November 6, 2023
The Smart Data Discovery Challenge is now live! Up until Friday 8 December, we’re inviting people to submit ideas for cross-sector Smart Data use cases via a short entry form. Read on to find out why we’re running this Challenge and what we hope to achieve at the end of it.
Smart Data can be a challenging concept to explain. Discussions often descend into technical jargon like APIs and authorisation protocols. But at its core, Smart Data is simple. It enables individuals and businesses to access and share their data simply and securely with third parties, enabling those third parties to provide them with innovative services. This vision differs from the current norm, where customer data typically remains under lock and key with the organisation that collected it.
You might wonder if this concept is all that revolutionary. Legally, individuals already have the ‘right to data portability.’ However, having this right doesn’t necessarily mean you can use it effectively. Data portability becomes valuable when you can do something practical with your data. For that to happen, products and services must exist, enabling you to take advantage of moving your information between trusted businesses.
Creating products and services relies on having the technical infrastructure to support innovators in building them. Sort of like establishing a set of rules for how data portability works – rules that both consumers and businesses can trust. However, building this infrastructure requires investment, and it’s not typically driven by data holders, who often have little incentive to invest in making it easier for customers to move their own data around.
This is where regulation or policy intervention comes into play. Government might need to legislate to create the powers to mandate smart data schemes. The question is whether society should make this investment. We believe the answer is yes. Data is an integral part of the modern economy, and breaking the data silos, with consumers at the helm, could lead to substantial innovation and growth. Although estimating the benefits is difficult, Smart Data’s economic benefit has been estimated at £28 billion.
Data is an integral part of the modern economy, and breaking the data silos, with consumers at the helm, could lead to substantial innovation and growth.
What we really want to know is how we can be more specific about the perks for consumers and maximise its economic benefits. This is where the Smart Data Discovery Challenge comes in. The Department for Business and Trade, Challenge Works, the ODI and Smart Data Foundry are inviting innovators to imagine innovative products and services that could emerge in a smart data economy and make a significant difference for consumers.
Imagine Smart Data not only in banking but also in energy, transport, retail, home buying, and other financial services. We’ll collaborate with these innovators to design the smart data infrastructure that supports their innovations. Our goal is to provide a clearer picture of the path to smart data implementation, to guide Government in the coming months and years.
So why join the Challenge? If you have ideas for Smart Data innovations, this is an opportunity to:
If that sparks your interest, and you have ideas for what Smart Data could do for consumers, then we want to hear from you.
