The Department for Business & Trade, Challenge Works, the Open Data Institute and Smart Data Foundry are calling on innovators to enter a new Smart Data Challenge Prize with up to £600,000 in finding available. The prize aims to help accelerate apps and technologies to empower consumers and SMEs through new Smart data-enabled services.
Successful teams will gain exclusive access to a new Smart Data Sandbox, built especially for the prize, to test and develop their technologies. The Smart Data Sandbox brings together synthetic data on people and businesses across 11 data domains including energy, banking, insurance, investing, property and retail.
The challenge prize looks to identify Smart Data use cases that utilise multiple datasets from sectors across the economy, and demonstrate lasting benefits for people and businesses.
The government hopes to replicate the success of Open Banking. It says solutions could help address many different challenges including the cost of living, the transition to clean power and Net Zero, improving access to services, creating a level playing field for SMEs and supporting vulnerable customers.
Louise Burke, CEO, the Open Data Institute said: “The biggest obstacle facing Smart Data innovators right now is the lack of real-world Smart Data available to them. To experiment, iterate and scale proofs of concept, innovators need access to high-quality, robust and secure data to demonstrate how their ideas will create lasting benefits for people and businesses. The Smart Data Sandbox will bring together data on people and businesses across 11 broad data domains. It will enable innovators to develop their ideas into prototype solutions to demonstrate the viability and benefits of Smart Data in different sectors.”
In May 2025, 10 finalists will be supported with seed funding of up to £50,000, expert mentoring and access to a bespoke Smart Data Sandbox to test and develop their ideas into working prototypes. In Autumn 2025, an overall winner with the most promising Smart Data solution will be awarded £50,000. There will be two runner-up prizes of £25,000.
Entries to the Smart Data Challenge Prize must be UK-led. The entry window opens today and closes on 14 March 2025 at 23:59. More details here