InnovationS&S Archive

How Can Big Data Enable Us To Tackle Social And Environmental Challenges?

An introduction to Ripple Research

No problem can be solved with the same level of consciousness that created it. That is why Ripple Research exists. To combine big data, AI and human expertise to tackle some of the most pressing global social and environmental issues.

I am delighted to have been working with the Ripple Research team this year and wanted to share more information with the S & S community about our mission.

Ripple Research is a non-profit advisory firm based in Switzerland that works at the intersection of data-science, behaviour change and social impact.

From digital anthropology and audience analysis to trend prediction and emotion mapping, Ripple Research’s services empower decision makers to utilize the power of large-scale unstructured open data to help unlock solutions for the salient challenges facing society today be that:

  • Healthcare
  • Human rights
  • Climate adaptation
  • Threats to democracy
  • Disinformation 

The unstructured data used is derived from open-source intelligence (OSINT) – this could be social media platforms, online news outlets, websites and publicly available information where citizens share their needs, wants, perceptions, frustrations and desires.

The company is driven to help policymakers, government agencies, corporates and philanthropies with insightful social, economic and environmental research that can inform strategic decision-making.

Since its inception, Ripple Research has worked with a roster of world-leading organisations.

Key projects include:

Read the full portfolio of Ripple Research case studies here.

Ripple’s own research 

The company also dedicates much of its time to conducting large-scale studies on topics that remain largely unexplored. For instance;

  • Understanding the contours of climate polarisation – who are the believers and deniers? Our social media polarisation and perception analysis reviewed over 116 million posts from 15 million unique quotes during 2019-202. 
  • Exploration of the global narratives surrounding climate anxiety across 1 million posts and 567,000 authors from 2018-2020.

For more information on Ripple Research, you can follow us on:

Twitter

LinkedIn

Substack


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