CBS Statistics Netherlands Urban Data Centres - Observatory of Public Sector Innovation

In 2016 CBS (Statistics Netherlands) invented the concept of the Urban Data Centres. City data are improved through the combination with national data and data-expertise available at the CBS through which smart, data-driven cities were created.

Innovation Summary

Innovation Overview

Cities worldwide face serious data-related challenges and are formulating strong ambitions with regards to topics like smart cities, open data, big data, and data-driven, evidence-based policymaking. Also, cities are using data more and more in contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals by working with organizations like the World Council on City-Data. In other words, cities want and need to work with data. However, often the problem is those city officials are no data experts. The Dutch city of Eindhoven realized this in the summer of 2016 and challenged CBS Statistics Netherlands to jointly develop a solution for this problem.

CBS Statistics Netherlands has a vast abundance of data coming from surveys, administrative data and big data (in September 2016 the CBS Centre for Big Data Statistics was launched). In addition, data, data-science, and data-analytics is the core-business of CBS Statistics Netherlands. Also, the legal framework (Netherlands Statistics Law) enables CBS Statistics Netherlands to do this work and create added value in a digital economy. The solution to the problem was found in joining forces by creating a so-called Urban Data Centre. In August 2016 the concept of the CBS Urban Data Centre was drafted and in September 2016 the first CBS Urban Data Centre in The Netherlands was launched in and with the city of Eindhoven.

The concept of the CBS Urban Data Centre is a close collaboration between a city and CBS Statistics Netherlands formulated in a collaboration agreement indicating that CBS Statistics Netherland and the city are going to intensify their collaboration by combining national survey-, administrative and big data (through the CBS Centre for Big Data Statistics, created September 2016) with city data, bringing CBS data-expertise to the table and a such create a fully demand driven situation leading to a better understanding of the current situation in the city on a variety of topics. A genuine data-driven input for local policy-making smarter use of data leading to substantial financial savings on city budget expenditures.

Innovation Description

What Makes Your Project Innovative?

With the CBS Urban Data Centres is the first time worldwide that a National Statistical Insitute collaborates in such an intense way directly with cities to create smart, really data-driven cities and also with such results: 7 CBS Urban Data Centres and 1 CBS Provincial Data Centre were created in less than 1 year (one new datacentre every 6 weeks).

What is the current status of your innovation?

CBS appointed a dedicated CBS Urban Data Centres Director with the assignment to create 6 to 8 Urban Data Centres within the first year. A team of experts was drafted from all over the organization and after launching the first CBS Urban Data Centre in the city of Eindhoven (in a timeframe of only 5 weeks) other cities reacted enthusiastically leading to 6 additional CBS Urban Data Centres in just 1 year in the Dutch cities of Groningen, Heerlen, Leidschendam- Voorburg, Venlo , Zwolle and The Hague.

Innovation Development

Collaborations & Partnerships

Direct collaboration between CBS Statistics Netherlands and cities and provinces. In addition collaboration also with academia and the private sector as well as the UN and WCCD, World Council on City-Data.

Users, Stakeholders & Beneficiaries

Stakeholders and partners were involved from the very first moment. This was a vital success factor.

Innovation Reflections

Results, Outcomes & Impacts

The first Provincial Data Centre was created with the Province of Limburg in the South of the Netherlands. So within a timeframe of just 1 year, 8 Data Centres were launched: one every 6 weeks. The concept of the Urban Data Centres was also presented at the UN World Data Forum in Capetown in January 2017 and the Global Cities Summit in Dubai in March 2017. As a result, many countries worldwide showed a strong interest in learning from this Dutch data-innovation.

Currently, pilot projects are being prepared in India and South-Africa.

Challenges and Failures

Many challenges were encountered. This innovation met resistance with CBS Statistics Netherlands and within the cities. Partly this was due to the fact that any innovation meets resistance, especially when 2 different types of organizations and staff needed to collaborate. There were also budget problems.

All of the challenges were responded to by organizing joint steering committee in each urban data center with participants from that specific city and CBS Statistics Netherlands that successfully solved all the obstacles.

Conditions for Success

A combination of a good vision and concept, strong leadership, adequate human and financial resources, focus on results, timeboxing, perseverance, and the motivation and will to jointly solve every challenge.

Replication

The concept of the CBS Urban Data Centres can also be used by provinces, ministries, and universities. In May 2017 CBS Statistics Netherlands and the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs created the first CBS Ministry Data Centre. In July CBS Statistics Netherlands and the University of Groningen created the first CBS Academic Data Center. Other provinces, ministries, and universities have shown strong interest. The concept of the CBS Urban Data Centres can also, in an adapted form, be implemented in other countries.

The concept can also be adapted to and implemented in developing countries and contribute to the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals that for a big part need to be implemented at the city level.

The pilot project is being prepared in India and South Africa. Other countries like Argentina, Canada, New Zealand, Rwanda, South Korea, and Taiwan have shown strong interest.

Lessons Learned

The success of the concept of the CBS Urban Data Centres lies in the combination of a good vision, strong leadership and creating quick first research results. In the implementation, CBS, Urban Data Centres CBS, and the cities use the concept of ‘’time-boxing’’ wherein a matter of just 6 to 8 weeks an official launch of the Urban Data Centre is prepared along with a concrete working plan and first research results.

By working in this way a lot of energy and enthusiasm is being created leading to a successful intensive collaboration between a National Statistical Institute and cities, leading to smarter cities and a smarter country or in other words: better data, better cities, better lives . By doing so smart, data-driven cities are created playing a vital and growing role in the digital economy.