Mobilising the Data Revolution: the CODATA Strategy

CODATA’s second strategic plan covers the period 2015-2018. Working within this context, a new Executive Director, appointed in August 2013, has had a significant impact by building on existing activities and developing new and influential activities. A new President and new Executive Committee, elected in 2014, have used this record of recent achievement, and the comments of the 2014 ICSU review of CODATA, to sharpen the strategic focus of CODATA’s work, with a clear view of the way that the small secretariat but large CODATA community can use their resources in the most productive way. Three major strategic programmes are identified that will form clear priorities for CODATA to the end of the planning period in 2018. They are: a) data principles and practice, b) frontiers of data science and c) capacity building. These priorities are central to exploiting the scientific potential of the data revolution. Their credibility as achievable objectives is demonstrated by CODATA’s impressive record of recent achievement. This document argues the relevance of these priorities, sets objectives, identifies planned outputs and indicates the intention to review outcomes at the end of the planning period. The new strategy was circulated in May 2015 to members and then published with minor revisions in its present form