DATA ALLY: Agency, Logics, LegitimacY of business-to-government data sharing for societal challenges

Problem statement

Addressing the societal challenges of the 21st century, such as the climate crisis and pandemics, requires governments to make evidence-based decisions using the best available data. The problem, however, is that, due to the growing datafication and platformization, businesses now hold more relevant data than governments that can be valuable for tackling societal challenges. To re-balance this business-government data asymmetry, EU governments have started taking regulatory and non-regulatory steps to compel businesses to share data with the governments when public interest is at stake. The DATA ALLY project aims to investigate how Business-to-Government (B2G) data sharing for societal challenges is being institutionalized at the EU, national, and local level.

Research questions

DATA ALLY focuses on the following three research questions studied at the EU, national, and local level.

Research methods

DATA ALLY adopts a much needed European comparative perspective at three levels (EU-wide, national, and local) and using a mix of research methods. WP1 focuses on regulatory pressures which the EU puts on businesses to access their data for public interest purposes, for instance, through the recently adopted Data Act. WP2 focuses on access to private sector data by national statistics offices (NSO) in different EU countries. WP3 maps and compares approaches and outcomes of B2G data sharing in different EU cities.

Novelty

DATA ALLY is the first large-scale scientific effort to study business-government data asymmetry and how governments across the EU access and use private sector data for societal challenges. This project aims to contribute knowledge which can be instrumental to government organizations in their data relations with the private sector and in their efforts to develop data sovereignty strategies.

Two PhD projects are connected to DATA ALLY.