Although the COVID-19 epidemic, which has ravaged the whole world for four years, has passed, the world does not seem to be back on track as expected. The regional conflicts are intensified, severe poverty and hunger are still spreading, economic recovery is faltering, the development gap continues to widen, the frequency and intensity of natural disasters and extreme weather events are increasing, and the global order is precarious. To achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, the world must regain confidence, unite and cooperate, and jointly explore transformative solutions that will enable us "get out of the quagmire". The 4th International Forum on Big Data for Sustainable Development will focus on big data technology to promote change and transformation, and provide an interdisciplinary resource sharing and a communication platform for close cooperation for experts, scholars, decision-makers, entrepreneurs, engineering and technical personnel, and all stakeholders worldwide. We welcome all parties to gather consensus, wisdom, and suggestions to explore the path of achieving the transformation of sustainable development goals.

The role of technological innovation in promoting the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals has become an important international consensus. Among them, big data as a typical representative of advanced science and technology, with the characteristics of massive, multi-source, multi-temporal, multi-dimensional, and multi-scale, It can achieve macroscopic, dynamic, and objective monitoring of sustainable development goals, and integrate and analyze data related to land, ocean, atmosphere, and human activities, to enable people comprehensively understand the key issues that hinder the process of sustainable development, assist in seeking new comprehensive solutions to break through bottlenecks, effectively promote the transformation of the “second half” of the sustainable development agenda, and assist in achieving sustainable development goals.