Business Model and Open Data Analysis in the Era of Electronic Transformation

Over the last decade, data has risen to the top of national and global policy agendas, as nations seek to develop their economies, use data to address social challenges and respond to citizen concerns about the uses and abuses of data. Data has become the infrastructure on which modern economies are built. The growing ubiquity and abundance of data make it vital in every sector, and businesses of every size increasingly depend on it. Against this backdrop, open data has the potential to create significant value for society and the economy when leveraged in partnership with the private sector. At the same time, the reuse of open data in Europe is still in its infancy and requires further research and implementation efforts to fully express its potential for public and private value creation. This paper reviews the research conducted over the past two decades on how information generated by the public sector and published in open data format can be intentionally reused by commercial and non-commercial private entities. The main aim is to identify relevant principles that can be useful in promoting the flourishing of sustainable open data ecosystems. The analysis shows how the reuse of open data can be seen as a multi-billion dollar and multi-dimensional opportunity for corporations, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and startups, with the potential to unlock value-creation processes that impact companies’ balance sheets and societal well-being. Businesses that use open data in their operations can benefit from favorable economic conditions that can positively impact their profitability, once a sufficient level of competitive advantage is created. Artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain, in fact, represent a useful technological evolution to support the sharing, reuse and monetization of open data, contributing to a smarter, safer and more automated data economy.