Creating Value through Open Data
Publication Date/Time
2015-11-06T11:15:00+00:00
Economic benefits are primarily derived from the re-use of Open Data.
Value is there. The question is how big?
THE EUROPEAN UNION HAS ADOPTED LEGISLATION TO FOSTER THE RE-USE OF
OPEN (GOVERNMENT) DATA. THE EXPECTED IMPACT OF THIS LEGISLATION
COMBINED WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF DATA PORTALS, IS TO DRIVE ECONOMIC
BENEFITS AND FURTHER TRANSPARENCY. ECONOMIC BENEFITS ARE PRIMARILY
DERIVED FROM THE RE-USE OF OPEN DATA. VALUE IS THERE. THE QUESTION IS
HOW BIG?

THE ECONOMIC BENEFITS HAVE BEEN LARGELY OUTLINED BY A NUMBER OF
STUDIES. HOWEVER, FEW STUDIES OFFER AGGREGATE FIGURES COVERING SEVERAL
DIFFERENT MACRO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS.

Thus, the European Commission, within the context of the launch of the
European Data Portal, wished to obtain further evidence of the
QUANTITATIVE IMPACT of re-use of Public Data Resources. A study was
carried out with the aim to collect, assess and aggregate all ECONOMIC
EVIDENCE to forecast the benefits of the re-use of Open Data for all
28 European Member States and the ETFA countries, further referred to
as EU 28+, for the period 2016-2020.

SEVERAL BENEFITS OF THE RE-USE OF OPEN DATA ARE IDENTIFIED. THESE
CONSIST OF DIRECT AND INDIRECT BENEFITS.

Direct benefits are MONETISED BENEFITS that are realised in market
transactions in the form of revenues and Gross Value Added (GVA), the
number of jobs involved in producing a service or product, and COST
SAVINGS. Indirect economic benefits are i.e. NEW GOODS AND SERVICES,
time savings for users of applications using Open Data, knowledge
economy growth, INCREASED EFFICIENCY in public services and growth of
related markets.

THE MARKET SIZE OF OPEN DATA IS DEFINED THROUGH THE MARKET VOLUME AND
THE MARKET POTENTIAL.

The market volume exhibits the totality of the realised sales volume
of a specific market; the value added. A distinction can be made
between the direct market size and the indirect market size. Together
they form the total MARKET SIZE FOR OPEN DATA. For 2016, the direct
market size of Open Data is expected to be 55.3 bn EUR for the EU 28+.
Between 2016 and 2020, the market size is expected to increase by
36.9%, to a value of 75.7 BN EUR IN 2020, including inflation
corrections. For the period 2016-2020, the cumulative direct market
size is estimated at 325 bn EUR.
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OPEN DATA CREATES NEW JOBS, DIRECTLY RELATED TO THE RE-USE OF OPEN
DATA.

In 2016, there will be 75,000 Open Data jobs within the EU 28+ private
sector. By 2020, this number is forecasted to increase to just under
100,000 OPEN DATA JOBS. This represents a 32% GROWTH over a 5-year
period. Thus, in the period 2016-2020, almost 25,000 new direct Open
Data jobs will be created.
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PUBLIC ADMINISTRATIONS SEEK TO FURTHER UNDERSTAND THE COST SAVINGS
THEY CAN REALISE THANKS TO OPEN DATA.

Based on the forecasted EU28+ GDP for 2020, whilst taking into account
the countries' respective government expenditure averages, the COST
SAVINGS per country can be calculated. The accumulated cost savings
for the EU28+ in 2020 are forecasted to equal 1.7 BN EUR.

EFFICIENCY IS AN IMPORTANT FACTOR IN ALL ADMINISTRATIONS AND COMPANIES
AND ACROSS ALL SECTORS.

The aim of efficiency is to improve resource allocation so that waste
is minimized and the outcome value is maximised, given the same amount
of resources. Open Data can help in achieving such efficiency, The
study offers a combination of the insights around the EFFICIENCY GAINS
OF OPEN DATA and real-life examples. Three exemplar indicators are
assessed in more detail: how Open Data can save lives, how it can be
used to save time and how Open Data helps achieve environmental
benefits. For example, Open Data has the potential of SAVING 1,425
LIVES A YEAR (i.e. 5,5% of the European road fatalities). Furthermore,
applying Open Data in traffic can SAVE 629 MILLION HOURS of
unnecessary waiting time on the road in the EU.
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IN CONDUCTING THE MACROECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE IMPACT OF THE RE-USE
OF OPEN DATA FOR EUROPE, SEVERAL OBSERVATIONS ARE MADE.

The majority of studies performed previously are EX-ANTE ESTIMATIONS.
These are mostly established on the basis of surveys or indirect
research and provide for a wide range of different calculations. No
comprehensive and detailed EX-POST EVALUATIONS of the materialised
costs and benefits of Open Data are available. Now that governments
have defined Open Data policies, the SUCCESS of these initiatives
should be measured. The study offers several RECOMMENDATIONS for doing
so.

The report goes into further detail on how Open Data has gained
importance in the last several years. Furthermore, the report provides
insight into how Open Data can be used, and how this re-use differs
around Europe. These insights are used to develop a methodology for
measuring the value created by Open Data. The resulting values are
presented in a graphical way, providing insight in the potential of
Open Data for the EU28+ up to 2020.

To read the complete study:
 [https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/img/media/download.png]
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