On June 1, 2012, after attending the official launch of the Foundation for a Digital UN, NIA President, Seang-Tae Kim and NIA Executive Director, Jeongwon Yoon visited both the T.J. Watson Research Center in New York and the United Nations Global Pulse to discuss cooperation in the area of Big Data research.



The two separate visits had a common theme as both the Watson Research Center affiliated with IBM and UN || chr(39) || || chr(39) || || chr(39) || || chr(39) || s Global Pulse are devoting a lot of time and support to Big Data applications so that organizations, the public and governments can benefit from such analytics that big data can provide.



At IBM || chr(39) || || chr(39) || || chr(39) || || chr(39) || s Watson Research Center, the big data platform allows the analysis of large volumes of data and there has been a lot of work done on already for projects involving the US government and the Brazilian government. Big data is more than just size as it is an opportunity to find insights

in new and emerging types of data and content and make businesses more agile. IBM || chr(39) || || chr(39) || || chr(39) || || chr(39) || s platform for big data uses state of the art technologies including patented advanced analytics to open the door to a world of possibilities and is helping enterprises across all industries. One such example is

in the healthcare industry where there has been a 20% decrease in patient mortality by analyzing streaming patient medical data.



At UN || chr(39) || || chr(39) || || chr(39) || || chr(39) || s Global Pulse, NIA President Kim was briefed on and discusses Big Data in the area of cooperation as the UN Global Pulse is interested in setting up ties with Korea in this area as it has already opened a research center in Jakarta, Indonesia that harnesses social network information

to help predict natural disasters and other such situations.



Global Pulse is an innovation initiative established by UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon back in 2009 that harnesses today || chr(39) || || chr(39) || || chr(39) || || chr(39) || s new world of digital data and real-time analytics to gain a better understanding of changes in human well-being. Global Pulse hopes to contribute a future in which access

to better information sooner makes it possible to keep international development on track, protect the world || chr(39) || || chr(39) || || chr(39) || || chr(39) || s most vulnerable populations, and strengthen resilience to global shocks. It functions as an innovation laboratory, bringing together expertise from UN agencies, governments, academia, and

the private sector to research, develop, test and share tools and approaches for harnessing real-time data for more effective and efficient policy action.



It is becoming more and more apparent that wherever people are using mobile phones or accessing digital services, they are leaving trails behind in the data. Data gathered from cell phones, online behavior, and Twitter, for example, provides information that is updated daily, hourly and by

the minute. With the global explosion of mobile phone-based services, communities all around the world are generating this real-time data in ever-increasing volumes. These digital trails are more immediate and can give a fuller picture of the changes, stressors, and shifts in the daily

living of a community, especially when compared with traditional indicators such as annual averages of wages, or food and gas prices. This is especially crucial during times of global shocks, when the resilience of families and their hard-won development gains are tested.



Discussions at both institutes proved to be very fruitful and informative as discussions delved into possible cooperation activities as this area gains more traction in everyday society.

NIA President Seang-Tae Kim during a meeting at IBM || chr(39) || || chr(39) || || chr(39) || || chr(39) || s T.J. Watson Research Institute

NIA President, Seang-Tae Kim and NIA Executive Director, Jeongwon Yoon at UN Global Pulse, New York