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Everyone has seen the stats about the exponential growth of data in recent years, and predictions for how much more data is expected to be created in the near future. Most of this data is in some way produced or managed by corporations. Some companies exist solely to build and sell data products. Other companies have a different primary focus, but one that results in millions of users each producing unique data points on a daily basis. Either way - more data is being created each day.
Oftentimes this data is locked up and only used by the companies producing it, or their direct customers solving specific business challenges. But there are many other applications for data outside of the commercial space. One audience that would love to get their hands on this data and use it for a good purpose is academic researchers.
This blog explains Data for Good Programs that corporations can create to put their data to good use by supporting academic researchers and driving innovation.
Data for Good programs refer to when companies provide their data for free to various organizations or for specific, non-commercial applications. This could include providing free data to humanitarian organizations or even offering data to the public for educational or social good purposes. For the sake of this blog, we’ll focus exclusively on Data for Good programs that provide data for academics to use in research.
There were a number of academic Data for Good programs born out of the COVID-19 pandemic. But in the nearly three years since, corporations have slowly started deprioritizing these programs, or even shut them down completely. Data that was temporarily available to academics is now being locked up again, preventing research into critical topics with huge impacts on society. Why is that? Why do we need a global crisis to support academics?
Dewey believes that all corporations should unlock their data for use in academic research, and not just because it’s a good thing to do. There are a number of benefits to data companies that unlock academic access to their products. We explore a few of the main benefits in the next section.
There are a number of reasons companies might choose to create a Data for Good program.
Most companies and individuals agree on one thing: academic research is a fundamental driver of innovation. As organizations are faced with increasing environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) regulations, many are looking for ways to make a positive impact on society. Supporting academics by providing critical data is a great way to both contribute to global innovation and lead ESG initiatives.
Another reason companies should consider creating a Data for Good program is for the resulting reputational or brand lift. When researchers use data for a study they are working on, their main goal is to get that study published in an academic or industry journal. This results in public-facing, user-generated content that’s openly available for companies to share and reuse as marketing collateral. Researchers also often seek press coverage or present their research at large conferences across the country. Since they always attribute their data sources, this results in a ton of great awareness for data providers and often drives even more academic users towards their data.
For companies that are building and selling data products into other industries, working with academics provides a larger audience for receiving valuable product feedback. Supporting academics with a Data for Good program will result in thousands of researchers performing detailed, longitudinal studies on a dataset. The rigorous publication process they face means academics are always looking to find and fix anomalies in the data, and have the incentive to work with data providers to improve data products.
Additionally, getting data published validates the quality of the data to the core market segments data providers are targeting. Academic research is extremely valuable social proof for companies to use in their marketing because it is generated by third-party experts who have nothing to gain by promoting a dataset.
Unless a data company exists solely to sell to academics (and we have not found any that do), Data for Good programs do not cannibalize data providers’ target market segments. Data for Good programs have specific parameters that define how free data can be used and who can use it, so companies only need to provide data for groups and use cases that do not compete with their commercial interests. Unlocking academic access to data only strengthens the brand awareness and feedback loop of a provider, actually helping them to reach their target audience.
Thinking about starting a Data for Good program? Working with Dewey makes it easy to support academics so your company can focus on your core business.
As a Dewey partner, providers can reach the global academic market through a single data delivery. Dewey handles the rest, including managing support and working with individual academics or universities. We instantly connect your data to our community of over 15,000 academics without you having to get involved each time. And don’t worry - we verify each user of Dewey to make sure they are an active student, researcher, or university employee.
Whether you are a data company or an organization whose operations produce data, you can become a Dewey partner to instantly scale your revenue and reach a new audience.
Dewey believes in providing Data for Good, and we’re happy to help you do the same. Interested in learning more? Get in touch.