Connecting data: driving productivity and innovation

The UK has many of the key assets, in terms of knowledge, technologies and experienced individuals, needed to play a major role as leading nations move to exploit an increasingly information-driven global economy.

Harnessing the power of data analytics (more colloquially ‘big data’) and advanced connectivity, reliably linking key datasets, often in real time, has immense potential to drive innovation. This may come from converting the sale of existing products into a broader sale of capability, such as the already successful transformation of the aero engine business model. It may come through the creation of more integrated and sustainable urban development through ‘smart city’ initiatives. It may return power to consumers as they take more control of and profit from their personal data. Such techniques and technologies offer the potential to transform UK productivity, currently lagging in the G7.

This report highlights the experience to date across multiple sectors of the economy. It documents both best practice for further dissemination and pitfalls to avoid. The report identifies a series of policy actions for government, professional institutions and other stakeholders that would facilitate new areas of economic activity, such as markets in data, and also recommends steps necessary in areas from personal privacy to resilience and cybersecurity