A Government-led coalition is calling on businesses to harness ambitious and feasible solutions that could harness Smart Data across different sectors of the economy to benefit individuals and small businesses in the future.
Smart Data enables individuals and small businesses to access and share their data securely with authorised third parties, enabling innovative services.
It encourages cross-sector ideas covering financial services, energy, retail, transport, and home buying to address challenges like the cost of living, the transition to net zero, and supporting vulnerable individuals.
Kevin Hollinrake, Minister for Enterprise, Markets and Small Business, said: “Smart Data has the potential to help create solutions to real-life issues that consumers face on a daily basis as well as supporting small firms across the country and helping to grow the economy.
“It’s already helping consumers via Open Banking, and I am excited to see what other game-changing technology will produce from our nation’s innovators and entrepreneurs.”
The Smart Data Discovery Challenge
The Smart Data Discovery Challenge will identify the leaders of the Smart Data space.
The open call wants people and partnerships to share their blue thinking for cross-sector ideas that could benefit individuals, small businesses, and wider society.
The challenge will also consider other potential data that might be unlocked from other sectors, such as telecoms.
The Smart Data Discovery Challenge will foster individual innovators and partnerships to develop their initial ideas into feasible concepts with the potential to move into development. The most exciting contributions will be supported with mentorship and guidance, and the best will be rewarded with cash prizes.
“Innovators that participate in the challenge will join a community of cutting-edge and creative thinkers to help us shape the direction of a potential prize in 2024,” explained Louise Burke, CEO of the Open Data Institute, one of the challenge’s collaborators.
“We want creative people from across industry, academia, and civil society to join the conversation about opening up services using Smart Data to make people’s lives better and enrich our national data infrastructure.”
How can your business get involved?
The Smart Data Discovery Challenge’s open call for ideas runs from 26 October to 8 December 2023.
A long list of ideas will be selected based on published assessment criteria. The most promising ideas will be supported to refine the solutions, including offering expert mentorship.
The Smart Data Discovery Challenge will host a hybrid event in March 2024 to bring together the emerging Smart Data community at which the most innovative cross-sector use case ideas will be pitched. After assessment, the best will be rewarded with cash prizes.
Chris Gorst, Challenges Director at Challenge Works, concluded: “We want innovative thinkers from across industry and society to recommend new smart data solutions that could make a difference for consumers and SMEs, to identify where obstacles need dismantling and where risks need mitigating.”
Find out more about smart data and how to take part in or support the challenge at smartdata.challenges.org
