The Global Impact of Open Data

Chapter 1. Understanding the Impact of Open Data

Introduction

Recent years have witnessed considerable enthusiasm over the opportunities offered by open data. Across sectors, it is widely believed today that we are entering a new era of information openness and transparency, and that this has the potential to spur economic innovation, social transformation, and fresh forms of political and government accountability. Focusing just on economic impacts, in 2013, for example, the consulting firm McKinsey estimated the possible global value of open data to be more than $3 trillion per year.¹ A study commissioned by Omidyar Network has likewise calculated that open data could result in an extra $13 trillion over five years in the output of G20 nations.²

Yet despite the evident potential of open data, and despite the growing amounts of information being released by governments and corporations, little is actually known about its use and impact. What kind of social and economic transformations has open data brought about, and what transformations might it effect in the future? How—and under what circumstances—has it been most effective? How have open-data practitioners mitigated risks (e.g., to privacy) while maximizing social good?

As long as such questions remain unanswered, the field risks suffering from something of a mismatch between the supply (or availability) of data and its actual demand (and subsequent use). This mismatch limits the impact of open data and inhibits its ability ...