# **I. INTRODUCTION**

# **_Context_**

Over the past decade, the production of data has grown exponentially around the world, and now more than ever, complex data are available at the touch of a button—from the grand, such as DNA sequencing and macroeconomic modeling, to the more mundane, such as weather maps, trash collection schedules, and public transport timetables. Expanding at a rapid pace, experts estimate that there will be a further 4,300 percent increase in annual data generation, reaching a level of 35 zettabytes (equivalent to 35 trillion gigabytes) by 2020.<sup>2</sup> As the sheer amount of available data in the world increases—driven by advances in technology and computing—terms such as “Big Data” and “Open Data” have become common parlance, reflecting the importance of data use in our everyday lives.

In particular, Open Data—that is, “digital data that is made available with the technical and legal characteristics necessary for it to be freely used, reused, and redistributed by anyone, anytime, anywhere.”<sup>3</sup> —has attracted much attention as a means to innovate, add value, and improve outcomes in a variety of sectors. Based on its attributes of “availability and access, reuse and redistribution, and universal participation”,<sup>4</sup> it has been argued that Open Data has the potential to deliver a number of benefit streams. In particular, Open Data’s potential to foster innovation, efficiency, jobs, profits, and economic growth has been touted by the private sector, which has widely emphasized the potential financial and economic returns of Open Data. For instance, McKinsey estimates that “Open Data can help unlock between US$3 trillion to US$5 trillion in economic value annually across seven sectors, including education, transportation, consumer products, electricity, oil and gas, health care, and consumer finance.”<sup>5</sup> Likewise, previous work by the World Bank has suggested that Open Data can yield economic benefits across five archetypical types of businesses, including suppliers, aggregators, developers, enrichers, and enablers of Open Data.<sup>6</sup> Other economic analyses of the topic include: a European Union study that estimated aggregate direct and indirect economic benefits of €200 billion<sup>7</sup> ; a UK study that “conservatively” estimated the direct economic benefits of public sector information at around £1.8 billion a year<sup>8</sup> ; and a study produced in Spain that found that the “infomediary” sector employs around 4,000 people in the country and generates €330 million to €550 million annually.<sup>9</sup> Compared with the attention given to these financial and economic benefits—however mind-bogglingly large they are purported to be—considerably less effort has been made in providing a sufficiently critical evaluation of the public-sector benefits, including the potential of _Open Government Data_ (OGD). As a subset of Open Data, OGD is that which is “held by national, regional, local, and city governments, international governmental bodies, and other types of institutions in the wider public sector”.<sup>10</sup> As defined by the OECD, Open Government Data can be seen as comprised of two elements: “(i) Government Data,

> 2 - See “Big Data Universe beginning to explode,” at http://www.csc.com/insights/flxwd/78931 <u>big_data_universe_beginning_to_explode. Accessed September 15, 2015.</u>

> 3 - - Open Data Charter, <u>https://opendatacharter.net/wp content/uploads/2015/10/opendatacharter charter_F.pdf. Accessed January</u> 21, 2019.

> 4 Open Data Handbook, http://opendefinition.org/od/index.html (May 12, 2012). Accessed September 15, 2015.

> 5 McKinsey Global Institute, “OGD: Unlocking Innovation and Performance with Liquid Information,” McKinsey Center for Government (October 2013).

> 6 A. Stott, “OGD for Economic Growth: Transport and ICT Global Practice,” World Bank (June 25, 2014).

> 7 Graham Vickery, “Review of Recent Studies on PSI Reuse and Related Market Developments,” Information Economics, Paris.

> 8 United Kingdom, <mark>Department for Business, Innovation & Skills,</mark> “Shakespeare Review: An Independent Review of Public Sector Information,” London (2013).

> 9 Dinand Tinholt, _Characterization Study of the Infomediary Sector_ , Cap-Gemini, Spanish Open Data Portal Report 2013.

> 10 Open Data Charter, <u>https://opendatacharter.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/opendatacharter-charter_F.pdf.</u> Accessed January 21, 2019.

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