The Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) said that it plans to hold its annual big data forum, "Covid-19 Pandemic Response and Big Data Utilization Plan," on Sep. 16. Because of the Covid-19 outbreak, the institution plans to hold this year's forum online.

"The international forum has been held every year since 2017 attended by local and foreign experts to share the HIRA's big data and discuss future development plans," the institution said. "HIRA opened its big data to researchers worldwide for the first time in March, and plans to share the results of the international cooperation in responding to Covid-19 jointly."

Professors Huh Yoon-jeong of Ajou University and Daniel Prieto-Alhambra of Oxford University Medical School will deliver the forum's keynote address, the institution added.

HIRA President Kim Sun-mi said, "The international research into Covid-19 is significant in that HIRA has proposed a new way of using big data to quickly collect and refine relevant data and share it with the world amid an unprecedented pandemic crisis."

The institution hopes that this forum will help local and foreign experts communicate and demonstrate their collective intelligence, she added.

Kim also stressed that the forum would serve as an opportunity to use big data more effectively in the event of a future pandemic with which the international community must cope jointly.