Cross-Sector UK Data Sharing Infrastructure

Data Sharing Initiatives – High-level landscape snapshot

Executive Summary

This report draws on inputs from the Digital Twin (DT) Hub’s Data Sharing Working Group, the DT Hub Governance and Trust Working Group, DT Hub Board and the Catapult Network.

Government and industry recognise the need to share data more efficiently and effectively to address the missions of the day. The case for Data Sharing Infrastructure to enable safe, seamless and secure sharing of data across organisations and sectors has been made. Opinions differ on how to achieve this and where government intervention and funding is required.

There is, however, unanimous support for greater coordination across data sharing initiatives, now and in the future.

A first step to identifying where to intervene, fund and coordinate, is to understand what’s already happening. This report is based on the expert knowledge from within the Digital Twin (DT) Hub’s Data Sharing Working Group, which forms the kernel for a future Data Sharing Hub. It calls urgently for greater coordination across the governance, legal, data interoperability and security and trust components of Data Sharing Infrastructure.

The recommendation is not for centralised, top-down guidance without flexibility, but for collaboratively driven support and consensus for common yet adaptable governance, legal, data interoperability and security and trust solutions which can be applied across sectors to minimise the cost and risk of sharing data.

Read or download the report, below.

Published October 2024