Workshop Platform Open Data

ImageToday I attended a workshop from “Platform Open Data” organised by ECP-EPN. It was an interesting mix of providers and users of open data that discussed various issues around Open Data in the Netherlands. Examples where provided by people from Buienradar who uses KNMI data, VWE using RDW data, Elsevier using CBS data and DHV using satellite data from NSO. It was a very open and positive discussion and I couldn’t help noticing that the business-models and -cases for the open data ecosystem still need some further development.

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Building business on top of Open Data

ImageOpen Data is often linked to public sector information but it also covers private sector data that has been made publically available at (near) zero costs. For companies Open Data can be a commodity which, unlike minerals and oil, is available in unlimited quantities. Already companies generate revenues with products and services created with Open Data. The question is how they can keep their business sustainable when the suppliers of this data don’t consider themselves suppliers. (meer…)

Ethics in business models

When I started working with business models, one of the first questions that crossed my mind was: Is it possible to predict if a business will be unethical by just analysing its business model? At that time I was reading “No logo” from Naomi Klein and I wondered if the use of sweatshops by multinationals was enforced by their business model or that it only was an implementation choice. (meer…)