Geneva Science-Policy Interface

The Geneva Science-Policy Interface (GSPI) was launched in 2018 by the University of Geneva with the support of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. The GSPI strengthens co-operation between the research community and Geneva-based international organisations and actors, with the objective of generating impactful policies and programmes to address complex global challenges.  

The GSPI fulfils its mission by creating opportunities for and supporting the design and implementation of impactful collaborations between the science, policy, and implementation communities by brokering actionable scientific knowledge for decision-makers and by contributing to the advancement, professionalisation, and recognition of the science-policy field in Geneva and beyond.

Digital Activities
As part of its activities on the interplay between science, policy, and implementation actors, the GSPI also tackles digital issues. With data being a centrepiece of evidence-based policies, several of the GSPI’s activities touch on digitalisation and the use of digital tools in domains such as health, development, and the environment.

Digital policy issues

Emerging technologies 

 In regard to emerging technologies and digitisation, the GSPI is involved in a number of ways. From the policy discussion standpoint, the GSPI organised in 2019 together with the University of Geneva a discussion entitled ‘Digitisation: What role for International Geneva’. The discussion explored what experience and know-how could Geneva-based organisations share so as to empower and protect users in the context of the digital revolution. 

Policy discussions on new technologies, namely, the use of drones as part of humanitarian action, were also organised by the GSPI in previous years. The conversation centred around the practical use of drones to deliver humanitarian aid and what can be done by stakeholders such as policymakers, the private sector, and NGOs to maximise the opportunities and reduce the risks of such technologies.

The GSPI also addresses the role of digital technology in the domain of healthcare. Together with the Geneva Health Forum, the GSPI has established a working group to discuss the digitisation of clinical guidelines for management of childhood illness in primary care in low and middle-income countries. In line with the efforts of the World Health Organization (WHO), and the principles of donor alignment for digital health, the working group will provide recommendations in November 2020 on how digitalisation can improve the management of childhood illness. 

The GSPI is also looking into how computational simulations can be harnessed to develop policy. Among other things, the GSPI argues that technology can allow for robust and safe policy testing, and a better understanding of policy processes.  

Data governance 

On the subject of data governance, the GSPI organised with a number of other partners a discussion at the 2019 WSIS Forum on aerial data produced by drones and satellites in the context of aid and development. The session explored the interplay between international organisations, NGOs, and scientists and how they can work together to help monitor refugee settlements, provide emergency response in case of natural disasters, and scale agriculture programmes.

Artificial intelligence 

The GSPI’s 2020 Impact Collaboration Programme focused on data-driven decision-making as its annual theme. Selected projects covering housing policies, marine biodiversity, energy transition, and chemical waste management not only include digital data as source material, but many of them make innovative use of digital tools (artificial intelligence, online platforms