The 5th International Forum on Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals

Welcome Message

GUO Huadong

Chair

The year 2025 marks the 10th anniversary of the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and is a pivotal year for the global efforts towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Over the past decade, while the international community has made important progress in areas such as eradicating extreme poverty and transitioning to clean energy, challenges like intensified climate change, drastic biodiversity loss, and food security crises continue to escalate. The latest United Nations assessment reveals that nearly 40% of the measurable SDGs are still off track, with some goals experiencing systemic regression due to compounded crises. Faced with this common challenge that concerns the fate of humanity, we need more than ever to anchor ourselves in science and set sail with big data, to foster collaborative scientific actions that transcend national and disciplinary boundaries.

The integration of big data and artificial intelligence provides an invaluable tool to facilitate global efforts to achieve sustainable development. Digital technologies not only dynamically monitor progress towards goals and precisely identify bottlenecks but also provide innovative solutions for complex issues such as climate resilience, ecological protection, and energy transition through interdisciplinary information integration and intelligent analysis. Over the past 5 years, the International Forum on Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals (FBAS) has been committed to building a global collaborative scientific platform that promotes the sharing, innovation, and policy coordination of digital technologies, while facilitating the transformation of big data from an information resource to a governance paradigm.

On the 10th anniversary of the 2030 Agenda and 5th anniversary of the FBAS forum, the 5th International Forum on Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals will be held in Beijing from September 6 to 8, 2025. The theme of forum "Digital Intelligence Driving Sustainable Development: The 10th Anniversary of the 2030 Agenda," will define the focus of the event towards use of digital and AI technologies to address zero hunger, clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, sustainable cities and communities, climate action, life below water, life on land, and integration and intersection among SDGs. It will feature discussions on several topics, such as leveraging big data services to achieve sustainable development goals, harnessing AI to empower global sustainable development, exploring policy guidance and digital intelligence industry to drive regional sustainable development, fostering global partnerships to accelerate progress towards sustainable development goals, and encouraging youth innovation to co-creating a sustainable future.

With less than five years remaining until 2030, every technological breakthrough, policy dialogue, and experience-sharing can provide a significant advantage in reducing current lags in the SDG targets.

To this end, we sincerely invite scientists, policymakers, business leaders, and representatives of social organizations from around the world to gather in Beijing during the FBAS 2025. Let us share our wisdom, spark innovative thinking, and forge alliances for action, together drawing up a global roadmap for digital intelligence-driven sustainable development.

Let us reflect on the past decade as a mirror and take the last five years as a milestone, and move forward together in collaboration to launch the "sprint action" for the 2030 Agenda. Only by working together today can we achieve shared prosperity tomorrow.

Speakers

Alphabetical order by last name

Quarraisha Abdool Karim

President of the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS)

Abdool Karim, is an infectious diseases epidemiologist whose seminal contributions spanning over three decades have shaped the global HIV prevention landscape, notably in prevention technologies for women.

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Johannes Cullmann

Scientific Advisor to the 77th President of the UN General Assembly

Johannes Cullmann is Scientific Advisor to the President of the UN General Assembly and coordinates sustainable development related issues in the Office of the President, and the vice-chair of UN water. He is on loan from the World Meteorological Organization, where he has served eight years as lead for water and climate activities. Johannes moved to Geneva from the German Federal Institute of Hydrology, where he served as director responsible for strategy, science and partnerships. Prior to this, Johannes coordinated the German Transportation Ministry’s international water affairs and directed the German committee for the water programmes of UNESCO and WMO. He was Senior Advisor to WMO’s water activities and President of UNESCO`s Intergovernmental Council on water from 2012 to 2014. In his function as a department head in the German Federal Institute for Hydrology, he was the German representative to the Commission for the Hydrology of the Rhine River and co-organised the first climate change impact analysis for the Rhine River.

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GUO Huadong

Director General of the International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals (CBAS)

GUO Huadong is the Director General of the International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals (CBAS), an Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), a Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, a Foreign Member of the Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters, and a Fellow of TWAS.

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Ameenah Gurib-Fakim

Former Presidents of Mauritius

Ameenah Gurib-Fakim has served as the 6th and First Female President of the Republic of Mauritius (2015-2018). Prior to that, she has been the Managing Director of the Centre International de Développement Pharmaceutique (CIDP R & I) as well as Professor of Organic Chemistry with an endowed chair at the University of Mauritius. Since 2001, she has served successively as Dean of the Faculty of Science and Pro Vice Chancellor (2004-2010). She has authored and co-edited 30 books, several book chapters and scientific articles in the field of biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. Elected Fellow of several academies and societies, Ms Gurib-Fakim received several international prizes including the 2007 l’Oreal-UNESCO Prize for Women in Science and the African Union Commission Award for Women in Science, 2009. In 2021, she has been appointed as Distinguished Professor at the John Wesley School of Leadership, Carolina University, USA. In June 2016, she was in the Forbes List for the 100 ‘Most Powerful women in the world’ and 1st among the Top 100 Women in Africa Forbes List 2017, 2019. She is honoured as one of Foreign Policy’s 2015 Global Thinkers and is the recipient of 7 Honorary Doctorate.

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Csaba Kőrösi

77th President of the UN General Assembly, Strategic Director of the Blues Planet Foundation

As a career diplomat, he has spent his entire professional life in public service, combining national duties with assignments received from various international communities. He has held several high-ranking positions, including Deputy State Secretary in charge of security policy, multilateral diplomacy and human rights; Vice-President of the UN General Assembly (2011-12); State Secretary for Environmental Sustainability, Office of the President of Hungary (2015-2022). As Director (State Secretary) of the Office of the President of Hungary, he was involved in the High-level Panel on Water, co-convened by the Secretary-General and the President of the World Bank Group in the Water and Climate Leaders Panel, co-convened by the Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization and the President of UN-Water. He was co-chair of the UN intergovernmental process (Open Working Group of the General Assembly on Sustainable Development Goals) tasked with producing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals at its heart. He is a founding member of the Hungarian Scientific Panel on Climate Change, a member the Presidential Committee on Sustainable Development at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Csaba Kőrösi is Distinguished Fellow of the Japan International Cooperation Agency Ogata Sadako Research Institute, Fellow of the International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Honorary Fellow of the International Science Council.

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Ibrahim Thiaw

Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the UNCCD

Ibrahim Thiaw is Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) since February 2019. Mr. Thiaw brings to the position 40 years of experience in sustainable development, environmental governance and natural resource management. In 2018, he was Special Adviser to the Secretary-General for the Sahel and supported ongoing efforts to advance the recalibration of the United Nations Integrated Strategy for the Sahel (UNISS) and the development of the UN Support Plan for the Sahel. Prior to this position, from 2013 to 2018, he served as Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), where he played a key role in shaping the organization's strategic vision and mandate, overseeing the development and implementation of the mid-term strategy and programme of work, and strengthening collaborations with Governments and other environmental governing bodies. Mr. Thiaw joined the United Nations in 2007 as Director of UNEP’s Division for Environmental Policy Implementation. Before joining the Organization, he was the Regional Director for West Africa, and later Acting Director General, of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Mr. Thiaw started his career in Mauritania, his home country, where he served in the Ministry of Rural Development for 10 years. He holds an advanced degree in forestry and forest product techniques.

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Danilo Türk

Former President of The Republic of Slovenia

Danilo Türk, former President of the Republic of Slovenia. He graduated from the University of Ljubljana in 1975 with a degree in law and later obtained his PhD with a thesis on the principle of non-intervention in international law in 1982. President Türk became Director of the Institute on International Law at the University of Ljubljana in 1983. Additionally, he was a member of the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, a UN body of independent experts. In that capacity he served, between 1986 and 1992, as the UN Special Rapporteur on the realization of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. In 1990-1991, Türk took part in the drafting of the Constitution of Slovenia by preparing the draft chapter related to human rights and fundamental freedoms. From 1992 to 2000, he became the first Slovene Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, and represented Slovenia on the UN Security Council in 1998 and 1999. In 2000, he was invited by Kofi Annan, then Secretary-General, to serve as UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs (2000-2005). In 2005, he returned to Slovenia as Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Ljubljana. He was elected as President in 2007 as an independent, being supported by several political parties. Dr. Türk chaired the Global High-Level Panel on Water and Peace between 2015 and 2016, which published the report “A Matter of Survival” (2017). In 2016, he was one of the candidates for the post of the Secretary-General of the UN. In 2019, he was elected as President of World Leadership Alliance – Club de Madrid, organization of more than 120 former Presidents and Prime Ministers. He continues to work within various international institutions, including United Nations as well as with non – governmental organizations and initiatives in the fields of multilateral cooperation and international law.

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Wang Jian

Director, Zhejiang Lab; Founder, Alibaba Cloud

Dr. Jian Wang was the chief technology officer of Alibaba Group, and is the founder of Alibaba Cloud, which is a major public cloud provider globally and ranks as first in Asia. He was also the chief architect of Apsara, the computing foundation of Alibaba Cloud, and took the lead in proposing the industrial model of using computing as a public service. In 2016, Dr. Wang pioneered and led the nonprofit City Brain initiative to develop a new digital infrastructure for sustainable “smart” cities as his personal effort and was the architect of Hangzhou City Brain. He founded the Yunqi Academy of Engineering, a private nonprofit research institute with a focus on scientific research for City Brain, and the Yunqi Science and Technology Innovation Foundation, a philanthropic private foundation that operates the 2050 museum which is open to public for free. The foundation envisions the future through technology innovation and organizes the 2050 event every year in April, promoting the vision of science and technology bringing people together. He is a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and lives in Hangzhou, China.

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