Press release

Swiss Statistics Days 2022 Swiss Statistics Meeting in Lucerne: after COVID-19, 2030 is on the horizon!

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Swiss Statistics Meeting 2023 - without data, no statistics, no research, no business!

18.10.2022 - The Swiss Statistics Days (SSD) will be held this year from 26 to 27 October in Lucerne, at the Swiss Transport Museum. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, it is now time to learn lessons from it. What are the limits of official statistics? How can we push the boundaries? What challenges lie ahead?

Under the pressure of the pandemic, official statistics had to provide statistical information not only faster but also in more detail. Statisticians therefore put great effort into finding new data sources and adapting existing processes to new partners in order to meet the urgent needs of society and public opinion.

To a certain extent, the pandemic speeded up innovations that were underway, enabling new forms of analysis and innovative publishing to be developed. This dynamic affected the entire "value chain", further highlighting the need for constant evolution in official statistics.

Over these two days, the organisers have planned fifteen workshops with more than 70 presentations. The Cantonal Statistics Office of Lucerne (LUSTAT), the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) as well as various other institutions, will present different projects to illustrate the progress achieved in diverse fields ranging from data science, open data, data harmonisation to visualisation.

Statistics 2030: strategic data

The programme also includes three plenary sessions with keynote speakers. On Wednesday 26 October 2022, Georges-Simon Ulrich, FSO Director General will talk about how the official statistics system and the work of statistical offices are likely to change from now to 2030. His presentation will be based on an initial evaluation of the FSO's new missions and how they interact with its main mission of producing statistics. He will also talk about the 30 years of the visionary Statistics Act that opened the door for these new directions.

On Thursday 27 October, Professor Kay W. Axhausen from the Institute for Transport Planning and Systems at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich will present how the respondent’s input can be simplified by the use of smartphone applications to collect mobility information. On the same day, Monika Bütler, economist and honorary professor at the University of St. Gallen, will demonstrate the importance of very fast indicators in times of crisis and the opportunities for collaboration between public and private sector data producers.

Journalists welcome

The variety and number of topics covered in these two days reflect the dynamism of official statistics. From data ethics to quickly available statistical information, from automated statistical production to the R programming language, not forgetting Open Government Data, the topics covered at the event are indispensable to understanding future developments.

The Swiss Statistics Days (SSD) 2022 are organised by the Cantonal Statistics Office of Lucerne, 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 2022 offer a unique opportunity to meet and interview specialists in different fields and in the management of digital data. Please contact the FSO media service to register. We look forward to seeing you there!

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