Ahead of the the UN World Data Forum (October 2020 in Bern), the WMO and WHO held the first out of four 'Road to Bern' dialogues on big data. Entitled 'Collecting data: How can big data contribute to leaving no one behind and achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?, the event addressed the challenges and opportunities of collecting data and data sharing. The need to fill existing data gaps and to develop standards and principles for data collection was also highlighted during the discussion.

The 'Road to Bern' dialogues are coordinated by the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the UN in Geneva and the Geneva Internet Platform (GIP). The second dialogue will be organised in partnership by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on the subject of trust, security and privacy of data.