We reconvened the Stream Market & User Needs Advisory Group, Co-chaired by Icebreaker One and Northumbrian Water.
Meeting Aims:
- Summarise Q4 outcomes
- Gauge sentiment towards outcomes and expectations on members
- Reflecting on the year so far to define the right ambition level for 2027
Summary:
It was agreed that:
- Q3 outcomes were broadly on track, and the updated website timeline would continue through Q4 and Q1 with a target launch at Open Data Day in March.
- feedback from the session would be taken away and shared with all team members and co-chairs so that it could inform Q4 and 2027 delivery.
- recruitment for the next cohort of Change Champions will proceed through the usual channels.
It was noted that:
- the website refresh has been delayed due to additional tooling due diligence.
- the AI readiness work was expected to result mainly in smaller metadata changes rather than major schema changes.
- delivery during 2026 had been affected by changing priorities, delayed funding, and limited team capacity.
- a significant part of the meeting focused on where Stream delivers most value for members and whether the current balance between commercial work and broader open data ambitions is the right one.
- Some members weren’t sure what to expect from their Stream membership.
- there was a question around the current model and whether the team size is sufficient to deliver the level of ambition being discussed.
It was discussed that:
- there’s a risk of losing momentum if too few new datasets are published.
- a lightweight and continuous approach to publishing datasets alongside the current use case process could be supported, to maintain momentum and enable more organic open data release.
- membership fees could be framed around the value delivered rather than around keeping costs low.
- there’s a challenge of supporting members who are at very different stages of open data maturity.
- individual stakeholder turnover within member organisations means the case for Stream and its value may need to be repeatedly restated within organisations.
- it is important to consider value for external innovators and other non-member users of the data, not only member organisations.
Next meeting: Thursday 24 September 2026 10:00-11:30 BST
Formal records, including attendees, are maintained by the secretariat.
These are confidential to the Advisory Group Members.