Published on: 22.11.2023
Author: Alex Lavrynets
Photos taken at the first meeting of the DS&AI CoP on 14 November 2023
The Data Science and Artificial Intelligence community of practice (DS&AI CoP) held its first official meeting at Neuchâtel on 14 November 2023. This event brought together specialists from the federal administration working in the up-and-coming fields of data science and artificial intelligence.
The CoP DS&AI encourages synergies
The first official meeting of the DS&AI CoP members took place on the premises of the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). The meeting was highly instructive and rich in discoveries, demonstrating the extent of the potential for collaboration within the federal administration.
The event allowed members to showcase their innovative data science and artificial intelligence (AI) projects and to share their technical and practical skills. The programme included dynamic presentations, a workshop to facilitate the sharing of experience, and networking.
An official mandate and a long-term collaboration
In his welcome speech, Bertrand Loison, FSO Vice Director and Head of the Data Science Competence Center (DSCC), reminded those present that the establishment and development of a community of practice for "data science and AI" within the federal administration is based on the federal data science strategy. He also stressed the importance of using data science within the public administration. The aim is to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of public policies, but also to increase the quantity and quality of the knowledge to which the Swiss public administration has access through the data it produces.
The DS&AI CoP provides its members with an interactive platform for exchanging best practices and for sharing their experience. It focuses on projects with a machine learning component conducted within the federal administration. With a view to cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary collaboration, the CoP promotes human-centric, trustworthy data science that supports the public good and public policy.
Review of the programme
In the keynote speech, the prototype of an application developed under the SEM's Innovation fellowship scheme was presented by its author, Philip Urech. After time for questions and constructive discussions between the public and Mr Urech, a series of innovative AI projects were presented in the form of 5-minute mini-presentations. Members of the DS&AI CoP were then able to talk about their own projects by taking part in themed workshops led by members of the Data Science Competence Centre (DSCC). The purpose of the workshop was to garner the concerns and proposals of the federal government's data scientists, while identifying synergies and complementarities between similar problems and successes.
This first meeting of the DS&AI CoP ended with a summary of the main topics (tools, skills and collaboration) and the observation that as a forum for sharing experience, the community is set to grow. Whether it is a question of optimising internal processes or improving services to the public, data science and AI tools hold great potential for the entire Swiss public administration.
