Exploring data-driven innovation as a new source of growth: Mapping the policy issues raised by “big data”

Abstract

Several technological and socioeconomic trends, including the migration of social and economic activities to the Internet, and the falling costs of data collection, transport, storage and analytics, are leading to the generation of huge volumes of data – often referred to as big data. Big data now represents a core economic asset that can create significant competitive advantage for firms and drive innovation and growth. This chapter considers five sectors in which the use of data can stimulate innovation and productivity growth: online advertisement, health care, utilities, logistics and transport, and public administration. Overall, the benefits that big data can create in these sectors include: the development of new data-based goods and services; improved production or delivery processes; improved marketing (by providing targeted advertisements and personalised recommendations); new organisational and management approaches, or significantly improved decision-making within existing practices; and enhanced research and development. Optimal public policy in this sphere has still to be identified. However, it is clear that to unlock the potential of big data, OECD governments need to develop coherent policies and practices for the collection, transport, storage and use of data. Among others, these policies cover issues such as privacy protection, open data access, the supply of skills and infrastructure, and measurement (better capturing the value of data in economic statistics).

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