A research paper published by the UK government sees increased transparency and automated decision-making as two of several Big Data opportunities. Making public sector databases accessible to the public could improve efficiency, facilitate the use of pre-filled forms and lessen bureaucracy. Analysis of large datasets can help find anomalies in payments, thereby improving tax collection or labour and social benefit payments.
The report, a horizon scanning research paper by the emerging technologies big data community of interest, was published in December by the UK government’s horizon scanning programme. This reports draw on insights from experts in and outside government, aiming to challenge the government’s thinking.
The report begins by defining Big Data, which “refers to both large volumes of data with high level of complexity and the analytical methods applied to them which require more advanced techniques and technologies in order to derive meaningful information and insights in real time”.
Computing power
The UK government has made a commitment to Big Data, “classifying it as one of the ‘Eight Great Technologies’ which will propel the UK to future growth and help it stay ahead in the global race”, the report says. “The ‘Information Economy Strategy’ reports on the increase in data being generated and the importance of new types of computing power in order to reap the economic value of the data.”
The report describes 6 ‘high-level trends’:
- The emergence of cloud computing;
- The development of new software tools and database systems for large, unstructured datasets;
- The development and refining of analytical tools so that they can process vast quantities of data in near-real time;
- The monetisation of Big Data sources - realising the value of the data collected by selling it on the market;
- The increasing concerns around privacy of data and intellectual property; and
- The rise of global smart cities.
The opportunities for big data applications described in the report are:
- Creating transparency;
- Enabling experimentation to discover needs, expose variability, and improve performance;
- Segmenting populations to customise actions;
- Replacing/supporting human decision making with automated algorithms; and
- Innovating new business models, products and services with Big Data.
More information:
Emerging technologies: Big Data (PDF)
Horizon Scanning Programme