2016–present | World Economic Forum
Reporting for the World Economic Forum
Reporting, Dataviz, Editorial Design , and Interactive
Heads of state, CEOs, and Nobel laureates rely on the World Economic Forum's research to make decisions that impact global policy. With stakes like these, it’s paramount that information is up–to-date, accurate, and clearly communicated. Years ago, WEF's data scientists began to entrust Accurat with responsibilities related to the production and dissemination of their work. The scope of our partnership grows with each successive wrap, and the current year has been our most productive to date.
Brief
In 2016, WEF's Frontier Insight team was pursuing solutions to streamline the production of their Global Gender Gap Report. Under deadline, team lead and report author Vesselina Ratcheva contacted Accurat for help in automating a cumbersome process. In fulfilling the straightforward request, we also endeavored to instill confidence with the hope of tackling bigger, more complex projects in the future.
Process
Released annually, the Global Gender Gap Report assesses the quality of life for women in over 150 countries. “Country profiles”—essentially, “score cards” that justify a numerical ranking—constitute the majority of the lengthy report. Prior to 2016, data scientists generated these manually. The time–consuming process was made all the more precarious by the fact that countries are asked to self–report information. Bottlenecks—and cascading delays—were all but certain, given the likelihood of data to arrive at the eleventh hour. And to boot, information was only available online as a PDF file.
We developed software to instantaneously generate full profiles using variables that could be easily updated, effectively automating the creation of nearly 300 pages of the report. When the time came for it to be updated in 2017, Ratcheva’s team returned to Accurat for a refresh, and asked for help with another issue: adapting the document to a web–optimized experience. Integrating with WEF’s site, we built an intuitive, map–based data explorer that made it easy for users to find and export country–specific data.
We developed software to instantaneously generate full profiles using variables that could be easily updated, effectively automating the creation of nearly 300 pages of the report. When the time came for it to be updated in 2017, Ratcheva’s team returned to Accurat for a refresh, and asked for help with another issue: adapting the document to a web–optimized experience. Integrating with WEF’s site, we built an intuitive, map–based data explorer that made it easy for users to find and export country–specific data.
Solution
These innovations lowered a threshold for accessibility and made the Global Gender Gap Report available to its biggest audience yet. In our next collaboration with the Frontier Insight team (focused on the 2017 Human Capital Report), we replicated and compressed the same workflow and repurposed its tried–and–true script. We developed code to expedite the production of index entries and simultaneously built a data explorer to display the same information. Thus, we began to consider ways to optimize the collaboration itself.
Results
In 2020 alone, we have partnered with WEF on ten separate projects, beginning with print materials distributed at the January conference in Davos, Switzerland. The 10-12 page reports—reference guides for key topics of conversation—flipped the script on prior collaborations. For the first time, we took a leading role as information designers, organizing text, numbers, charts and tables into insight–driven narratives.
When COVID–19 sent world markets into a tailspin, we were able to respond quickly with WEF as a coordinated team. In October, the Future of Jobs Report was released with a brand new section that dealt with changes wrought by the pandemic. Subsequent projects followed suit, shifting in tone and presentation to address the unprecedented situation.
Recently, Ratcheva expressed gratitude for the team’s nimbleness, referring to the handling of “a few very time-constrained demands and rapidly shifting circumstances in an unpredictable year.”
While the relationship continues to grow, we remain agile partners thanks to the lean processes we've refined over the course of years.
Recently, Ratcheva expressed gratitude for the team’s nimbleness, referring to the handling of “a few very time-constrained demands and rapidly shifting circumstances in an unpredictable year.”
While the relationship continues to grow, we remain agile partners thanks to the lean processes we've refined over the course of years.
“The Accurat team are a delight to work with—adaptable, thoughtful, and innovative, they have taken our working style in their stride and delivered excellent results.”
— Vesselina Ratcheva, Frontier Insight Lead, World Economic Forum
Team
Marco Bernardi
Ruggero Castagnola
Sara Confalonieri
Davide Grimoldi
Luca Falasco
Giacomo Flaim
Marco Fugaro
Stefania Guerra
Alessio Izzo
Vito Latrofa
Giovanni Magni
Arianna Meroni
Marco Mezzadra
Irene Trotta
Alessandro Zotta
Gabriele Rossi
Services
Reporting
Dataviz
Editorial Design
Interactive