Open Data could be a “Swiss Army Knife” for modern government – a multi-use tool that can be used to increase transparency and accountability, to improve public services, to enhance government efficiency and to stimulate economic growth, business innovation and job creation.
The economic growth opportunity has certainly caught imaginations around the world. The Economist recently likened Open Data’s commercial potential to ‘a new goldmine.’ The McKinsey Global Institute estimated potential economic benefits of at least $3 trillion a year globally, and a recent study for the Omidyar Network by Lateral Economics suggested that, for G20 economies, Open Data could help increase output by $13 trillion cumulatively over the next five years.
Other studies have suggested figures which are lower but still mouth-watering, especially for economies emerging from recession or facing anaemic growth.
Is Open Data a goldmine for development?
by Oleg Petrov
http://blogs.worldbank.org/ic4d/open-data-goldmine-development
While Open Data is still an emerging practice, estimates are now being turned into hard evidence, with hundreds of firms in the United States alone now having business models with Open Data as a key input. At least five Open Data-driven firms that did not exist 10 years ago now have valuations of more than $1 billion. What’s more, different firms have evolved different models to use Open Data: some businesses are organizing and aggregating data, others are adding value to it, and still others are mining it for advisory and financial services to other businesses.
Sectors such as transport are already visible beneficiaries with, for instance, 500 applications using London Transport data alone (and employing 5,000 people to develop and support them). Less obvious sectors are also benefiting, including benefits of $20 billion a year so far to U.S. agriculture from GPS and other open geospatial data, and a further $13 billion available if all relevant farmers in the U.S. adopted Open Data-driven precision agriculture techniques where appropriate.
Open Data’s value in increasing transparency and accountability – and therefore improving governance – is already recognised as important to the World Bank’s twin goals of reducing poverty and increasing shared prosperity. However, could it also contribute through increasing economic growth and creating sustainable jobs, another key mechanism for reducing poverty and increasing prosperity?