Government pushes open data agenda with new study - ARN

"The federal Government has enlisted New York University's GovLab to investigate how Australian organisations are using government data sets in a bid to forge ahead with its open data agenda. The Open Data 500 study was launched at the Locate15 conference in Brisbane today. It is the first comprehensive study of Australian companies and non-profit organisations that use open government data to generate new business, develop new products and services, improve business operations or create social value. The collaboration between the Department of Communications and GovLab, a team of researchers at New York University, will create new case studies on how Australian organisations are using public sector data and provide a basis for assessing the social and economic value of open government datasets. The results of the study will be used to develop a publicly available report that will help businesses to identify ways to reduce the costs of accessing government data, including licencing, versioning and control costs. The Open Data 500 aims to advance the Government’s election commitment to consult the private sector to identify value-adding public datasets not currently on data.gov.au and expedite the release of these datasets."