The advent of smart data sources, such as professional social networks, transaction records and remote sensing, provides a unique opportunity to study the factors that influence productivity and prosperity.  

The insights gained from smart data can help us to:  

• understand the causes of regional disparities  
• identify effective interventions to boost productivity  
• promote equity of access and outcomes in education  
• support economic growth in towns and cities  

Opportunities

Online job postings could complement traditional labour demand statistics   

A 2022 study by the Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence in partnership with the Office for National Statistics found that online job postings can be used as a timely and flexible source of economic measurement to complement official statistics.  

The study found that machine learning and natural language processing can be used to extract skills requirements and salaries from online job postings and that this data can be linked to location data to provide insights into regional labour markets. 

Smart data could help release economic growth in towns  

GPS trajectory data, geotagged photos, check-in data and social media can be used to understand and forecast demand and inform infrastructure planning. We can then develop interventions to minimize disturbance to local communities and distribute visitors more equitably, which can also help to distribute economic activity more evenly.