by Nick Hart

Shortly after enactment of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act (Evidence Act) in 2019, the Data Foundation launched an ambitious initiative we named govDATAx. This summit aimed to bring the data and evidence communities together for a comprehensive discussion, fostering collaboration among the data science, statistics, privacy, evaluation, and analysis communities. The govDATAx summit embodies one of our organization’s core values – radical collaboration.

In the early stages of implementing the Evidence Act, agencies and partners focused much on planning, aligning resources, and capacity building. Now, as we near the 5-year anniversary of the Evidence Act and there are new emerging themes around artificial intelligence analytics, this year’s govDATAx underlined the community’s progress in creating success stories and using data to better society.

The 2023 govDATAx summit was designed around the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Luxembourg Declaration, which the U.S. signed last year. This declaration aimed to identify strategies for enhancing trust in democratic institutions. These strategies were based on pillars like using data, evidence, and customer experience improvements – all key aspects of the Data Foundation’s work. While the U.S. participates in the OECD declaration, the U.S. did not participate in the survey measuring trust, which the Data Foundation has called on the White House to correct.

The 2023 govDATAx summit hosted keynotes from OMB Deputy Director Nani Coloretti, Virginia Education Secretary Aimee Guidera, OECD Public Governance Executive Gillian Dorner, and featured the participation of 10 chief data officers and statistical officials, among many other experts. The event focused on various themes, including reducing improper payments, education and workforce data, and data as social determinants, with dozens of success stories, valuable case studies, and opportunities for using data and evidence being highlighted.

The govDATAx community's challenge was to pinpoint areas for improvement and better communicate examples that could enhance or restore trust in the future. Here are three key takeaways from the 2023 govDATAx community:

Artificial intelligence offers opportunities for rapid improvements in communication, analytics, and trust, but significant risks and considerations need to be addressed in the coming months and years. Recognizing the interconnectedness of AI policy and data policy will ensure data are available, useful, and protected for future analytical purposes.
Clearly and effectively communicating the uses of data and evidence is crucial for illustrating the benefits of these activities to the American public and policymakers. The data and evidence community needs to better translate advanced analytics into lay-accessible narratives that highlight the value of these initiatives.
Collaboration is key, even when it can be challenging or costly to implement. Successful projects highlighted by our speakers, including chief data officers and statistical officials, were particularly successful due to effective collaborations across communities and partners.

While data, evidence, and customer experience improvements alone will not wholly resolve the public's perception of their government or enhance trust, they can contribute to improvements. The Data Foundation’s govDATAx community and our partners will continue to support this work as part of our mission to improve society for everyone through the use of data and evidence.

NICK HART, Ph.D. is President & CEO of the Data Foundation.