Bridging BeSci & Data Science in the UN

The Attention Economy and Human Capital

The Attention Economy

Herbert Simon on Information

What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention …

Simon (1971)

Human Capital Index

• World Bank Human Capital Index 2020
• UK outperforms USA and China
• Measures health and education

The Productivity and Attention Flywheels

Productivity Flywheel

Attention Reinvestment Cycle

Public Dialogue and Human-Centered Design

Public Dialogue on AI in Public Services

• September 2024 convened public dialogues.
• Perspectives on AI in priority policy agendas.

“I think a lot of the ideas need to be about AI being like a co-pilot to someone. I think it has to be that. So not taking the human away.”

Public Participant, Liverpool pg 15 ai@cam and Hopkins Van Mil (2024)

Bridging Behavioral Science and Data Science

New Flow of Information

Evolved Relationship

Evolved Relationship

New Productivity Paradox

• Current productivity flywheel relies on measurement to translate innovation into productivity.
• Without measurement how does the wheel spin?

HAM

Examples of Human-Centered Data Science

Example: Data Science Africa

Data Science Africa is a bottom up initiative for capacity building in data science, machine learning and AI on the African continent

Example: Cambridge Approach

ai@cam

How ai@cam is Addressing Innovation Challenges

• A-Ideas (across 20 departments)
• Policy lab (with Bennett, Minderoo)
• HPC Pioneer projects (with RCS, C2D3)
• Accelerate programme (Schmidt Sciences funded)

Conclusion: The Innovation Economy

Innovation Economy Conclusion

• Interact directly with micro-demand
• Release quality attention
• Reinvest human capital in more innovation