A functioning data ecosystem based on open standards and secure systems is a central aspiration of the digitisation capital Vienna and its data strategy. The integration of all stakeholders from the entire data spectrum is essential – the Data Intelligence Offensive as a networking platform for the data community plays an essential role here.

It is often said that data is the new oil of the digital society. Working with this valuable raw material leads to an enormous responsibility towards society. We would like to assume this responsibility comprehensively. For this reason, we are pleased to be part of the Digital Intelligence Offensive. This also enables challenging issues to be solved together in a networked society.

Digitalisation is exploding the amount of data collected and with it the curiosity about the knowledge hidden in it. No wonder that experts in the field of data science are in high demand. This makes it all the more important to provide a sound education in this field. Especially a small country like Austria should and must promote its role as a hotbed of expertise. Topics such as big data, artificial intelligence and machine learning, but also ethnic and legal foundations play a major role here. The networking of teaching, research and business through DIO is essential here.

For me, digitisation means the following three steps: In the first step, ‘things’ (meant very generally here) are recorded as data. Then, in the second step, these data (descriptions) of the most diverse ‘things’ are related to each other. And thirdly, ‘things’ are created again from and through these connections, perhaps an optimised production process, perhaps content that is individually optimised for users, perhaps an autonomous vehicle at a certain place at a certain time, perhaps the solution to a previously unsolvable problem. An economy that functions according to this digitalisation principle needs a system of sustainable cooperation. Creating this system in practice is the ambition of DIO.