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DIGITAL CATAPULT & OPEN DATA INSTITUTE

GREEN PAPER JOINT RESPONSE


This paper is a joint response from Digital Catapult (DC) and Open
Data Institute (ODI) to the UK Governments industrial strategy green
paper that was published in January 2017. This response focuses on
the data issues and a number of the questions in the industrial
strategy consultation. It proposes actions for government and details
a number of areas where the two organisations are working together
to build a sustainable and beneficial data infrastructure for future
growth of the UK economy.

Both Digital Catapult and the Open Data Institute welcome the Governments Industrial Strategy
green paper as the first step in the development of a modern industrial strategy and look forward to
continuing to engage with government as the strategy progresses and is implemented. Effective use
of data is vital to maintaining competitiveness and creating growth across the country. Our
institutions and networks support and cultivate diverse sectors including creative industries, sports
and leisure, health and care, digital manufacturing, finance, public sector, agriculture, global
development, cities and our built environment, and transport. We have chosen to focus this joint
response on four of the ten pillars that form the strategy.

DEVELOPING SKILLS

What more can we do to improve basic skills? How can we make a success of the new transition
year? Should we change the way that those resitting basic qualifications study, to focus more on
basic skills excellence? [QUESTION 10]

We agree with the industrial strategys statement that there is need to develop basic skills to help
everyone play an active part in society. We believe that as well as basic digital skills there is also a
gap in basic data literacy and skills such as how to make decisions about personal data or how to find
and use data and facts. Better service design will help with some of this challenge, but basic data and
digital training should be available for all.

What skills shortages do we have or expect to have, in particular sectors or local areas, and how
can we link the skills needs of industry to skills provision by educational institutions in local areas?
[QUESTION 13]

Above the level of basic skills, we believe that there is no one-size fits all approach to digital or data
skills. Different roles require different skills; these skills may be spread amongst several members of
an organisation or teams within an organisation. For example, the Open Data Institutes open data
skills framework demonstrates the different skills needed to maximise the use and impact of open
data; and is accompanied by a range of guides, online and face-face training to provide the skills in
ways that meet the needs of different audiences. We have found shortages in each of these skill
areas across different organisations and sectors.
Similar regularly updated frameworks and mixed delivery models, encompassing the range of digital
and data skills, should be available to support the development and dissemination of digital and data
skills training in youth, adult and professional education, or at a point of need during service
delivery. Government should ensure that such frameworks and training materials exist so they can
be provided where needed.

UPGRADING INFRASTRUCTURE
Are there further actions we could take to support private investment in infrastructure? [QUESTION
15]

The industrial strategy rightly recognises the importance of an effective data infrastructure, saying
that it is required to provide the right elements for an economy in which open data drives growth,
efficiency and innovation. Data infrastructure includes datasets; the technology, training and
processes that makes them useable; policies and regulation such as those for data sharing and
protection, and the organisations and people that collect, maintain and use data. Data infrastructure
that is as open as possible, while respecting privacy, creates most impact, supports innovation and
will help nations stay competitive in the 21st century.

The Open Data Institute is exploring open data publishing and business models through projects with
startups, large businesses and governments. It has published an overall set of principles for
strengthening data infrastructure and a set of openness principles for use by organisations handling
personal data.

The Digital Catapult is exploring personal data receipts to help people understand how data will be
used. It is also working with the British Standards Institute to develop human and machine-readable
ways for people to understand how services will use data and create more informed consent.

More research and innovation is needed in data infrastructure both for publishing open data and
when sharing personal data. The UK has been a world leader in public data infrastructure, but other
nations are catching up fast and the UK needs to accelerate the strengthening of data infrastructure
across the whole economy. As government develops the industrial strategy challenge fund and other
incentives to support the industrial strategy, it should look to encourage and support both the public
and private sector to invest in initiatives like these to help the UK stay ahead.

CULTIVATING WORLD-LEADING SECTORS

The Digital Catapult and the ODI support the Industrial Strategys focus on a sector deal for digital
manufacturing. The Digital Catapult is taking an active role on the leadership board for the Industrial
Digitalisation Review being led by the CEO for Siemens UK, Juergen Maier. We firmly believe that the
UK can position itself as a global leader in the underpinning emerging technologies that will
empower and propel UK Industrial productivity, and believe this will only be possible through
effective access to, gathering and use of data.
In particular, this can be achieved by connecting consumers directly with manufacturers to
personalise their experience and introducing cutting edge Industrial Analytics using the Internet of
Things and Machine Learning on the factory floor to optimise operations and predictive maintenance
of equipment . In particular, both Digital Catapult and ODI believe that connecting consumers with
manufacturers through the sharing of personal data in a trusted and secure way, can be utilised to
make bespoke products and generate new opportunities for manufacturing productivity.
Furthermore, the future value of this data will be empowered by access to the data sets generated
from the advancements and adoption of the Industrial Internet of Things, improved analysis, and
interpretation of this data through machine learning.

To achieve this, the ODI and Digital Catapult believe that there needs to be a stronger connection
between data, industrial IoT and industry to help manufacturers better understand, use and prepare
their data, while also increasing familiarity with the handling of personal data for which they may
not understand the regulatory context. We would welcome further investment into initiatives that
promote the connection of innovative disruptive technology SMEs to manufacturers, while utilizing
and transforming existing skills within industry to help overcome barriers to adoption. Through this
the UK can form the building blocks for disruptive innovation across industry by utilising data and
analytics to develop a world leading market position for itself as an enabler of Industrial
Digitalisation.

How can the government ensure that sector deals promote competition and incorporate the
interests of new entrants? [QUESTION 32]

Aside from the above comments for Industrial Digitalisation, the ODI and DC believe that Artificial
intelligence (AI), or machine learning, is an area where competition and new entrants will benefit
from stronger and more open data infrastructure. AI innovation is driven by a combination of new
technology algorithms and reduced costs; along with the increased availability of software,
computer hardware (particularly in the cloud) and data. In March 2017 Government announced
17.3m in grants to support the development of new robotics and artificial intelligence technologies
in universities including a review led by Digital Catapults Non-Executive Director Dame Professor
Wendy Hall and Benevolent AIs Jrme Pesenti to identify the critical elements for the exciting
technology to thrive and grow in the UK. Digital Catapult and the Open Data Institute are both
actively engaged with this review.

It is clear that access to data to train new AI services will be a major factor in growing an AI sector in
the UK. Digital Catapult and the Open Data Institute believe that creating a level playing field for
small medium enterprises (SMEs) in terms of access to data is key to creating a fair and equitable AI
market.

We would encourage government and the review to engage with the AI community to determine
useful areas for service development; identify where access to public or private datasets can help to
create a fair and equitable AI market and provide incentives to help organisations publish the data.
This data might be published openly so that anyone can use it, or shared under controlled conditions
to manage commercial and privacy risks.
The rise of deep learning algorithms surfaces a new barrier for SMEs developing advanced machine
learning algorithms: cost of computation power. While available on cloud services, the current
pricing is frequently too high for early stage companies. Digital Catapult is exploring interventions in
this area, possibly by connecting AI SMEs with SMEs building innovative hardware and software
architectures. Government could help by supporting cloud computing for AI algorithm development
and incentivising high performance computing (HPC) centres, such as universities and national
laboratories, to work with SMEs.

Mechanisms such as the release of data fund and R&D tax credits would be useful to explore to
provide the necessary incentives for opening up data sets and providing HPC services to promote
competition and encourage new entrants.

CREATING THE RIGHT LOCAL INSTITUTIONS

Recognising the need for local initiative and leadership, how should we best work with local areas
to create and strengthen key local institutions? [QUESTION 36]
What are the most important institutions which we need to upgrade or support to back growth in
particular areas? [QUESTION 37]
Are there institutions missing in certain areas which we could help create or strengthen to support
local growth? [QUESTION 38]

We welcome the industrial strategys emphasis on building on our strengths as a nation. The UK is
historically strong at innovation, with world leading research clusters. For example, the country has 4
of the top 20 global universities for Computer Science, along with being 2nd in the world after the
US for influence of AI Academic Publications, 4th globally by number of publications in AI & ML
(behind US, China and Japan) and 3rd globally by number of citations in AI & ML (behind China and
the US) according to the H-Index.

However, we need the right organisations in place to make sure the benefits from this cutting edge
research flow through into the wider economy and foster greater collaboration between academia
and the private sector. These organisations cannot just be in London, or just focussed on technology
for technology's sake, they need to increase productivity and support the whole economy.

It is important to recognise that many local data innovation organisations already exist and that it
can take time for any new institution to determine how to create impact. These organisations form a
network including leading clusters such as Leeds, Newcastle and South Wales. They are innovating,
building new businesses, developing skills and building data infrastructure across the country.

Unfortunately, while there is information about digital organisation, through reports such as
TechNation, there is a lack of data about the organisations that form the data innovation landscape.
To help fill this gap the Digital Catapult and Open Data Institute are developing a directory of
government-funded data innovation organisations whether they are local, national or sectoral. This
directory will provide practical help to businesses, government and academia who want to find
support and partners who they can work with to deliver impact in their locality. This directory will
also help people to perform research to understand the value-add of government-supported
institutions, which organisations should receive more support, what models work well for different
types of locality, and which areas lack the right kinds of support. The goal of this research will be to
inform government and help them to make better decisions in the future.

The Digital Catapult and Open Data Institute have also submitted individual
responses that address their work in digital technologies and data
respectively.

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