Date 2022.12.05

The Government’s data strategy aims to promote data use in civil society and the public sector. However, the strategy fails to define clear objectives and key areas of action. In a recent advisory report to three federal ministries, we raised our concerns about this issue. We recommend refining the strategy to provide a guidepost for future policies. This is the only way for the Government to help increase innovative and responsible data provision and data use.

The Government’s data strategy largely built on previous efforts. Many steps merely described the status quo or initial implementation activities – but failed to be forward-looking. This reduced the strategy’s potential for innovation. Additionally, the Government did not set verifiable objectives or key areas of ministry action. As a result, the Government was not in a position to assess as to whether the steps contributed to achieving the strategy’s objectives. In the case of steps taken across all ministries, it remained unclear which government department had lead responsibility.

From a description of previous efforts to a ground-breaking innovation strategy

The Government plans to refine its data strategy. In doing so, the Government should desist from describing previous efforts and shift the strategy’s overall focus to genuine innovation. To this end, the Government needs to set verifiable objectives and include only steps that contribute to achieving data policy goals. The focus should be on fresh and innovative steps. The Government needs to document the impact of such steps and make repercussions visible. Moreover, it should make transparent how the various steps interact with each other, and clearly define responsibilities.

The Government should use a forward-looking data strategy to create a guidepost that helps increase innovative and responsible data provision and data use.