Read the outcome of the report on "Big and Open Data in Europe: A Growth Engine or a Missed Opportunity" commissioned by demosEUROPA
Big data has the potential to contribute €206 billion to the European economy by 2020 (a sum equivalent to a 1.9 per cent increase in the gross domestic product of the 28 member states, or one full year of growth in the EU), 5% of this only in the Healthcare sector, according to the report entitled “Big and Open Data in Europe: A Growth Engine or a Missed Opportunity?”.
The report, commissioned by demosEUROPA – Centre for European Strategy and published by the Warsaw Institute for Economic Studies (WISE Institute), analyses the economic potential of the current phase of the ICT revolution in Europe.
From the policy perspective, the report acknowledges not only the economic, but also the social outcomes of the development of big data, stating that it can “improve national security, decrease health risks and help policy makers to target their policies in a better way”.
In particular, it presents the healthcare sector as one examples where the introduction of ICT is highly valuable, given enormous amounts of data produced (“Data produced by monitoring patients and effects of different treatments”), and in light of the current financial and demographic challenges.
Healthcare is also one of those cases where open data is expected to play an important role by providing additional incentives for management improvements. However, in comparison to other fields, the healthcare sector, traditionally dominated by public financing, can expect a much smaller, although still not negligible returns from investments in big and open data projects.
In order to enlarge the data pool, the text calls for harmonizing regulations and standards of data on public services, including health, particularly in the context of the demographical and economic challenges posed by the ageing European population.
To sum up, the report highlights that potential of ICT innovations to improve the efficiency of the European healthcare must be used to its fullest. Additional emphasis should be put on ensuring the verification of the public open data authenticity and integrity.
The full report can be accessed here.
