bank of italy and bank for international settlements workshop on ‘ computing platforms for big data and machine learning ’ opening remarks by the deputy governor of the bank of italy luigi federico signorini rome, 15 january 2019 ladies and gentlemen, it is a pleasure to open this workshop and welcome all the participants. everyone is aware that modern societies are generating an unprecedented amount of digital information. the latest data never sleeps annual report, published last june, claims that mankind now generates more than 2. 5 exabytes of data every day. the increase is bound to continue : by 2020, an estimated 1. 7 mb of data will be created every second for every person on earth. the enormous wealth of information that has thus become available has great potential value if effectively captured and aggregated. however, it also poses fundamental challenges that are easily overlooked. let me open this workshop by briefly mentioning three that i think deserve more attention than they usually get. first, big data are worth little if they are used in a methodologically unsound way. such data are typically representative only of selective strata of the population ; increasing the volume of data will not improve the accuracy of estimates if the estimation procedure does not correct for this. social media data for example, like many other internet - based sources of big data, are usually based on a biased sample of the population ; now - fashionable media - based indicators ( of confidence, say, or political trends ) are often employed with scarcely a thought for this fact. relatedly, the careless use of massive amounts of rough data will sometimes result in an exceptionally good in - sample fit, especially with non - parametric or machine learning approaches, but a poor performance out of sample ( this is sometimes called the ‘ overfitting plague ’ ). reference texts should place much more emphasis on these facts in order to provide a more rigorous guide to practitioners and, ideally, educate the public at large as the ultimate consumer of processed information. second, while the world produces a relentlessly growing mountain of data, it has not yet settled on a reliable set of criteria for making ( some of ) it effectively accessible in the more or less distant future. large volumes of internet data are casually stored, overwritten and discarded without any consideration for what the next generations will need or want to know about the world today : and this not just in the general pursuit of knowledge, but also for more immediately practical purposes, such as clarifying legal rights. long - term conservation of data is also hampered

knowledge hub, bringing its expertise to key development operations in africa. africa's development is critical to achieving the world bank's own goals of poverty eradication and shared prosperity, but it is also essential to a stable global economy and to providing a future for the hundreds of millions of young people who join africa's 2 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches workforce each year. finally, it would also help alleviate the inevitable migratory pressures. italy's position – at the crossroads of the mediterranean – makes it uniquely well - placed to play an important role in the development of the african continent. the recently launched'piano mattei'reaffirms italy's commitment to the common goal of fighting poverty, reducing inequalities and promoting sustainable growth, while addressing pressing global challenges such as climate change, pandemics and migration. it demonstrates italy's intention to promote high - impact operations in partnership with africa. banca d'italia is ready to work with the world bank, putting its skills and expertise at the service of promoting development in emerging countries, especially in africa. * * * today's conference is an important occasion for developing comprehensive and effective engagement with african countries. i would like to thank the organizers for putting together an impressive programme. i would also like to thank the keynote speakers, the panellists, the moderators and all of you for attending. i look forward to hearing from president banga, governor kalyalya and governor kganyago. the thematic panels – on energy, jobs and digital infrastructure – will delve into some of the key aspects of any growth process and highlight the strategies needed to stimulate investment in these sectors. if we are to build a more balanced, stable and prosperous global economy, then africa's challenges cannot but also be the world's challenges. while we will not resolve all the issues on the table today, i am confident that our discussions will help deepen our understanding of the complex matters at stake and identify viable ways forward. together, through open dialogue and cooperation, we can move closer to fostering a future that benefits not only africa, but the global community as a whole. 1 the loans granted by the world bank, subdivided into eight ( different ) tranches from 1951 to 1965, amounted to about $ 400 million. the idea of acting on the economy as a whole, and not on single projects – was established on the basis of the'big push'theory, a brainchild of paul rosen