Since 2014, DrivenData has invested in three reinforcing pathways to use data science and AI for social impact. The latest DrivenData Impact Report frames this clearly: it shows how progress comes through a combination of projects, portfolios, and people, each building on the other.

Projects¶

The primary driver of social impact is through individual projects.

At the project level, impact is most tangible. Projects take messy, real-world problems and turn them into deployable solutions.

“Our founding vision was to apply data science and machine learning to specific problems faced by mission-driven organizations so they could expand their social impact.”
— Peter Bull, Co-Founder

Through more than 160 projects to date, DrivenData has collaborated with mission-driven organizations to develop needed data, AI models, and tools and prove their value by improving health diagnoses, classroom learning experiences, delivery logistics, and environmenmtal monitoring.

Portfolios¶

The cross-fertilization of ideas and insights in a portfolio of projects is where social impact compounds.

The real leverage comes when individual projects connect. Techniques developed in one domain—such as computer vision, predictive modeling, or advances in automated speech recognition—are deployed in entirely different contexts. For example, DrivenData advancements in named entity recognition and image processing are contributing to diverse areas such as kelp forest mapping, cancer biopsy analysis, agricultural pest detection, and measuring particulate matter in the air.

“From the beginning… what we were ultimately trying to maximize was the combined and compounding impact of our entire portfolio of projects.” — Isaac Slavitt, Co-founder

Over time, DrivenData has harnessed the compounding knowledge embodied in its growing portfolio of work, such that each new effort starts further ahead than the last.

People¶

Open sharing of data, knowledge, and insight creates the human and social capital that drives progress in the data science for social good ecosystem.

Advancements in technology and methods are magnified when they are available to the practitioner community. Empowering the global network of practitioners with open-source tools, data, and shared learnings turns isolated work into a movement—making it easier for others to contribute, adopt, and build on it.

“Investment in the social impact ‘commons’ of shared knowledge, resources, and open source data and tools… is one of the most powerful engines for progress in our field.”
— Greg Lipstein, Co-founder

From its founding, DrivenData has committed to open-sourcing data and tools and sharing knowledge.

The DrivenData 10-Year Impact Report¶

How these three pathways—projects, portfolios, and people—reinforce each other, and the full story of how they play out in practice is captured in detail in DrivenData’s 10-year Impact Report. We invite you to dig in and reflect on your own experience.