The collaborative projects involve a mix of data creators, owners and custodians, together with technology providers from multiple disciplines as well as end users of data. The projects will be funded by the government-backed Technology Strategy Board with support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).
The research and development will be in two broad areas:
Harnessing diverse data sources – such as novel approaches to the integration of internal and external data sources, better methods to monetise and share assets across organizations and how to model and assess the value of data to a business;
Making sense of 'big data' – new or enhanced algorithms that will significantly speed up data analysis and novel visualisation technologies that will put complex and 'big' data in the right form to be more easily explored and understood.
Iain Gray, Chief Executive of the Technology Strategy Board, said:
"We are delighted by the broad industry response to this call, covering applications including genomics, insurance and computer network management. External data sources present huge opportunities for business – the potential of public data alone has an estimated indirect value of between £10billion and £100billion. However, the specific ways in which value will be unlocked are not entirely clear yet. Opening up access to this data in the projects we are funding will utilise the UK's world-class strengths in areas relevant to data exploitation and allow us to take a lead in better understanding how large and diverse data sources can be harnessed for economic benefit."
The Technology Strategy Board will be investing a total of £5m in the twenty-one projects and the three research councils will invest a further £260,000 in three of the projects. The total cost of the research and development activity, including contributions from the companies involved will be in excess of £10m.
