Data is the currency of the digital age and has transformed all areas of physical life and social sciences. In all disciplines there has been an unparalleled growth in the quantity and variety of data made available by the pervasive nature of the internet and enabled by almost free digital storage. Moving beyond the expectations of ‘big data’ the focus is now on development of sophisticated and nuanced transformational data-driven ideas and algorithms. Have we reached a tipping point where new approaches to complex systems, personal health, social policy and understanding our earth can now be understood with sophisticated and nuanced data-driven discovery? What are the next fruitful steps for bringing together disparate data for applications that benefit individuals, business and our society? The University of Sydney’s new Centre for Translational Data Science is driving new and transformational advances in research through the application of data and machine-learning technologies. The Centre is also supporting and building substantial new human capacity through teaching data science as a translational methodology and training a new generation of scientists. In this interactive forum they discuss what we now know and what the future of data science holds. A Sydney Ideas event on 7 June 2016 http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2016/data_transforming_science_and_society.shtml