On September 28, 2015, a new Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data was officially launched on the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York. The Partnership brings together governments, private companies, academia, scientists and civil society in support of data-driven decision-making, by catalyzing more open, new and usable data to help end extreme poverty, combat climate change and promote inclusive growth. The Partnership will specifically look to provide more, better quality data to help monitor and achieve the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

SDSN is a founding member of the Global Partnership and will be working to mobilize its network of knowledge institutions to contribute to better data and data-driven decision-making for sustainable development. In particular, SDSN’s new Thematic Group on Data for Sustainable Development will help the Partnership to think through the new data and information landscape, new data infrastructures, and data collection approaches.

The launch event, which took place at the historic Waldorf Astoria, brought together a wide array of companies (including Facebook, SAP, ESRI and Barclays), governments (the UK, Mexico, France, Kenya, the United States of America), multilateral institutions, academic institutes and organizations to share their commitments to the Partnership. For instance, senior representatives from PlanetLabs committed to make freely available earth observation and satellite imagery every day, while the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation committed US $2 million to the establishment of a permanent Secretariat.