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| 29 Jun 2026 | |
| Blogs |
By Lisa Le and Alex Rarick
Every day, Americans rely on public data, often without realizing it. From forecasting extreme weather and detecting fraud in federal payments to informing public health responses and guiding investment decisions, government data powers decisions that shape communities, markets, and daily life.
As advances in artificial intelligence, climate risk modeling, and digital technologies increase demand for trusted information, a fundamental challenge has emerged: how do we ensure that the data informing those decisions is accessible, reliable, and fit for purpose?
On June 4, 2026, the Data Foundation brought together more than 100 researchers, policymakers, industry leaders, and data practitioners at Convene Hamilton Square in Washington, D.C. to explore that question during the 2026 Data Summit. The full-day convening featured two complementary programs: the morning Symposium on Public Data as Strategic Infrastructure and the afternoon RegTech Data Summit: Managing Environmental Risk Through Better Data.
Together, the sessions explored how public data serves as critical infrastructure for decision-making across American society and returned repeatedly to four guiding questions:
Throughout the day, speakers highlighted a common theme: better decisions depend on better data, and better data depends on trust, accessibility, interoperability, and effective governance.
Data Foundation President and Chief Executive Officer Nick Hart opened the day by emphasizing that public data is woven into nearly every aspect of modern life, informing decisions by governments, businesses, researchers, and communities alike.
Senior Fellow Ted Kaouk followed with a discussion of the growing opportunities presented by unstructured data, encouraging organizations to focus less on chasing the newest technologies and more on identifying the problems they are trying to solve. Kaouk is currently developing an AI agent for the Data Foundation’s Evidence Act Hub that allows users to explore the full breadth of federal Evidence Act resources stored on the Hub and yield fresh insights about patterns across federal agencies and years. These resources are government documents that were originally produced in unstructured formats that prevented users from easily searching and analyzing their contents.
Senior Fellow Taka Ariga, former Chief AI and Data Officer at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, examined what he described as the dualities of today's algorithmic renaissance: the tension between rapid technological innovation and the slower pace of institutional change. As Ariga noted, “Everyone wants innovation, nobody wants change,” emphasizing that organizations need not simply a human in the loop, but an expert in the loop.
Justin Marsico, Executive Director of Financial Integrity at the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, demonstrated how Treasury is building fraud prevention infrastructure through data. His team oversees verification efforts for more than one billion federal payments annually and continues to develop data-driven tools that strengthen oversight and reduce improper payments. Looking ahead, Marsico emphasized that significant opportunities remain to prevent fraud before it occurs through better data sharing and coordination.
Public health applications also featured prominently throughout the morning. Dr. Irma Arispe of the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) introduced the NCHS Data Query System, designed to make federal health data more accessible to researchers, policymakers, and the public. Data Foundation Senior Fellow Ken Bagstad explored pathways toward integrating climate, nature, and economic reporting, arguing that ambitious reporting goals require equally ambitious investments in FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) data.
Ben Spoer of the City Health Dashboard concluded the symposium by demonstrating how public data can help local leaders improve health outcomes in communities across the country. Now covering more than 1,200 cities, the platform provides local decision-makers with accessible information that many jurisdictions would otherwise lack the resources to collect and analyze independently.
The morning's themes carried directly into the afternoon's discussions. Public data is valuable not simply because it exists, but because it can be transformed into information that helps people make better decisions.
Following lunch, attendees reconvened for the RegTech Data Summit: Managing Environmental Risk Through Better Data.
As communities, investors, insurers, industries, and governments increasingly integrate climate and environmental information into planning and risk assessments, speakers examined the challenges posed by fragmented systems, inconsistent definitions, and gaps in data quality. Poor data can create operational inefficiencies, but more importantly, it can create uncertainty about whether organizations truly understand their risks.
In his keynote address, Dr. Ed Kearns, Chief Science Officer at First Street and former Chief Data Officer at NOAA, demonstrated how public data can be transformed into practical tools that help individuals, businesses, and governments better understand environmental risk.
Reflecting on the economic value created by open government data, Kearns observed that “if you've got a credit card, a laptop, and an idea, you can really make a business out of federal data.” Drawing on examples from First Street's flood, wildfire, heat, and wind risk products, he showed how complex environmental datasets can be translated into building-level information that supports real-world decision-making. Throughout his remarks, Kearns emphasized that “better data” is ultimately data that is fit for purpose: information designed to meet the needs of the people using it.
The first panel, moderated by Franklin Holley of Anthesis Group, explored how risk assessments are developed in practice. Allison Crimmins of NOAA, Aimee Flannery of Jacobs, and Corinne LeTourneau of Resilient Cities Catalyst discussed the challenges of integrating multiple data sources and the importance of reliable, interoperable information for infrastructure planning and investment decisions.
A second panel, moderated by Leanne Spaulding of the Environmental Policy Innovation Center, focused on resilience, environmental risk, and growth. Dr. Kathie Dello of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality reflected on lessons learned from recent hurricanes and emphasized the importance of ensuring that all communities, not only those with significant resources, have access to the data and tools necessary to prepare for future risks. Paula Pagniez of Howden highlighted the insurance sector's perspective, noting that understanding risk begins with understanding probabilities—and that reliable data is essential to doing so.
Following a lightning talk from Jose Plehn, Founder of BrightQuery and OpenData.org about an initiative to create a universal "Rosetta Stone" of entities called the Open Data Consortium, Michael Mussi, CPA, of Donnelley Financial Solutions (DFIN) joined Data Foundation Vice President Ashley Nelle-Davis to discuss sustainability reporting and the growing need for trusted environmental data.
Drawing on his experience in financial reporting, auditing, and disclosure management, Mussi offered one of the afternoon's most resonant observations: “Data becomes information when people trust it.” He argued that strong governance, documentation, and internal controls are essential for ensuring environmental data is accurate, complete, reliable, and ultimately useful for investors, regulators, and other stakeholders. As sustainability reporting continues to mature, Mussi noted that organizations are increasingly focused on building systems capable of producing transparent, consistent, and auditable disclosures.
Later in the afternoon, Peter Schultz of ICF joined Data Foundation Senior Fellows Ken Bagstad and Ryan Alexander for a fireside chat exploring practical pathways toward stronger environmental data ecosystems. The discussion emphasized transparency, accessibility, and the importance of ensuring that data reaches the communities and decision-makers who need it most.
The Summit concluded with a forward-looking discussion featuring Daniella Lowenberg of the Data Funders Collaborative and Rachel Snyderman of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, moderated by the Data Foundation’s Nick Hart. The conversation examined the role that philanthropy, government, researchers, and the private sector can play in strengthening data infrastructure and supporting innovation. While acknowledging the importance of federal data systems, panelists also highlighted opportunities for cross-sector collaboration to improve data access, usability, and impact.
Across discussions on artificial intelligence, fraud prevention, public health, environmental resilience, and climate risk, the 2026 Data Summit reinforced a central message: public data is strategic infrastructure.
The conversations throughout the day demonstrated that the challenge is not simply collecting more information. Rather, it is ensuring that data is trustworthy, accessible, interoperable, and usable by the people making decisions that affect communities, markets, and public outcomes.
As technologies evolve and new challenges emerge, investments in data infrastructure will continue to shape America's ability to innovate, manage risk, and serve the public good. Better data leads to better decisions, and ultimately, a stronger and more resilient future.
The Data Foundation extends its gratitude to its policy partners, the Centre for Public Impact, Environmental Policy Innovation Center (EPIC), Women in Data (U.S. Federal Government Chapter), and Fulton Ring, for helping shape these important conversations.
To view session recordings, presentation slides, and event photos, please visit https://datafoundation.org/news/past-events/861/861-2026-Data-Summit.
