Snowflake, the AI Data Cloud company, today announced its ‘End Data Disparity’ initiative, which brings together global leaders from across industries, and the data capabilities and collective power of Snowflake’s ecosystem — including partners and customers — to help address and reduce disparities in data quality, availability and access. As part of the initiative, Snowflake has assembled an expert panel of data and technology experts from both public and private sectors, responsible for driving the initiative forward, by offering domain expertise and strategic guidance in addressing global data inequality.
Data allows people to better understand and improve the world. By providing universal access to quality data and encouraging data accessibility through technology adoption and utilisation, more people and organisations can work towards meeting the United Nations’ Global Goals to progress on climate, social and health issues.
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, more specifically, Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 17, seek to create stronger partnerships between organisations for more sustainable global development. However, of the assessable targets — which include access to quality education, zero hunger and climate action — only 17% are on track to be achieved by 2030. Snowflake’s End Data Disparity initiative focuses on helping accelerate progress against these goals.
“At Snowflake, we help organisations solve their most critical data challenges,” said Benoit Dageville, Snowflake Co-Founder and End Data Disparity panel member. “Now is the time to use the power of data to accelerate progress in addressing social, health and climate issues, with the same knowledge and insight that has powered the cloud and AI booms. Working together with the incredible experts in corporate, nonprofit and governmental institutions, can result in real progress being made to end data disparity.”
As part of the initiative, the expert panel of professionals from across technology, data and the non-profit sectors will outline key challenges, opportunities, and actions required for better access to quality and representative data. They will also be responsible for increasing the program’s visibility and encouraging wider industry change through hackathons, pro bono work and consultancy for real-world use cases, panels, and advocacy for policy change.
The inaugural members of the expert panel, include:
- Karen Beauné, VP EMEA Marketing, Snowflake
- Arndt Brinkmann, Senior Director, Associate General Counsel, Snowflake
- Dr Tom Chatfield, Author and Tech Philosopher
- Stephen C. Daffron, Chairman at BetaNXT and Founding Partner, Motive Partners
- Benoit Dageville, Co-Founder and President of Products, Snowflake
- Lisa Lim Ah Ken, Senior Specialist, Climate Action, International Organisation for Migration, UN
- Mats Pellbäck Scharp, Chairman, We Don’t Have Time
- Denise Persson, Chief Marketing Officer, Snowflake
- Elena Philipova, Director, Sustainable Finance and Investment, Data and Analytics, LSEG
- Dr Elisabetta Pietrostefani, Lecturer in Geographic Data Science, University of Liverpool
- Jennifer L. Wong, Former Global Head, Strategy and Business Transformation, Digital Data and AI, Sanofi
The programme will be chaired by Karen Beauné, VP EMEA Marketing, Snowflake. The first End Data Disparity panel meeting will take place prior to the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2025. Thereafter the panel will meet regularly, providing advice, and recommending strategic decisions and actions for organisations to help drive better data access and representation.
“We want companies and individuals to go beyond a stated desire to meet the SDGs, to understand how their actions are making a difference,” said Stephen C. Daffron, End Data Disparity panel member. “This won’t be easy or simple, but the work is vital. Along with the other members of the panel, I’m committed to helping facilitate these discussions and providing a forum for more action on this issue.”
To further support the movement, Snowflake has launched an interactive hub that will serve as a central point for information; a dedicated LinkedIn group bringing together professionals to share strategies and experiences as they work together; and a white paper, “End Data Disparity: Defining the problem and what’s to be done about it,” examining the history of data disparity and setting out the objectives for the overall program.
