International Data Week 2023 (IDW 2023) is a global event bringing together researchers, data professionals, policy makers, and other stakeholders to celebrate and advance the role of data in science and society. The overarching theme of IDW 2023 is A Festival of Data, reflecting the diversity, creativity, and innovation that data can enable and inspire. 

The Festival of Data will showcase how data can be used to address global challenges, foster collaboration and inclusion, and improve research quality and impact. It will also explore the opportunities and challenges of developing and implementing open science policies and practices that are aligned with the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science, the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), and other international initiatives. 

Four of the key topics that will be discussed at the Festival of Data are: 

1. Inclusivity in open science while advancing research assessment and career pathway impact. This session will focus on ensuring that open science solutions and standards are inclusive of diverse perspectives, needs and values, especially those of indigenous groups and other minority groups. It will also examine how to reform research assessment processes and criteria to recognize and reward the quality and impact of research outputs rather than quantity or journal-based metrics. 
2. Data and global challenges: data, science, trust, and policy. This session will explore how data can be used to address complex and interdisciplinary challenges that require close collaboration of science, civil society, and government. It will also discuss how to ensure the veracity, transparency, and traceability of data throughout the processes of collection, integration, modeling, and analysis. Moreover, it will address how to present data as part of scientific advice to policy makers, considering uncertainties, biases and ethical implications. 
3. Ethics, data science, and AI in dialogue with one another and society. This session will examine the developing relationship between ethics, data science, and artificial intelligence in relation to one another and to society. It will also explore how ethics can inform and guide the development and use of data science and AI in a way that respects human rights, social values, and legal frameworks in our differentiated yet shared human conditions. 
4. Spatial Data Science: Geographic Context Matters. This session will explore the role of geographic space as a key context factor in data science. The session presenters argue that traditional data science methods often neglect the spatial nature of real-world phenomena, and that inter- and multidisciplinary approaches are needed to tackle the methodological challenges and foster improved communication between scientific disciplines and application domains. The session will cover topics such as multimodal data analysis, spatially explicit machine learning, geographic question answering, digital twins, location privacy, and interoperability. 

Each session will feature speakers from different regions, disciplines, and sectors sharing their insights and experiences on these topics. They will also engage with the audience in moderated panel discussions to identify challenges, opportunities, and best practices for advancing these issues.