Over 90 percent of all data has been generated during the last two years. Mobile devices connect five billion people. New satellite technologies image the entire surface of the earth every day. Cloud computing and AI algorithms allow us to monitor, detect and predict environmental and climate threats. On top of this, social media has become a political force. While there is broad recognition that humanity must capitalize on this massive increase in data generation and processing power, there is no common vision, directed strategy, or governance framework.