Abstract

With the advancement of analytical technologies, including artificial intelligence, collecting and utilizing digital data emerges as a crucial value creation mechanism. Global technology companies (FAMGA: Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Apple) who have accumulated data from existing user base distinguish themselves in the development and application of artificial intelligence technology. As these firms exert huge social and economic influences, an open data initiative is gaining traction to ensure transparency in the process of collecting and utilizing data and reinforce the nature of data as public goods. Amid an endeavor to shift to a data economy, Korea is also expected to establish an order of the digital economy to prevent excessive data privatization and data concentration around a small number of companies from undermining innovation.
This study aims to present a new order of the data economy focused on data disclosure and open data and set the policy priorities to realize it based on local and overseas literature review and an expert survey. Through the literature review, the researchers look into the incentives to motivate voluntary data disclosure and data opening and establish a theoretical foundation to maximize the motivation for opening data from an open innovation strategy's perspective. Through another round of literature review on data valuation, the researchers suggest a theoretical framework that enables quantitative computation of the benefits of data usage and try expanding the framework into a benefit analysis of open data. Based on an expert survey, the study identifies obstacles to open data and data disclosure and the areas policy intervention is necessary. The obstacles include legal and regulatory uncertainty and a lack of awareness. On the policy front, legal reform of the three data-related laws and the need for providing incentives for open data are suggested.
The policy implications of this study are as follows: (1) A principle is necessary to balance out data ownership/access and a data subject's rights to create a healthy artificial intelligence data ecosystem. A voluntary opening and sharing of data are necessary for personal data, in particular. (2) Companies privatizing data excessively (data silos) for fear of confidential information leakage loss of data superiority may undermine the driving force of their own innovation as well as the advancement of the entire data ecosystem. (3) The government needs to intervene in the provision of data as a source of information because it is not provided up to the necessary level if left to the market. The researchers hope that these implications will trigger more papers studying data laws and regulations and cause improved awareness of open data and active and voluntary data sharing.