Data platform data.org has announced the launch of Epiverse, an initiative aimed at enabling distributed data analysis to power pandemic response, with funding from Wellcome and the Rockefeller Foundation's Pandemic Prevention Institute.

Founded in 2020 by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, data.org will create an open digital infrastructure and software tools that enable privacy-preserving analysis of data, including health data, privately available health systems data, and commercial data for pandemic response. Analysis of non-traditional data will create new actionable insights into the emergence and spread of pandemics — insights that can also be applied to other social challenges.

The UK government, under its G7 presidency, invited data.org to lead the effort earlier this month, in response to calls from the Science Academies of G7 nations to ensure safe access to and use of data for health emergencies and to the 100 Days Mission to respond to Future Pandemic Threats the G7 launched in June. While the initial focus will be on mitigating COVID-19 and the detection and prevention of future pandemics, the consortium will serve as a public good with the broader aim of transforming the distributed analytics commons.

"The ability to analyze health data alongside commercial data in a way that preserves privacy but informs better epidemiological models will provide a greater level of visibility and actionable insights to fight this pandemic – and can help us prevent the next one," said data.org executive director Danil Mikhailov. "Moreover, unlocking data through privacy-preserving distributed approaches has potential far beyond epidemiology, and will be a vital tool advancing the use of data science for social impact."

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