Informed by this body of research, Southampton has led the design and delivery of pioneering data incubators, including Open Data Incubator for Europe (ODINE) and Data Pitch. These have contributed to the creation of a European ecosystem for data-driven innovation, supporting digital businesses to fast-track the development of data-driven products through funding, mentoring and access to data.
Since 2006 this has unlocked €38m in funding and created 390 jobs to date across the UK and Europe; this is projected to exceed €115m and 900 jobs. The data incubators have facilitated innovation with data in over 120 organisations, from start-ups and SMEs to public authorities and multinationals – the Met Office and Konica are just some examples.
By stimulating innovation to tackle a range of real-world challenges, these initiatives have resulted in societal as well as economic benefits. For example, they have led to data insights being used to monitor the air quality in cities and develop products to improve it, to help government agencies tackle illegal waste dumping, and to inform winter road de-icing strategies.
Recognised as a global leader in the open data field, Southampton been invited to contribute to policy and help governments design frameworks, codes of practice and standards in areas such as data privacy and anonymisation. For example, its data anonymisation guidance was adapted for Australian legislation in 2017 and the European General Data Protection Regulation in 2020.