Women in Data Science supports the public-private academic and governmental partnerships in data science

The Women in Data Science (WiDS) conference under the auspices of Stanford University, in its second edition in Romania, brought to public attention the importance of creating a strong partnership between the private-public-government and academic environment in the field of data science. developing innovative solutions and technologies of the future. Only in this way, through the collaboration of all those involved, can future lines of action be drawn up, values ​​can be consolidated and processes of organizational transformation and adaptation to the requirements of new technologies can be successfully implemented.

Ligia Deca, Presidential Adviser, Department of Education and Research at the Presidential Administration, said: “We are in a special context, where resilience means the ability to make decisions quickly and to mobilize properly to identify viable solutions in a short time. “

Pamela Ward, Minister Counselor and Senior Trade Officer for Southeast Europe at the US Embassy in Bucharest, supports women’s involvement in areas that can contribute to future economic growth and development. “Our commitment to promoting women’s perspectives and successes in technology reflects our belief that women’s empowerment and equity are essential to economic growth and development, democracy and security around the world. The worldwide and Romanian WiDS events truly demonstrate the leadership and participation capabilities of women in these fields, as well as the change and promise of the future “, concluded the representative of the US Embassy in Bucharest.

Organized by Think Thank 360, with the support of the US Embassy in Bucharest, Women in Data Science is a unique event in our country, which aims to bring to the public agenda the importance of women’s expertise in key areas of future development. The debate highlighted new medium- and long-term action strategies, based on data science tools specific to all areas of activity, and provided innovative and concrete solutions to the needs and requirements of current and future developments.

“Now is a great time to build a strong data science ecosystem in Romania, with a strong public-private partnership, academia and government. It is important to coagulate a community of specialists from all actors involved in the field of data science. Thus, we will create the perfect alignment with the opportunities offered by the creation of the government cloud in PNRR and the huge potential that data science will have in the analysis of data collected in the public sector “, said Alexandra Cernian, university lecturer Polytechnic University of Bucharest, Commission Expert European.

The Women in Data Science (WiDS) initiative aims to inspire and educate young people around the world in the field of data science, with a focus on supporting women who want to excel in this field.

This year, there was also a national premiere – the Datathon Contest in which Romanian teams from academia, private and government competed, internationally, with teams of professionals with a tradition in the field of data science. This year’s theme of the competition referred to climate change and green energy, and the Romanian teams ranked in the top of the world rankings, in the top 100 teams out of a total of 829 teams from around the world. The team of the National Institute for Research and Development in Informatics – ICI Bucharest ranked 36th, followed by an AI Cluj team, consisting of 4 young women specialized in data science and the ROSPIN (Romanian Space Initiative) team composed of students from the Faculty of Space Engineering and of Automatics and Computers, which ranked 79th in the world.

Ella Ciupercă, Scientific Director of ThinkThank 360, said: “WiDS Datathon organized for the first time this year highlighted the enormous potential that our country has in an emerging field, which we estimate will have an increasingly important impact. future. The Romanian teams trained, studied and managed to prove their value by identifying refined solutions, by advanced analysis of data in the field of climate change and green energy. The message of this event is as simple as possible: all important decisions in any field (government, business, education, military, etc.) need to be adopted or optimized by using this new resource ”.