We live in an extraordinary time. The capacity to generate and store data has reached dizzying proportions. What lies within that data represents the chance for this generation to solve its most pressing problems ? from disease and climate change to healthcare and customer understanding. The magnitude of the opportunity is defined by the magnitude of the data created ? and it is astonishing.
The world's Internet population grew by more than 750 percent in the past 15 years to more than 3 billion and will pass the 50 percent penetration mark in the near future. This population shares more than 2.5 million pieces of content on Facebook, tweets more than 300,000 times and sends more than 204 million text messages ? every minute.
Furthermore, the acceleration in data growth will increase dramatically in the coming years as the Internet of Things takes hold, connecting 20 to 30 billion "things" by 2020.
This is the opportunity for our generation to turn data into knowledge. To get there will require a different approach, but one with the ability to impact the entirety of humankind.
