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In 2014, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Communications networks, content and technology (DG CONNECT) launched a reflection around new trends in evidence-informed policy-making, as one important element of Public Sector Modernisation. This report has been prepared in the context of: “Data for Policy: A study of big data and other innovative data – driven approaches for evidence – informed policymaking’ The Data4Policy study was completed in 2016.
The outcome of the study is a report that holds ten use cases of innovative data-driven approaches for policymaking at the European level. These use cases were developed in the context of the international study on innovative data-driven approaches to inform policymaking, conducted by the Technopolis Group, the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) and the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)for the European Commission.
The main purpose of the use cases, according the authors, was to inspire the European Commission and other organisations at EU or international level, when considering or implementing innovative data-driven approaches for policymaking. They were developed in close collaboration with officials from several European Commission (EC) Directorates-General (DGs).
The Ten use cases of innovative data
- Using learning analytics systems for educational policies
- Nowcasting for economic policy and beyond
- Ocean governance
- New data technologies for trade policy
- Big data for consumer policy
- Data linking for bee health
- Big health data in dementia
- Big data for crisis anticipation and crisis management
- Citizen science: big data for environmental policies
- Text and opinion mining for policymaking
For each case, its focus is described, i.e. the topic or problem that can or could be addressed through the innovative data approach. This is followed by a description of the rationale for the development of a new data approach and the underlying policy context defining the needs. Following the description of the data process, i.e. available data sources, how the data can be collected, analysed, and visualized, and how they can be used in the policymaking process are presented. In these sections the main opportunities and challenges in terms of data availability, data linking, stakeholder involvement, privacy, data analytics, financial resources, scalability and wider applicability, etc is examined. In the last section of each case study, challenges that the data collection and analysis systems are facing or may be facing are displayed and also the next steps that should be taken in the development are covered.
The most common (intended) use of the innovative data systems is the collection of contextual information for the purpose of informing policymaking at the very beginning of the policy cycle (foresight, problem analysis) or for monitoring purposes, at times with the intention of enforcing legislation
The Data4Policy study commissioned to Technopolis Group, the Oxford Internet Institute and CEPS was completed in 2016 and fostered rich discoveries and connections with practitioners, academics and governments with an appetite for experimentation and public sector innovation. The results of the study are presented on this website. https://www.data4policy.eu/
The report in PDF format can be downloaded from here