The 8th Scientific Data Conference: Data-driven Science was held in Qingdao by the Chinese National Committee of the Committee on Data of International Science Council (CODATA China) on April 26-28. The conference was convened by CODATA China, and co-organized by Institute of Oceanography and Computer Network Information Center of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CNIC, CAS). CNIC is the host organization of CODATA China secretariat and collaborative organization supporting the International Programme Office of CODATA’s Global Open Science Cloud initiative. More than 700 data experts, including executives from more than 85% national science data centers and experts protecting community data and traditional knowledge of minority groups from Chinese Academy of Social Sciences attended the conference.

The conference featured 35 sessions on four themes related to both local and CODATA’s global priorities including data-driven science (A: 22 sessions), frontiers of data science across domains (B: 4 sessions), data-driven practices serving the society (C: 4 sessions), open data challenges (D: 5 sessions). ICT experts of CNIC co-chaired all sessions of B (data center software stack, data visualization, AI, and data knowledge graph for science), 1 session of C (data-driven citizen quality education), and 2 sessions (data standard, e-infrastructure) of D.

The conference is an annual event convened by CODATA China, co-organized by research institutions and CNIC addressing local priorities advised by National Center for Science and Technology Infrastructure, CAS Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs, Department of International Affairs of CAST, and Academic Department of NSFC. The conference program also addresses cross-domain challenges recommended by CODATA.