Data Republic launches world’s first open data marketplace

Data Republic has unveiled what it claims to be the world’s first governed marketplace that enables organisations to list, exchange, and collaborate on data exchange projects in a secure environment.

The Open Data Republic is a central governance platform and secure marketplace for contributors to discover, request and govern data exchange projects with authorised parties. It forms part of Data Republic’s platform, Senate, which is housed in Amazon Web Services’ data centres in Australia.

Data Republic said the marketplace features a library of proprietary data from service providers – Westpac and Qantas Loyalty are the founding contributors – as well as open government data sets. Most of these data sets are from data.gov.au and are released under a creative commons license. Data can from the Australian Bureau of Statistics’s website – under its open license – and the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) can also be accessed, Data Republic said.

Data can be discovered and accessed through data listings, which provide summaries of dataset attributes as well as the permitted use or application of the datasets listed on the platform.

Paul McCarney, CEO at Data Republic, said the marketplace solves challenges organisations face when trying to negotiate access to proprietary data.

“The lure of significant productivity and social benefits have driven an increase in government open data policies and sharing among corporates,” he said.

“This trend does not come without risk. The Open Data Marketplace redefines the way data is exchanged by removing the existing risks associated with commercialising and exchanging data by putting privacy, security and the rights of the consumer first.

“The technology provided by Open Data Marketplace is best practice, and is governed by robust structural, technical and legal frameworks,” he said.

The technology provides organisations with complete oversight and control around who can access data, and governs the permitted application or use of data once it is exchanged.

This means that organisations can exchange and analyse data in a secure and privacy-compliant environment.

“Importantly, our technology was built with consumer advocacy in mind and is also governed by consumer privacy law. Only anonymous de-identified data is available on the marketplace, with personal information encrypted and separated from data listings and stored in Databank, a bank-grade security service we developed with Westpac,” he said.

McCarney said that fostering the underlying industry of data exchange would unlock value in the Australian economy.

“There are significant productivity and social benefits that are already being unlocked as the open data trend continues. However, in order to remove risks and respect the expectations of consumers, the market needs to adopt best practice and be sensitive to regulations around data exchange,” he said.