The Lars H. Backer Prize 2024 in memoriam of Mr. Lars H. Backer was awarded to the Republic Geodetic Authority of Serbia and Statistics Poland, respectively, for their major contributions to the development of a geospatial foundation for official statistics or for significantly improving the relevance of geospatial statistics for evidence-based decision making.
Darko Vučetić received the prize on behalf of the Republic Geodetic Authority of Serbia as the Director of Development and Innovation for its active commitment and capabilities to share the benefits of integrating statistical and geospatial data. His leadership in this organisation has undertaken a remarkable digital transformation and modernisation journey during the last decade, encompassing a complete makeover of their geospatial data and land administration system and involving necessary reforms in legal frameworks, business processes and technology towards improving decision-making at multiple governmental levels. The work carried out also provides a shining example of a successful implementation of the UN Integrated Geospatial Information Framework (UN-IGIF) and constitutes a good practice case to be followed by other National Mapping and Cadastral Authorities (NMCA). This prize is awarding a combination of group efforts and individual achievements.
Janusz Dygaszewicz from Statistics Poland received the prize, together with his colleagues from the geospatial team, Amelia Wardzińska-Sharif, Mirosław Migacz and Anna Sławińska, who have also made significant contributions to the advancements of geospatial data in the statistical production of the Polish statistical organisation. The prize recognises Janusz’s and Statistics Poland’s pioneering vision and work in the integration of official statistics and geospatial data for more than 20 years. Under his leadership, the population census 2011 was comprehensively modernised and all households surveyed were georeferenced, acknowledging the importance of consistent georeferencing of all individual statistical data for the production of flexible statistics at an early stage. In addition, Janusz early understood the potential of satellite data for official statistics and conducted many practical projects, namely in practical implementation of data integration in the Polish statistical system. The active participation and strategic leadership skills in international cooperation activities and interest groups at the European and global levels, highlighting the Executive Committee of UN-GGIM: Europe and the EFGS Presidency for over 7 years, have also been decisive to the current state of statistical-geospatial data integration and networking landscape, marking a significant milestone on this journey.
