Through the partnership, seven industry
leaders commit to making their data more open and accessible to
help solve the world's biggest problems
REDMOND, Wash., Dec. 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On Wednesday, a new
Industry Data for Society Partnership (IDSP) was launched by
GitHub, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), LinkedIn, Microsoft,
Northumbrian Water Group, R2 Factory and UK Power
Networks. The IDSP is a first-of-its-kind cross-industry
partnership to help advance more open and accessible private-sector
data for societal good. The founding members of the IDSP agree to
provide greater access to their data, where appropriate, to help
tackle some of the world's most pressing challenges in areas such
as sustainability and inclusive economic growth.
In the past few years, open data has played a critical role in
enabling faster research and collaboration across industries
and with the public sector. As we saw during COVID-19, pandemic
data that was made more open enabled researchers to make faster
progress and gave citizens more information to inform their
day-to-day activities. The IDSP's goal is to continue this model
into new areas and help address other complex societal
challenges. The IDSP will serve as a forum for the
participating companies to foster collaboration, as well as a
resource for other entities working on related issues.
IDSP members commit to the following:
- To open data or provide greater access to data, where
appropriate, to help solve pressing societal problems in a usable,
responsible and inclusive manner.
- To share knowledge and information for the effective use of
open data and data collaboration for social benefit.
- To invest in skilling a broad class of professionals to use
data effectively and responsibly for social impact.
- To protect individuals' privacy in all these activities.
The IDSP will also bring in other organizations with expertise
in societal issues. At launch, The GovLab's Data Program based at
New York University and the Open Data
Institute will both be partnership Affiliates to provide guidance
and expertise for partnership endeavors.
As part of their work together, participating IDSP companies
will launch a Data for Local Environments Challenge with the
Open Data Institute. Using publicly available datasets and datasets
shared or curated by the private sector, participants will explore
how officials in cities, counties and municipalities can use these
datasets to generate insights and solutions to improve their local
environments, such as reaching their net zero goals. More about the
data challenge can be found here. Registration will open in early
2023.
The IDSP will also foster connections between industry and the
public sector, researchers and academics to better understand how
industry data can improve their work. The partnership's first
engagement is with the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and
the United States National Committee for CODATA
(USNC/CODATA) to plan a Summit that will convene scholars,
government, industry and nonprofit research organizations to
surface opportunities to work together across disciplines, leverage
the strengths of individuals organizations and move common agendas
forward more rapidly. More information about the planning process
can be found at Association of Research Libraries (ARL).
IDSP founders supporting statements:
GitHub – "GitHub is the global home for all developers,
including data scientists and ML engineers who are increasingly
using the platform for data sharing and collaboration. We're proud
to join the Industry Data for Society Partnership to help make
private-sector data more broadly available. This will empower
developers to work together across industry, academia and the
public sector to address some of the world's most pressing social
challenges." – Shelley
McKinley, Chief Legal Officer, GitHub
HPE – "HPE is proud to be a part of this
initiative because we support open data and the goals of the
Industry Data for Society Partnership. At HPE, we want to
democratize the access to data and provide guidance on how to
approach this form of data sharing to solve big problems. For
example, our work with sustainable agriculture has enabled farmers
in developing countries to find the right data, at the right time,
to be more productive producers. It is this kind of collaboration
and sharing that can help overcome some of society's most difficult
challenges." – Glyn Bowden, Chief
Architect for AI and Data Science, HPE
LinkedIn – "Joining the Industry Data for
Society Partnership is perfectly aligned with exactly what LinkedIn
is all about — creating economic opportunity for the global
workforce. The data we make available to partners for research and
development purposes, what we call the Economic Graph, provides a
vibrant representation of the global activity of more than 850
million professionals, as they connect, learn new skills, explore
jobs, and gain the knowledge and insights needed to successfully
pursue economic opportunity. We can't think of a better time than
now, or a more necessary moment, to use data to address the
immediate needs of a changing world." – Sue Duke, Vice President Global Public Policy,
LinkedIn
Microsoft – "Making data more open and
accessible can aid in the progress of solving today's most urgent
societal challenges, and that's why we are a founding member of the
Industry Data for Society Partnership. Over two years ago,
Microsoft launched the Open Data Campaign to help close the data
divide and extend the benefits of open data to organizations of all
sizes. We know we can accomplish that by working together and make
real progress toward addressing today's most pressing societal
challenges." – Burton Davis,
Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Intellectual Property
Group, Microsoft
Northumbrian Water Group – "At Northumbrian Water, we
firmly believe in the power of data and have a long track record of
using data to fuel innovation. Since our first open, annual
Innovation festival back in 2017, we have run almost 200 sprints,
hackathons and data dashes and most of these have been powered by
data from our own company along with that of our peers and
partners. We know there is more we can do and so we are incredibly
excited to be an active member of this new partnership. We are
looking forward to not only increasing the impact we can have
together in addressing societal and environmental challenges but
also to share our learning to help others do the same." –
Nigel Watson, Group Information
Services Director, Northumbrian Water Group
R2 Factory – "Systemwide problems
require systemwide collaboration. R2 Factory exists to
foster collaboration between industry partners, to unlock the
hidden value from data. Taking the lessons we learned from
convening the Emergent Alliance — where over 50 corporates,
individuals, NGOs and governments collaborated with data to aid
pandemic recovery — and continuing to pursue that shared expertise
for social good is really important to us. We're delighted to be
founding members of the Industry Data for Society Partnership and
are excited to find out what we can achieve together."
– Ian Whitford,
CTO, R2 Factory
UK Power Networks – "The power of data for
any organization is in looking beyond its own boundaries and
combining it with information from other sectors and developing
fresh insights that will ultimately lead to action and long-lasting
change. At a time when the global energy crisis is impacting us
all, especially the most vulnerable, the IDSP has the potential to
be a powerful tool for positive change." – Matt Webb, Head of Enterprise Data Management,
UK Power Networks
Affiliate organizations supporting statements:
The GovLab – "One important lesson we've
learned about using data for good is the importance of
collaboration and partnerships. There is an exponential return when
organizations align their goals and pool their data resources and
expertise. Collaboration also improves trust in how data is
handled, as well as the legitimacy of the projects initiated. In
other words, data partnerships are critical to unlocking data's
potential for societal benefit while limiting its risks and
potential harm." – Stefaan G.
Verhulst, Co-Founder of The GovLab and Director of its Data
Program
Open Data Institute – "The ODI is
proud and excited to be an affiliate of the Industry Data for
Society Partnership. The program represents the ambition and duty
of the private sector to be at the forefront of driving positive
social change through open data.
It is well known that businesses can create value by using
third-party data to develop new products and services. But at the
ODI, our research has shown that they can unlock more value for
society by opening up the data they have collected. This will help
address global issues, such as the climate crisis and the COVID
pandemic.
As an affiliate, we will use our expertise to help shape the
partnership's plans and approach, and we look forward to offering
guidance and support to its partners as they embark on new data
sharing projects." – Jack Hardinges, Head of
Programmes at the Open Data Institute
To learn more about the partnership and keep up to date with our
projects and initiatives, visit www.IndustryDataforSociety.com. To
contact the partnership, please email us at
info@industrydataforsociety.com.
Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT" @microsoft) enables
digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and
an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and
every organization on the planet to achieve more.
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