Utilities lead new data for societal good partnership

The Industry Data for Society Partnership has launched with seven organisations committing to make their data more open and accessible for societal good.

The Partnership, a first of its kind cross-industry initiative, aims to advance more open and accessible private sector data sharing in order to help address societal challenges in areas such as sustainability and creating inclusive economic growth.

The founding members include the electricity and water operators UK Power Networks and Northumbrian Water along with GitHub, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, LinkedIn, Microsoft and R2 Factory.

Matt Webb, head of enterprise data management at UK Power Networks, says that the power of data for an organisation is in looking beyond its own boundaries and combining it with information from other sectors and with this, “developing fresh insights that will ultimately lead to action and long lasting change”.

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“At a time when the global energy crisis is impacting us all, especially the most vulnerable, the Partnership has the potential to be a powerful tool for positive change.”

Nigel Watson, group information services director at Northumbrian Water Group, concurs, saying the company has a long track record of using data to fuel innovation.

“We are looking forward to not only increasing the impact we can have together in addressing societal and environmental challenges but also to share our learning to help others do the same.”

Data sharing commitments

The founding members have made four commitments:
• To open data or provide greater access to data, where appropriate, to help solve pressing societal problems in a usable, responsible and inclusive manner.
• To share knowledge and information for the effective use of open data and data collaboration for social benefit.
• To invest in skilling a broad class of professionals to use data effectively and responsibly for social impact.
• To protect individuals’ privacy in all of these activities.

In addition to the commitments, the Partnership is also establishing a forum to collaborate with experts and consult with organisations that have a depth of knowledge on these topics.

One of the partnership’s first projects is to launch a ‘Data for Local Environments Challenge’ with the Open Data Institute, one of the two affiliates along with the GovLab’s Data Program based at New York University, which will provide guidance and expertise to the work moving forward.

Using publicly available datasets and datasets shared or curated by the private sector, participants will explore how they can be used to improve city and other local environments, such as reaching their net zero goals.

The Partnership members also intend to foster connections between industry and the public sector, researchers and academics to better understand how industry data can improve their work.