Data is an important business resource. It forms the basis for various digital technologies such as artificial intelligence or smart services. However, access to data is unequally distributed in the market. Hence, some business ideas fail due to a lack of data sources.

An Economic Analysis: Open data and data sharing
IW-Policy Paper
Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft (IW)
Data is an important business resource. It forms the basis for various digital technologies such as artificial intelligence or smart services. However, access to data is unequally distributed in the market. Hence, some business ideas fail due to a lack of data sources.
Although many governments have recognised the importance of open data and already make administrative data available to the public on a large scale, many companies are still reluctant to share their data among other firms and competitors. As a result, the economic potential of data is far from being fully exploited. Against this background, we analyse current developments in the area of open data. We compare the characteristics of open governmental and open company data in order to define the necessary framework conditions for data sharing. Subsequently, we examine the status quo of data sharing among firms.
We use a qualitative analysis of survey data of European companies to derive the sufficient conditions to strengthen data sharing. Our analysis shows that government data is a public good, while company data can be seen as a club or private good. Latter frequently build the core for companies’ business models and hence are less suitable for data sharing. Finally, we find that promoting legal certainty and the economic impact present important policy steps for fostering data sharing.

Alevtina Krotova / Armin Mertens / Marc Scheufen: Open data and data sharing – An Economic Analysis
IW-Policy Paper
Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft (IW)
Künstliche Intelligenz als Ersatz für Märkte und Wettbewerb?
Der entscheidende Vorteil der dezentralen sozio-ökonomischen Koordination über Märkte liegt in der Kapazität zum Aufspüren und Verarbeiten von allokationsrelevanten Informationen, die zentralen Planern fehlt.
IW
The anti‑steering provision of Article 5 (4) of the DMA: a law and economics assessment on the business model of gatekeepers and business users
Data is a success factor for digital platforms and the core of their business model. The rationale behind this is that data allows for improving the matching process between users which creates value for the platform.
IW