Governments looking for economic ROI must focus on open data with business value - O'Reilly Radar

"There’s increasing interest in the open data economy from the research wings of consulting firms. Capgemini Consulting just published a new report on the open data economy. McKinsey’s Global Institute is following up its research on big data with an inquiry into open data and government innovation. Deloitte has been taking a long look at open data business models. Forrester says open data isn’t (just) for governments anymore and says more research is coming. If Bain & Company doesn’t update its work on 'data as an asset' this year to meet inbound interest in open data from the public sector, it may well find itself in the unusual position of lagging the market for intellectual expertise. As Radar readers know, I’ve been trying to 'make dollars and sense' of the open data economy since December, looking at investments, business models and entrepreneurs.  In January, I interviewed Harvey Lewis, the research director for the analytics department of Deloitte U.K. Lewis, who holds a doctorate in hypersonic aerodynamics, has been working for nearly 20 years on projects in the public sector, defense industry and national security. Today, he’s responsible for applying an analytical eye to consumer businesses, manufacturing, banking, insurance and the public sector. Over the past year, his team has been examining the impact of open data releases on the economy of the United Kingdom. The British government’s embrace of open data makes such research timely. Given the many constituencies interested in open data these days, from advocates for transparency and good government to organizations interested in co-creating civic services to entrepreneurs focused on building and scaling sustainable startups, one insight stood out from our discussion in particular:

'The things you do to enable transparency … aren’t necessarily the same things you do to enable economic growth and economic impact,' said Lewis. 'For economic growth, focus on data that are likely to diffuse throughout the economy in the widest and greatest possible way. That’s dynamic data, data that’s granular, collected on a regular basis, updated, and made available through APIs that application developers and businesses can use.'  The rest of our interview, lightly edited for content and clarity, follows ..."