Smart Data Foundry

Safe and secure access to high-value private sector data assets.

At Smart Data Foundry, we unlock the potential of financial data to create social impact and drive economic growth. Based at the University of Edinburgh, we provide safe and secure access to high-value private sector data assets to deliver unique socioeconomic and policy insights “at scale” (e.g., near-real-time large-scale, integrated, linked data across all geographies).

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Through our Trusted Research Environment (TRE), researchers can design bold, impactful research projects and find conclusions they can trust using near-real-time and longitudinal data. Our deidentified, granular private sector data “at scale” presents new research and policy decision-making opportunities. It creates a view of changing economic behaviours and how they correlate with other circumstances (e.g. health and climate).

Our TRE is securely held within the EPCC Data Safe Haven and is subject to rigorous data protection and information security controls and processes.

The EPCC Data Safe Haven is controlled in accordance with the ‘5 Safes’: Safe People, Safe Projects, Safe Settings, Safe Data, and Safe Outputs. It is trusted to operate the technical end of the Scottish National Safe Haven, which underpins public-benefit research with sensitive data in the country.

We also corroborate this security with our experienced information governance team, which works closely with data partners and regulators to ensure the safe, secure, and ethical use of sensitive information.

Through our portal, we also provide access to aggregate summary statistics, which can be used for research. These are supplemented with data dashboards. Our principal current offering is a dashboard examining income volatility, built in collaboration with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation as part of a larger data insights infrastructure.

Pricing

While Smart Data Foundry is a non-profit organisation, we may request a fee to access data assets within a funding proposal to assist our cost recovery. This fee will vary based on the quantity of data utilised and the project timeframes. Please get in touch with us to discuss the best option for your needs.

As part of our collaboration with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, we have a number of seats available in our Trusted Research Environment for research projects directly related to economic insecurity. More information on this can be found through our portal.

Access Information

Researchers can securely access data through different routes, depending on what data they want to access.

Data can be accessed:

  • In our portal (myFoundry) for derived data assets such as linked data dashboards, insight analyses, and aggregated data.
  • In a virtual machine for individual-level raw data manipulation within the Safe Haven.
  • This access is subject to several approval processes in line with ensuring the ‘Safe People’ and ‘Safe Projects’ aspects of information governance procedures. Only specially approved researchers may have access to this.
  • Access is also subject to ensuring that all egress from the Safe Haven is checked against the parameters set by our data operations engineers.
  • The process for applying for this data involves a form that can be sent to interested parties. The form asks for key information such as project objectives, the necessity of data fields, team members, and software skillsets.

Features

  • Access to raw data—I.e., large-scale datasets taken directly from our data partners that have been cleaned and processed to make them research-ready. Our range of data available for research currently includes:
  • Individual-level customer transaction data from a tier 1 bank
  • Account transaction information from an open finance API provider (an app that allows the consolidation and management of an individual’s different bank accounts in one place)
  • Unique financial health metrics from SMEs
  • Financial health and credit data for UK small businesses from a credit reference agency
  • Access to derived data assets such as dashboards on consumer finances during COVID or income volatility in collaboration with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation
  • Options to design new linked data assets with our data science team
  • Data governance and infosec support
  • Data stewardship and management
  • R&D support, including proof of concept research, training, relationship building and networks

Applicable Disciplines

  • Arts and Humanities
  • Business, Management and Accounting
  • Computer Sciences
  • Economics, Econometrics and Finance
  • Engineering
  • Energy
  • Environmental Science
  • Health Professions
  • Mathematics
  • Material Science
  • Psychology
  • Social Sciences

Terms and Conditions

Certain datasets may require that a research project's scope or aims align with topics or missions approved by the data providers.

Our data partners also ask for insights generated from their data to be shared directly with them; this may be before the publication of outputs, but these insights will only be made public once any research outputs have been published.

Technical Requirements

  • Internet Access
  • Active Directory Login
  • A device using Windows, Mac OS X, Linux
  • A separate iOS or Android device will also be required for 2-factor authentication.

Skills Requirements

For access to our Trusted Research Environment:

  • Basic knowledge using the Unix command line
  • Ability to analyse tabulated individual-level data

For access to the derived data assets:

  • Ability to analyse tabulated aggregate-level data
  • Ability to interpret data visualizations

Support Available

Smart Data Foundry can provide a range of support surrounding data governance, infosec or data science support, and marketing and disseminating research outputs.