The 100 Questions seeks to improve the set of questions that if answered— using new data sources and data science—could transform the way we solve a variety of 21st century challenges. In addition, this project introduces and expands the concept of “bilinguals”— individuals that possess both domain expertise and data science capabilities -- as being essential to define questions that matter to particular fields and can be addressed through data science. 

The 100 Questions Initiative builds on The GovLab’s Smarter Crowdsourcing methodology to match societal challenges with diverse ideas from curated global experts. More specifically, The 100 Questions will be sourced by bilinguals. For each domain, The GovLab forms ten cohorts of bilinguals who are invited to develop, evaluate and select the ten most relevant questions collaboratively. Once the bilinguals have produced and prioritized the ten questions, the public will be invited to comment and express interest for the ten most compelling questions for each domain. Together with domain partners, bilinguals, data holders and the public, The GovLab will identify existing datasets that could provide answers to the 100 questions.