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Using big data to turn global catastrophic risks into opportunities

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Big data is currently transforming both the public and private sectors by increasing efficiency, transparency and productivity whilst also promoting sustainability. As the ability to utilise intelligent data analytics distinguishes today’s winners, data is fast becoming the oil of the 21st century. Organisations and countries that manage to harness this new commodity will ensure sustainable economic growth in the same way that those with access to cheap fossil fuel resources have been in an advantageous position in the past.   The proliferation of mobile technology, wireless sensors, social media and the Internet of Things, provides a means of monitoring socio-economic activity, consumption of resources, transactions, human mobility and environmental change. Recent advances in data science are now capable of coping with the technical challenges of collecting, managing and developing actionable insights from big data. Much of the exciting research has focused on addressing t...
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Remote health diagnosis and monitoring in the time of COVID-19

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Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is rapidly spreading across the globe. The clinical spectrum of SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia requires early detection and monitoring, within a clinical environment for critical cases and remotely for mild cases, with a large spectrum of symptoms.  The fear of contamination in clinical environments has led to a dramatic reduction in on-site referrals for routine care. There has also been a perceived need to continuously monitor non-severe COVID-19 patients, either from their quarantine site at home, or dedicated quarantine locations (e.g. hotels). In particular, facilitating contact tracing with proximity and location tracing apps was adopted in many countries very rapidly. Thus, the pandemic has driven incentives to innovate and enhance or create new routes for providing healthcare services at distance. In particular, this has created a dramatic impetus to find innovative ways to rem...
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Forecasting the number of potential coronavirus cases

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Chinese health authorities reported a group of cases of viral pneumonia to the World Health Organization (WHO) in late December 2019 and this new virus is now referred to as 2019-nCoV. The number of cases is almost eight thousand and is growing at an alarming rate of 40% per day. A total of 170 people have died as a result of the virus. The coronavirus appears to be contagious before symptoms appear with an incubation period of 10 to 14 days, making it incredibly difficult to identify cases. The number of cases reported by the National Health Commission in China and the WHO are crucial for facilitating decision-making about the virus.  A wikipedia website is dedicated to collecting the  timeline  statistics for the virus [1]. By plotting the number of confirmed cases it is apparent by eye that the numbers are growing exponentially which is demonstrated by the straight line on the above log-scale chart. If the virus maintains this trajectory, the number of cases could...
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