DAFNI

Exploring data sharing and publication within national infrastructure systems research

Icebreaker One’s work as part of the Data Analytics Facility for National Infrastructure (DAFNI) programme explores the challenges and opportunities of data sharing within national infrastructure systems research. Sitting within the Data Infrastructure for National Infrastructure (DINI) project, we are conducting a landscaping exercise to consider the current state of the art in data sharing in the relevant sectors, and draw conclusions from the analysis to support recommendations for best practices in data publication and sharing in the sector.

The challenge

Our national infrastructure systems – such as energy, water, and transport – have a high impact on the social, economic and environmental well-being of the UK. Research into the impact, and development of these systems is therefore a priority and yet the availability of quality data remains a significant barrier to this research.

“Data is an essential prerequisite for good analysis and good decision making, but there are many barriers to the effective use of data, which are prevalent in the infrastructure systems engineering domain, including: Discoverability, Licensing, Sensitivity, Metadata, Interoperability, Reliability and Ethics”.

Critical infrastructure sectors in the UK are developing new governance obligations to improve data sharing (e.g. Data Best Practice). By working at cross-sector scale, this project has potential to support wider policy goals, such as national industrial strategy, the net zero transition, and the levelling up agenda, which all benefit from a joined up approach to infrastructure data sharing.