BrazilEC hires Capgemini Invent for European Data Sharing unit
The European Commission has awarded Capgemini Invent a three-year contract to set up the European Support Center for Data Sharing (SCDS). The management consulting arm of Capgemini has been tapped as lead consultant, and will coordinate a number of partners and subcontractors.
The use of data is providing businesses and governments across Europe with a plethora of opportunities to improve business models, services, operations and compliance. While much attention goes to data collection and analysis as a means to enrich decision-making, at the highest level of the chain, it is data sharing among entities that can provide an additional layer of effectiveness and insights.
In the European Commission’s ranks, data sharing across directorates and executive agencies has been identified as a key element of its overarching digital and data infrastructure strategy. The to-be established European Support Center for Data Sharing will play an integral role in enabling this potential, and focus on three main pillars. First, establishing a data sharing practice observatory, which will oversee research on legal and technical aspects of data sharing; and second, making sure there is a helpdesk and feedback service in place that supports the community in Brussels and in member states.
The third pillar of SCDS aims at raising public awareness around the opportunities arising from sharing data, to be realised by among others the development of tools for practitioners, communication activities and a new website for Europe’s broader public. “The goal of the European Support Center for Data Sharing is to leverage this pillar approach to facilitate data transactions and data analytics in Europe by collecting, developing and disseminating tools and technical expertise, and by providing practical support,” stated the EC in a press statement.
Speaking of the engagement, Dinand Tinholt, European Institutions Lead at Capgemini Invent, based in the Netherlands, said: “Data sharing is a crucial driver for enabling future innovations by businesses, and for improving evidence-based policy-making by governments. We are delighted to be part of this project.”
The European Commission’s collaboration with Capgemini Invent, founded in September last year when Capgemini merged its consulting, digital and creative units into Capgemini Invent, builds on a number of previous joint projects. One of those was the setup of the European Data Portal, a website that provides access to public data resources across Europe, while supporting the Member States’ national data teams and policy makers in publishing more and better quality data. Last year the EC renewed its contract with Capgemini, handing the consultancy the mandate to further advance the portal.
