7 Ways Open Data Can Electrify Your Mission-driven Company
There are at least 18 million open datasets available today, more than seven times the number of websites in the world when Google launched.
The data your mission-driven company needs to deliver on its promise faster may lie somewhere among these petabytes.
Here’s the definition of open data:
Open data is data that can be freely used, re-used and redistributed by anyone — subject only, at most, to the requirement to attribute and sharealike.
Sounds excellent, right?
The seven companies in this post have harnessed the energy generated by consuming and contributing to open data in ways that mirror their respective missions.
Mission:
To make sense of the world’s open spending data.
Open data use:
Spend Network uses spending data from 300+ public sector entities in the UK to help companies make informed bids on government contracts, while helping public sector entities find ideal suppliers.
What it demonstrates:
B2B companies can use open data to help clients make big decisions more intelligently.
Mission:
To power the growth of small business through lending technology and innovation.
Open data use:
OnDeck uses open government data to develop risk models that allow it to intelligently lend capital to small businesses that many other lenders would pass on. Two-thousand data points are analyzed in the course of the average determination.
What it demonstrates:
Open data can be used to surface opportunities that competitors would miss.
Mission:
To be the leading global provider of innovative solutions and brands to growers and the food and feed chain.
Open data use:
Syngenta released…
…baseline information for agricultural efficiency indicators collected on 3,600 farms in 41 countries across Europe, Africa, Latin America, North America and Asia Pacific, representing about 200 crop-climate combinations. It was the first time information at a crop level had been made public in this way by a commercial organisation.
This effort helps farmers around the world benchmark their own resource efficiency.
What it demonstrates:
Releasing new data under open licenses can help companies advance their leadership positions, win press coverage, and earn good will from the communities they serve.
Mission:
To win the race to self-driving cars.
Open data use:
In August of 2016, self-driving car startup Comma.ai released 80 GB of highway driving data under an open license.
CEO (and famous iPhone hacker) George Hotz told TechCrunch:
The other reason that we release things like this open source is that we’re incredibly confident that we have figured out what we’re going to ship, and our path to winning the positive feedback loop that is self-driving cars is there. And let’s pull some people up behind us, too.
So Hotz and co are using the data to grow the ecosystem around the company by giving entrants a better starting point, and validating Comma.ai’s progress against its goal to release a $999 autonomous driving add-on by EOY.
What it demonstrates:
Opening your own data can help make your case or prove the viability of your business model.
Mission:
To help consumers find the right doctor and the right hospital, for the right care.
Open data use:
Healthgrades.com claims that “30% of people making an appointment this year” will visit its site. It provides a comprehensive source of information on hospitals and doctors, aggregating data on clinical outcomes, patient safety, and patient satisfaction. The data is piped in from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) surveys, individual states, and other healthcare bodies. An array of data products are geared toward patients, physicians, and hospitals.
What it demonstrates:
Open data can be sliced, joined, and packaged to provide an array of data products to distinct audiences.
Mission:
To keep people safe and informed about weather in their area.
Open data use:
It’s likely that you have The Weather Channel app on your phone, as I do. According to former chairman and CEO David Kenny, “The Weather Co.’s precise forecasts use NOAA’s model data as part of their foundation.” And in September, 2016, the company made a big commitment:
The Weather Company commits to providing free and open access to relevant data sets, including a new, historical dataset from its Weather Underground personal-weather-station network, providing observations from 200,000+ locations around the globe. In addition, The Weather Company will donate access to data on current conditions and historical observations, which can be analyzed and overlaid with other data to help advance risk assessment and potential planning.
What it demonstrates:
Companies can take on multiple roles simultaneously within the open data ecosystem. Here The Weather Company contributes open data while acting vessel through which this and other open data reaches people.
data.world (my employer)
Mission:
To build the most meaningful, collaborative, and abundant data resource in the world.
Open data use:
data.world is the social network for data people. It’s where you go to discover and share cool open data, connect with interesting people, and work together to solve problems faster.
As we continuously improve the platform, we’ve made rapid progress toward our mission by supporting and listening to the people and organizations within the vibrant open data and open government movements. Getting involved at every level has resulted in key partnerships (e.g., the U.S. Census Bureau), meaningful roles in innovative public-private initiatives (e.g., the White House’s Opportunity Project), and deep engagement with local open data groups (e.g., Open Austin).
What it demonstrates:
The companies that create the most value from open data do so as devoted members of the movement.
Intrigued by our mission? See it in action: data.world signups are open!
