More Than Roads and Bridges
Obama’s observation to the entrepreneur that “You didn’t build that” is becoming increasingly accurate. The “Open Data 500” is a list of companies that are using public data as an integral component of a business model or product. There are some very familiar names: Bloomberg, Consumer Reports, FlightAware, SAS and WebMD are a few. For some the connection to their core business is obvious (MapQuest, Gallup); others, less so (Weight Watchers?). Forrester Research highlights some examples of the latter cases, where the connection isn’t so obvious, and finds that “the presence of big, existing companies illustrates how data transforms business.” Well, I guess they’d know since they’re themselves included in the list.
Finance, insurance, technology, travel, research, and health care are all industries strongly represented in the list. It looks like just about any business should be looking for their own rich vein of government data out there waiting to be mined.
