This special event will bring together policy makers and scientists and will explore pathways towards the vision of a ‘Digital Earth’.

Digital Earth is destined as a defining scientific and technological achievement of the 21st century. This will demand extreme computing for the most demanding Big Data challenges, the smartest applications of artificial intelligence, webs of sensors and actuators, and compelling gamification and visualisation methods. Most importantly, it will require agile minds collaborating in cross-discipline innovation and pursuit of scientific excellence. Young people in particular, as ‘digital natives’, are adept in connecting local action and global changes through mixed-reality media linked to open online services.

ISDE12 aims to support the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by harnessing the world’s data and information resources to digitally represent our planet, and to monitor, measure and forecast natural and human activities on Earth.