Spotlight 3.
1
The huge potential of open data for
business applications
Public intent data play a foundational role as a system of reference for the
entire economy.
Public intent data add tremendous value to the econ-
omy as a whole and to various sectors. The gross value
added from public data is estimated to range from 0.4
percent to 1.4 percent of GDP, according to a 2016 meta-
study that focused mainly on high-income countries.1
Specific public intent data products also yield great
value for particular sectors. For example, Denmark’s
open access dataset of addresses generated direct
economic benefits of €62 million (over DKr 450 mil-
lion) between 2005 and 2009, returning the €2 million
(roughly DKr 15 million) cost of investments in data
many times over.2 This example is relevant for low- and
middle-income countries, where the lack of addresses
and address datasets have been a barrier to the devel-
opment of data-driven transport and logistics services.
Creating value using public
intent data
Entrepreneurs create value using public intent data in
ways similar to how they use other data. First, com­
panies use public intent data to improve their o­ perations.
US retailers, for example, combine data from the Amer-
ican Community Survey with their own sales data to
customize inventory regionally.3 On the operations
side, businesses rely on price-level data to set wages
and allowances, among many other uses.4 Second,
firms use public intent data to develop new products
or services, including research and analytics services.5 For
example, the global energy analytics sector depends
on data from the Energy Information Administration
to monitor worldwide patterns of energy use.6 Other
businesses use data to provide new forms of advice to
their customers. Farmerline, a company in Ghana, com-
bines government meteorological and administrative
The huge potential of open data for business applications
data with proprietary data to provide advice to farm-
ers via text message. Firms also rely on demographic
statistics and business registers to inform their deci-
sions about whether and how to enter new markets.
Finally, firms may act as data intermediaries (see chap-
ter 8), aggregating and repackaging government data
in more accessible, user-friendly formats.
The changing landscape of
business sectors driven
by public data
While businesses driven by public data have been
studied in high-income economies in some detail,7
there is little systematic information on private sec-
tor use of public intent data and their value to the
economy in lower-income countries. Nevertheless, a
handful of sources shed light on the business use of
public intent data, including in emerging economies.8
These sources indicate that companies using pub-
lic intent data span a wide range of sectors in both
high-income and low- and middle-income econo-
mies. Around the world, the technology sector clearly
dominates. In low- and middle-income economies,
the research and consulting sector is the second most
frequent user of public intent data. Companies using
such data tend to be young and small in terms of the
number of employees, with a large majority of global
companies that use GovLab’s OpenData500 Global
Network database having 200 or fewer employ-
ees. In terms of the data used, half of the US-based
OpenData500 companies use data from multiple
government agencies. The US Census Bureau is one
of the most used sources (16 percent). Similarly, in
Mexico, the national statistics office, the National
| 117
Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), is the These assessments indicate that the business
most important source of public intent data for busi- sector that uses public data is much smaller in most
nesses, with 88 percent of companies reporting that low- and middle-income countries than in high-
they use INEGI data. Among the 200 firms in low- and income economies. This pattern is related closely
middle-income countries included in the Open Data to challenges with public intent data in general.9 In
Impact Map compiled by the Open Data for Devel- many cases, national data systems are limited with
opment Network, geospatial data are the most com- respect to the amount of data being produced as well
monly used type of public intent data (41 percent), as their quality and usability, timeliness, openness,
followed by demographic data (36 percent), economic and accessibility (see chapter 2).10 Indeed, companies
data (30 percent), and health data (27 percent). driven by open data surveyed by the World Bank

Figure S3.1.1 Private company use of public data is extremely valuable in the

United States, suggesting the value of open government data

riculture
Research an
Envir
onme

ent of Ag

rce
me
nt an

om
consulting
Da

d we

fC
Departm
Edu
ta

to
an

catio
ather

en
dt

rtm
ec

e
ns
n
hn

pa

fe
Sc De on
olo

De

ien f ati
to
gy

tifi uc
cr en f Ed
es rtm to
ea
rc pa en
h De artm
Fin p gy
anc De ner
ea of E
nd
inve tm ent
stm par
De
Company categories

ent

Federal agencies
rvices
d Human Se
of Health an
Business and legal servic Department
es

agriculture Departm
Food and Depart
ent of Ho
meland Se
ment curity
of Just
are ice
lth c Dep
Hea artm
ent
of L
De abo
r pa r
me rtm
su De en
on pa to
n dc e De rtm f Tr
ea nc pa en an
tyl na to spo
es er rtm rta
Lif v en f th tio
ng

Go
Fe der

to e n
Int
pi

de al R
Fe

ft er
ap

ra

he ior
te
m

lE
Mu
sta

Tr
d

le

ea
rgy

Nat
an

le

ltip

ct

su
nce

Securi

es

io
l

Environmental Protection Agency

n
rea
tia

Ene

ry
io

le

n
ortatio

er
pa

nal

Co
Insura

fed

ve
nd
os

m
B
ties a

A
ga
Ge

era

m
oa
ero

iss
Transp
in

rd
ld

io
us

nau

n
a
n
Ho

ta
d Exc

s
ics

ou
r
and
hang

ce
s
Spa
e Com

ce
Adm
missio

inis
n

trat
ion

Source: Verhulst and Caplan 2015. Data at http://bit.do/WDR2021-Fig-S3_1_1. © The GovLab. Used with permission of The GovLab; further permission
required for reuse.
Note: The figure centers on 500 US firms. Starting with the right-hand, purple-shaded half of the circle, the gray lines emanating from the federal agencies
show which type of private sector firms have used data from which government departments. The portion of the semicircle for each department reflects
the number of firms using its data. Moving to the left-hand, green-shaded half of the circle, the gray lines emanating from the private sector reveal which
categories of company have used data from which government agency. For example, firms in the finance and investment sector have used open data from
19 US departments and agencies.

118 | World Development Report 2021

reported poor quality and lack of openness of and
accessibility to public intent data as major concerns.11
The more active public data–driven business sec-
tors in Mexico and other Latin American countries
illustrate the potential for low- and middle-income
countries. Realizing this potential requires better
financing mechanisms and high-capacity, integrated,
and open national data systems (see chapter 9).
Figure S3.1.1 visualizes the huge potential of open
data. The figure centers on 500 firms based in the
United States. It reveals widespread private sector use
of publicly available federal government data, though
data from some agencies are used more than from
others. For example, fewer firms use open data from
the Department of Agriculture than from the Depart-
ment of Commerce (home of the US Census and
many other important data), as evidenced by a smaller
portion of the circle allocated to the Department of
Agriculture. But, even in the case of agriculture, firms
from seven distinct sectors have used the Department
of Agriculture’s open data. Figure S3.1.1 also reveals
that companies from some sectors rely on many types
of government data. For example, firms in the finance
and investment sector have used open data from 19
US departments and agencies. The intricacies of the
connections reveal the great potential for data use,
reuse, and repurposing. Such uses have only begun to
be exploited in both higher-income and lower-income
countries.
Notes
1. Lateral Economics (2014).
2. McMurren, Verhulst, and Young (2016).
3. Hughes-Cromwick and Coronado (2019).
4. Hughes-Cromwick and Coronado (2019).
5. Gurin, Bonina, and Verhulst (2019); Magalhaes and
Roseira (2017).
6. Hughes-Cromwick and Coronado (2019).
7. See, for example, Hughes-Cromwick and Coronado
(2019); Lateral Economics (2014); Manyika et al. (2013);
and Stott (2014).
8. See Morrison and Lal Das (2014); Center for Open Data
Enterprise, Open Data Impact Map (database), https://
opendataimpactmap.org/.
9. Gurin, Bonina, and Verhulst (2019).
10. Gurin, Bonina, and Verhulst (2019).
11. Morrison and Lal Das (2014).
The huge potential of open data for business applications
References
Gurin, Joel, Carla Bonina, and Stefaan Verhulst. 2019. “Open
Data Stakeholders: Private Sector.” In The State of Open
Data: Histories and Horizons, edited by Tim Davies, Stephen
B. Walker, Mor Rubinstein, and Fernando Perini, 418–29.
Cape Town, South Africa: African Minds; Ottawa: Inter-
national Development Research Centre. https://www
.idrc.ca/en/book/state-open-data-histories-and-horizons.
Hughes-Cromwick, Ellen, and Julia Coronado. 2019. “The
Value of US Government Data to US Business Deci-
sions.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 33 (1): 131–46.
https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.33.1.131.
Lateral Economics. 2014. “Open for Business: How Open Data
Can Help Achieve the G20 Growth Target.” Omidyar Net-
work, Redwood City, CA. https://lateraleconomics.com
.au/wp-content/uploads/omidyar_open_business.pdf.
Magalhaes, Gustavo, and Catarina Roseira. 2017. “Open
Government Data and the Private Sector: An Empirical
View on Business Models and Value Creation.” Govern­
ment Information Quarterly 37 (3): 101248. https://doi.org
/10.1016/j.giq.2017.08.004.
Manyika, James, Michael Chui, Peter Groves, Diana Farrell,
Steve Van Kuiken, and Elizabeth Almasi Doshi. 2013.
Open Data: Unlocking Innovation and Performance with
Liquid Information. New York: McKinsey Global Insti-
tute. https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions
/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/open-data-unlocking
-innovation-and-performance-with-liquid-information.
McMurren, Juliet, Stefaan Verhulst, and Andrew Young.
2016. “Denmark’s Open Address Data Set: Consolidating
and Freeing-Up Address Data.” The GovLab, New York
University, New York; Omidyar Network, Redwood
City, CA. https://odimpact.org/case-denmarks-open
-address-data-set.html.
Morrison, Alla, and Prasanna Lal Das. 2014. “New Surveys
Reveal Dynamism, Challenges of Open Data-Driven
Businesses in Developing Countries.” Data Blog (blog),
December 15, 2014. https://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata
/new-surveys-reveal-dynamism-challenges-open-data
-driven-businesses-developing-countries.
Stott, Andrew. 2014. “Open Data for Economic Growth.”
Working Paper 89606, World Bank, Washington, DC.
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/13162146
8154792082/Open-data-for-economic-growth.
Verhulst, Stefaan, and Robyn Caplan. 2015. “Open Data: A
Twenty-First-Century Asset for Small and Medium-
Sized Enterprises.” The GovLab, New York Univer-
sity, New York. https://www.thegovlab.org/static/files
/publications/OpenData-and-SME-Final-Aug2015.pdf.
| 119