I’m currently working with the IEEE on establishing an Open Data Economic value standard which will determine the value of data. See more information about the project below:
Data generated by governments has clear value when viewed from the point of view of its impact. Everyone agrees that geospatial data, health data and transport data is critical for planning and decision making. There’s also agreement about the value of data from an economic standpoint. There’s however no common standard about the economic value of open data.
The value of Data
If society is to derive economic value from open data, there’s a need to have a common economic standard about open data. An attachment of economic value to data will also influence the seriousness with which data can be viewed by governments.
Common standard will also serve as the basis and inspiration for various entities in society to begin to have a dialogue about open data knowing the clear value and common understanding about data.
Open Data Measurement.
Currently, open data does not feature on financial statements of governments partly because there’s no standard for valuing open data. There’s probably unaccounted value that can add to the GDP of countries. Businesses that ought to derive value from open data are probably accumulating such value for lesser value than they should receive it. The lack of a common economic standard for open data is also probably hampering progress in adopting open data as a key component in generating value and harnessing that value from governments.
The IEEE Open Data initiative seeks to bring together various players that includes government, businesses, academic as well as governments to develop common economic standard for Open Data across the world.
It is believed that an adoption of such a standard will improve the seriousness with which open data can be treated by governments across the world.