Pilot project to analyze the need for a national data consortium

Important results from the project

Within the framework of this pilot project, CESIS completed three studies that show how the Swedish infrastructure can be used to (a) study how established innovative companies can influence innovation operations in start-up companies, (b) investigate the importance of offshore operations for innovation and productivity for companies in different industries, size classes and forms of ownership, and (c) compare productivity between domestically born labor and labor with a refugee background in the knowledge-intensive part of the economy and the rest of the labor market.

Expected long term effects

One question in the pilot project has been whether the data platform should be demand-driven or supply-driven. The pilot project has found a clear difference between academia and authorities when it comes to the use of Swedish microdata. In general, the academy has significantly higher user competence in terms of statistical skills and programming knowledge in order to be able to take advantage of the big-data environment that characterizes Swedish infrastructure for microdata, with certain exceptions. This means that authorities need support and assistance from the academy.

Approach and implementation

The project has been implemented in the form of CESIS producing information presented to Vinnova. These documents have since been used at joint meetings, which in turn have given freed-back to further investigations. In parallel, CESIS has completed three studies presented to ministries, authorities and academia that show how the Swedish infrastructure for microdata can be used to study how national and international knowledge flows affect innovation and productivity and how the Swedish economy is affected by refugee immigration into the labor market.