The Government is progressing its open data agenda with the launch of the Open Data 500 Australia at the Locate15 conference in Brisbane today.

The Open Data 500 is the first comprehensive study of Australian companies and non-profit organisations that use open government data to generate new business, develop new products and services, improve business operations or create social value.

The collaboration between the Department of Communications and GovLab, a team of researchers at New York University, will create new case studies on how Australian organisations are using public sector data and provide a basis for assessing the social and economic value of open government datasets.

The results of the study will be used to develop a publicly available report that will help businesses to identify ways to reduce the costs of accessing government data, including licencing, versioning and control costs.

The Open Data 500 advances the Government’s election commitment to consult the private sector to identify value-adding public datasets not currently on data.gov.au and expedite the release of these datasets.

Open data is free, public data that can be used to launch commercial and non-profit ventures, do research, make data-driven decisions, and solve complex problems. Since it was elected, the Government’s commitment to open data has seen the number of datasets available on data.gov.au increase more than ten-fold to over 5,200.

This study will help ensure the focus of Government is on the publication of high value datasets, with an emphasis on quality rather than quantity. High value datasets are those which are valuable to business; help the public make informed decisions or improve user experiences; or assist government in making evidence-based policy decisions.

The Government encourages companies that use open data as a business or operation resource to participate in the Open Data 500 study.