Data storm: Making government data pay. 16 December 2011Last updated at 00:05 By Michael Cross Technology reporter Data storm: EU governments may have to open their archives - which could include weather information - to business Here's the good news: Europe's fiscally squeezed governments are sitting on assets that could be worth 40bn euros ($52bn, £33.6bn) a year.
The bad news is that, to realise those assets' full potential, governments have to give them away. For free, and without licensing conditions, to all comers, including multi-national corporations as well as to local start-ups. The assets are gargantuan archives of data that public administrations generate in the course of their public tasks. Government reveals plans for publicly-funded research to be freely accessible. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) said making the information freely available would help stimulate economic growth, innovation and entrepreneurism, and improve public sector transparency.
"The Government, in line with our overarching commitment to transparency and open data, is committed to ensuring that publicly-funded research should be accessible free of charge," a BIS report into Innovation and Research Strategy for Growth (104-page / 1.15MB PDF) said. "Free and open access to taxpayer-funded research offers significant social and economic benefits by spreading knowledge, raising the prestige of UK research and encouraging technology transfer," it said. "At the moment, such research is often difficult to find and expensive to access. This can defeat the original purpose of taxpayer-funded academic research and limits understanding and innovation. " Www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/innovation/docs/i/11-1387-innovation-and-research-strategy-for-growth. Opening up government.