I-DAIR takes inspiration from UNSG’s High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation on digital enabling of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and targets set by the World Health Organization (WHO) on universal health care. It can be visualised as a ‘distributed CERN for digital health’.

Our long-term objective is to democratise the use of data & Artificial Intelligence to solve health problems, and promote diversity, collaboration and inclusiveness in research and development efforts. In pursuing this goal, we seek to:

- Define and develop global public goods & other enablers for research & development of digital health solutions; an example is our project to develop a Global Research Map.

- Achieve collaborative, distributed and responsible use of data and Artificial Intelligence whereby data and decisions on AI use stay local and there is no hoarding of digital assets for health;

- Promote collaboration and inclusiveness in scientific research and technology development through a “hubs and spokes” architecture where researchers across domains and geographies can come together in trusted settings;

- Build research capacity & related digital health infrastructure in Africa, Asia and Latin America;

- Solve health and Artificial Intelligence research problems through “pathfinder projects”, which also provide practice-rich feedback for governance of data and AI in health.