The Economic Impact of Open Data: Opportunities for value creation in Europe
New study on the economic impact of open data published by the European Data Portal
The European Data Portal publishes its study "The Economic Impact of Open Data: Opportunities for value creation in Europe". It researches the value created by open data in Europe. It is the second study by the European Data Portal, following the 2015 report. The open data market size is estimated at €184 billion and forecast to reach between €199.51 and €334.21 billion in 2025. The report additionally considers how this market size is distributed along different sectors and how many people are employed due to open data. The efficiency gains from open data, such as potential lives saved, time saved, environmental benefits, and improvement of language services, as well as associated potential costs savings are explored and quantified where possible. Finally, the report also considers examples and insights from open data re-use in organisations. The key findings of the report are summarised below:
- The specification and implementation of high-value datasets as part of the new Open Data Directive is a promising opportunity to address quality & quantity demands of open data.
- Addressing quality & quantity demands is important, yet not enough to reach the full potential of open data.
- Open data re-users have to be aware and capable of understanding and leveraging the potential.
- Open data value creation is part of the wider challenge of skill and process transformation: a lengthy process whose change and impact are not always easy to observe and measure.
- Sector-specific initiatives and collaboration in and across private and public sector foster value creation.
- Combining open data with personal, shared, or crowdsourced data is vital for the realisation of further growth of the open data market.
- For different challenges, we must explore and improve multiple approaches of data re-use that are ethical, sustainable, and fit-for-purpose.
Download the full study on the Economic Value of Open Data: Opportunities for value creation in Europe (2020)