Smart Data & the opportunity for the West Midlands
Leading smart data expert Liz Brandt invited to explore the UK’s smart data roadmap and where the regional opportunity exists in shaping this near future.
But what is smart data?
Liz started by describing it as:
“Like having an energy network, but full of data… with a way of plugging into it and putting energy into it; a new form of infrastructure but for the flow of data”
More formally, smart data refers to a secure, permissioned system of data sharing designed to enable economic growth, innovation, and productivity. It is part of the UK’s national data infrastructure, and its goal is to make data accessible, usable, and trustworthy across sectors much like how energy flows through a national grid.
This infrastructure is being developed to allow individuals and businesses to access and share data safely, efficiently, and with clear governance. As such, there are core guiding principles to the development of this infrastructure in the UK context:
Secure and Permissioned Sharing
Data is only shared with explicit consent and under strict governance frameworks. This ensures privacy, trust, and compliance with regulation.
Interoperability and Standardisation
Data is made available in standardised formats via APIs, reducing the need for manual verification or transformation.
Decentralisation and Federated Models
Unlike centralised systems (e.g. Singapore), the UK is exploring federated and decentralised models, where data can be managed by multiple trusted intermediaries rather than a single authority.
Data Intermediaries
A new class of organisations is emerging to act on behalf of individuals helping them manage, verify, and share their data securely. These intermediaries are being designed with fiduciary duties to protect user interests.
Easier said than done never rings truer! But it is important to understand that place-based values are critical in these formative stages. Whilst the UK has led the world in many aspects of the smart data agenda e.g. open banking is a much-lauded global pioneer, other jurisdictions have now moved quicker in wider contexts, but the degree of transferability is often highly anchored in place. For example:
Singapore: Centralised model with digital wallets for skills and career planning.
Bhutan: Decentralised smart data network with digital identities and intermediaries, implemented in just three years boosting GDP by 500%.
Taiwan: Fully decentralised to protect data sovereignty.
Australia: Moving toward decentralised models with new services like “data bonds” for renters.
These examples underscore the potential for regional innovation, prompting Brandt and SuperTech CEO Hilary Smyth-Allen to be considering a “Pathfinder Coalition” within the proftech sectors. Brandt emphasised that smart data is not a distant vision but an emerging reality, with active schemes already underway in sectors like energy, finance, and property
“the future is here already; it’s just poorly distributed”
The critical observation by both is that smart data is a significant agenda, requiring industry wide engagement and participation across the priority areas initially identified [e.g. energy; property, transport, retail, retail finance, pensions and insurance amongst others]. How they are developing is not standardised with some sectors being led by regulatory bodies; some more bottom up from industry and everything in between, combined with varying levels of resources and maturity in terms of developing the schemes necessary for the desired data infrastructure to become reality.
Brandt’s core argument is that not all companies need to be involved in the shaping and at the influence/shaping stage, BUT more companies, if not most companies, should be starting to prepare for the existence of this infrastructure and be thinking about the resulting opportunities to business, particularly their business model. Senior leaders would also be wise to consider the risks from failing to prepare and core business moving to disruptors enabled by smart data. The relationships with regionally based businesses in this regard is more complex: when is the right time to engage? Where and when is the right commercial vantage point vis a vis the usual suspects driving the agenda that might not suit the regional context? We know that open data is a high priority, as identified in the SuperTech R&I Roadmap. But making something a priority and knowing how to respond remains a current gap that collectively we need to more actively think about closing...and soon! expert But what is smart data?
Liz started by describing it as:
“Like having an energy network, but full of data… with a way of plugging into it and putting energy into it; a new form of infrastructure but for the flow of data”
More formally, smart data refers to a secure, permissioned system of data sharing designed to enable economic growth, innovation, and productivity. It is part of the UK’s national data infrastructure, and its goal is to make data accessible, usable, and trustworthy across sectors much like how energy flows through a national grid.
This infrastructure is being developed to allow individuals and businesses to access and share data safely, efficiently, and with clear governance. As such, there are core guiding principles to the development of this infrastructure in the UK context:
Secure and Permissioned Sharing
Data is only shared with explicit consent and under strict governance frameworks. This ensures privacy, trust, and compliance with regulation.
Interoperability and Standardisation
Data is made available in standardised formats via APIs, reducing the need for manual verification or transformation.
Decentralisation and Federated Models
Unlike centralised systems (e.g. Singapore), the UK is exploring federated and decentralised models, where data can be managed by multiple trusted intermediaries rather than a single authority.
Data Intermediaries
A new class of organisations is emerging to act on behalf of individuals helping them manage, verify, and share their data securely. These intermediaries are being designed with fiduciary duties to protect user interests.
Easier said than done never rings truer! But it is important to understand that place-based values are critical in these formative stages. Whilst the UK has led the world in many aspects of the smart data agenda e.g. open banking is a much-lauded global pioneer, other jurisdictions have now moved quicker in wider contexts, but the degree of transferability is often highly anchored in place. For example:
Singapore: Centralised model with digital wallets for skills and career planning.
Bhutan: Decentralised smart data network with digital identities and intermediaries, implemented in just three years boosting GDP by 500%.
Taiwan: Fully decentralised to protect data sovereignty.
Australia: Moving toward decentralised models with new services like “data bonds” for renters.
These examples underscore the potential for regional innovation, prompting Brandt and SuperTech CEO Hilary Smyth-Allen to be considering “Pathfinder Coalition” within the proftech sectors. Brandt emphasised that smart data is not a distant vision but an emerging reality, with active schemes already underway in sectors like energy, finance, and property.
“the future is here already; it’s just poorly distributed”
The critical observation by both is that smart data is a significant agenda, requiring industry wide engagement and participation across the priority areas initially identified [e.g. energy; property, transport, retail, retail finance, pensions and insurance amongst others]. How they are developing is not standardised with some sectors being led by regulatory bodies; some more bottom up from industry and everything in between, combined with varying levels of resources and maturity in terms of developing the schemes necessary for the desired data infrastructure to become reality.
Brandt’s core argument is that not all companies need to be involved in the shaping and at the influence/shaping stage, BUT more companies, if not most companies, should be starting to prepare for the existence of this infrastructure and be thinking about the resulting opportunities to business, particularly their business model. Senior leaders would also be wise to consider the risks from failing to prepare and core business moving to disruptors enabled by smart data. The relationships with regionally based businesses in this regard is more complex: when is the right time to engage? Where and when is the right commercial vantage point vis a vis the usual suspects driving the agenda that might not suit the regional context? We know that open data is a high priority, as identified in the SuperTech R&I Roadmap. But making something a priority and knowing how to respond remains a current gap that collectively we need to more actively think about closing...and soon! to explore the UK’s smart data roadmap and where the regional opportunity exists in shaping this near future.
But what is smart data?
Liz started by describing it as: “Like having an energy network, but full of data… with a way of plugging into it and putting energy into it; a new form of infrastructure but for the flow of data”
More formally, smart data refers to a secure, permissioned system of data sharing designed to enable economic growth, innovation, and productivity. It is part of the UK’s national data infrastructure, and its goal is to make data accessible, usable, and trustworthy across sectors much like how energy flows through a national grid. This infrastructure is being developed to allow individuals and businesses to access and share data safely, efficiently, and with clear governance. As such, there are core guiding principles to the development of this infrastructure in the UK context:
Secure and Permissioned Sharing
Data is only shared with explicit consent and under strict governance frameworks. This ensures privacy, trust, and compliance with regulation.
Interoperability and Standardisation
Data is made available in standardised formats via APIs, reducing the need for manual verification or transformation.
Decentralisation and Federated Models
Unlike centralised systems (e.g. Singapore), the UK is exploring federated and decentralised models, where data can be managed by multiple trusted intermediaries rather than a single authority.
Data Intermediaries
A new class of organisations is emerging to act on behalf of individuals helping them manage, verify, and share their data securely. These intermediaries are being designed with fiduciary duties to protect user interests.
Easier said than done never rings truer! But it is important to understand that place-based values are critical in these formative stages. Whilst the UK has led the world in many aspects of the smart data agenda e.g. open banking is a much-lauded global pioneer, other jurisdictions have now moved quicker in wider contexts, but the degree of transferability is often highly anchored in place. For example:
Singapore: Centralised model with digital wallets for skills and career planning.
Bhutan: Decentralised smart data network with digital identities and intermediaries, implemented in just three years boosting GDP by 500%.
Taiwan: Fully decentralised to protect data sovereignty.
Australia: Moving toward decentralised models with new services like “data bonds” for renters.
These examples underscore the potential for regional innovation, prompting Brandt and SuperTech CEO Hilary Smyth-Allen to be considering a “Pathfinder Coalition” within the proftech sectors. Brandt emphasised that smart data is not a distant vision but an emerging reality, with active schemes already underway in sectors like energy, finance, and property.
“the future is here already; it’s just poorly distributed”
The critical observation by both is that smart data is a significant agenda, requiring industry wide engagement and participation across the priority areas initially identified [e.g. energy; property, transport, retail, retail finance, pensions and insurance amongst others]. How they are developing is not standardised with some sectors being led by regulatory bodies; some more bottom up from industry and everything in between, combined with varying levels of resources and maturity in terms of developing the schemes necessary for the desired data infrastructure to become reality.
Brandt’s core argument is that not all companies need to be involved in the shaping and at the influence/shaping stage, BUT more companies, if not most companies, should be starting to prepare for the existence of this infrastructure and be thinking about the resulting opportunities to business, particularly their business model. Senior leaders would also be wise to consider the risks from failing to prepare and core business moving to disruptors enabled by smart data. The relationships with regionally based businesses in this regard is more complex: when is the right time to engage? Where and when is the right commercial vantage point vis a vis the usual suspects driving the agenda that might not suit the regional context? We know that open data is a high priority, as identified in the SuperTech R&I Roadmap. But making something a priority and knowing how to respond remains a current gap that collectively we need to more actively think about closing...and soon!