The Smart Dubai Department has introduced a Data Sharing Toolkit that aims to provide guidance and resources for private and public organisations to prepare for – and design – data-sharing initiatives.

Developed in partnership with innovation foundation Nesta, the toolkit will help unlock the value of data by creating trusted and ethical mechanisms for individuals, as well as public and private sector organisations, to share data.

“The new Data Sharing Toolkit is another addition to our continuously expanding portfolio of data initiatives and services. “It was designed to provide a secure way for all of the city’s stakeholders to open and share data, and was developed following a thorough analysis of various data sharing models,” said Younus Al Nasser, assistant director general of Smart Dubai, and CEO of Smart Dubai Data.

“It is another step forward on our journey to truly harness the power of data and establish Dubai as a full-fledged smart city.”

User profiles

According to Smart Dubai Department, the toolkit was designed with four categories of users in mind:

• innovators around the world interested in exploring data-sharing initiatives and looking for a tool to spark the right discussions, anticipate issues, and find new collaborative approaches to data-sharing
• international organisations, public institutions, businesses and non-profits
• individuals or entities who are familiar with data and/or have previously been involved in traditional data-sharing
• individuals and entities who are experiencing a slow or failed progress in activating data-sharing collaborations on a bigger scale or dealing with complex initiatives.

Smart Dubai Department conducted extensive research in developing the toolkit, which analysed a wide range of data-sharing models to determine their basic common traits and components.

“It is another step forward on our journey to truly harness the power of data and establish Dubai as a full-fledged smart city.”

The research outcomes served as the basis for developing the toolkit. Intended to be a flexible decision-making instrument it underlines two components as the core of all data-sharing initiatives:

First is the decision matrix which identifies six key decision points, promoting discussion about all key elements of a data-sharing arrangement.

The second element is the project foundation that identifies the conditions required to move forward with a data-sharing project. Once the key decisions are made, a data-sharing model (or more) will emerge, reports Smart Dubai Department. The important question then becomes how to turn that vision into a reality.

There are two sets of considerations in this phase: a checklist, to go through the considerations that need to be addressed before initiating the partnership; and additional requirements, such as legal, financial, and technical conditions.

The Data Sharing Toolkit has been launched in English first, and the Arabic version is scheduled for release in mid-April 2020.

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