Data is at the heart of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In a time of global crisis and economic uncertainty, its management, use and sharing are crucial for the resilience of economies and progress of societies. 

The Forum’s Platform on Data Policy aims to unlock the value of data for all by increasing collaboration, developing policy and strengthening action across data ecosystems. 

By bringing together global leaders from business, government and civil society, we’ve been able to:

• Help Rwanda develop their Protection of Personal Data and Privacy Law in a way that promotes technology adoption and the trusted flow of data while minimizing risks.


• Transform how Finland uses data to provide more personalized and timely services for its residents – from pre-primary education to job placement.


• Develop toolkits for companies like Visa to strengthen trust with users through improved permissioning and consent management experiences.

Our Platform achieves this impact through three pillars of work:

• Shaping the Data Economy – aims to grow global GDP 5% by 2030 by advancing cross-border and cross-sector cooperation around data collection, use and transfer with a focus on incorporating private sector into intergovernmental dialogues on overcoming barriers to cross-border data flows.  


• Data for Government and Industry Transformation – supports key stakeholders in the global digital economy to accelerate their responsible transformation, with a focus on government Chief Data Officers, SMEs and frontier industries like biotechnologies and the metaverse.  


• Data for Public Goods – global network developing and building new approaches to data sharing to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals; currently working on improving food security, protecting ocean health and advancing affordable and clean energy.  

If you are interested in learning more about our work, please reach out to datapolicy@weforum.org.