Press release

Swiss Days of Official Statistics 2019 Official statistics on the move: tackling challenges and benefiting from the opportunities of a digital society

05.11.2019 - The Swiss Days of Official Statistics will take place this year on the 11th and 12th November 2019 in Cham, Zug. The digital society will be at the centre of the discussion at this key event in the calendar for experts in official statistics. In this context, the programme will showcase innovations in all stages of statistical production from the collection of data to the dissemination of results. The statistics days are also an opportunity to evaluate certain pilot projects aiming to ensure better use of data by machines.

The organisers have planned 9 workshops with around 40 presentations in total. Over the course of these two days, the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) will present the results of several pilot projects from its data innovation strategy that was launched two years ago. The FSO will explain how deep learning, machine learning and the use of automated systems make it possible to optimise statistical production in areas such as land use and the economic activity of enterprises. The experimental statistics press release also published today provides more information on this subject.

Statistical methods at the heart of innovation

These new developments are closely linked to the use of tested and emerging statistical methods. Various speakers will present their projects covering a diverse range of areas such as rental prices in the city of Zurich (small area estimation), the development of the performance of cross-country ski athletes or the development of algorithms to anonymise data from regional statistics.

Although they consider very different topics, these examples demonstrate the importance of innovation in methods to boost the performance of the key steering tool which statistics constitutes for representatives of cities, cantons and the Confederation. The statistical information produced by various offices thus makes it possible to establish useful forecasts in the areas of population growth, housing and health, as will be illustrated in the actual cases to be presented by the cantons of Vaud and Basel-Stadt. Ticino will present its work on security and crime.

Speakers on the future of statistics

In this context of complete change, futurologist Stefan Pabst from the W.I.R.E. reflection group will speak at the first plenary conference. He will discuss digitalisation, a concept that has become increasingly vague and omnipresent in both the media and conferences. He will strive to make this topic more tangible so as to develop recommendations for a plan of action in our society and more particularly for statistics.

During the second plenary conference, the Director General of the FSO, Georges-Simon Ulrich, will discuss the overall development of the Swiss statistical system. He will notably highlight various ways in which the collection of data from enterprises and private individuals could be made more efficient using the once-only concept. The latter was desired by the government which has recently launched several pilot projects in this area.

Open and interactive statistics!

Several speakers will explain how official statistics will comply with Open Government Data strategies at both national and cantonal levels. A number of examples from Swiss and foreign statisticians will demonstrate how the published data must be integrated as efficiently as possible into a real digital ecosystem in order to promote innovation and the development of new economic models.

This new era of digitalisation and megadata is indeed increasingly present in our daily life. With the quantity of information increasing exponentially, it is important to present and set out information in a way that is both modern and appealing. Speakers from the Confederation and the cantons will describe key multimedia projects from the last few months concerning areas such as the federal elections or public health.

The Swiss Days of Official Statistics 2019 are organised by the statistical service of the canton of Zug, the Swiss Statistical Society (SSS), the Swiss Conference of regional statistical offices (CORSTAT) and the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). Professionals from the media industry are welcome: the Swiss Statistics Days 2019 offer a unique opportunity to meet and interview specialists from these varied areas and in the management of digital data. We look forward to your visit.

You will find further information in the PDF below.