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1Spatial welcomes the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport’s (DCMS) National Data Strategy

Written by Matthew White, 1Spatial

Just over 12 months ago DCMS’s call for national data strategy evidence concluded. 1Spatial responded to this call for evidence.

On 9th September 2020, DCMS published the National Data Strategy. 1Spatial welcomes this strategy, at a time when there are rapidly increasing demands and expectations for data driven decision making, benefitting our economy, environment and society. The National Data Strategy complements the recently published National Geospatial Strategy which I recently talked about. DCMS will be laying out the steps that they will take to implement the National Data strategy.

The strategy reports that the UK is already a leading digital nation. The data market in the UK (i.e. money made from products or services derived from digitised data) is the largest in Europe.  But the last five years have seen huge technological changes, and national governments need to respond accordingly. We need a data strategy that reflects the opportunities and challenges of our new hyper-digital world, one that ensures we weigh the priorities and potential trade-offs of data in a deliberate and evidence-based way, and, above all, one that drives growth in the UK economy and powers our recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

The strategy sets out opportunities, actions and pillars for effective data use:

As part of this strategy, DCMS are asking for views to assist with implementing the strategy, and to assist with future approaches. 1Spatial would encourage you to review the strategy and respond to DCMS’s strategy consultation.

I will publish a future blog article about the National Data Strategy. In the meantime, if you would like to discuss the strategy and its relevance to you, please contact us