HM Treasury has published a discussion paper outlining the economic opportunities presented by innovative use of data, as the government works towards formation of a new national data strategy. The paper highlights barriers to be addressed, including the need for clarity around ownership and control.
The government estimates data-driven technologies will contribute over £60 billion per year to the UK economy by 2020. However, the paper identifies five key challenges to realising full value from such technologies. These are:
Addressing ownership and control of data – in the UK, there is currently no comprehensive framework to determine ownership of data. While some advocate changing the law to allow individuals to exercise ownership rights over their personal data, valuation of individual data is difficult, not least because personal data often relates to more than one person, and significant economic value is more likely to be found in the aggregation and effective use of data, as touched upon in HM Treasury’s recent position papers on corporate tax and the digital economy.
Maintaining protection of personal data – the government hopes that by giving the public confidence that their data will be treated carefully by the organisations they share it with, this will increase the availability of data in the longer term.
Openness in public sector data – the paper suggests data access should be seen as a spectrum, with different degrees of data openness, rather than relying on an open/closed distinction.
Driving interoperability and standards – government has a role to play in setting standards that enable wider linking and aggregation of appropriate datasets.
Enabling safe, legal data sharing – the recent AI review recommended that government work with the private sector to build on examples of mutually-beneficial data-sharing agreements, or ‘data trusts’. The right to portability of data under the new general data protection regulation (GDPR) may also bring potential for greater innovation through data sharing.
The newly-launched ‘expert panel on competition in digital markets’ (see https://bit.ly/2AGFe4i), chaired by Jason Furman, professor of practice of economic policy at Harvard University, will also have a wide remit and is expected to play a major part in developing policy in this area.
HM Treasury has published a discussion paper outlining the economic opportunities presented by innovative use of data, as the government works towards formation of a new national data strategy. The paper highlights barriers to be addressed, including the need for clarity around ownership and control.
The government estimates data-driven technologies will contribute over £60 billion per year to the UK economy by 2020. However, the paper identifies five key challenges to realising full value from such technologies. These are:
Addressing ownership and control of data – in the UK, there is currently no comprehensive framework to determine ownership of data. While some advocate changing the law to allow individuals to exercise ownership rights over their personal data, valuation of individual data is difficult, not least because personal data often relates to more than one person, and significant economic value is more likely to be found in the aggregation and effective use of data, as touched upon in HM Treasury’s recent position papers on corporate tax and the digital economy.
Maintaining protection of personal data – the government hopes that by giving the public confidence that their data will be treated carefully by the organisations they share it with, this will increase the availability of data in the longer term.
Openness in public sector data – the paper suggests data access should be seen as a spectrum, with different degrees of data openness, rather than relying on an open/closed distinction.
Driving interoperability and standards – government has a role to play in setting standards that enable wider linking and aggregation of appropriate datasets.
Enabling safe, legal data sharing – the recent AI review recommended that government work with the private sector to build on examples of mutually-beneficial data-sharing agreements, or ‘data trusts’. The right to portability of data under the new general data protection regulation (GDPR) may also bring potential for greater innovation through data sharing.
The newly-launched ‘expert panel on competition in digital markets’ (see https://bit.ly/2AGFe4i), chaired by Jason Furman, professor of practice of economic policy at Harvard University, will also have a wide remit and is expected to play a major part in developing policy in this area.
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