Definition of Data

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Main Focus of Document

Outlines how the government will spend £120 million to support business innovation in the digital economy over 4 years from 2015-2018

Target Beneficiaries or Sector

businesses

Key Elements

The Strategy aims to help UK businesses to innovate by using digital technology. This centres on five objectives:
1. Encouraging digital innovators
- ensure that business support, encouragement and investment is available to those developing digital ideas
- help early-stage digital businesses to connect to established businesses and potential lead customers in industry and government
- help established companies find the innovators who can help them develop digital solutions, including bringing digital expertise to bear on Innovate UK’s activity in health and care, transport, energy, built environment and creative industries
- help these digital innovators to drive change, whilst managing risk to existing business flows
- encourage innovators in different sectors to share knowledge, develop common approaches and translate and reuse experience from other industries.

2. Focus on the user
- encourage digital businesses to think about their users’ needs and the user experience at every step of product development
- ensure that digital products are trusted, by helping businesses to design their systems for resilience, privacy and consent, identity management and data security
- help businesses to develop products that are available when needed, and that relate and adapt to the place and context within which they are used
- invite businesses to consider inclusive or adaptable designs, so that they can create a compelling experience for the broadest possible market

3. Equipping the digital innovator 
- support tools and systems that streamline transaction flows; that allow data, content, metadata, value and permissions to be moved seamlessly without manual intervention; that are trusted by businesses; and that protect the value of digital assets
- help businesses to develop technology and services that bring the benefits of the digital world into the user context of the physical world
- work with data and content owners on tools and systems to improve the quality of existing and future data sources and their suitability for secondary use, and with web and mobile service designers on tools for software design that take advantage of these resources
- help businesses to build confidence in the commercial and user value of their products

4. Growing infrastructure, platforms and ecosystems
- support businesses developing interoperable infrastructure and software platforms and enablers that can be used by multiple client businesses, and encourage industry-wide common practice to broaden the market for their suppliers and their users
- support new entrants to build up digital ecosystems around these platforms, and help them with tools and connections, until the activity reaches a critical mass that enables them to scale. This encompasses interoperable open systems ranging from open data to ‘internet of things’
- help communications and device businesses, and software and data systems businesses, to work together with service and applications businesses to support one another’s investment cases and to design complete user solutions
- work across Europe and worldwide to help establish common practice and fluid trading systems that will support UK digital innovators as they export.

5. Ensuring sustainability
- work closely with the UK research councils to encourage crossdisciplinary academic collaboration and help connect it to real-world business needs
- work with government and regulators to ensure that legal, regulatory and policy frameworks are supportive of digital innovation and business growth, and collaborate in delivering those policy initiatives that invite business innovation
- work with skills agencies and universities so that appropriate skills are available to both product designers and individual and commercial product users, to ensure confident deployment and adoption
- use, and encourage others to use, the Horizons framework when developing strategies and plans
- work alongside other support bodies and the third sector, so that our support for commercial progress can be balanced with support for social progress.

Policy/Regulation Mirrors

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