EU Commission and data industry to master Big Data

The European Commission and Europe’s data industry have committed to invest €2.5 billion in a public-private partnership (PPP) that aims to strengthen the data sector and put Europe at the forefront of the global data race.

Mastering Big Data could mean:

• up to 30% of the global data market for European suppliers;
• 100,000 new data-related jobs in Europe by 2020;
• 10% lower energy consumption, better health-care outcomes and more productive industrial machinery.

A Memorandum of Understanding to set up the PPP on Big Data will be signed today by European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes and President of the Big Data Value Association, Jan Sundelin, who acts on behalf of companies including ATOS, Nokia Solutions and Networks, Orange, SAP, SIEMENS, and research bodies such as Fraunhofer and the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence.

The EU has earmarked over €500 million of investment over 5 years (2016-2020) from Horizon 2020 which private partners are expected to match at least four times over (€2 billion).

Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the EU Commission said: “Data is the motor and foundation of the future economy. Every kind of organisation needs the building blocks to boost their performance, from farm to factory, from the lab to the shop floor.”

The PPP will help focus public, private and academic research efforts to support research and innovation in game-changing Big Data ideas in fields such as energy, manufacturing and health to deliver services like personalised medicine, food logistics and predictive analytics.

By implementing its Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda and concentrating Horizon 2020 support on common priorities, the PPP will strengthen Europe’s Big Data community and help lay the foundations for the thriving data-driven economy of the future. The PPP will also support “Innovation Spaces” that will offer secure environments for experimenting with both private and open data. These will also act as business incubators and hubs for the development of skills and best practices.

The PPP, due to start on 1 January 2015, is one of the first outcomes of the European Commission’s recent policy and action plan accelerate the development of Europe’s data-driven economy.