Confirmed Panelists:

• Alice Piterova, Hazy

• Elena Simperl, University of Southampton

• Peter Jackson, Legal and General

State of Play: Governing institutions around the world are increasingly experimenting with new approaches for leveraging data to inform evidence-based policymaking, and opening datasets to enable external innovation. Yet, there are also many predictable, repeatable uses for data held by the private sector that can transform how we make public policy decisions or seek to solve public problems. These traditionally untapped data assets have attracted growing interest from diverse public sector entities — the field of “data collaboratives” where private and public actors work together around private and public data has slowly but steadily grown and evolved in recent years.

Need for Data Stewards: However, establishing and sustaining these new collaborative and accountable approaches require significant and time-consuming effort and investment of resources for both data holders on the supply side, and institutions that represent the demand.

With these new practices of data collaboration come the need to reimagine roles and responsibilities to steer the process of using private sector data, and the insights it can generate, to address some of society’s biggest questions and challenges: Data Stewards. By establishing Data Stewardship as a function, recognized within the public and private sector as a valued responsibility, the practice of Data Collaboratives can become more predictable, scaleable, sustainable and de-risked.

Event Description and Objectives: This panel discussion will be hosted by The GovLab and Open Data Institute in the wake of the third Data Stewards Camp – a targeted workshop bringing together data stewards from across sectors to collaboratively map out best practices for making data collaboration more systematic, sustainable, and responsible. Panelists will take stock and review existing efforts of data stewardship that seek to professionalize the cross-sector exchange of data to create new public value and focus on:

• value proposition(s) of these emerging practices;

• questions related to risks and mitigation strategies;

• technical, legal, and cultural barriers and challenges;

• tools and methodologies for creating an impact through data collaboration and stewardship;

• best practices for achieving sustainability; and

• innovative metrics of success and evaluation techniques.

This interactive panel will be followed by a reception.