United Kingdom

As data become an important resource for the global economy, it is important to strengthen trust to facilitate data sharing domestically and across borders. Significant momentum for related policies in the G7, and G20, has gone hand in hand with a wide range of – often complementary – national and international initiatives and the development of technological and organisational measures. Advancing a common understanding and dialogue among G7 countries and beyond is crucial to support coordinated and coherent progress in policy and regulatory approaches that leverage the full potential of data for global economic and social prosperity. This report takes stock of key policies and initiatives on cross-border data flows to inform and support G7 countries’ engagement on this policy agenda.

Marine data play a crucial role for many scientific disciplines, as well as for very diverse operational services such as fisheries management, environmental planning, marine conservation, weather forecasting, or port management. The information derived from marine data is also increasingly finding its way into a wide and varied range of public policy arenas and private industries. Collecting, distributing and archiving public marine data provide benefits to society at large, however as with all public investments, assessments are needed to provide evidence to decision makers. Based on an original survey of UK marine data users, this paper explores pathways through which marine data are used and transformed into actionable information, creating systematised value chains for the first time. The analysis unveils trends in current marine data uses in the UK and key benefits of data uses. The paper lays the foundations for further OECD work with the marine data community.

Twenty-first century governments must keep pace with the expectations of their citizens and deliver on the promise of the digital age. Data-driven approaches are particularly effective for meeting those expectations and rethinking the way governments and citizens interact. This report highlights the important role data can play in creating conditions that improve public services, increase the effectiveness of public spending and inform ethical and privacy considerations. It presents a data-driven public sector framework that can help countries or organisations assess the elements needed for using data to make better-informed decisions across public sectors.