Better data sharing, an improved national data infrastructure and recognising and developing data science as a professional discipline are the main commitments the government is making in "seizing the data opportunity", according to a report published today.
In its 48-page "Seizing the data opportunity" document, the Department for Business Innovation and Skills outlines its plans, which come as a direct follow-up to the government's Information Economy strategy, which was produced in June 2013.
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The report states that the UK "has the potential to lead of the defining developments of the 21st century", which it calls "the data revolution". To do so, suggests the report, the UK needs to take a three-pronged approach to working with data. The ability to work more efficiently with data, it says "is essential for the UK's competitive advantage and business transformation".
Arguing that the UK already has vast reserves of data in the public sector and linked organisations, such as the BBC and the Met Office, the report states that more shared data, better infrastructure to support it, and the skills to be able to use data more effectively, need to be drawn into focus.
"Knowing how to sort through the volume, bring different datasets together, and gain new knowledge and insight," is important, says the report, and "the UK needs to act now to build the capability within the UK to be at the forefront of extracting knowledge and value from data for the benefit of citizens, business, academia and government."
In terms of training, the report says "all UK citizens should have an understanding of data", and "confidence it its use and their rights".
Global projects such as the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope and home-based projects like the quest to map 100,000 genomes are key projects where new data skills will be required, suggests the report, in order for the UK "to play a major role" on the world big data stage.
The report states that "the demand for big data specialists, including data scientists, will continue to increase over the next five years", and that 46 per cent of survey respondents stated that staff shortages are currently "the most common barrier to implementing data analytics".
In terms of the hardware and software required to process and store data, the report states that the UK currently has "the third largest share of the global data centre market", and will continue to grow with the global industry. However, it says, connectivity must be improved, and cites the targeted 98 per cent 4G coverage of the UK by 2015, along with the government's current investment of £1.2bn in national superfast broadband connection as the ways in which this will be achieved.
It also says government infrastructure will receive focus, promising that "the public sector will achieve large, cross-government economies of scale; have IT systems that are flexible and responsive to demand; be able to take advantage of new technologies and reduced costs; meet environmental and sustainability targets; and procure in a way that encourages a responsive supplier marketplace and supports emerging suppliers."
Among all this development, says the report, security will naturally be a key focus, outlining various different strategies in which various types of public data will be handled. It also mentions that the Intellectual Property Office will amend the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988 to allow copying of text and data for analytical and "synthesis" purposes without infringing copyright.
"This is a real opportunity for the UK. We have some of the best universities in the world, and some truly innovative small businesses," minister for universities and science David Willetts and minister for skills and enterprise Matthew Hancock write in the report's foreword.
"We have some of the richest historic datasets of any country. We have, in short, the building blocks of a data success story. Working together with industry, academia, and citizens, we can make it a reality."
