We are pleased to announce that IB1 will be supporting The Retail Energy Code Company (RECCo) in the design and development of Ofgem’s  policy position to implement a Consumer Consent Solution (CCS). 

The CCS is a secure, digital solution that empowers energy consumers to control who can access their energy data. It enables people to easily grant, manage, review, and revoke consent. This supports transparency, consumer choice, and strong data protection across the retail energy market. 

IB1’s Role

IB1 will provide expert advisory support, assisting in the design of the Trust Framework that underpins the CCS. This framework will be central to ensuring that the service is reliable, transparent, trusted and usable by both consumers and market participants.

We will leverage our extensive experience in designing, developing, and advising on Trust Frameworks, Consent and Permission, and in cross-sector stakeholder engagement to deliver market-scale solutions. 

In particular we will bring learnings from the Perseus project, which enables SMEs to securely share emissions data with banks, calculated from their metered energy consumption, in a permission-based framework.

Sharing data with consumer or business consent is at the core of the smart data economy heralded by the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025. We are delighted to be working on a key initial focus of the Act, and intend for our learnings to be repurposed across sectors to help achieve legal, policy and technical alignment.

Access TNFD’s full report here

What does good nature data look like?

Working across multidisciplinary stakeholder teams, we identified seven key principles for high-quality nature datasets, acknowledging that nature data should be:

• Transparent and reproducible
• Credible
• Accurate and complete
• Relevant and decision-useful
• Accessible and usable
• Legal, ethical, privacy protecting
• Networked and compatible

Our Process

TNFD provided a roadmap of use cases, which we used as a foundation to work from. From this, our user-needs led approach helped define who the data users were as we developed a set of recommendations and principles that could lay the groundwork for nature data that supports financial decision-making.

“The Taskforce is very clear that its focus and contribution is on addressing use cases specific to corporations and financial institutions”

TNFD: A roadmap for upgrading market access to decision-useful nature-related data

Findings from the pilot testing of proposed nature data principles:

After evaluating 40 existing datasets against these principles, we confirmed that none fully met the standards required for global reporting or investment use. This exposed a critical gap for the financial sector: the absence of reliable, comparable, and standardised nature data needed to direct capital toward nature-positive outcomes.

“We tested 40 datasets against robust criteria for decision-useful nature data and found that none of them fully met the principles required for global reporting and investment needs.” Lewis Just, Lead Researcher

Understanding the barriers of nature-based data

A key reason for this gap lies in the complexity of nature data. Unlike carbon, which can be measured through a single metric such as tonnes of CO₂, nature spans many interconnected systems including water, soil, species, forests, and many more. Each uses different metrics, standards, and methods of measurement, making it extremely difficult to compare results across regions, sectors, or reporting frameworks.

Without harmonisation, financial institutions face a fragmented landscape where nature-related risks are hard to identify or value, and progress toward biodiversity goals is difficult to measure.

IB1’s approach brings structure and clarity to this complexity: developing guiding principles to support better quality, comparable, and decision-ready nature data that can help direct financial flows toward positive environmental outcomes.

Nature loss isn’t just an environmental issue, it’s an economic one

“Reducing nature data barriers is key to enabling effective nature-related reporting and accelerating action to halt and reverse nature loss.” (TNFD)

The impact of nature-related financial risk is widespread and financial institutions currently lack the data needed to measure and manage their nature-related financial risks. For instance, UK Banks could avoid potential losses of 4–5 % of loan-book value if they’re able to anticipate and price risks more accurately. For governments, making nature risk visible could help to avert $2.7 trillion annual GDP loss by 2030.

To unlock the power of nature data and positively shift financial investment, we need better access to high-quality, trustworthy nature data. But access alone isn’t enough, how that data is shared and governed is equally important.

Balancing openness with responsible governance

At first glance, it seems there’s a simple solution: make all nature data open and accessible, right? Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. And, in fact, not all data should be open.

For instance, sharing the precise locations of endangered species could make them more vulnerable to poaching. For example, GPS tracking data intended to help conserve rhinos could be exploited by poachers to locate the animals. Similarly, satellite-derived coral reef maps — created to support conservation — could be misused by developers and industrial fishing fleets to identify and exploit those same ecosystems.

That’s why responsible governance is crucial. Data providers must retain control and ownership over their datasets to prevent misuse and ensure that data serves its intended purpose: protecting and restoring nature.

NOVA (Networked, Open, Verifiable Architecture)

Our NOVA principles were developed to guide us to outcomes that are interoperable, scalable, and aligned with existing standards, ensuring that data can be shared and used responsibly.

Applied through the lens of nature data, this means that sensitive information, such as species locations, is only accessible to those granted explicit permission, safeguarding wildlife while still enabling actionable insights for conservation and investment.

COP30 Brazil

IB1’s principles and recommendations for this project were formed to help TNFD understand what good nature data looks like, so that financial flows can shift towards investments that help, not harm, the planet.

With COP30 in Brazil now underway, the spotlight turns to a country that holds some of the world’s richest biodiversity and largest nature datasets. At its launch event in São Paulo on Thursday, November 6th, TNFD published its recommendations for upgrading the nature data value chain for market participants. This included a blueprint to govern, launch, operate and finance a Nature Data Public Facility (NDPF).

SME decarbonisation depends on better data

Accurate Scope 2 emissions data—the indirect emissions from purchased electricity—sit at the heart of SME decarbonisation and green financing decisions. But most Scope 2 calculations rely on crude annual accounting that masks the reality of how electricity grids actually work.

What’s more, electricity demand and renewable generation don’t align neatly across a calendar year – they shift hour by hour. An SME might be using an energy tariff that’s marketed as “100% renewable” on an annual basis while consuming fossil fuel power during winter evenings when solar isn’t generating. That gap matters for real decarbonisation, and it matters for lenders assessing genuine progress toward Net Zero.

Making clean power visible

Matched Energy is an independent, not-for-profit energy transparency initiative. It analyses publicly available data using a peer-reviewed methodology to calculate how well renewable supply aligns with consumption on a half-hourly basis—the finest granularity supported by UK electricity settlement systems.

Their groundbreaking Clean Power Index published on October 27th, puts vital information in the hands of consumers. The index underscores the need for regulatory reform of the existing opaque rules that allow suppliers to make misleading “100% renewable” marketing claims.

This level of precision transforms Scope 2 accounting from an annual figure into something actionable: SMEs can see when they’re actually getting clean power, and lenders can assess the physical reality behind carbon claims.

Open Energy & Perseus

Open Energy is creating a connected web of energy data while Perseus is automating sustainability reporting for UK SMEs in order to unlock access to green finance. At its core, Perseus makes it easy to share accurate, assurable emissions data that sits behind carbon calculations—enabling better analysis, action and impact.

Through this collaboration half-hourly renewable matching data will be integrated with carbon accounting platforms and other interested parties across the ecosystem. It will enable SMEs and their stakeholders to access more granular, assurable data about electricity consumption and its true carbon intensity.

By connecting Matched Energy’s temporal analysis to Perseus’s data infrastructure, we’re creating pathways for carbon accountants, lenders, and corporate energy buyers to make better-informed decisions based on the physical reality of the grid.

“The result of this collaboration is more reliable emissions reporting, better decarbonisation decisions, and stronger foundations for green finance. The data infrastructure already exists—what’s needed is the connection between the systems that hold it. Open Energy is building that connection and we’re pleased to have Matched Energy as part of that effort”. Gavin Starks, CEO, IB1

Wellcome has now published the workshop summary report, Realising the potential of a National Data Library, which highlights key insights and recommendations from participants.

Our contribution to the report drew on our use-case–driven approach to delivering data infrastructure for net zero. This perspective was reflected in the final publication:

“Defining a strong vision for the NDL is necessary not only for intended users and the public but also to inform its design. “A clear vision is a necessary design constraint” for the NDL, state Hardinges and colleagues. They recommend documenting the vision as a “clear, tightly-bound problem statement. This will help bridge the chasm between a high-level political vision and technical execution.” Similarities can be drawn from the development of Open Banking in the UK, where the public were consulted about the problem they wanted addressed with their banking before the financial data innovation was designed.”

Realising the potential of a national data library: The Wellcome Trust

Read the full report here

In December last year, Perseus entered its pilot stage which was launched to gather feedback on the technical, legal and user experience aspects of Perseus. As part of the Pilot, the Development Bank of Wales used Perseus in its due diligence processes for green business loan products.

Today, Perseus has progressed to the launch of the sandbox, which will allow Perseus members to safely and easily experiment with sharing energy consumption data.

How it works

The sandbox uses synthetic energy consumption data, meaning organisations can test and experiment without concerns over personal data. It also provides identical trust services (Registry and Directory) to Perseus in production.  

“Successful integration with the sandbox will make a business ‘Perseus-Ready’ – a sign that they are ready to provide the innovative new services enabled by automated carbon emissions reporting between data providers, businesses, carbon accounting platforms and lenders”.

Chris Pointon, Project Manager, Trust Services.

What does being ‘Perseus-ready’ mean for your business?

For Carbon Accounting Providers:

• First choice for Financial Service Providers seeking market-scale data powered by Perseus.
• First to market with Perseus-enabled products 
• Major visibility to all participating Perseus banks
• On-ramp to real-world case studies, leading to wider sector visibility 
• Prepare your teams, technology and processes to strengthen your competitive advantage
• Opportunity to launch a new revenue stream, and develop new tech capabilities for your business

For Financial Service Providers:

• Test technical processes for ingesting Perseus data 
• Inform product innovation, reporting and compliance
• Build relationships and technical partnerships with potential data partners for new sustainable finance opportunities
• Develop new tech capabilities to build scalable access to sustainability data ecosystem

If your organisation is interested in using the sandbox and becoming ‘Perseus-ready,’ please get in touch via Perseus@ib1.org

The goal is to arrive at an integrated, robust and detailed set of recommendations and principles for nature data that will meet the future assessment and reporting needs of market participants.

TNFD has identified the need for a strategic, long-term approach that addresses distributed and decentralised data sharing with a Nature Data Public Facility (NDPF) for market participants. Rather than creating a central database, this will focus on the adoption of robust data sharing criteria (Principles) to enable markets to discover, access and use disclosures.

The government-backed initiative has developed a set of disclosure recommendations and guidance that encourage and enable businesses and financial institutions to report and act on their nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities. TNFD’s integrated assessment approach, LEAP, aims to help organisations conduct the due diligence necessary to inform disclosure statements aligned with the TNFD recommendations.

By improving access to decision-useful, nature-related data for markets, TNFD aims to enable the widespread adoption, monitoring and implementation of its recommendations.. IB1 will employ its Icebreaking process, contributing to the delivery of a set of principles that address data sensitivity, verification and assurability. The collaboration will identify nature-related data providers and data layers that are of specific relevance to corporate and financial use cases of corporate reporting, science-based target setting and transition planning.

IB1 will help to establish the foundational principles and practices to support this, which can be adopted as best practice by nature-related data providers to meet the needs of the markets – financial institutions and corporates adopting frameworks such as TNFD’s. These recommendations will help to drive global reporting solutions that are interoperable, scalable, aligned with current data standards, and that enable data providers to retain control and ownership of their data. This will support the broader market-based nature data value chain to develop value-adding data solutions. 

If you (or someone in your network) would like to learn about opportunities  to contribute to this work, we will be conducting interviews and hosting insightful workshops: contact icebreaking@ib1.org  

The news is a significant milestone for the Perseus scheme, which makes it easier for UK SMEs to access green financing by automating their sustainability reporting and helps banks use assurable data to underpin their decisions. 

The innovation means the Development Bank of Wales is offering more favourable loan rates to SMEs by using assurable data to benchmark and check that they  comply with the terms of its green loans. 

With Perseus, SMEs can share accurate emissions data with their bank to access green loans. They can receive emissions reports generated based on their electricity smart meter data and share them with their banks or lenders to unlock green finance.

The Development Bank of Wales is among a group of leading businesses and non-profits taking part in the Perseus pilot – including Sage, Perse and SmartDCC.

Over the last year, the Perseus team has designed the key operational, legal and technical elements of automated sustainability reporting. It is guided by a group of over 180 people from commercial businesses, non-profits, public bodies and trade associations, with support from the UK Government. 

Matthew Kelly, Sustainability Manager, Development Bank of Wales, said: “This is a first of its kind pilot, using technology to drive down the business burden of reporting for SMEs and increase the accuracy of carbon abatement assessment and monitoring.

“We believe that Perseus will help scale green finance by giving us access to assurable, trustworthy data. It means that SMEs will get the capital that they need to boost their productivity while decarbonising, therefore helping us to get to net zero faster.”

Rebecca Evans, Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning in the Welsh Government welcomed the announcement. She said: “The Development Bank being named as the UK’s first bank to use Perseus further demonstrates Wales’ commitment to promoting sustainable business and securing a low carbon economy.

“It’s an important milestone for the Development Bank and we are pleased to see them taking a lead role in making it easier for UK SMEs to access green financing so that we can support their productivity and reduce emissions.”

Gavin Starks, CEO of Icebreaker One, which runs Perseus, said: “This milestone takes us from use case to case study – showing that unlocking access to data, with the permission of the customer, can help get green finance flowing to SMEs. 

“It’s a major proof point that the Perseus Scheme can enable trusted smart data to flow between SMEs, carbon accounting platforms, and banks – and help accelerate access to billions on the race to zero. 

“Small and medium-sized businesses account for 50% of UK business emissions, but often struggle to get the capital they need to decarbonise. Even if they have the intent, they often lack the time, expertise and money to act. We want Perseus to help the market solve that: to go far, we go together.”

The Perseus pilot is still underway, working with banks, carbon accounting providers, small businesses, and others. Find out more about joining Perseus.

Icebreaker One is delighted to be  inviting expressions of interest for the Advisory Groups as part of the next phase of Open Energy, an initiative that started in 2020, backed by UK public funding.

Open Energy works to create a connected web of energy data for an efficient, decentralised, net zero future. Open Energy includes three services:

1. IB1 Constellation (expert networks of professionals)
2. Icebreaking (governance-led discovery and design of Schemes)
3. Trust Services (enabling Scheme implementation at market scale, such as Search and Energy Sector Trust Framework). 

Icebreaker One is now inviting expressions of interest for the below Advisory Groups which will kick off in 2025.

AG1: Purpose, User & Market Needs

AG2: Technical implementation

AG3: Legal and licensing

AG4: Engagement & communications

AG5: Policy & regulations

Perseus will enable easier and more assurable sustainability disclosures, reduced risk, and increased green lending, helping the bank reach its net-zero goals by 2050. And, through Perseus, Barclays’ SME customers could benefit from reduced reporting burdens and better access to the finance needed for decarbonisation. 

Barclays joins a growing list of financial service providers including The British Business Bank, the Development Bank of Wales, Lloyds, NatWest, Clear Bank, Allica, Tide, and Triodos.

Dana Clouston, Head of Sustainable Finance for Barclays Business Bank says:

“To reach the UK’s Net Zero targets, it is going to require concerted action by everyone, across sectors, geographies and organisations.

We know that across the UK, SMEs cumulatively are responsible for between 43-53% of UK greenhouse gases.  This is why supporting SMEs to transition to net zero is so vital.

We are delighted to be joining Project Perseus and be joining the discussion on how we deliver high quality emissions data at scale to unlock greater access to sustainable finance, deliver targeted solutions, and reduce reporting burdens for UK SMEs. 

Collaboration is key for transparency, for harmonising frameworks and reporting, and for informing future behaviour and choices for SMEs on their transition.”

This balancing act is a particularly delicate one, given that overly stringent assurance requirements might stunt progress by adding significant costs or complexity, potentially alienating both banks and farmers. And yet, a more relaxed approach to assurance could lead to inaccuracies or even fraud risks. Nevertheless, if the right middle ground could be found, then it could have the potential to unlock green financing in the agricultural economy.

Exploring assurance levels

Our refined use case served as the session’s foundation: In order to access green financing, UK arable farmers must share assurable data on their reduction in fertiliser use with banks. We then prompted the AG to explore different levels of assurance and evaluate their feasibility and desirability. 

High levels of assurance – such as verified historical fertiliser data, third-party audits, and detailed impact assessments – were quickly deemed too costly and impractical for widespread adoption. A mid-level approach, where farmers provide structured, machine-readable data (e.g., in JSON format), emerged as a more balanced option. This method would give banks reliable insights into sustainability efforts while being less burdensome for farmers. 

Practical challenges 

These assurance scenarios led our group to assess some of the more practical challenges that both farmers and banks face when dealing with farm-level data. One AG member emphasised the difficulties farmers face when collecting and reporting data on fertiliser usage, noting the variability in fertiliser usage as a prime example of this. Another member addressed the utility of this data, highlighting that farm-level data should serve a clear purpose. Without a direct link to compliance standards or broader utility, data collection risks becoming redundant—even if farmers are compensated for providing it. 

“The challenge isn’t merely collecting data but knowing which data to collect for specific standards or compliance requirements”. 

A holistic approach 

Ultimately, a more holistic, joined up approach to collecting data from farmers would be key to the success of our use case. This would help to avoid the risk of duplicate or siloed data demands. “There is a need to avoid fragmented efforts that overburden farmers by addressing siloed and repetitive data requests from multiple stakeholders”, noted one member. Ensuring that all members of the agricultural supply chain were involved in future iterations of this work is therefore crucial. Collaboration across the agricultural supply chain from farmers, suppliers, retailers, tech providers, banks and beyond will be needed to create a system that works for everyone.

Equally important for our future work is the development of a Tiered Assurance Framework that establishes baseline data collection methods. Pilots would then be run to test assurance mechanisms, refining based on feedback and scalability challenges as well as working toward global alignment on assurance protocols linked to GHG accounting standards. 

There was a huge amount of optimism in the room — that we are ‘at a transition moment’ where we could get this right, or miss opportunities, or create new risks.

As we are likely to do all of the above, we must to act now and work together to maximise the value for our society, our environment and our economy while addressing material risks. As I phrased it,

We can build on a critical mass, or end up in a critical mess.

We heard from digital identity providers about the huge growth and opportunities in the sector, from private sector companies that have seen ‘misuse’ of legal precedents to try and stop them adding value to consumers and workers, the scale of benefit to getting data interoperability right, and the risks that if we do not seize this moment to get data governance right then we are exposing ourselves, our economy and our country to systemic risks.

I wanted to summarise some of the key points from across the day, with a particular focus on the policy landscape, and what this means for us. The Government panel included a great cross-section of the ecosystem.

My main take-aways from the day are:

1. We need to take a bold and broad view of data’s role in our economy, as part of our industrial strategy
2. There are material opportunities to drive economic growth and improve market outcomes
3. There is a critical need for a coherent policy approach to data
4. Collaboration and coordination is essential, across government departments and with industry
5. There are many government initiatives: Digital Information and Smart Data Bill, National Data Library and AI Action Plan (and more) that need to be connected
6. Smart data policy is focusing on both customer and business data and we must align them, while letting each address their own needs
7. The upcoming smart data bill will give government powers to introduce smart data schemes in any sector
8. There is need to support strategy development with new ministers, and input is being actively sought now
9. Initiatives should be impact and value-led with a focus on user needs, not ‘tech-led’
10. Without robust, scalable and flexible data governance we will create new risks (especially with AI)
11. Smart data schemes are important for both consumer empowerment and market competition
12. Open Banking continues to be an exemplar
13. We must address the regulatory foundations, costs and incentives in the development of any Schemes
14. We must balance data protection with data access and innovation
15. Trust is central to development and investment is needed in capacity and capabilities
16. We must coordinate and collaborate with international initiatives, some of which are very well funded (e.g. the EU has invested €1B in Data Spaces)

Everyone in the room sees the potential of smart data initiatives to drive innovation and economic growth. There was also good acknowledgement of the complexities and challenges in implementing such schemes effectively. For example, there are material economic and societal risks of ‘corporate capture’ (e.g. castle-moat behaviours) and that it’s not a ‘technology problem’ (we have the tech today).

The design principles that we put in place now must:
1. Act to provide clarity (e.g. roadmaps) so everyone can plan
2. Act now: the time for theory is over
3. Address the (timely, material) risks of known unknowns

My policy view is that the UK has:

1. A comprehensive approach. It is cross-departmental and recognises the value of policy and regulation as catalysts to economic growth, service improvements, and legal protections.
2. A foundational legislative framework. Primary and secondary legislation will provide powers to introduce smart data schemes across sectors and create a foundation for data schemes across the economy.
3. An emergent approach to balancing priorities of data protection and security with the innovation and economic growth. The development of Trust Frameworks and Schemes, done well, should increase data access and portability while addressing risks of many forms.
4. A sector-based approach. It recognises that different sectors must own and shape their own destinies, while enforcing cohesion and interoperability across the legislative spectrum.
5. An understanding of the need for public-private action. Smart Data Schemes are powerful tools that can enforce these and must include:
   • Mandated participation
   • Mandatory interoperability between schemes
   • Regulatory oversight
   • Clarification on costs
   • Clarification on incentives (positive and negative)
   • Flexibility to adapt to market changes

There was general acknowledgement of the scale of the task ahead: multi-stakeholder engagement, alignment on language, building skills and capabilities, the articulation of material benefits, and the demonstration of impact to build trust, systemically and carefully, over time.

There is a growing public expectation of data portability, and we must align policy and their implementation with this culture change.

The foundation of open markets is transparency. The foundation of a digitally-enabled economy is interoperability. As such we must base our approach on open systems, and design for open.

The UK has led the world with initiatives such as Open Banking. It has, in some opinions, fallen behind over subsequent years. My opinion is the UK is ‘connected’ enough that it can rapidly redress this and, once again, accelerate to a leadership position. It has exceptional skills that can navigate the complex landscape of data rights and technological change to deliver economic, environmental and social benefits.

We must address the market architecture for an open (digitally-enabled) economy.

From a business perspective, I believe business leaders must now address data sharing at board level. Data isn’t ‘a technology’ — it makes markets.

I’ve long advocated that data increases in value the more it is connected. The imperative is, therefore, to reduce the friction to such connections. Smart Data Schemes can enable this at market-wide scale.

Businesses should understand that:

• Smart Data schemes will open up new opportunities for innovation and market entry
• preparation is needed for upcoming regulations and potential costs of scheme participation
• there is huge potential for cross-sector data applications and new product/service development
• that customer data portability and security will increase in importance
• there is a value in engaging with policymakers and investing in technologies to leverage smart data initiatives

The room was under no illusion that there are many material challenges. There will be a process of ‘creative destruction’, new threat vectors and many incumbent interests that will not want to address this systems change.

However, the ship is now leaving the port, the time for theory is over: time to act is now.

If you’d like to get in touch or follow progress, please connect on LinkedIn: Icebreaker One or directly with me, or join our mailing list.

The bill promises to accelerate data sharing and unlock innovative uses of data, while ensuring protections are in place to protect consumers, citizens and businesses, across the economy. This is supported by the work of the Smart Data Council.

According to the government, the bill will “enable new innovative uses of data to be safely developed and deployed and will improve people’s lives by making public services work better by reforming data sharing and standards; help scientists and researchers make more life enhancing discoveries by improving data laws; and ensure data is well protected by giving the regulator (the ICO) new, stronger powers and a more modern structure”

Looking beyond Open Banking

One of the more notable areas of the bill is its reference to ‘Smart Data Schemes’, which would make it easier to securely move data between organisations. In a similar vein to Open Banking, these schemes will allow customers to share their account information with third parties. This could shape how customer data is shared and unlock innovation in fields beyond Open Banking: “by empowering consumers to share their data with sectors we also hope to encourage the economic growth we’ve seen from Open Banking, across the economy”.

“As we accelerate into a data-enabled future, Smart Data Schemes will become integral to economic growth and we must address data rights at their foundation. Schemes in areas such as Finance, Energy, Transport and beyond will enable interoperability between our real and financial economies while protecting both businesses and consumers.”, Gavin Starks, CEO, IB1

For instance, with a smart data scheme in place, a consumer might decide to share detailed data on their energy usage patterns with a third party provider. The potential benefits of this might manifest in tailored energy plans, energy demand response systems, improved efficiencies and to support reductions in carbon footprint. What’s more, with a robust and cohesive legislative backing, smart data schemes will have the comprehensive foundations they need to create real impact.

Regulatory foundations to build confidence

A clear regulatory framework for data sharing, coupled with a desire to minimise the amount of data collected or shared, could help build confidence in sharing data. Data minimisation means organisations must only share, store and use the data that they need to help make recommendations and/or decisions that create positive outcomes. It also means reducing the risk of oversharing, or holding onto sensitive information that could have unintended consequences.

“We have entered an era whereby data rights are central to unlocking value and protecting everyone. The same data may be used for many different purposes and by different actors, with different consequences and liabilities.”, Emily Judson, Head of Research, IB1

Led by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), the bill has been endorsed by the likes of the Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT) and Open Banking. Top of its list of recommendations for improving SME lending to drive economic growth, CFIT has expressed a willingness to ‘Prioritise the Digital Information and Smart Data Bill’.

At IB1, we strongly support the development of Smart Data in the UK. It is highly aligned with our work on Open Energy, STREAM, Perseus, SERI, and other areas.

Icebreaker One is collaborating with Digital Catapult’s Digital Supply Chain Hub to help transform UK manufacturing through data-enabled supply chains. A key component of this work is to address the data governance challenges of information exchange in digital supply chains.

The timeliness of the project is reflected by the fact that supply chain leaders and businesses across the country are grappling with regulatory hurdles, a pressure to decarbonise, and cyber-threats to their operations. Our work will support the development of a robust data sharing governance that builds trust between organisations and produces more efficient, resilient and sustainable supply chains.

Our use-case centric approach in this instance will focus on Food Supply Chains, with the goal of enhancing data transparency, aligning with regulatory frameworks and unlocking green financing for farm management.

Advisory Group

Join our Food Supply Chain Advisory Group

Icebreaker One is convening an Advisory Group of industry experts that accurately represent stakeholders from across the Food Supply Chain. This is also aligned with Digital Catapult’s recognition of the need for collaboration between businesses and technology leaders to mitigate risk in supply chains.

With two virtual meetings, one in September and one in November 2024, the Advisory Group will:

• Represent perspectives, needs and challenges from across the industry
• Help to define and prioritise use cases to focus on
• Connect and collaborate with other stakeholders
• Share insights, learn from others and find solutions to shared problems
• Help to shape a Trust Framework solution

If you are a stakeholder in the Food Supply Chain, we need your input, sign up here to help us make supply chains more efficient, resilient and sustainable. Find the scope here.

Outcomes of project

By focusing on data transparency and alignment with regulatory requirements, the initiative aims to streamline operations, improve decision-making, and build trust between all parties involved in the supply chain—from farmers to retailers. This approach not only aids better management of resources but also supports the implementation of sustainable practices by enabling more efficient use of inputs and reducing waste.

Additionally, by unlocking green financing options, the project can provide the necessary capital for innovations in farm management, such as the adoption of environmentally friendly technologies and practices that further reduce the carbon footprint of the entire supply chain, making it more resilient and sustainable in the face of global challenges like climate change and food security.

The top five priorities to enhance food supply chains through collaboration include:

Data Transparency: Prioritise the openness and accessibility of data across the supply chain to ensure that all stakeholders, from farmers to consumers, have accurate and timely information. This transparency helps in making informed decisions that optimise resources and improve product traceability.

Regulatory Compliance: Ensure all data sharing and supply chain operations align with existing and upcoming regulations, particularly those related to environmental impact, food safety, and data privacy. Compliance reduces legal risks and builds trust with consumers and regulators.

Cybersecurity: Strengthen the security measures around digital data exchanges within the supply chain to protect sensitive information from cyber threats. Robust cybersecurity practices are crucial to maintaining the integrity and confidentiality of supply chain data.

Sustainable Practices: Develop and integrate sustainable practices within the food supply chain to reduce environmental impacts. This includes promoting the efficient use of resources, reducing waste, and enabling green financing for sustainable farm management technologies and practices.

Stakeholder Collaboration: Foster a collaborative environment among all stakeholders in the supply chain. This involves building frameworks for cooperation that enable shared benefits and mutual growth, especially in addressing common challenges like supply chain resilience and sustainability.

Reference: https://gov.uk/government/publications/the-smart-data-roadmap-action-the-government-is-taking-in-2024-to-2025

Date: 2024-05-09 [PDF version]

Response to UK Government Smart Data Roadmap
from Smart Data Council non-government members

We welcome the publication of a Smart Data Roadmap by the UK Government. This is an important milestone in the UK’s progress towards building a smart data economy that works for everyone. This brings together work across government departments in one place for the first time. Initial workstreams are underway in finance, transport, energy & road fuels, telecommunications, retail, and home buying. These will join the pioneer of smart data, Open Banking.

To empower and drive UK innovation (including AI/ML), we must address how data can be effectively shared across our economy with the explicit consent of (or permission from) those it impacts.

Data moves markets: providing a clear direction to create market stability will drive investment, protect and empower businesses, consumers and citizens, and create a race to the top. We therefore welcome the direction to markets provided by the Smart Data roadmap.

We must also ensure we have a joined-up approach to smart data. The good news is that there is a growing list of potential initiatives, as outlined in the roadmap. The related risk is that fragmented approaches lead to confusion and we must address this head-on. Co-development and collaboration between parties involved in implementation are essential to achieving common approaches and harmonisation. It will also be crucial for the government to build sectoral schemes with close industry engagement, to ensure their effective implementation.

This can better enable:

1. lower costs 
2. reduce risks of implementation
3. faster speed to market
4. customer adoption with strong, trusted foundations 

We support the direction and outline set out by the Government and encourage both the Government and regulators to take all necessary steps to accelerate implementation, including to:

• set further timetables for moving from identification and consultation to design and implementation;
• nominate ‘interface bodies’/’implementation entities’ to take forward the work across the common requirements to make the market easy and safe to accelerate value. For example, but not limited to, scheme design, infrastructure design and common user experience design; 
• provide or enable sufficient resources for the development of standards and trust frameworks that are critical to the successful adoption of smart data – especially where benefits may accrue in ways that do not immediately align with commercial goals and include ways of supporting societal benefits that may deliver more cost-effective achievement of wider public policy aims;
• Support growth incentive models that encourage the use of standards within and across sectors and create growth-enabling services
• Support the development of international growth by embedding Smart Data into UK Trade policies and trade deals
• Focus on value for the consumer, businesses and related stakeholders, and the design of solutions that tackle the cross-sector personal data and business data  
• Support use cases that create value for consumers and use cross-sector data 
• support our work to promote interoperability between and across sectors and schemes and consistent governance, standards and trust frameworks that enable this;
• provide Ministerial coordination and backing to drive progress across a complex web of Government Departments and regulators – ensuring clear responsibility and accountability to the delivery of the roadmap;
• recognise and build into the roadmap other industry-led initiatives (e.g. Finance, Perseus, Open Energy, STREAM, Food, Property, Transport) which are in-flight, alongside the Smart Data Big Bang. Markets continue to move to exploit customer data;
• examine what government data needs to be brought into scope to unlock use cases alongside data held by other organisations;
• identify where public funding or regulatory directions support the development of new infrastructure (eg digital £ and clean energy) and ensure that APIs and smart data are built into the functionality; and
• ensure that wider Government work on AI/Machine learning, tokenisation, smart contracts and digital assets join up with smart data. Artificial intelligence is only as good as the data it is based on, and many smart data use cases will rely upon AI analysis. 

Vision

Our Vision is to lead the development of and enable a trusted Smart Data economy that works to both protect and empower individuals, communities, businesses, government and society, both domestically and internationally.

We define Smart Data to include both business data and personal data, and we look forward to supporting the successful implementation and evolution of the roadmap, focusing our work on two missions.

Mission 1

In 2024Q2 we will produce a plan to support Smart Data roadmap implementation. This will look at what is needed to connect across and between sectors, ensuring we maximise the potential benefits of combining datasets from different sectors. 

This will include a blueprint and plan for cohesive governance to address data controls, consent/permission, legal, technical, dispute and policy interoperability. We propose to build upon industry-led initiatives (mentioned above) alongside Government-led roadmap sectors. 

Outcomes from Mission 1

1. Common understanding of, and alignment on:

• The quantifiable economic, social and environmental impacts for at least four roadmap sectors (e.g. finance beyond banking, energy, transport). This includes assessing the impact of innovation and new services, cross-sector benefits, and increased competition. 
• High-level plan for implementation including both public and private sectors, assessing interdependencies and common elements.
• Definitions of detailed targets that will be applied to track progress.

• Definition of cohesive and clear language: making sure we use the same terms, and explore what language promotes better understanding amongst businesses and consumers.
• An overview of how best to introduce ‘enabling’ horizontal services that support all types of smart data – including areas such as reusable digital identity, verification, and personal data stores/dashboards, that enable consumers to control their data consistently and coherently. 

2. We aim to engage at least three Government departments and regulators (beyond banking) in co-development with the private sector.
3. We will work with Government departments and regulators in each of the roadmap sectors to help define at least one clearly defined, user-focused use case that illustrates what is possible, its impacts (financial, social, environmental) and a more detailed roadmap to implementation for each. At least one of these should demonstrate cross-sector data use.

Mission 2

In 2024Q3, we will develop a detailed governance plan and onward roadmap for Smart Data schemes, focusing on ensuring interoperability and building consistent and interoperable schemes. We aim to support at least two active national demonstrator programmes. 

Endorsed by

Gavin Starks, SDC co-chair, and Icebreaker One (IB1) 
Ezechi Britton, Centre for Finance Innovation and Technology (CFIT)
Colin Griffiths, Citizens Advice
Tom Fish, Coalition for Online Data Empowerment (CODE)
Liz Brandt, CEO Ctrl-Shift Ltd 
Adam Jackson, Innovate Finance
Henk VanHulle, Open Banking Limited (OBL)
Resham Kotecha, Open Data Institute (ODI) 
Charlie Mercer, StartUp Coalition
Audre Verseckaite, techUK

The REACT tool is a geographical planning tool, providing users with an interactive visualisation map to view electricity grid requests in real time. Its purpose is to provide support for early stage project development, with features such as land sensitivities helping developers select optimal sites and ultimately helping them connect to the grid. 

During the meeting, a demo of the REACT tool was presented to members and a collective recognition began to form around the value that the tool could provide to the hydrogen market. ‘We have a number of businesses interested from a grid and planning point of view’ one member noted. The potential value of the tool reaches far beyond the hydrogen sector however, and looking forward, it aims to bring in environmental agencies, transmission operators, wind power developers, water companies and more. 

Data sensitivity & Trust Frameworks

Concerns were raised regarding the access and use of sensitive data, particularly in the case of data on critical national infrastructure. One AG member asked ‘how do we make sure the data is not used by the wrong people, for the wrong reasons’. Trust Frameworks offer an answer to these warranted concerns and are particularly important in the case of the REACT project, where secure and reliable data exchange is critical. Trust Frameworks ensure that all parties involved can trust the confidentiality of the data exchanged and the authenticity of the identities involved. What’s more, as the project extends its scope, looking to other sectors, use cases, and datasets, Trust Frameworks offer a powerful solution, joining stakeholders from different ecosystems. 

Recommendations 

We presented our five recommendations on how to transform the data network to our advisory group members: 

1. Embracing market-scale solutions: To ensure REACT’s solution has the widest possible applicability across the market, REACT’s Advisory Group(s) should work closely with Open Energy’s Steering Group to promote accessibility, agree common rules, processes and legal compliance and encourage a common rights-based approach to data access.

2. Reducing friction: To improve data assurance, reduce friction across data silos and provide forward compatibility with the Virtual Energy System, the REACT project should embrace a ‘Trust Framework’ methodology throughout its work.

3. Improving data accessibility: To improve the discoverability of datasets and encourage process innovation, Transmission Owners are advised to publish internal process diagrams that describe the workings of complicated internal processes – such as the Network Connection Request process.

4. Improving prediction: To improve long-term planning – both for Transmission Owners and for other stakeholders – a statistical model of projects should be embraced that tracks a project’s estimated probability of success according to the best available data.

5. Embracing innovation: To radically embrace innovation around processes – such as the Network Connection Request process – virtual ‘sandbox’ representations of these processes with representative data should be created. This will enable innovators to safely experiment with innovative solutions without affecting Business as Usual.

Feedback on recommendations

With reforms in the connection process slated for January 2025, stakeholders in the energy industry are facing mounting challenges. In light of this, concerns were raised regarding the feasibility of implementing a virtual sandbox (recommendation 5), given the workload of Transmission Network Operators (TNOs) and Distribution Network Operators (DNOs). Icebreaker One’s technical analyst, Stefan Haselwimmer, acknowledged this challenge, emphasising the need for maximum innovation with minimal workload.

In fact, the recommendations presented above have been put together with the pressures facing stakeholders in mind. In a landscape where approximately 420GW of generation projects await grid connection, timely connectivity remains a bottleneck in our net zero transition. We believe the REACT project could be the catalyst required to unlock these grid connections making for a smoother and faster transition. Now, as we look ahead to the next phase of REACT, the potential avenues for exploration are vast, with data centres, storage projects and direct air capture all cited as potential future use cases. 

*The REACT project is funded by the Ofgem Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF), the SIF is delivered in partnership with Innovate UK.”

Wednesday January 24th marked the second advisory group meeting for the NIMBUS (Network Innovation and Meteorology to BUild for Sustainability) project, a collaboration involving Icebreaker One, SSEN Transmission, SSEN Distribution, IBM and Palantir.

The meeting explored the energy sector’s readiness for data sharing, outlining the importance of this for the NIMBUS project as it looks to grapple with energy asset degradation and reliability.

Understanding weather data

There are a number of weather events that can impact energy infrastructure. These include wind damage, flooding, temperature extremes, lighting strikes and more. And, by accurately factoring in these weather-related events, organisations can optimise maintenance schedules or plan for equipment replacements therefore extending the life cycle of these assets. 

Despite this, not all weather events are factored into risk. Lighting strikes, due to their transient nature, are an example of a weather event that has proven hard to predict and difficult to factor into the risk assessment of an energy asset. That’s not to say that lightning strikes aren’t tracked, with one member of the advisory group noting that network operators look at historical data on lighting strikes to find patterns, and identify similar conditions in the future. 

Historical vs real-time data

Accessing historical data on weather events is generally more straightforward than accessing live, real-time data. This is because historical weather data is often open and more easily accessible for users. This compared to real-time weather data which is more likely to be subject to licensing agreements. These discrepancies were noted by the advisory group, with a collective recognition that the energy industry, as a whole, requires a shift in mindset when it comes to sharing data. 

The current reality of siloed pockets of data across the energy sector is a system that no longer serves the industry. More than this, it’s a system that’s holding the energy industry back. By incorporating a governance structure, we can break down these silos within the energy industry and beyond, building a culture of collaboration. All steps that will help SSEN-Transmission accelerate its net-zero transition. 

Demonstration of a digital tool

During the meeting, a live demonstration showcased a digital tool focused on transmission lines, towers, and subcomponents, offering a detailed view of operational data, faults, work orders, and inspections. Utilising IBM’s weather data, the digital tool incorporated over 30 variables, providing a granular analysis of weather patterns over a six-year history. The landing page offered insights into weather data associated with towers, exploring historical patterns to understand potential damages. 

Now halfway through Ofgem’s Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) Alpha stage, NIMBUS has developed a high level plan and roadmap for a use case. It has also identified system requirements, created architecture for proof of concept and fed asset and weather data (from IBM) into its model.

In January 2024, we convened the second REACT Advisory Group meeting, co-chaired by SSEN-Transmission and Icebreaker One. In partnership with SSEN Transmission, Olsights, MapStand, National Grid Electricity Transmission and SGN, IB1 is part of the Alpha phase of REACT, which aims to create a geographical planning tool providing users with the ability to view electricity grid connection requests in real-time, using an interactive visualisation map.

The purpose of this meeting was to gain a collective understanding of progress on sprints, and to discuss what datasets developers would like to have access to and what would be possible if they could access these datasets. Advisory Group members also discussed what the risks are to share this data, and how to improve interoperability of data going into and out of REACT. 

Key insights

• REACT Tool Progress Update from Olsights & Mapstand:
  • Sprints 1 & 2 have been completed and include “negative” land use layers, ie. areas where projects cannot be sited.
  • Sprint 3 is underway and is focused on specific Hydrogen project site requirements, such as available water supply.
  • Future sprints will focus on curtailment, future scenarios, and “positive” land use, i.e. where Hydrogen projects are actively encouraged.
• There are a large number of potentially shareable datasets within the network connection request process. Prioritising which to share should be based on user needs and how they solve business problems.
• Making datasets shareable does not necessarily mean publishing them openly but may mean sharing them within a safe and secure Trust Framework.
• REACT must embrace interoperability both into and out of the tool to ensure the tool can be used by the greatest number of potential stakeholders.
• With regard to accessing datasets, it was discussed that:
  • Accessing gas infrastructure data requires shared not open data since it is critical infrastructure; the REACT team have discussed creating different access levels for different target users to mitigate against such data sensitivity issues.
  • The Stream project, centred on publishing water data, could be highly relevant to REACT.
  • There are data sensitivity issues around mapping data e.g. address data, street geometries, though the situation has evolved rapidly in recent years.
  • Council planners would welcome early access to information about projects that are applying for network connections.
  • More affordable/accessible network connection process could benefit community energy projects, though this raises issues of data sensitivity, e.g. what criteria determines access to shared, non-open data?
  • More effective data sharing between electricity companies and other area-focused stakeholders, such as councils, water companies, via REACT could provide more effective, joined-up thinking to achieve Net Zero e.g. helping councils co-create decarbonisation plans could encourage councils to invest in network upgrades.
  • Technology innovators could potentially assist with complex and time-critical elements of the network connection process through safe and secure data sharing within a Trust Framework.

Diagram showing possible datasets created prior to and during the Network Connection Request pipeline of a Transmission Owner; created using information from ESO Connections Offers Process

• With regard to interoperability and standards, it was discussed that:
  • For publicly funded projects like REACT, better data reliability and consistency within datasets, and better interoperability across datasets would deliver better value-for-money for taxpayers.
  • Regulatory bodies and trade organisations could provide an invaluable role in defining standards, though this could take time – are there faster ways to get there?
  • Within the local government, there has been useful work trying to achieve standards in underground infrastructure data (MUDDI/VAULT).

Almost all of the data we need already exists. But it’s not getting to the right places. 

Lack of trusted data flow leads to poor decisions that make it more risky and difficult to quantify and invest in the transition to net zero.

Better data infrastructure – like licensing, assurance, and security – will make it easier to make net-zero decisions at speed, with confidence and at a global scale. 

The world must be able to find, share and trust the data we need to get to net zero. That requires data-sharing infrastructure – and Icebreaker One is developing it.

A FOSDA/Icebreaker One analysis of net zero data brought this opportunity to life. It identified a series of data gaps and holes – problems with data availability, reliability and comparability. It found ‘hotspots’ of problems where data is too difficult to find or too difficult to trust – like energy consumption and production by source, greenhouse gas emissions, and supply chain reporting. 

This is why trust in data is one of the main areas for improvement highlighted in the EU’s July 2021 revised sustainable finance strategy, which aims to improve ESG ratings. 

This isn’t a challenge that needs new technology. Many attempts to consolidate data—new databases and portals—struggle to scale. We need to develop the rules of the road, not a new database. Unless we act now, we’ll let the opportunity to modernise slip through our fingers.

Who needs data-sharing infrastructure?

All Icebreaker One projects involve identifying use cases – specific examples of user needs around data access and use in order to achieve a particular net-zero outcome. They allow us to understand who needs to access data, what data they need, and the impact it could have. 

Three use cases from our projects illustrate the wide range of stakeholders who need better access to data to get to net zero.

Use case 1: getting more electric cars on the road

Just one electric car on the roads can save an average 1.5 tonnes of CO2 per year, according to EDF. But more than 30% of households in the UK cannot install at-home electric vehicle charge points, highlighting the importance of affordable and nearby on-street charging. 

Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) are an essential player in getting more charge points on the UK’s streets. Their connection departments are responsible for processing and managing requests to the grid for electricity in the here and now, as well as forecasting future capacity requirements so that they can prioritise where to invest in greater capacity.

They need to know when and where charge points will be installed (domestic, public, commercial and industrial), the nature of these charge points (slow, rapid, ultrarapid, for example), and how they are utilised. But there is currently no mandatory registration of installations, with data having to be pulled from multiple sources. Data on utilisation of different types of charge point and plans for future installations is even more patchy and problematic to access. 

They need data infrastructure that implements a Trust Framework , which automates data licensing, security checks, and technical integration. Using a Trust Framework, a DNO will be able to access this information more quickly and cost-effectively, accessing hundreds of datasets with just one round of authentication and technical integration.  This in turn helps them make sure that grid capacity can meet the demand from newly installed EV charge points. 

The trust framework also allows DNOs to collaborate more effectively with other industry stakeholders. As well as accessing others’ data, DNOs can publish their own data securely, safe in the knowledge that only authenticated users can access it. That will help ensure that the UK is able to meet its ambitious targets for EV ownership by 2030 and beyond. 

Read more

Use case 2: making our homes more energy efficient

The energy consumption of existing buildings accounts for around 34% of the UK’s annual carbon emissions. What’s more, 80% of buildings in use today will still be in use by 2050, the same year we have pledged to reach our net zero emissions target. It is therefore evident that the decarbonisation of our buildings and homes through retrofitting is a fundamental requirement if we are to stay within the boundaries of the Paris Agreement. 

Data has a central part to play in realising these retrofitting goals. In fact, the looming task of making our buildings more energy efficient cannot be realised without data. Our Standard for Environment, Risk, and Insurance (SERI) programme recognised this when we designed a climate-ready building passport (C-RBP). The C-RBP is a tool for insurers to pool together data on the physical, environmental, financial, risk and regulatory elements of a building, and in doing so, provide a more well-rounded, accurate and timely view of risk. 

By improving the discovery, access and use of data with the C-RBP, insurers can more accurately price risk while incorporating climate change mitigation measures into their policies. This incentivises net-zero behaviours from their customers such as retrofitting. The impact of data goes further still, helping asset owners and investors align their assets with ESG regulations. 

Read more

Use case 3: unlocking green finance to help small businesses cut emissions

There are more than 5.9 million Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the UK, accounting for around half of the country’s business greenhouse gas emissions.

But there is no common process to follow when reporting emissions, and many reports are based on inaccurate estimates. SMEs’ stakeholders like banks and corporate customers are therefore receiving low-quality data that is not comparable or actionable. 

To address this, Icebreaker One is working with Bankers for Net Zero to convene a cross-sector coalition – called Project Perseus – to build the data infrastructure we need to improve emissions reporting. 

Perseus will enable automated sustainability reporting for every small business in the UK, so that we can reduce emissions faster. It will make it easy to share accurate, assurable data that sits behind emissions calculations. It will inform investment decisions, enable targeted decarbonisation interventions, reduce reporting burdens and unlock green finance. 

Read more

Starting is, as it always is, the most important part of the journey and this helped us steer clear of decision inertia. And so, with our advisory group members as our guides, we began to refine the focus of our work, finding a point of leverage that would provide both environmental and financial impact.

The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), estimates the size of the impact investing market to be around $1.164 trillion in assets under management. This underscores just how substantial the market is and how instrumental it could be in mobilising finance towards net-zero. 

Now, with our Impact Investing project drawing to a close, we have drafted our recommendations for COP28. Looking at how to develop environmental data in ESG to better enable impact investment decisions in the commercial built environment.

Our recommendations: 

1. Organisations must produce discoverable and usable digital environmental ESG reports of their transition to net zero.
2. Organisations must publish the data behind environmental ESG reports in machine-readable formats.
3. The granularity of environmental data in ESG reports must be improved.
4. Organisations must demand data-backed standardised environmental reporting from their supply chains.
5. Regulators and reporting bodies must mandate and finance a trusted data sharing ecosystem.

These recommendations have been shaped and refined through collaborative efforts with our advisory group members. The outcome is five data-centred points of leverage that we believe could accelerate the impact investing market’s transition to net-zero. 

Now, as we look to the future, governments and regulators will undoubtedly play a central role, with uncertainties looming up ahead in the form of a new election cycle in the UK. Equally, there is promising legislation on the horizon with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) creating a common framework for sustainability reporting. Either way, we have, and will continue to encounter tough terrain on this journey. But, with data as our rope and harness, our sights are fixed firmly on the summit that is net-zero.

Icebreaker One is collaborating with SSEN Transmission, SSEN Distribution, IBM and Palantir on the NIMBUS (Network Innovation and Meteorology to BUild for Sustainability) project to better understand the degradation of energy assets and improve their reliability through the use of new, granular data sources.

Icebreaker One will be running an Advisory Group to convene stakeholders to collaborate on the NIMBUS project and ensure that the programme meets user needs across distribution network and transmission organisations. It will deliver cross-industry alignment on the approach, including delivering a clear use case, a roadmap of work, definitions of risk, gaps and opportunities, and it will provide recommendations for sector readiness for data sharing and data interoperability. 

The Advisory Group will:

• Advise on the development of the NIMBUS project, and how learnings could be applied in other organisations 
• Test the data sensitivity classes with use case relevant datasets within their own organisations 
• Make recommendations on sector readiness for data sharing and next steps for interoperability based on the use case 
• Advise on guidelines for applying use case analysis across the sector and for retooling for different assets 
• Make recommendations to the government and the regulator where appropriate

The skills and expertise from participants will include:

• Understanding market/ecosystem requirements and network functional capabilities
• Articulating the consumer, market, societal and economic/financial benefits
• Understand and quantify the impact to business
• Technical knowledge of existing data and models used for asset risk assessment

This Advisory Group will typically meet every 6 weeks to input and shape the development of NIMBUS. 

For more information, please refer to the scope document.

For additional enquiries about joining the Advisory Group, please get in touch with icebreaking@ib1.org.