From Open Banking to Smart Everything: The data revolution set to transform daily life

Every day, we each generate streams of data about ourselves. From the data our smart meters generate about our electricity, gas and water consumption, to the travel habits revealed by our contactless payments on public transport and even our go-to brand of frozen pizza identified by our supermarket loyalty cards. 

Every digital interaction we have, whether with businesses, banks, financial services, utilities, transport providers and many more organisations besides, creates an increasing pool of data. This data is valuable to the businesses and organisations that own it, but as things stand, consumers and small businesses that create the data get comparatively little value out of it.

But here’s the interesting question - what if we could change that; what if all of those sources of data were open and interoperable? What if consumers could let trusted third parties see the multitude of data that they generate each day and use it to provide them with tailored and personalised services that make their lives easier?

That is the impetus behind the legislation in the recently passed Data (Use and Access) Act which introduced a new framework for future smart data schemes to be established in the different sectors of the economy.

We already have an example of Smart Data in action in Open Banking – where individuals and businesses can authorise third parties to see their bank account data and provide improved financial services. Though it’s a pretty narrow set of data to work with, making bank account data “open” has resulted in fintech success stories that have transformed the services available to consumers and businesses. Smart Data seeks to expand this opportunity out to multiple data sources and sectors.

To develop this opportunity, the Department for Business and Trade launched the Smart Data Challenge Prize, which is accelerating the development of new apps and potential technologies that would use Smart Data to empower consumers and SMEs through new services.  

In May, the ten finalists were announced. They are a diverse cohort of innovators with an array of ideas for tools across sectors. They include a platform that aims to support vulnerable people to cut the cost of winter home heating, a personalised dashboard with the ambition to help customers lower the environmental impact of their travel, and a clean-energy market place concept for small businesses.

Each finalist team was awarded £50,000, but crucially also given access to a new Smart Data Sandbox. Why crucial? Because apart from Open Banking, currently there is no readily available real-world Smart Data for innovators to work with  and prove the potential and value of these new technologies. Given that Smart Data is at an early stage compared to Open Banking, to convince decisionmakers to take advantage of the powers the new legislation gives them to make data “smart” across different sectors, requires evidence that it will be secure, worthwhile and beneficial. The challenge prize and the sandbox aim to interrupt this chicken-and-egg scenario.

The Smart Data Sandbox is a comprehensive collection of synthetic data and is going to be used by the finalist teams to test and develop their ideas.

For two years, we’ve worked with DBT, Challenge Works, the Open Data Institute and NayaOne to explore, design and develop a synthetic data set that is robust and complex enough for innovators to push the boundaries of what’s possible. Since it’s synthetic data, it means it’s entirely safe to use and share between multiple organisations while they are testing and iterating their ideas. 

But how can synthetic data just be ‘made’? Consisting of 100 million rows across dozens of tables, the synthetic data reflects a year of activity of more than 5,000 ‘people’ and 100 ‘small businesses’

We began by creating synthetic individuals, then we gave them relationships and families. We gave them jobs in different businesses. We gave them houses and flats, some owned outright, some mortgaged, some rented. We gave them utility providers, different amounts of debt, and gave them insurance. Some drive, some don’t. They even have a choice of supermarkets to shop at. This complex synthetic community allows innovators to explore the intersections of the data produced by individuals and businesses across multiple sectors. 

While synthetic data may not provide a complete mirror image of the real world, using this sandbox, the finalist innovators will be able to develop prototype technologies that demonstrate the potential of Smart Data before the winner and runners-up are announced in November 2025. 

The ten finalist teams include Debit Score®, which aims to help the millions of people in the UK who struggle with saving money, getting fair loans or understanding tricky financial choices. Credit scores look at your ability to get into debt and pay it back, whereas Debit Score® aims to be a smart tool that uses multiple datasets including bank, insurance, energy, and retail data to demonstrate a person’s ability to pay, give people a clearer picture of their money habits, and improve financial literacy and decision making. 

Its goal is to help people save more, find better deals, and get fairer access to things like mortgages, loans, and credit cards. By using safe, shared data, it hopes to make money matters simpler and fairer for everyone.

Another finalist team, Digital Property Pack by Moverly and the Open Property Data Association (OPDA),  is a homebuying platform that is being designed to turn the process of buying a house on its head. Buying a home takes around 22 weeks and is recognised as one of the most stressful life events, often because important data required to make an informed selling, buying and mortgage lending decision is not available when it’s needed. This results in high costs, extended timescales and around 30% of purchases falling through.

Moverly and OPDA aim to use Smart Data to generate a “digital property pack” at the very start of the homebuying process, with all the key data ready to go in one safe place. If successful, this would help buyers, sellers, and lenders make better decisions faster, saving time, money, and stress. By using Smart Data, the homebuying process could become quicker, clearer, and much easier for everyone.

If data can be convened from across the homebuying ecosystem - connecting estate agents, banks, mortgage providers, surveyors, local authorities and conveyancers - bringing together key information into one place, it could make the process of buying and selling a property far simpler.

There is a huge opportunity through Smart Data to drive forward innovative solutions that support our everyday lives, whether that’s finance tools or home buying solutions, and demonstrate what’s possible in the future.

The Data (Use and Access) Act lays the groundwork for future Smart Data schemes to be established. The lessons learnt by the innovators developing their prototypes in the Smart Data Sandbox will inform those future decisions. Where Open Banking set off a fintech revolution, Smart Data’s impact could be even greater.