenda mentioned above is setting a trend and is forcing strategists to look at their market with both eyes. 
Because of this “Mobility Age” we’re in, no other industry than ICT is better positioned to enable the achievement of the global goals.

Representing Ericsson group, I had the opportunity to join an international cross-functional team of experts in the Working Group on Epidemic Preparedness-Preventing the Spread of Epidemics using ICT, which was established by the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development. The work group was chaired and coordinated by Korea Telecom group. The objective of this international effort was to develop a proposal that addresses the challenge of preventing the spread of epidemics in the world using ICT and present it at the UN general assembly meeting in September 2018 in New York.

This report  has been developed through an iterative and collaborative process drawing on expertise from the members of the Broadband Commission Working Group. The coordination of experts and the development of the content were provided under the supervision of Korea Telecom group. In addition, critical contributions were made by work group members from the World Bank Group, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), GSMA, Ericsson, health experts and scientists. The Working Group met online or offline on a quarterly basis, reviewed material, exchanged insightful ideas and discussed the strategic trajectory of the report.

Infectious diseases and epidemics outbreak have followed the history of human beings for ages, from the “Plague of Athens”, the first recorded infectious disease outbreak to modern times epidemics such as Ebola and MERS. Growing international exchanges, increase in population and urbanization, intensification of global climate and environmental changes, and inadequate systems of disease prevention and control are the leading causes of severe epidemics in modern society. An epidemic outbreak could cause the loss of many lives and have a devastating economic impact estimated of 60 billion US dollars loss per year.

Mobile industry

Mobile technology has experienced a rapid technical development, increasing network coverage, and an exponential increase of cell phones user rates all over the world. According to Q2/2018 Ericsson MobilityReport, there are around 5.5 billion subscribers globally.

Mobile networks have brought voice and internet services to billions of people around over the last 25 years. At the current trajectory, mobile broadband will provide network coverage to around 95% of the world’s population by 2022.

Mobile industry has a great potential to deliver life-saving information even in the most remote and resource poor areas. Additionally, it offers an effective contribution to public health initiatives in support of achieving the health outcomes related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) while being economical, effective, and sustainable.

Big data availability

The explosion of data from different sources; mobile network, IT services is a great opportunity to address this challenge. Different type of data could be used in the fight against epidemics for analytics and/or simulation: genetic data, mobile network’s Call Data record (CDR), roaming data, Cell phone mobility, Social media data, Location-based information data, and you name it.

Various technologies exist to collect, analyze, and report various epidemics-related data. Using different sources of data is important to create an accurate view of the epidemic situation. The simultaneous collection of CDRs, roaming data, IoT data, location-based data and social media data will provide the Analytics platforms with enough information to produce accurate reports, that could help governments and organizations to take the right decisions.

The report proposes three important recommendations:

1. Regulation for Safe Personal Data Utilization: Currently, many countries around the globe have privacy protection laws in place. However, this should not lead to the loss of opportunities to prevent the spread of epidemics in an early manner.
2. Establishment of epidemics data sharing/monitoring system: Data sharing and utilization among nations around the world is essential to effectively fight epidemics.
3. Expansion of global governance: There is a need for global governance to be jointly led by international organizations of various fields, such as UN, ITU, and WHO. international organizations can include the establishment of epidemics-related regulations and policy guidelines that governments around the world can refer to and the promotion of the private-public-international community participation to build an integrated system.

You are encouraged to comment, suggest and keep the dialog vivid on this important topic that will positively impact us all.

Note: this blog has been published simultaneously in the Ericsson Technology for good blog