Final Report

BigSurv23 (Big Data Meets Survey Science) was hosted by Universidad San Francisco de Quito, where 151 leaders from industry, academia, government, and civil society discussed the most innovative topics in data science and surveys, as well as computational sciences applied to social sciences.

This third edition of BigSurv was held for the first time in Latin America, from October 25th to 28th, 2023, organized by the School of Business of USFQ and the Ecuadorian Association for the United Nations -AENU-. Ana Lucía Córdova Cazar chaired the Scientific Committee of BigSurv23.

The BigSurv23 showcased leading experts and professionals globally, with Dr. Juan M. Lavista Ferres, VP and Chief Data Scientist at Microsoft Laboratory AI for Good, delivering a virtual keynote on "Insights from 5 Years of AI for Good." Across three days, the event featured 80 top-tier presentations, drawing participants from United States, Ecuador, Germany, Chile, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, etc.

The best presentations from the conference will be published following a peer review process in a Special Issue of the IEEE Latam Transactions Journal and in the IEEE Conference Proceedings.

During the event, the Scientific Committee of BigSurv23 recognized Bastian González Bustamante (University of Oxford), and Benjamin Williams (University of Denver), with the "Early Career Travel Award"; and Jan Simson, from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität -LMU- Munich, with the "Student Paper Competition Award".

The opening of BigSurv23 was attended by Vianna Maino, Minister of Telecommunications of Ecuador, and Diego Quiroga, Rector of USFQ.

As part of BigSurv23, a vibrant event took place: the Data Challenge on the topic of chronic child malnutrition. Its aim was to use data science for the common good. The selection committee, composed of members of REDNI, CAF, and INEC, decided to award prizes to the teams from USFQ and ESPOL. The prize consists of consultancy and cash for the implementation of the projects presented in the Data Challenge.

At the end of the event, the academic committee announced that the next BigSurv will take place in Spring 2026, in North Carolina (United States of America), with RTI International and Duke University as co-organizers (Duke Initiative on Survey Methodology). RTI International is one of the leading non-profit research institutes worldwide. It has 6,000 employees in over 90 countries, and its vision is to address the world's most critical problems with science-based solutions. Duke University is located in Durham, North Carolina, and ranks among the top universities in the United States of America.

More about BigSurv23 at: https://www.usfq.edu.ec/es/eventos/bigsurv23-big-data-meets-survey-science