Data Sharing Key to Solving Asia’s Biggest Economic and Societal Challenges: Microsoft Asia Whitepaper

• The
  whitepaper, created with the Open Data Institute, captures lessons from governments
  and organizations in Asia that have embarked on data sharing initiatives
• Building
  a foundation of trust, greater public-private collaboration, and a proactive approach
  by governments will unlock new opportunities to innovate and solve Asia’s biggest
  challenges

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 28 September 2021 – Microsoft today, with
support from the Open Data Institute (ODI), released a whitepaper that reveals
lessons to help governments and organizations in Asia fully realize the
benefits of data sharing and collaboration. It found that establishing a
foundation of trust through privacy, security and governance; collaboration
between public and private sector stakeholders; and actions by governments to
create a strong enabling environment, were crucial to building momentum on data
sharing.

Today,
50% of the data
generated
by online interactions is amassed by less than 100 companies. If this ‘data divide’
continues, economic value will flow only to a few economies and companies in
the region. The whitepaper titled “Sharing
Data for Impact: Lessons from Data Sharing Initiatives in Asia” was
launched as part of Microsoft’s
ongoing efforts
to address the data divide, by empowering people and organizations to share and
use data more effectively and equitably. With support from ODI, the whitepaper features learnings
from 10 case studies of data collaboration across markets in Asia – including Australia,
India, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, and Taiwan.

Mike
Yeh, Regional Vice
President and Director of Corporate, External and Legal Affairs, Microsoft Asia, said: “Data is
indispensable to managing some of Asia’s most urgent challenges – from combatting
the pandemic, to reducing carbon emissions, and tackling cybersecurity.
Regardless of the problem that Asia faces, there’s a good chance that data can
be part of the solution. Asia is uniquely poised to be a leader in unlocking
the potential of data sharing, as a populous, mobile-first region. But we know
that unlocking that potential can only happen when a foundation of trust is
established, and when the public and private sectors work together. At
Microsoft, we are committed to partnering and growing with governments and
organizations in the region to unlock the plentiful opportunities data can
bring to Asia.”

Jack Hardinges,
Programme Lead, Data Institutions, Open Data Institute, said: “Data
sharing is most successful when governments and organizations work together to drive
an enabling environment that upholds security, privacy and interoperability. We
are committed to building a world where data works for everyone. This means
getting data to those who need it, particularly in response to UN Sustainable
Development Goals. The case studies that inform the whitepaper’s learnings show
us that Asia is on the way to establishing an open, trustworthy data ecosystem
– and can take intentional steps to close the ‘data divide’ in ways that benefit
societies and economies.”

Dr. Meri Rosich, Chief
Data Officer, Standard Chartered Bank, said “Data has the immense capability to unlock
a more sustainable future for Asia, and create more value for businesses,
governments and societies. Data science is maturing in the region, bringing us opportunities
to skill and mature the workforce, customize solutions for customers, build
better infrastructure and innovate. All these should be strengthened by established
governance policies and strong ethics principles to drive the transformation
that advanced data and AI solutions can bring.”

Trust Foundational to Data Sharing

A common theme is
that a lack of trust can undermine data sharing initiatives – but this can be
overcome through efforts to protect privacy and security, and through strong
governance models:

• Privacy management practices are essential, and
  there is a key role for tools like confidential computing and differential
  privacy – a practice used in the opening of LinkedIn’s labor market insights
  data
• To
  uphold security in data sharing, security-by-design approaches and
  alignment with security certifications promote trust – cloud-based solutions for
  data sharing deliver cutting-edge security protections for organizations
  sharing data 
• Governance models can also be built to protect
  commercial sensitivities – Through the AI Data Consortium in Japan, contract
  templates and smart contracts are being developed for AI practitioners to share
  data more easily

Greater
Public-Private Collaboration

The whitepaper further
establishes that opportunities for data can only be maximized through active public-private
collaboration. Impact is greater when data is useable and interoperable.

• Collaborating on
  data reaps benefits – such as in sharing LinkedIn data on in-demand roles to
  close skills gaps in Asia or Microsoft cyber threat intelligence open-source
  data on COVID-19 related threats to bolster cybersecurity and inform
  policymaking
• Useability
  and interoperability can be better facilitated through publishing
  data that anyone can use and redistribute and is available in common formats
  with no useability restrictions

Governments to Lead the Charge

Lastly, the paper
demonstrated that governments have a key role to play in creating an enabling
environment for data sharing to flourish. Priority actions for governments are
to publish more useable government data, implement national data sharing
policies, and engage with industry and other stakeholders to ensure that
regulations affecting data sharing are balanced and transparent. Further
regional cooperation to support data sharing through groups like ASEAN and APEC
would also have significant positive impact.