Imagine you are looking for health data from a given country and want to compare it with health data from another country. Today, it takes a long search in the countries, at international organizations, etc. to find this data. Moreover, data so far mostly exists in separated areas, in so-called silos. The data is often collected or gathered for a specific purpose. It can often only be used for this purpose.

If the national metadata platforms and those of international organizations are harmonized, then a global platform can connect to all these platforms. Thus, all (good) data sets could be made visible in a global platform. The platform would be able to tell you who has which data sets, how good the quality is, how often they are collected, whether they are representative. If they are open government data, you can access it directly via an API, otherwise the platform would contain information on where you can request access and, if applicable, who is allowed to link it with other data. The data itself remains on its own platform. We commit to commissioning, through the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and the Swiss Federal Statistical Office, a feasibility study by an international expert, in order to assess the feasibility of such a platform, and – if appropriate – to outline potential key parameters and a timeline for building it.