A Smart Data Economy must include Transport & Mobility

Posted byIdeal Interface

The following is a post originally published on our company LinkedIn page, but now copied here for reference:

Smart Data?
For those that are not familiar with this term, Smart Data is the secure sharing of customer data with authorised third parties (ATPs).
The most popular example of Smart Data is Open Banking, introduced via legislation in January 2018. Back then it forced the UK’s nine biggest banks (HSBC, Barclays, RBS, Santander, Bank of Ireland, Allied Irish Bank, Danske, Lloyds and Nationwide) to allow data they held online to be shared with authorised organisations in a secure, standardised form.
Open Banking has then fuelled the FinTech sector, one of the UK’s economic success stories of the last decade.
Note: Other terms such as “Open X”, “Open Economy” and “Open Everything” have also been used, to various degrees, in the past. But the UK Government has chosen and used the term “Smart Data” for the last few years… so those who work in and around the topic of data sharing have also adopted and embraced it.

Earlier this year The UK Government set out its plans and approach for Smart Data with the Department for Business and Trade publishing the Smart Data Roadmap: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-smart-data-roadmap-action-the-government-is-taking-in-2024-to-2025

This paper clearly stated that :
“the government wants to see similar and interoperable schemes in sectors beyond retail banking to realise a world-leading Smart Data economy”

What is a Smart Data economy?
With the success of Open Banking, the aim of UK Government is now to ‘open up’ customer data sharing across different sectors of UK industry such as: energy, finance, home buying, retail, telecommunications and transport.
This will, as a result:

  • empower consumers and small business customers – putting them in control of their own data
  • turbo charge competition, innovation and growth – removing data ‘lock-in’ created by anti-competitive practices
  • unlock the potential for smart data to drive the wider data economy

Note: The origins of the Smart Data economy are actually based upon the UK Government Data Strategy (2017 updated 2023) that set out how to unlock the power of data in the UK economy:
“To support industry in unlocking value from data, we will work with organisations such as the Open Data Institute to create an environment to open up customers’ data across more sectors through the use of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). This will help the development of innovative new applications, such as dashboards that bring together household bills, or tools that could automatically switch consumers to the cheapest energy deal based on their preferences and actual usage. The UK is the first country to start work on developing an Open Banking API that uses data to provide helpful information to consumers when using banking services.”
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-digital-strategy/7-data-unlocking-the-power-of-data-in-the-uk-economy-and-improving-public-confidence-in-its-use

Will a Smart Data Economy bring economic benefit?
Yes, the UK Gov Digital Strategy has stated that building a Smart Data economy could unlock £149 billion of organisational efficiency and £66 billion of new business and innovation opportunities in the UK economy. Meaning the Smart Data economy is potentially worth a total of £215 billion over five years… if implemented properly and completely.

How can we build a Smart Data Economy?
Creating the world’s first Smart Data economy will not be plain sailing. There are a number of steps necessary to build and maintain it, including the introduction of legislation to create statutory powers to introduce separate Smart Data schemes.
But just this week, in the Kings Speech (17 July 2024) the new UK Government confirmed the introduction of a Digital Information and Smart Data Bill. Which includes setting up Smart Data schemes in different sectors.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6697ac9cab418ab05559271d/King_s_Speech_2024_background_briefing_GOV.uk.pdf

Don’t forget the Transport & Mobility sector
The Smart Data Roadmap, has 4 different maturity phases for the complete introduction of sector-specific schemes:
1. identification
2. consultation
3. design
4. implementation

The success of Open Banking has also understandably led to a focus on related areas. But the full benefits of a Smart Data Economy cannot be realised without including other important sectors, these (along with their Roadmap maturity) are:

  • Finance (Identification)
  • Energy & Road Fuels (Identification and Consultation)
  • Telecommunications (Consultation)
  • Retail (Identification)
  • Home buying (Identification)
  • And… Transport & Mobility (Identification)

As an example: Telecommunications is currently at “Phase 2” as The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has published a consultation and Impact Assessment to examine if a Smart Data scheme would be right for the UK telecommunications market.
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/open-communications-a-smart-data-scheme-for-the-uk-telecoms-market

The next steps in the Smart Data roadmap for Transport now sit with UK Department for Transport [DfT] to progress.

These steps include:

  • Taking forward discovery work to develop transport use cases for Smart Data.
  • Using the outcomes of the discovery to shape the evidence for a Call for Evidence in Autumn 2024, along with potential questions.
  • Publishing further detail on the opportunities for Smart Data in the transport sector in 2025.

Who is working to implement Smart Data in our sector?
The Open Transport Initiative has been working towards the introduction and establishment of Smart Data sharing in Transport & Mobility for several years. The organisation was specifically set-up in 2019 to drive forward the adoption of “Open Banking” data sharing practices across the sector. Their aim has been to engage with providers, authorities and government to support the uniform & standardised implementation of such a Smart Data scheme. https://opentransport.co.uk/

This work even includes the creation & publication of Open Standard (free to use) APIs, which should help vendors and developers to deliver the technical changes needed.
https://opentransport.co.uk/open-standard/

If you would like to join or know more about the work of the Open Transport initiative content them via: contact@opentransport.co.uk