Sharing data with purpose

The world is awash with data and it is growing exponentially. Most of the data in the world (90%) was generated in the last two years alone.4 Data is mostly siloed, but much of it can be impactful. Organizations and governments should sponsor changes to policies and governance, and invest in new technology to enable data economies to leverage data for better outcomes. 

Designing a commercial, technical and policy environment to leverage data for the benefit of society

Accelerating the responsible exchange and use of data can solve critical challenges and fuel innovation for society. Based on the Data for Common Purpose Initiative (DCPI) and multistakeholder community input, this paper introduces five requirements that systems and governance should meet to leverage data for better outcomes. The DCPI explores the concept that data can and should be treated differently depending on its actual and anticipated use.

Paving the way with technological advances Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies are in the process of enabling data to be treated differently depending on its actual and anticipated use – through “differentiated permissioning”. As new uses for an individual’s data arise within their permitted uses, relevant data can be tagged according to permission choices, automatically encrypted and anonymized. 

Enabling the potential value of data exchanges and marketplaces

Currently, platforms (i.e. traditional business-to-business digital platforms) do not offer true data portability, which limits the possibility of combining data across them for multiple purposes. Data marketplaces offer one method to deliver on the five requirements to ultimately unlock data.

This White Paper provides an initial review of the various enablers (commercial, technical and policy) of data exchanges and marketplaces. It examines how they could apply in the context of a broader global data governance framework and offers real-life examples of how they can help to solve some of the world’s critical problems.