Smart Data Foundry (SDF) has been awarded £3m to operate a new Financial Data Service.
The funding has come from Smart Data Research UK, which is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
The new service, which will operate from SDF’s base at Edinburgh Futures Institute, will be part of a network of five other such services across the country: Smart Energy Data Service, Imago, Smart Data Donation Service, Geographic Data Service and Healthy and Sustainable Places Data Service.
A strategic hub, based within the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), will provide leadership, coordination, common services and ethical guidance.
Together, they will aim to provide safe and efficient ways for researchers to access and use the data generated through everyday interactions with the digital world, including via mobile apps, navigation systems, social media and shopping.
Led by SDF’s Dougie Robb and professor Chris Dibben from the University of Edinburgh, the new Financial Data Service should give unprecedented insights into the economic health of the UK through secure access to de-identified banking and finance data from millions of households and businesses.
Since its establishment in 2022, SDF has used anonymised financial data for public good, including research in partnership with NatWest Group into how Covid-19 affected how people earned, spent and saved during and post pandemic, as well as its work with Sage and CEBR on a quarterly SME tracker.
Robb, SDF’s interim chief executive, said: “In partnership with the University of Edinburgh we’ve made great progress in holding and making available for public benefit research financial data resources.
“We have forged fruitful data partnerships with NatWest Group, Virgin Money, SAGE and Equifax, while building a team of trans-disciplinary experts with expertise across finance, banking, digital technology, product, data science, and information governance.”
Dibben added: “Understanding the financial situation of households across the UK is a vitally important for social and economic research.
“However, this key aspect of economic life is often poorly measured in our research datasets or even absent.
“This investment by Smart Data Research UK in a Financial Data Service will allow us to change this situation, enabling more public benefit social and economic policy research.”
By partnering with financial institutions and research institutes, the new Financial Data Service should deliver insights into productivity, prosperity and health and wellbeing, providing access to detailed evidence about financial behaviours, economic resilience and regional economic activity.
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In turn, this data may let researchers tackle policy challenges, including the cost-of-living crisis, financial inclusion, the changing nature of employment and productivity in different economic sectors and geographic places.
Stian Westlake, executive chair of the ESRC, added: “This investment in a new network of smart data services helps put the UK at the forefront of data-driven innovation.
“Data infrastructure is as critical to our shared prosperity as transport, water or power networks. When we invest in data infrastructure we are investing in economic growth, improved public services, and a more sustainable future.”
Source: Scottish Business Insider