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The Role of Data in Promoting Growth and Well-Being

Data forms a key pillar in 21st century sources of growth. The confluence of several trends, including the increasing migration of socio-economic activities to the Internet and the decline in the cost of data collection, storage and processing, are leading to the generation and use of huge volumes of data – commonly referred to as “big data”.

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These large data sets are becoming a core asset in the economy, fostering new industries, processes and products and creating significant competitive advantages.

For instance:

  • In business, data exploitation promises to create value in a variety of operations, from the optimisation of value chains in global manufacturing and services more efficient use of labour and tailored customer relationships.
  • The adoption of ‘smart-grid’ technologies is generating large volumes of data on energy and resource consumption patterns that can be exploited to improve energy and resource efficiency.
  • The public sector is also an important data user but also a key source of data. Greater access to and more effective use of public-sector information (PSI), as called for by the 2008 OECD Council Recommendation on PSI, can generate benefits across the economy.

Greater access and use of data creates a wide array of policy issues, such as privacy and consumer protection, open data access, skills and employment, and measurement to name a few.

Objectives

The OECD is undertaking extensive analysis on the role of data in promoting innovation, growth and well-being within its multi-disciplinary project on New Sources of Growth: Knowledge-Based Capital (KBC). The objectives of the project are:

  • Improve the evidence base on the role of data for promoting growth and well-being, and
  • Provide policy guidance on how to maximize the benefits of the data-driven economy, while mitigating the associated risks.