Data means wealth
Telecoming, we understand the economic change that our society will experience in the short term, promoted by data as a new global value. In 2014 we launched a business information and economic intelligence service, infoempresa.com, which today continues to be a digital reference in the re-use information market. This sector, called infomediary, has an organization that brings together the main players in the industry to promote the opening of new public data sources that allow companies and citizens to improve services and products. ASEDIE represents infomediary companies whose main objective is to analyze and process information from both the public and/or private sector so that its associates can create value-added products and services for third party companies and society in general.
ASEDIE has recently presented its annual study on the sector of this industry based on the generation of wealth through data.
Since 2013, ASEDIE publishes every year the Spanish Infomediary Sector Report. This is a study on the value of the Infomediary Sector, covering a sample of 701 companies, 22,638 employees and a turnover of 2,060 million.
This is the tenth edition, and that is why today we interview its General Secretary, Olga Quirós.
What is ASEDIE’s objective?
Asedie works to bring together through collaboration the key players in the data economy. We act as an interlocutor with the public sector, defending the interests of our members. In addition, we convey the needs of the private sector, understanding the barriers faced by both sectors, and we advocate access to datasets and the improvement of information, maintaining the objective of creating security in commercial transactions. All this guarantees the proper and fair treatment of the information by ASEDIE’s associates. We always work with the principles of transparency and legality.
It is important that our associates, such as Infoempresa, collaborate to promote our sector and the benefits of accessing new sources of public data. Together we foster a space for collaboration and transparency to achieve common goals.
Why did you create the Asedie Report?
Our sector was largely unknown, and the administration needed to know about it. In 2009 we created our International Conference in which we annually give visibility to the open data ecosystem. But we had to go further: we needed to know the economic value of our sector translated into figures, tangible indicators such as turnover or employment and, of course, its evolution. Given the need to highlight the sector’s value, since 2013, we have been producing the annual Infomediary Sector report.
This is a special occasion as it is the 10th edition of the report. What does Open Data bring to our economy?
Data is the new gold; it has become a necessary tool for business progress and decision making. This aspect makes the Infomediary Sector one of the most influential in our economy.
This study shows the economic and social impact of open data. As stated, our associates create added-value products and services that give visibility to the value provided by opening and processing data.
The report itself is an example of a product made with public sector data whose added value is the analytical layer and professional expertise. In addition, it has been used by the European Data Portal, which provides an overview of the monetary and societal value of data as a basis for estimating the number of data employees in Europe. This edition is special because of its tenth anniversary and because we look at the situation in 2020, a period marked by the impact COVID-19 has had on economic indicators.
This edition focuses on geospatial information. Why is the geospatial data so valuable?
Geospatial information is one of the categories of high-value data named in Directive 2019/1024 of the European Parliament and the Council on open data and the re-use of public sector information. Spatial data acquires importance that is difficult to measure since most of the high-value categories (eg environment, mobility…) are related to this.
Geospatial data is collected from various sources in different formats and can include information such as census data, satellite imagery and weather data. The development of the economy on a global scale, and diverse industries’ growth depend on the availability and accessibility of this data. This data serves as a tool for decision-making because it enables environmental, demographic, and topographic data analysis.
In this 10th edition, we have included two surveys, one carried out to representatives of geospatial companies and the other to geospatial information providers in the public sector. Through these surveys, we will learn about the challenges they face, growth, expectations, etc.
On the other hand, following the growing interest in geospatial information, we have created a new Geospatial Commission in the Association this year. This new initiative will focus on purely geographic issues, identifying needs, barriers and incidents while fomenting collaboration with the main geographic information providers in Spain. We believe that cooperation between all those involved is the way forward.
How do you work collaboratively with your partners?
Our working commissions allow us to bring together the companies in the market and identify the barriers when accessing data published by the public sector. Through these commissions, we actively collaborate with the public bodies that generate data to improve access to their content.
Even though they are direct competitors, our associates collaborate and work together using different resources to overcome barriers and achieve common goals to gain access to the raw material and the public sector information used to create value-added products and services. Some of these products, such as the «success stories«, can be found published on Asedie’s website or included in our annual report. These cases are clear examples of how value-added products or services are created thanks to the re-use of public sector information.
Through this collaboration with our associates, we can understand their needs and advocate them to the public sector. We participate in many working groups to uphold transparency. One example is Top 3 ASEDIE, an initiative created in 2019 included in the IV Open Government Plan within its commitment: Observatory of good practices in open government. It has become one of the strongest examples of public-private collaboration on Open Data. All 17 Autonomous Communities have signed up for it, and it has demonstrated to be a real push for access to information that is in the interest of our members.
Today, 7 April, the report was presented at the CNIG in a mixed session. Mr Jesús Gómez García also attended it as Undersecretary of the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda; as well as Mr Lorenzo García Asensio, President of the CNIG, Emilio López, Director of the CNIG and Mr Carlos Alonso, Director of the Data Office.
