New expert group aims to foster sharing and utilization of industrial data
The Norwegian Government has recently established a multidisciplinary expert group for sharing of industrial data. The expert group is one of the Government’s several means for reaching its aim of increased utilization of data and is a follow-up on the Government’s report “Data as a resource – Data driven economy and innovation” published in March 2021 and previously presented in our newsletter.
As recognised by the Government, utilization of data is key for the successful transition to a more sustainable society and greener economy. Further, data is expected to be important for economic growth in the future. According to the expert group’s mandate (1), this means that there is a need for the industry to readjust by improving and increasing the utilization and sharing of data. However, such adjustments require more certainty with regards to ownership and rights of use. Accordingly, there is a need for common guidelines. This is the background for establishing the expert group for sharing of industrial data, which will be led by Professor Heri Ramampiaro, head of Department of Computer Science at NTNU.
The main task of the expert group will be to assess and develop a proposal for specific, common guidelines and measures on legal, technical and business-related issues to clarify responsibility, ownership and rights of use in sharing of industrial data. In addition, the group is to consider responsibility in public-private collaborations and can present proposed solutions.
The guidelines shall mainly apply for the industry. Nevertheless, the group will collaborate with research communities and the Government, in addition to relevant industry stakeholders. The expert group’s work shall conclude in a report to be handed down in May 2022.
Establishing the expert group is a welcomed initiative for a number of industries. The expert group’s guidelines will hopefully be suited to foster sharing of data across industry sectors and between the public sector and private sectors. Earlier this year, BAHR announced its cooperation with C4IR Ocean, which flagship project is the construction of an ocean data platform that frees ocean data and makes it more accessible to researchers, decision-makers and developers (2). We are hopeful that the final result of the expert group’s work will contribute to ease the work of organisations aimed at liberating data, such as C4IR Ocean, while ensuring proper protection of ownership and rights of use.