The Open Data Economy

Unlocking Economic Value by

Opening Government and Public Data
Only Few Governments are Leveraging
Open Data for Economic Benefts
We observed that
countries with strong
political support
achieved higher
maturity and better
results in their Open
Data initiatives.
Governments and public
authorites across the world are
launching Open Data initatves.
Research indicates that by
October 2011, twenty eight
natons around the world had
established Open Data portals
1
.
Public administraton ofcials are
now beginning to realize the value
that opening up data can have.
For instance, the direct impact of
Open Data on the EU27 economy
was estmated at 32 Billion in
2010, with an estmated annual
growth rate of 7%.
2

However, very few governments
are taking the right measures in
realizing the economic benefts
out of Open Data. Politcal
support, breadth and refresh
rate of data released, the ease in
sourcing data and partcipaton
from user community determine
the degree of maturity of an
Open Data program. Capgemini
Consultng conducted an analysis
of 23 select countries across the
world, which have already initated
Open Data programs, and rated
them on a set of parameters (see
Figure 1).
Figure 1: Parameters used for Benchmarking Countries on Open Data Initiatives
Source: Capgemini Consulting
Data
Availability
Politcal
Leadership
Data Portal
Usability
Breadth and Granularity of Data
Latest/Refreshed Data
Ease of Re-Use of Data
Government Initatve and Support
User Interface
Search Functonalites
Partcipaton from User community
2
We found that countries with
strong politcal support achieved
higher maturity and beter results
in their Open Data initatves. For
instance, UK, one of the top fve
countries that we have identfed
as having mature Open Data
policies, shows the seriousness
of Open Data initatves by having
a senior Cabinet Minister at the
helm. Francis Maude, the cabinet
ofce minister with responsibility
for public transparency and Open
Data spells the vision clearly,
We dont just want to lead the
world in releasing government
data our aim is to make the
UK an internatonal role model in
exploitng the potental of Open
Data to generate new businesses
and stmulate growth.
3
As a
result of this politcal leadership,
UK has been successful in strong
disseminaton of government data
amongst users, with almost 9,000
datasets published and more
than 541,500 dataset views
a
since
startng its Open Data portal in
2010.
4
A strong politcal support for Open
Data initatve does have an impact
on the efectve disseminaton of
government data but does not
guarantee it. Of all the countries
analyzed, only 22% shared data
that had signifcant breadth and
was granular at the same tme.
The same fgure for countries
with strong politcal support
stood at nearly 46%, which is
relatvely higher but stll a lot
less than desired. These included
countries such as the UK and
the US, which typically provided
highly granular and extensive
data, with respect to tme period,
geography and populaton
demographics, across domains.
For instance, in the UK over 700
public sector organizatons publish
data on its Open Data portal at
a very granular level. This data
spans across departments such
as health, business, energy,
educaton, among others, and
is ofen available tll the lowest
level of administraton. Also,
sharing comprehensive data is
only a frst step. Governments
and public authorites should
ensure it is regularly updated to
realize increased uptake of the
data. We found out that most of
the countries emphasized only
on sharing the data; 96% of all
countries did not regularly update
the datasets or share informaton
regarding updates.
We dont just want
to lead the world in
releasing government
data our aim is
to make the UK an
international role
model in exploiting
the potential of Open
Data to generate
new businesses and
stimulate growth.
Francis Maude
Cabinet Minister
UK
Note: a. The Views defined as the number of times a page was loaded in the users browser.
3
A metric closely linked to data
availability is the usage of such
released data. Data uptake,
a reference to the number of
downloads from users, depends
on the ease with which it can
be sourced from the Open
Data portals. Over 60% of the
countries we analyzed lacked
enhanced search capabilites.
In some of the cases, the Open
Data portals, instead of actng as
a central repository, redirected
users to websites of concerned
public sector bodies making it
far more cumbersome to obtain
data. Countries such as Norway,
Austria and Estonia had search
functonalites, which at best
helped users by classifying
datasets under categories,
whereas countries such as the UK
provided users with APIs
b
to help
make data search easier.
Another important factor
determining the success of Open
Data programs is partcipaton
from the user community.
User partcipaton is directly
proportonal to the amount
of engagement through app
compettons, discussion forums
and blogs. Over 87% of the
countries analyzed in our research
appear to have missed out on
its importance, having negligible
or minimal user partcipaton
on their Open Data portals.
Sustained engagement helps in an
increased realizaton of economic
value from data and beter
management of data quality. The
UK Open Data portal is among the
few that have actvely encouraged
user partcipaton. Discussion
forums and blogs on the portal
ofen involve representatves
from the Open Data Insttute or
ministries/departments, with
the aim of understanding users
requirements for datasets,
managing data quality or sharing
advice on data usage.
Afer analyzing 23 countries,
based on their positoning
and pace of adopton of Open
Data initatves, we were able
to classify them into three
categories Beginners, Followers
and Trend Seters (see Figure 2).
Our research found
that only 22% of the
countries shared
comprehensive
data that included
both breadth and
granularity.
96% of the countries
analyzed in our
research shared data
which is not regularly
updated.

Note: b. Application Program Interface is a set of routines, protocols, and tools for building software applications. A good API makes it
easier to develop a program by providing all the building blocks. APIs can typically be used to extend reach of services, drive revenues
and encourage third-party innovation.
4
5
Only 22% of the
countries in our
analysis turned out to
be Trend Setters.
Figure 2: Benchmarking of Open Data Initiatives, Select Countries, 2012
Source: Capgemini Consulting Analysis
USA
UK
Singapore
Canada & Australia
Hong Kong
New Zealand Denmark
Kenya
Ghana
Norway
Estonia
Saudi Arabia
Italy
Moldova & Chile
Spain
France
Austria
Belgium
Ireland
UAE & Morocco
Low High
High
D
a
t
a

P
o
r
t
a
l

U
s
a
b
i
l
i
t
y
Followers
Trend Seters
Beginners
Data Availability
Countries falling in the Beginners
category are those that are
stll in the inital stages of their
Open Data journey. Data portals
in such countries are typically
characterized by the lack of
good quality, updated data. They
also have a complete absence
of community partcipaton on
their respectve portals. The
Open Data portals of these
countries are rudimentary, with
limited functonalites, making it
difcult to search and utlize the
data that they have opened up.
All of the fve countries in this
category completely overlook
the importance of releasing high
value datasets with none of them
sharing datasets for geospatal,
meteorological and environmental
informaton. Around 22% of
countries in our research ended up
in this category.
Followers typically include
natons that have shown their
intenton and progressive
approach towards Open Data
by releasing a large number of
datasets. They also provide beter
search functonalites on their
portals, which makes it easy to
obtain data. These countries also
experience beter interacton with
the user community, generally
one-way communicaton, on their
Open Data portals. Countries in
this category, such as Denmark,
Italy and Spain, have typically
released a large number of
datasets; however, these datasets
lack granularity. The bulk of
countries, around 56%, in our
research fell into this category.
Of all the countries
we analyzed, 87%
are not utilizing
user participation
capabilities on their
Open Data portals.
Note: Size of bubble represents level of government support.
Our Open Data Benchmarking Research
Methodology
We undertook an extensive
research of the Open Data portals
of each of the selected countries
that had already initalized some
Open Data initatves, in order to
analyze their maturity. We looked
at various aspects of the portals
ranging from availability of data to
politcal leadership to data portal
usability. All the countries were
rated on a scale of 0 to 3 (where
0 was the lowest and 3 was the
highest ratng).
Countries Analyzed
USA, UK, France, Canada,
Australia, New Zealand, Singapore,
Hong Kong, Kenya, Ghana, UAE,
Saudi Arabia, Norway, Estonia,
Austria, Moldova, Italy, Spain,
Morocco, Belgium, Ireland, Chile
and Denmark.
Key Parameters
1. Data Availability
Countries were rated on
their emphasis on sharing
comprehensive informaton,
which included focusing on
various aspects such as number
of datasets published, sharing
datasets with high value
informaton, granularity of the
data and informaton regarding
the nature of datasets.
2. Political Leadership
This parameter rated countries
on the level of politcal support
or guidance for their Open Data
initatve.
3. Data Portal Usability
This parameter included
a complete view of the
functonalites and ability of the
respectve Open Data portals
to facilitate an increase in data
uptake. It included aspects such
as ease of user interface, search
functonalites and presence
as well as usage of capabilites
to encourage partcipaton and
communicaton with users.
Research Findings
1. Overall Findings
- Only 22% of countries shared
data that can be classifed as
comprehensive data with high
value informaton, granular in
nature and including extensive
datasets.
- 96% of the countries analyzed
share data which is not regularly
updated.
- Over 60% of the countries we
analyzed lacked enhanced search
capabilites.
- 87% of the countries are not
utlizing user partcipaton
capabilites.
2. Category-wise Findings
Beginners
- All the countries in this category
do not emphasize on the quality
of the data, which ofen lacks both
breadth and granularity.
- Countries in this category
were characterized by complete
absence of user partcipaton
capabilites.
Followers
- Only 8% of Followers share data
that can be categorized as having
the right amount of granularity
and comprehensiveness.
- Almost 92% of Followers do not
utlize their Open Data portals for
an efectve dialogue with users,
while the rest completely lack this
capability.
Trend Seters
- 80% of Trend Seters share
data having a high degree of
comprehensiveness.
- 100% of the countries in this
category boast of politcal support
for Open Data program coming
from the countrys highest ofces.
- Over 60% of Trend Seters
achieved considerable user
partcipaton on their Open Data
website.
6
Benet to
Government
Increased tax revenues though
increased economic actvity
Revenues through selling high
value added informaton for
a price
Reducton in transactonal
costs
Increased service eciency
through linked data
Create jobs in current
challenging tmes
Encourage entrepreneurship
Benet to
Private Sector
Drive new business
opportunites
Reduced cost by not having
to invest in conversion of
raw government data
Beter decision making based
on accurate informaton
Gain skilled workforce
Drive Revenue through
multple areas
Cut Costs and
Drive Eciency
Generate Employment and
develop future-proof skills
Trend Seters represent the
current leaders in Open Data
initatves. These countries are
characterized by their emphasis
on releasing extensive amounts
of datasets, which are updated at
regular intervals. The portals for
these countries are enabled with
signifcant capabilites for making
informaton easier to source and
generatng dialogue amongst the
user community through forums
and discussions. Within Trend
Seters, we see the emergence of
two clear categories. Countries
such as the UK and the USA,
among the early adopters of
Open Data initatves, publish
data with signifcant breadth and
granularity accompanied with
discussion forums and blogs to
drive engagement among users. At
the same tme, there are countries
such as France that only initated
its Open Data programs a year
back but have managed to use
government support to achieve
signifcant progress in a short
period of tme. While this has
resulted in driving data breadth,
granularity is stll missing. Our
results indicate that only very few
countries, around 22%, can be
classifed as Trend Seters.
On further analysis of
these categories, we found
that countries that share
comprehensive and updated data
achieve a higher level of user
partcipaton. For instance, out of
Trend Seters, characterized by
high focus on comprehensive and
updated data, over 60% were able
to interact or initate discussion
with users on their website. On
the other hand, all Beginners
had complete absence of user
partcipaton on their Open Data
portals.
These fndings refect that a
strong politcal will/vision in
itself does not guarantee the
success of Open Data initatves.
It is important that this vision be
adequately complemented with
eforts towards sharing quality
data with users, ensuring its
increased uptake and an actve
partcipaton from the user
community. A coherent approach
towards achieving these objectves
is essental, in order to realize
maximum economic benefts from
Open Data initatves.
These economic benefts revolve
around revenue growth, cost
savings and improved efciency,
and employment generaton while
developing skills (see Figure 3).
In the rest of the paper, we delve
into each of these key economic
beneft areas.
Figure 3: Economic Benefits of Open Data
Source: Capgemini Consulting Analysis
7
The emergence of open
ecosystems, thriving on private
data, has resulted in the
emergence of many new frms.
For instance, the APIs (Applicaton
Programming Interfaces) by
companies such as Facebook,
Twiter and Google consistently
see multple billion calls every
month
5
. APIs help companies
extend reach of their services,
drive revenue growth and
encourage third-party innovaton.
This is a scenario that can be
successfully replicated with
public data as well. In fact, the
infomediary sector in Spain, a
sector that comprises solely of
companies that sell services on
top of Open Data, generates 330-
550 million Euros annually
6
.
Increasing the Volume
of Private Sector
Business Actvity
Open Data enables an increase
in business activity by allowing
the creation of new firms, new
products and services. Several
countries, including USA, Spain
and Finland, have seen Open Data
have a tangible impact on the
volume of business activity in their
geographies.
Encouraging New Firm
Creation
Open Data drives growth by
stmulatng the creaton of
frms that reuse freely available
government informaton in
innovatve ways. In Spain, a study
estmates that there are over 150
companies focused solely on the
infomediary sector
7
.
Creating New Products and
Services
Small and medium companies
with products and services
based on Open Data, such as
Global Positoning Systems,
fnancial services and sofware
applicatons, also generate new
businesses and jobs. According
to a Finnish study, frms that
reuse government released
geographical data, either freely or
at marginal costs, grew 15% more
per annum than in countries that
price such informaton with an
objectve of recovering costs
8
. For
instance, The Weather Channel,
an American television network,
and Garmin, a frm that develops
consumer, aviaton, and marine
technologies (with market cap of
over $7 billion at end of January
2013) were built using raw
government data
9
.
Furthermore, businesses can
generate high returns through
the development of new products
and services based on high value
data domains (see Figure 4). For
instance, BrightScope, a California
fnancial informaton startup,
used government data to help
the consumers understand fees
associated with their retrement
savings accounts. Similarly, data
domains such as Economic,
Geospatal and Environmental
have higher commercial impact.
For instance, Open Data from
the US Natonal Weather Service
supports a private weather
industry worth over $1.5 billion
per year
10
.
Open Data drives
growth by stimulating
the creation of firms
that reuse freely
available government
information in
innovative ways.
Realizing Revenue
Growth using Open Data
Supplementing Existing
Products
Innovatve solutons can be
developed through a mix of
public sector and proprietary
informaton such as data-
as-a-service. For instance,
CloudMade, an applicatons
development company, leverages
OpenStreetMap data from
the transport domain and
supplements it with various
datasets from alternatve
sources in order to create
comprehensive locaton data.
Revenue is generated by supplying
this informaton at a price to
developers and applicaton
publishers of geo-enabled
products
11
.
8
Figure 4: Most Popular Open Data Domains: Percentage of companies working with specific domain of Open Data
(n=150), Spain, 2012
Source: Spanish Open Data Portal Annual Report, Characterizaton Study of the Infomediary Sector, July 2012
51.1%
46.8%
29.8%
27.7%
12.8% 12.8% 12.8%
10.0%
Geographic
/Cartographic
Info
Business
/Financial
Info
Socio-Demographic
/Statstcal Info
Legal Info Meterological
Info
Transport
Info
Museums, Cultural
Files and others
Others
Generatng Additonal
Public Sector Revenues
For governments, opening the
public sector information vault can
lead to financial gains. Revenue
generation accrues from two
broad areas: namely charging from
data and tax income accrued due
to commercial activity on Open
Data.
Generating Revenues from
Charging for Open Data
Most countries/departments
provide free access to citzens with
more optng for an ability to view
rather than to download. Some
countries appear to be taking an
intermediate path by allowing
non-commercial reuse at zero
cost, charging for commercial
usage. For instance, CENDOJ (the
Spanish Judicial Documentaton
Centre), responsible for managing
all of Spains legal documentaton,
In countries where
organizations have
moved to marginal/
zero cost charging
models, the number of
re-users increased by
between 1,000% and
10,000% leading to an
increase in revenues.
provides government data free
for consultaton to any citzen not
intending to reuse the informaton
and charges commercial re-users
on the basis of license cost per
sentence
12
. There is evidence of
pricing signifcantly impactng the
usage of Open Data. For instance,
in cases where organizatons
have moved to marginal and zero
cost charging or cost-recovery
models, the number of re-users
increased by between 1,000%
and 10,000%.
13
Some public
sector bodies have also shown
that substantal price reductons
can be done without impactng
overall revenues since they lead
to a signifcant growth in usage.
In fact, reducing the price of
Open Data usage could lead to an
increase in the revenue generated
from it. For instance, the Austrian
public sector body responsible
for geographic informaton, BEV,
lowered charges by as much as
97%, resultng in a 7,000% growth
in demand for certain product
groups. In essence, BEV was able
to increase its geographic Open
Data sales revenues by 46% in the
four-year period afer the pricing
review
14
.
9
The aggregate
economic impact from
applications based
on Open Data across
the EU27 economy is
estimated to be 140
billion annually.
Generating Increased Tax
Income from Commercial
Usage of Open Data
Governments can generate long-
term tax revenue growth through
a wide range of direct and indirect
applicatons of Open Data across
the economy. The aggregate direct
and indirect economic impact
from such applicatons and their
use across the EU27 economy
is estmated to be 140 billion
annually
15
. The corresponding
increase in tax revenues is a direct
monetary beneft to governments.
Open Data disrupting
Real Estate Marketplace
Zillow, a Real Estate advertsing network, is a notable example of
technology startup fourishing on Open Data. The company established
a successful business by creatng a living database of homes across the
United States. This database is built from a range of sources such as
county records, tax data, listng of homes for sale or rental and mortgage
informaton.
The website combines mapping data with informaton on local land value
and house price to create a service which accurately estmates the value
of a house at a given address. One of its main ofering Zestmates (an
advanced statstcal predictve tool) provides up-to-date informaton on
home values and rental prices. The company has over 30 million unique
users per month scrolling through its database of more than 100 million
homes.
Zillow has grown signifcantly since 2006 with its revenue doubling at
$66.1 million in 2011, compared to $30.5 million in 2010. As of December
2011, the company had 329 full-tme employees. It successfully launched
its IPO in July 2011.
10
Source: Company website and press releases
Achieving Cost Savings
While Increasing Transparency
For governments, opening up
public sector informaton has
signifcant potental for cost
savings and improving service
efciencies.
Reducing Transactonal
Costs and Redundant
Expenditure
Public administraton ofcials
typically spend a signifcant
amount of tme and resources in
answering queries that arise due
to legislatons allowing citzens to
gain access to data. Providing data
for citzens online in a searchable
format has a direct impact in
reducing the cost of servicing.
For instance, Bristol City Council
reduced transacton costs when
they introduced an Open Data
catalog. The cost to the council
for a typical service transacton
was found to be 15 tmes more
expensive if answered in person or
telephone than if answered over
the Internet
16
.
Similarly, Open Data and access
to real-tme informaton saved
over $1 million for the city of
San Francisco in the US. The
citys Chief Innovaton Ofcer
announced in June 2012 that
access to real-tme transit data
resulted in 21.7% fewer SF311
calls
17
. This decrease in call volume
resulted in savings of over $1
million a year
18
.
Openness also aids in cutng
down on public expenditure
as public bodies are made
more accountable for fnancial
discrepancies. For instance,
in California USA, the state
transparency portal (that cost
around $21,000 to implement)
saved the state over $20
million when visitors identfed
unnecessary expenditure. The
savings came afer visitors to the
site notced an audit that showed
that many of the vehicles in the
states feet were not needed
19
.
Improving Service
Efciency through
Linked Data
Integratng and publishing data
can enable public bodies improve
service efciency by enabling
efcient collaboraton between
business stakeholders and public
bodies. The publicaton of MRSA
infecton rates in UK hospitals is a
case in point. The Natonal Health
Services (NHS) in UK started
publishing infecton rates of all
hospitals on the portal data.gov.
uk
20
. This publicaton, coupled
with the sharing of league tables
showing the worst hospitals,
encouraged exchange of best
practces amongst hospitals. It
brought down infecton rates from
around 5,000 patents annually to
fewer than 1,200. The initatve
Openness also aids
in cutting down on
public expenditure as
public bodies are made
more accountable for
financial discrepancies.
also achieved a cost savings of 34
million. Though the savings cannot
be solely atributed to opening up
data, the efciency of hospitals
and exchange of best practces has
had a signifcant efect on hospital
functoning and public health.
Further, NHS has been publishing
outcome data for hospitals and
surgeons since 2004. This has led
to a drop in mortality rates by
22% as it became easy to spot the
pain points and improve cardiac
healthcare services
21
.
11
Open Data identifies possible
prescription savings worth millions
In 2011-12, the NHS in England spent more than 400m on statns, a class of drugs used to prevent cardiovascular
problems, out of a total drug budget of 12.7 billion. Some of these drugs are more expensive than others:
patented ones can cost 20 tmes more than generic versions.
The current evidence shows that all drugs from this class are equally safe and efectve, so doctors are usually
advised to use the generic versions initally. With the aim of analyzing the prescripton patern of these drugs
- Mastodon C, a big data start-up company incubated at the Open Data Insttute and Open Health care UK (a
consortum of NHS doctors and technologists dedicated to improving patent care by opening up health data),
worked with publicly available NHS prescripton data. They looked at the entre prescriptons dataset (over 37
million rows of data) and analyzed how much money was spent in each area on more expensive drugs. It was
found that on an average 27m a month of potentally unnecessary expenditure on the two proprietary statns
took place in 2011 in the NHS in England. And savings of over 200m could have been achieved for the NHS, had
every doctor prescribed cheap statns.
Encouraged by the fndings, the team intends to go further ahead and identfy similar potental savings in diferent
prescripton categories as well.
Source: Open Data Insttute Case Study
12
13
A larger, and more
long-term benefit of
opening up data is the
impact that it has on
dissemination of skills
around Big Data.
Creatng Jobs and Disseminatng New
Skills by Leveraging Commercial Potental
In todays challenging economic
tmes, Open Data can act as a
signifcant aid to Government
eforts at creatng jobs. And at the
same tme, it can complement
the eforts of the private sector
to boost the skill set of the hiring
pool.
Creatng Jobs using
Open Data and its
Commercial Potental
The potental for job creaton
through commercial usage of
Open Data is signifcant. In Spain,
a study found that the infomediary
sector (companies that sell
services on top of Open Data)
employs around 4,000 people
and generates 330-550 million
Euros annually that can be directly
atributed to Open Data reuse
22
.
The market size and growth of
the geographic informaton sector
shows the potental of Open Data
as an engine for job creaton.
The German market for geo-
informaton in 2007 was estmated
at 1.4 billion, a 50% increase
since 2000. In the Netherlands,
the geo-sector accounted for
15,000 full tme employees in
2008
23
.

Similarly, in Australia, in
a study done to understand the
impact of open geospatal data,
it was observed that over 31,400
people were directly employed in
the spatal informaton industry.
24
Disseminatng Big Data
skills using Open Data
as an Introductory
Platorm
Job creaton is a direct and short-
term economic impact of Open
Data. However, a larger, and more
long-term beneft of opening up
data is the impact that it has on
disseminaton of skills around Big
Data
25
. The opportunites around
Big Data are indeed signifcant.
It is estmated that by 2015, Big
Data demand will reach over 4.4
million jobs globally. However,
globally, there is a signifcant
dearth of skills around Big Data
and its applicaton. It is expected
that only a third of the 4.4 million
positons are likely to be flled
26
.
Opening up government data
can act as a driving force for
individuals and organizatons as
they atempt to create value on
top of such data. Developing Big
Data skills is a strategic area for
governments across the world
and answers a growing need in
the business community. In the
Spanish study cited earlier, it was
observed that over 50% of all staf
in frms dealing with Open Data
were engineers or had higher level
qualifcatons.
Given the benefts that can be
realized through Open Data
programs, we believe a structured
approach in implementng Open
Data initatves is necessary to
actualize this opportunity. In the
next secton, we detail the focus
areas in a stepwise approach for
governments to derive value out
of Open Data.
How Can You Derive
Economic Value from Open Data?
Opening up data is not a
straightorward task. It starts with
government willingness to open
up data. Once there is a broad
buy-in to opening up public data,
governance structures should be
established to oversee all Open
Data initatves. Governments will
need to decide on the type of
data that is prioritzed for release
and how best to ofer this data
to developers. The fnal step in
enabling governments to allow
Open Data to fourish is to drive its
uptake both by citzens and by
developers (see Figure 5).
Build a Vision
A frst step is to build a vision
around the possible and tangible
benefts from Open Data. This
vision needs to be driven from the
top, typically with strong politcal
leadership directng the eforts.
For instance, in the UKa Trend
Seter in our analysisOpen Data
eforts are led by Francis Maude
who says, This Government
believes Open Data will be the
essental characteristc of future
public policy
27
. It is important
that such a vision percolates down
from the top to garner support
from ministries and civil servants
alike for efectve functoning of
Open Data initatves. A similar
vision from the countrys highest
ofce is helping France in building
a robust Open Data program.
Through a directve from the Prime
Ministers ofce, France created
Etalab, an agency responsible
for creatng and maintaining its
Open Data portal. Along with
this, Etalab is responsible for
coordinatng the actvites of
ministries and in supportng public
administraton with facilitatng the
widest possible reuse of its public
informaton. Since the launch of
the French Open Data portal in
December 2011, over 350,000
datasets have been published on
it and it has achieved more than
750,000 visitors and over 394,000
downloads.
28
Create a Governance
Structure
Governments need to develop
insttutons with an explicit
mandate to frame and encourage
the development of Open Data.
For instance, the Open Data
initatve in UK is being advocated
and encouraged by various bodies,
which have well-defned roles for
greater coherence in achieving
Open Data objectves (see Figure
6).
Figure 5: Focus areas in Implementing Open Data Initiatives
Source: Capgemini Consulting Analysis
Build
a Vision
Create a
Governance
Structure
Develop
and Implement
Content
Framework Drive
Uptake
14
Open Data initiatives
need to be driven from
the top with strong
political leadership.
Develop and Implement
a Content Framework
Governments should structure
data to ease reuse of data,
optmize the number of datasets,
ensure the data is regularly
updated and reduce disparity.
Structuring of data will increase
downloads of datasets and help
private developers to build varied
data-based applicatons.
A periodic process has to be
followed in the creaton or
collecton of the raw data. The
raw data at the local, natonal
or internatonal level needs to
be aggregated to create more
comprehensive datasets and allow
for joint storage and retrieval.
Also, emphasis should be on
identfying and making available
the kind of data, which provides
maximum commercial reuse and
generates the most interest from
users.
Further, governments need
to ensure that data shared
with users should be in a non-
proprietary format and data across
government portals should be
linked. This would help achieve
greater disseminaton and uptake
of Open Data. Applying the
linked data principle also adds
value to the informaton through
combinatons with other data,
such as demographic, trafc or
environmental data.
Drive Uptake
Any amount of Government
efort in setng up insttutons
and frameworks around Open
Data isnt of much help if there
are no initatves to encourage
its usage. Governments should
encourage citzens and businesses
to actvely use the data and
engage with it. The intent should
be to motvate users to actvely
seek out more datasets that can
help address issues that impact
them. Creatng a platorm of
e-learning for non-qualifed users,
with tutorials and informaton,
will provide them with the
tools to analyze, transform and
share public data. At the same
tme, governments should
ensure that they encourage the
developer community to create
value-enhancing applicatons. A
good way of mobilizing developers
would be through launching Open
Data challenges. In a EU Open
Data challenge conducted in
April 2011, there were over 430
entries in a period of 60 days
29
.
The competton was conducted
across four categories - ideas,
applicatons, visualizatons and
datasets.
In summary, opening up data holds
the key to unlocking economic
gains from multple perspectves.
Governments and public
authorites need to view Open
Data not just as an opportunity
to bring in transparency and
accountability in their functoning,
but also as an enabler of economic
growth and a driver of innovaton.
In these challenging tmes, it
ofers the opportunity to drive
tangible economic value and
stmulate growth and innovaton.
Governments wishing to establish
their positon in tomorrows
digital world should leverage the
potental that Open Data holds.
Figure 6: Open Data Bodies in UK and their Roles
Source: Capgemini Consulting Analysis
Data Strategy Board (DSB)
The DSBs goal is to create maximum value, for
businesses and people across the UK has two
main goals (1) Seek to maxmize the value of
data from the PDG for long term social and
economic benet (2) To act as an intelligent
advising government on commissioning and
purchasing key data and services from the PDG.
Open Data User Group (ODUG)
The ODUGs objectve is to give advice to DSB
on public sector data that should be prioritzed
for release as Open Data. It aims to act as an
intelligent customer on behalf of the public and
the private sector for freeing up data at the point
of use and for re-use.
Open Data Insttute (ODI)
The ODIs goal is to help people create economic,
environmental and social value from Open Data.
It aims to encourage small entrepreneurs to turn
raw data available into tangible and worthwhile
informaton.
Public Data Group (PDG)
The PDG aims to improve using and sharing of
data, through collaboraton and sharing of best
practces. It also aims to aggressively pursue
individual and cross-asset eciencies, delivering
lower prices to all users of data.
Open Data
UK
15
1 Driving Innovation through Knowledge Sharing October 2011: http://www.slideshare.net/jeanneholm1/
driving-innovation-with-knowledge-sharing-and-open-data
2 Review of recent studies on PSI re-use and related market developments; Final Version, Graham Vickery
3 UK Government press release on launch of Open Data Institute
4 UK Open Data Portal, Site Usage Data.
5 Programmable Web, Which APIs Are Handling Billions of Requests Per Day?, May 2012
6 Spanish Open Data Portal Annual Report, Characterization Study of the Infomediary Sector, July 2012
7 Spanish Open Data Portal Annual Report, Characterization Study of the Infomediary Sector, July 2012
8 Does Marginal Cost Pricing of Public Sector Information Spur Firm Growth; Research Institute of Finnish Economy
9 Digital Fuel of the 21st Century: Innovation through Open Data and the Network Effect, Harvard University, 2011
10 Concept et Stratgies pour Gouvernement Ouvert et Open Data, World Bank ICT report,2012
11 CloudMade Apps; http://cloudmade.com/about
12 European Commission, Pricing of Public Sector Information Study, October 2011
13 European Commission, Pricing of Public Sector Information Study, October 2011
14 European Commission, Pricing of Public Sector Information Study, October 2011
15 European Commission, Digital Agenda: Commissions Open Data Strategy, Questions & answers, 2012
16 Bristol Open Data Innovation; http://www.connectingbristol.org/2010/06/07/b-open/; European Public Sector
Information Platform, Making the case for opening up government data
17 The San Francisco 311 service connects residents, businesses and visitors to customer service representatives
that offer information with general government information. It is a single point of entry for and resolution of
information and service requests.
18 http://www.resetsanfrancisco.org/news/jun-25-12/open-data-real-time-information-saves-gov-money
19 Frontier Group, California Budget Transparency 2.0, 2009
20 Finding the value in Open Data; Open Data Institute, UK
21 UK Cabinet Office Article on Francis Maudes speech, March 2012
22 Spanish Open Data Portal Annual Report, Characterization Study of the Infomediary Sector, July 2012
23 Eur-Lex, Open data An engine for innovation, growth and transparent governance, 2011
24 ACIL Tasman, The Value of Spatial Information, March 2008
25 Big data describes datasets that grow so large that they are challenging to work with, using traditional database
management tools
26 Gartner, Gartner Says Big Data Creates Big Jobs: 4.4 Million IT Jobs Globally to Support Big Data By 2015, Oct 2012
27 UK Cabinet Office, Open Data Innovation Community - Francis Maude speech, March 2012
28 Official Open Data Website, France, The national platform www.data.gouv.fr celebrates its first anniversary,
December 2012
29 Open Data Challenge website, June 2011
References
16
Rightshore

is a trademark belonging to Capgemini

Capgemini Consulting is the global strategy and transformation
consulting organization of the Capgemini Group, specializing
in advising and supporting enterprises in significant
transformation, from innovative strategy to execution and with
an unstinting focus on results. With the new digital economy
creating significant disruptions and opportunities, our global
team of over 3,600 talented individuals work with leading
companies and governments to master Digital Transformation,
drawing on our understanding of the digital economy and
our leadership in business transformation and organizational
change.
Find out more at:
http://www.capgemini-consulting.com/
With around 120,000 people in 40 countries, Capgemini is one
of the worlds foremost providers of consulting, technology
and outsourcing services. The Group reported 2011 global
revenues of EUR 9.7 billion. Together with its clients, Capgemini
creates and delivers business and technology solutions that
fit their needs and drive the results they want. A deeply
multicultural organization, Capgemini has developed its own
way of working, the Collaborative Business Experience
TM
, and
draws on Rightshore

, its worldwide delivery model.

Learn more about us
at www.capgemini.com.
About Capgemini
Capgemini Consulting is the strategy and transformation consulting brand of Capgemini Group. The information contained in this document is proprietary.
2013 Capgemini. All rights reserved.
Author
Dinand Tinholt
Vice-President
[email protected]
Belgium
Patrick Pouilliart
[email protected]
Finland
Ilkka Kankare
[email protected]
France
Ludovic de Lamazire
[email protected]
Germany
Tom Gensicke
[email protected]
Middle East
Jawad Shaikh
[email protected]
Netherlands
Marleen van Amersfoort
[email protected]
Sweden
Henrik Poppius
[email protected]
UK
Richard Kershaw
[email protected]
For more information contact
The author would also like to acknowledge the contributons of Jerome Buvat, Ashish Bisht, Manik Seth and Subrahmanyam
KVJ from the Digital Transformaton Research Insttute of Capgemini Consultng.