Connect Don’t Collect: The UK Smart Data Strategy & Perseus

The UK Government’s Smart Data Strategy sets a clear direction for the future of data sharing across the economy. In this episode, Siobhan Dennehy (Department for Business and Trade) and Gavin Starks unpack what it means in practice, from policy ambition to real-world delivery. They explore how schemes like Perseus are emerging as best practice, and what it takes to move from vision to implementation at scale.

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction
04:10 Defining smart data schemes
06:30 Key principles from the Smart Data Strategy
08:10 Nine priority sectors for progressing schemes
10:30 Use cases and the untapped value of cross-sector data sharing
14:55 Data as infrastructure
15:14 The £5bn SME finance opportunity
16:40 Adoption blockers and aligning incentives
21:22 What does good governance look like?
28:00 Promoting interoperability
31:50 From vision to implementation
37:05 The challenge of 100+ regulators
41:30 The 2030 vision
42:50 Critical mass vs critical mess