In the same way businesses use big data to pursue profits, governments use it to promote the public good.

Big-data applications in the government sector

Big Data for supply chain management in the service and manufacturing sectors

Many countries are pursuing innovation-led “smart” growth, which requires long-run strategic investments and public policies that aim to create and shape markets, rather than just “fixing” markets or systems. Market creation has characterized the kind of mission-oriented investments that led to putting a man on the moon and are currently galvanizing green innovation. Mission-oriented innovation has required public agencies to not only “de-risk” the private sector, but also to lead the direct creation of new technological opportunities and market landscapes. This paper considers four key issues that arise from a market-creating framework for policy: (1) decision-making on the direction of change; (2) the nature of (public and private) organizations that can welcome the underlying uncertainty and discovery process; (3) the evaluation of mission-oriented and market-creation policies; and (4) the ways in which both risks and rewards can be shared so that smart growth can also result in inclusive growth.

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From market fixing to market-creating: a new framework for innovation policy

“Big data” which admittedly means many things to many people is no longer confined to the realm of technology. Today it is a business imperative and is providing solutions to long-standing business challenges for banking and financial markets companies around the world. Financial services firms are leveraging big data to transform their processes, their organizations and the entire industry. Since 2012, the term “big data” has frequently been mentioned and used to describe and define the huge amount of data in the information explosive era and to name related technological development and innovation. As to the police work, the coming of big data era is not only a challenge but also an opportunity. Police agencies should go with the tide of development to start with such aspects as work thinking, top design, public information sharing and application and talent provision so as to promote the new development and progress of police work. This paper expounds the practical effect and significance of police big data application by cases happened in some areas.

Analytics: The real-world use of big data in financial services studying with judge system events

Background: The incidence, outbreak frequency, and distribution of many infectious diseases are generally expected to change as a consequence of climate change, yet there is limited regional information available to guide decision making.

Objective: We surveyed government officials designated as Competent Bodies for Scientific Advice concerning infectious diseases to examine the degree to which they are concerned about potential effects of climate change on infectious diseases, as well as their perceptions of institutional capacities in their respective countries.

Methods: In 2007 and 2009/2010, national infectious disease experts from 30 European Economic Area countries were surveyed about recent and projected infectious disease patterns in relation to climate change in their countries and the national capacity to cope with them.

Results: A large majority of respondents agreed that climate change would affect vector-borne (86% of country representatives), food-borne (70%), water-borne (68%), and rodent-borne (68%) diseases in their countries. In addition, most indicated that institutional improvements are needed for ongoing surveillance programs (83%), collaboration with the veterinary sector (69%), management of animal disease outbreaks (66%), national monitoring and control of climate-sensitive infectious diseases (64%), health services during an infectious disease outbreak (61%), and diagnostic support during an epidemic (54%).

Conclusions: Expert responses were generally consistent with the peer-reviewed literature regarding the relationship between climate change and vector- and water-borne diseases, but were less so for food-borne diseases. Shortcomings in institutional capacity to manage climate change vulnerability, identified in this assessment, should be addressed in impact, vulnerability, and adaptation assessments.

Mapping Climate Change Vulnerabilities to Infectious Diseases in Europe

https://works.bepress.com/beathabegger/10/download/

Strategic foresight in public policy: Reviewing the experiences of the UK, Singapore, and the Netherlands

In an interdependent and complex world, only few public policy challenges can be confined to one particular policy area anymore. Many governments have realized that a single-issue focus is often insufficient in dealing with emerging threats and opportunities. They have therefore started to experiment with strategic foresight that deliberately cuts across the traditional boundaries of policy areas and government departments. This article reviews the foresight activities of three countries that have been at the forefront of this trend: the United Kingdom, Singapore, and the Netherlands. To this end, the article discusses the concept of strategic foresight and explains the two distinct ways in which it contributes to public policy-making: on the one hand, it informs policy by providing more systematic knowledge about relevant trends and developments in an organization's environments; on the other hand, it acts as a driver of reflexive mutual social learning processes among policy-makers that stimulate the generation of common public policy visions. The article concludes by drawing lessons with regard to the key success factors allowing strategic foresight to make an effective contribution to public policy-making.

Strategic foresight in public policy: reviewing the experiences of the UK, Singapore, and The Netherlands

Many international organizations, including the United Nations, are accused of lacking democratic accountability. A variety of proposals have been made to close the gap between their extended influence and the lack of effective controlling mechanisms to prevent abuses of power. This article focuses on one specific proposal: the establishment of parliamentary assemblies. Based on the experiences of the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, it presents the factors that enable such assemblies to exercise parliamentary control and influence towards intergovernmental decision-making bodies.The article shows how a parliamentary dimension can be introduced conceptually into the debate on the democratic accountability of international organizations and how these insights support the reflections on a United Nations parliamentary assembly.

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Democratic accountability of international organizations: Parliamentary control within the Council of Europe and the OSCE and the prospects for the United Nations

The Center for Security Studies (CSS) at ETH Zurich specializes in research, teaching, and information services in the fields of international relations and security policy. The CSS also acts as a consultant to various political bodies and the general public. The Center is engaged in research projects with a number of Swiss and international partners, focusing on new risks, European and transatlantic security, strategy and doctrine, state failure and state building, and Swiss foreign and security policy.

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Beat Habegger

Papers

Strategic foresight in public policy: Reviewing the experiences of the UK, Singapore, and the Netherlands

Strategic foresight in public policy: reviewing the experiences of the UK, Singapore, and The Netherlands

Democratic accountability of international organizations: Parliamentary control within the Council of Europe and the OSCE and the prospects for the United Nations

Horizon Scanning in Government: Concept, Country Experiences, and Models for Switzerland