Smart Data Analytics for Business and Local Government

The ESRC Data Research Centre for Smart Analytics is a collaborative project between the Universities of Essex (lead partner), East Anglia, and Kent; its objectives are to  provide a facility where Big Data from businesses and local government are structured, stored and matched to produce new (and more granular) information. 

It will develop partnerships across the business and local government sectors to negotiate access to their data and create a wide ranging data resource for social scientific research and  give social scientists, local authorities and businesses a secure point of access to sensitive Big Data and expertise and support in using those data.  The Centre will create methodological advances for the analysis of Big Data as well as an innovative, substantive and inter-disciplinary research programme on smart, sustainable, and inclusive economic growth.

Finally it will provide training and support to new researchers, businesses and local authorities while  setting up a knowledge exchange programme with businesses and local authorities.

 


 

 

Non-academic beneficiaries of the Centre include a range of organisations and individuals, operating at several levels. The direct impacts on beneficiaries could be rapid. Campaigning organisations and special interest groups can adapt their messaging and strategies quickly. Impacts on policy debates could similarly be rapid, though impacts on policy itself will take longer to filter through the review and revision process. The indirect impacts on society as a whole (via the effect of research influence on policy and practice) will accrue in the long-term.
Key beneficiaries are:
1) Businesses will have access to new data-sets which can improve their decision processes and training activities will build their capacity in Big data analytics to support their decision-making. Research on aspects of firm behaviour and economic growth will be relevant and could have implications for employment, production and location strategies.
2) Business organisations such as the CBI and Institute of Directors will benefit through better understanding their constituents' needs and priorities and how Big data can be used to support business growth.
3) Local government researchers and policy makers will benefit as both data owners and data producers. As data producers, the Centre will help them improve the quality of the data. As data owners, the Centre will show how they can use their data in a novel way and extract new information to support their policy-making processes and service delivery.
4) Local government officers, councillors and the Local Government Association. County, borough and unitary authorities in the UK are responsible for a number of services addressed. The focus on vulnerable people and health and social care as well as housing, education, policing, and the environment are all relevant. We expect considerable impacts on practice in the provision of services within a mixed economy of provision.
5) Government department researchers and policy makers. The Smart Specialisation and Smart Region approach will be of wider relevance across the UK. The methodological developments and substantive research will provide a model of relevance for all areas of the UK. The likely impact is significant as new ways of utilising Big data are developed.
6) Government executive agencies, non-departmental public bodies, parliamentary select committees and quangos. Many will have interests in Big data, and we expect agencies such as e.g. the Food and Environment Research Agency, Low Pay Commission, Homes and Communities Agency, and the Environmental Audit Committee to be beneficiaries of the research.
7) EU policy-makers, the international policy community. Methodological and substantive research will be relevant to other countries and developments around Smart Specialisation. We envisage working with the EU S3 Smart Specialisation Platform and anticipate considerable international impact.
8) NGOs, think tanks, charities and independent research organisations will benefit including for example the New Economics Foundation, the Institute for Public Policy Research, Age UK, the Transport Research Laboratory, the Child Poverty Action Group, and Demos.
9) General public. The general public will benefit through more informed policy-making and an awareness of the benefits Big data provides including public engagement around the re-use of data for social research. Benefit will accrue through the provision of better quality, more efficient services and through new employment or firm level policies for economic growth. We expect findings to be reported in news media and to stimulate public debate.
10) Society as a whole. As the Centre positively influences policy across a range of areas at both regional and national levels, society as a whole will benefit through improved quality of life via improved public health and better social support for vulnerable people, families and children, economic growth and an improved environment.