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Day 1
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Opening Session
Steve MacFeely is the Chief Statistician and Director of the Statistics and Data Directorate at the OECD in Paris, France, and Adjunct Professor at the Department of Economics at University College Cork in Ireland. He chairs the advisory boards of the Statistical Journal of the IAOS, the International Statistical Literacy Project (ISLP), and the UN Productive Capacity Index Statistical and Technical Advisory Group.
Before joining the OECD, Steve was the Director of Data and Analytics at the World Health Organization (2021-2024); Director of Statistics and Information at UN Trade and Development (2014 – 2021); and Deputy Director-General at the Central Statistics Office in Ireland (2007 – 2014). He co-chaired the Committee of the Chief Statisticians of the UN System (CCS-UN), the Committee for the Coordination of Statistical Activities (CCSA) and between 2020 – 2024 co-chaired the HLCP Task Force on International Data Governance. Steve has a PhD in economic statistics and is an elected member of the International Statistical Institute.
AI and Official Statistics: Balancing Innovation with Trust
Steve MacFeely is the Chief Statistician and Director of the Statistics and Data Directorate at the OECD in Paris, France, and Adjunct Professor at the Department of Economics at University College Cork in Ireland. He chairs the advisory boards of the Statistical Journal of the IAOS, the International Statistical Literacy Project (ISLP), and the UN Productive Capacity Index Statistical and Technical Advisory Group. Before joining the OECD, Steve was the Director of Data and Analytics at the World Health Organization (2021-2024); Director of Statistics and Information at UN Trade and Development (2014 – 2021); and Deputy Director-General at the Central Statistics Office in Ireland (2007 – 2014). He co-chaired the Committee of the Chief Statisticians of the UN System (CCS-UN), the Committee for the Coordination of Statistical Activities (CCSA) and between 2020 – 2024 co-chaired the HLCP Task Force on International Data Governance. Steve has a PhD in economic statistics and is an elected member of the International Statistical Institute.
AI and Official Statistics - what is the deal?
François Fonteneau has 20 years of international experience working on innovation in statistical production and use, with a focus on the Global South. François currently holds a dual role of Senior Advisor on Artificial Intelligence and data quality to the OECD Chief Statistician, while coordinating AI-focused projects with the Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century (PARIS21). In 2024, François worked on AI governance, advancing the measurement of private and public investment in AI by the OECD. Before that, François was the Deputy Head at PARIS21. He started in PARIS21 as the Coordinator of the Accelerated Data Program funded by the World Bank, contributing to the International Household Survey Network on survey microdata management and open data.
François also worked for the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on agricultural surveys and censuses methodologies and implementation. With FAO, he also coordinated a statistical capacity building G20 initiative and led the development of AGRIS, an innovative survey initiative designed to fill SDG data gaps. François holds a Masters Degree in Agriculture Economics from INA-PG, France and a Masters Degree in Econometrics from ENSAE, France.
Graciela Marquez is the President of the National Institute of Statistics and Geography, INEGI, since January 1st 2022. She also served as Minister of Economy from 2018 to 2020, becoming the first woman in this position in the country¡¯s history. Marquez served as a professor at El Colegio de Mexico from 1998 to 2018, and as visiting professor at the University of Chicago and the University of California San Diego.
A prolific author, her research has focused on comparative economic development, industrialization processes, trade policy, and inequality.
An economist by training, Marquez holds a bachelor¡¯s degree from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, a master¡¯s degree from the El Colegio de Mexico, and a doctorate in Economic History from Harvard University.
Woonjoo Suh is the Director General of the Statistical Data Hub Bureau at Statistics Korea. With over 20 years of experience in the national statistical system, she has held various key positions covering statistical policy, infrastructure development, data production, education, and research.
In her current role, she leads Korea¡¯s institutional efforts to enhance the central hub function of statistical data. Her recent work includes driving legal and organizational reforms to support the national data strategy, leading the development of methodologies for data protection, and initiating Korea¡¯s first designation of a government agency as an official institution for personal data linkage. She is also spearheading initiatives to modernize the statistical system in response to the AI era, strengthen statistical data governance, and enhance data integration to increase the value of data use. As the former Director General of the Statistics Human Resources Development Institute, she reoriented the institute¡¯s curriculum from traditional statistical skills to data science and analytics, launching new programs to train data scientists in the public sector. Her professional interests include statistical data policy, data convergence and data science.
Francesca Kay joined the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in 2011, after a 20-year career in the private sector in technology, data and transformation. At the ONS Francesca was the Director of both the Economics Statistics and Census and Data Collection Transformation programmes. She was appointed as interim Director General for Data Capability at the ONS in 2019, covering technology, data, methodology and data science. Francesca moved to the Central Statistics Office (CSO) in Ireland in 2020, where her current role is Chief Information Office with responsibility for technology, methodology and data science.
As well as leading the transformation of technology and methodology at the CSO, Francesca is overseeing the introduction and use of AI and Data Science across the Office. The CSO is currently the consortium lead for the Eurostat Project on AI/ML in Official Statistics and Francesca is the sponsor within the CSO overseeing the delivery of the project. She is also the co-chair of the UNECE Blue Skies Thinking Network as part of the UN High-Level Group on the Modernisation of Statistics
Liina Osila is Deputy Director General at Statistics Estonia, where she leads the organisation¡¯s work on data governance and data science. With over 13 years of experience managing complex data-driven projects in the public sector, Ms. Osila has played a key role in modernising Estonia¡¯s statistical infrastructure. She successfully led the country¡¯s first register-based Population and Housing Census and coordinated the establishment of the national crisis information line during the COVID-19 emergency. Her leadership focuses on aligning strategic goals with data innovation, enhancing interoperability, and fostering cross-sector collaboration. At the OECD-KOSTAT Global Conference, she contributes to the discussion on the future of official statistics, highlighting the role of partnerships, AI-readiness, and public trust in the evolving data landscape. Ms. Osila holds an MA in Public Administration from TalTech and a BA in Social Policy from the University of Tartu
Inkyung Choi is a head of the Statistical Management and Modernisation Unit of the Statistics Division at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). As UNECE Secretariat for the High-Level Group for the Modernisation of Official Statistics (HLG-MOS), she has extensive international collaboration experience on emerging technologies and modernisation topics, such as AI and standards. Prior to joining UNECE, she worked at the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). She holds a bachelor¡¯s and master¡¯s degrees in Statistics from Korea University and a Ph.D. in Geospatial Statistics from Purdue University.
Measuring AI
Professor Jungsoo Park is a Professor of Economics and Dean of the College of Economics at Sogang University. Prior to joining Sogang, he was an Assistant Professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He has served as President of the Korea Association of Applied Economics and as a member of the National Economic Advisory Council to the President of Korea. His research focuses on technological change and economic growth, productivity analysis, and international economics. His work has been widely published in leading academic journals, including Economic Inquiry, Research Policy, Information Systems Research, Journal of Productivity Analysis, and Economics Letters. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University.
ChangHee Yun is the Director of the AI Policy Research Team at the National Information Society Agency (NIA) of Korea. As part of the national AI governance initiatives, he is also coordinating major research projects on the development of sustainable public sector foundation models and the application of sovereign cloud strategies for large-scale AI use in government. His research interests include AI governance, AI/data sovereignty, public sector innovation, and the ethical and social implications of large language models (LLMs). Most recent research includes "A Systematic Review on Public Data Sovereign Cloud Application for Large-Scale AI Utilization in the Public Sector" (2024, AJIP) and multiple publications on public AI infrastructure, anomaly detection, and hybrid cloud architecture. He currently serves as Adjunct Professor of AI Education and Computer Science at Daegu National University of Education, Chair of the Superintelligence AI Committee at the International Association for Artificial Intelligence Ethics (IAAE), Vice Chair of the e-Government Research Committee at the Korea Information Processing Society, and an AI Index Expert for the OECD AIGO (AI Governance) Working Group. He holds a Ph.D. in Engineering from Kyungpook National University.
Rebecca Hutchinson is a senior advisor to the Associate Director for Economic Programs at the United States Census Bureau. She leads agile teams that explore the use of alternative data sources including satellite imagery, payment processor data, scanner data, administrative data, and web-scraped financial filings to enhance the measurement of the nation¡¯s economy either through the improvement of existing data products or the creation of new products. Her recent work has focused on using alternative data sources to create a Monthly State Retail Sales data product. Additionally, she serves as a champion for the Bureau¡¯s data science training programs which seek to teach important data science skillsets to the existing workforce. Rebecca is also on the Advisory Board for The Data Science Conference.
El Iza Mohamedou is the Head of the OECD Centre for Skills which supports countries to achieve better economic and social outcomes by taking a whole-of-government approach and engaging with stakeholders to develop and implement better skills policies.
She is a member of the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Human Capital Development. She has more than 30 years of international experience working in the field and at headquarters with various international organisations and in the private sector. She holds a PhD in Economics, MBA in International Business and a BA in Economics.
Peter Gal is Deputy Head of Division and Senior Economist of the Structural Policy Research Division of the Economics Department at the OECD. He has been working on the macroeconomic productivity implications of Artificial Intelligence over the past few years, leading a team of economists.
Previously he worked at the micro- and macroeconomic aspects of productivity, labour markets and the role of structural policies. He previously worked at the IMF and the Central Bank of Hungary. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the Tinbergen Institute in Amsterdam.
François Fonteneau has 20 years of international experience working on innovation in statistical production and use, with a focus on the Global South. François currently holds a dual role of Senior Advisor on Artificial Intelligence and data quality to the OECD Chief Statistician, while coordinating AI-focused projects with the Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century (PARIS21). In 2024, François worked on AI governance, advancing the measurement of private and public investment in AI by the OECD. Before that, François was the Deputy Head at PARIS21. He started in PARIS21 as the Coordinator of the Accelerated Data Program funded by the World Bank, contributing to the International Household Survey Network on survey microdata management and open data.
François also worked for the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on agricultural surveys and censuses methodologies and implementation. With FAO, he also coordinated a statistical capacity building G20 initiative and led the development of AGRIS, an innovative survey initiative designed to fill SDG data gaps. François holds a Masters Degree in Agriculture Economics from INA-PG, France and a Masters Degree in Econometrics from ENSAE, France.
Panel Discussion - Measuring AI
Professor Jungsoo Park is a Professor of Economics and Dean of the College of Economics at Sogang University. Prior to joining Sogang, he was an Assistant Professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He has served as President of the Korea Association of Applied Economics and as a member of the National Economic Advisory Council to the President of Korea. His research focuses on technological change and economic growth, productivity analysis, and international economics. His work has been widely published in leading academic journals, including Economic Inquiry, Research Policy, Information Systems Research, Journal of Productivity Analysis, and Economics Letters. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University.
ChangHee Yun is the Director of the AI Policy Research Team at the National Information Society Agency (NIA) of Korea. As part of the national AI governance initiatives, he is also coordinating major research projects on the development of sustainable public sector foundation models and the application of sovereign cloud strategies for large-scale AI use in government. His research interests include AI governance, AI/data sovereignty, public sector innovation, and the ethical and social implications of large language models (LLMs). Most recent research includes "A Systematic Review on Public Data Sovereign Cloud Application for Large-Scale AI Utilization in the Public Sector" (2024, AJIP) and multiple publications on public AI infrastructure, anomaly detection, and hybrid cloud architecture. He currently serves as Adjunct Professor of AI Education and Computer Science at Daegu National University of Education, Chair of the Superintelligence AI Committee at the International Association for Artificial Intelligence Ethics (IAAE), Vice Chair of the e-Government Research Committee at the Korea Information Processing Society, and an AI Index Expert for the OECD AIGO (AI Governance) Working Group. He holds a Ph.D. in Engineering from Kyungpook National University.
Molly Lesher is the Acting Head of the Digital Connectivity, Economics and Society division at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris, France, with responsibility for connectivity infrastructure and services policy, cybersecurity, online safety, semiconductors and consumer policy. She is also the Head of the OECD Digital Policy, Economics, and Measurement unit, with responsibility for the online and interactive Going Digital Toolkit, the OECD flagship publication the OECD Digital Economy Outlook, and the OECD Working Party on Digital Economics, Measurement and Analysis. She co-ordinated the Going Digital project, leading the development of the Going Digital Integrated Policy Framework and the Going Digital Toolkit. Previous positions include Counsellor to the Directors of the OECD Science, Technology and Innovation Directorate, 10 years as a trade economist in the OECD¡¯s Trade and Agriculture Directorate, as well as roles in the Research Department of the US Federal Reserve Bank (international economics) as well as the private sector (Fidelity Investments, a US-based financial services company).
Annabelle Mourougane is heading the Trade and Productivity Statistics Division in the OECD Statistics and Data Directorate. She co-chairs the OECD Innovation LAB. She holds an Engineer Degree in Economics and Econometrics (ENSAE) and a Master in Macroeconomics (EHESS and École Polytechnique). She joined the OECD in 2001 and has held several senior positions in the Economics Department, the Trade and Agriculture Directorate, and the Statistics and Data Directorate. Prior to joining the OECD, Ms. Mourougane worked at the French National Statistical Agency (INSEE), the European Central Bank and at the French Fiscal Council/Court of Audit (in 2013-15). She has published in international academic journals, in the areas of forecasting and modelling, trade, labour market, and fiscal policy.