Open Data Institute
The Open Data Institute is a UK non-profit, founded in 2012 by Tim Berners-Lee and Sir Nigel Shadbolt, that provides research, training, consultancy and proprietary data-governance frameworks to governments, businesses and civil society worldwide.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2012
- HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Open Data Institute does
The Open Data Institute (ODI) is a UK-registered non-profit company limited by guarantee, founded in 2012 by Sir Nigel Shadbolt and Tim Berners-Lee, that builds data infrastructure, knowledge and strategy for governments, businesses and civil society. Its core capabilities span interdisciplinary research, policy advocacy, training, consultancy and a portfolio of proprietary tools and frameworks, including the Data Ethics Canvas, the Data Skills Framework, the Secondary Use of Health Data interactive tool, and stewardship of Solid, a decentralised personal-data framework. Technology delivery combines a self-serve learning platform at learning.theodi.org, interactive web tooling, consortium-led research prototypes such as NDL-Lite (aggregating 38GB and over 100,000 datasets from six UK public-sector sources), and multi-party programmes like IDEA (Interchange for Data and Enterprise AI) co-developed with SAP.
The ODI operates a hybrid revenue model: an annual subscription membership with free and discounted courses, fee-for-service consultancy and off-the-shelf products, interactive training courses, and commercial partnerships with named enterprises including Arup, BBC, Microsoft, Refinitiv, Sopra Steria and Roche. It also receives philanthropic and public-sector grants (cumulative disclosed funding of roughly $32M across the EU, Innovate UK, Omidyar Network and the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation) and runs a dormant trading subsidiary, Open Data Institute Trading Ltd, to isolate commercial contracts. Its customer base is anchored by UK and European governments (Defra, Greater London Authority, Royal Borough of Greenwich, NHS Scotland) alongside enterprise advisory work in healthcare, banking and now agri-food.
The organisation is small (11–50 employees) but punches above its weight through network effects, with 60,000 people trained, 300 early-stage organisations supported and impact spanning at least 74 countries. Its 2023–2028 strategy emphasises AI-ready data governance and decentralised infrastructure, positioning the ODI as a neutral policy and standards convenor rather than a software vendor.
Open Data Institute firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Open Data Institute
- Legal name
- Open Data Institute
- Website
- https://theodi.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2012
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- The Open Data Institute is a UK non-profit, founded in 2012 by Tim Berners-Lee and Sir Nigel Shadbolt, that provides research, training, consultancy and proprietary data-governance frameworks to governments, businesses and civil society worldwide.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Open Data Institute industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Open Data & Data Governance Services
- NAICS
- Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services (5416), Scientific Research and Development Services (5417)
- SIC
- Services-Management Consulting Services (8742), Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Membership Organizations (8600)
- akta.pro primary industry
- International Standards Development & Standardization Bodies (BPADANAA)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Economic Research, Statistics & Policy Advisory (BPADAMAJ)
Keywords
Where Open Data Institute is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- London
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Open Data Institute business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others
Revenue model
- Membership Program: Annual membership providing access to an active network of organizations and individuals transforming their data strategies. Members receive free and discounted courses, free tools, priority booking for webinars, and updates on data policy and innovations.
- Training and Learning Services: Interactive courses delivered through webinars and online platforms with expert trainers, providing opportunities to develop data skills with support and resources.
- Consultancy and Products: Off-the-shelf products and consultancy services designed to help organizations make the most of data and upgrade their data practices.
- Commercial Partnerships: Partnerships with commercial organizations including Arup, BBC, Microsoft, Refinitiv, Sopra Steria, and Roche to improve data governance practices in various sectors.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Membership with benefits including courses, tools, and events |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels5 records
Open Data Institute product offering
Product offeringCore offering
The ODI provides training, consultancy services, tools and guides that enable organisations to become more confident and capable in their stewardship and use of data. It also conducts inter-disciplinary research, advocates for data policy, stewards the Solid decentralised data framework, and runs a global membership network of businesses, governments and civil society.
Product overview
The Open Data Institute is a non-profit company that provides a portfolio of data-focused offerings including: training and learning courses through its online learning platform, consultancy services and off-the-shelf products, a membership program, research and policy work, and various tools and frameworks. Key products include Solid (a decentralized data framework it stewards), the Data Ethics Canvas, Data Skills Framework, and the Secondary Use of Health Data interactive tool. The organization also conducts research prototypes like NDL-Lite and runs programs like IDEA (with SAP). Its offerings are organized around building data infrastructure, knowledge, and strategies that create trust in data, serving businesses, governments, and civil society.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Solid: A decentralised data framework that the ODI now stewards, enabling users to store and control their personal data
Products and services
- Solid decentralised data framework A decentralised data framework, stewarded by the ODI, that gives individuals ownership over their personal data by enabling them to store and control data in self-managed secure environments rather than relying on centralised platforms.
- Data Ethics Canvas A practical tool for anyone who collects, shares or uses data to identify and manage ethical issues at the start of and throughout data projects.
- Data Skills Framework A framework that shows how technical data skills can be balanced with other skills to support successful data innovation, helping organisations inform data literacy programmes, identify skill gaps and prioritise learning investments.
- ODI Learning Courses Interactive webinars and online courses delivered through learning.theodi.org that develop data skills (including data ethics) with expert trainers, available individually or with free/discounted access for ODI members.
- ODI Membership Programme An annual membership providing organisations and individuals with access to a global network of data experts, free and discounted courses, free tools, priority booking for webinars, and updates on data policy and innovations.
- ODI Consultancy and Products Bespoke consultancy engagements and off-the-shelf products designed to help organisations make the most of data and upgrade their data practices.
- Research and Policy Work Inter-disciplinary research, development and policy advocacy that advances trust in data and informs emerging data policy and digital technology issues.
- Open Cities Workshops One-day workshops (run virtually or in-person) designed to support city authorities to explore where data lives, identify gaps in data or data flow, and address specific challenges.
- Secondary Use of Health Data Interactive Tool An interactive digital tool that maps the policy landscape for secondary use of health data across European countries, enabling users to benchmark policy readiness and identify good practices (recognised with a 2022 DataComms Awards Silver Medal).
- Data and Public Services Toolkit A set of tools used by city teams to drive change, communicate insights and embed learning, supporting Open Cities workshops and data-enabled public services.
- NDL-Lite (National Data Library Prototype) A prototype aggregating public-sector data from multiple sources into a centralised resource to assess data readiness for AI use and test the UK's proposed National Data Library.
- IDEA (Interchange for Data and Enterprise AI) Programme A global multi-stakeholder programme developed with SAP to define standards for AI-ready enterprise data across ERP ecosystems, targeting governance, interoperability and the gap between transactional ERP systems and modern AI workload requirements.
Quantifiable outcome
- 60,000 people trained through courses in banking, government and media sectors
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Open Data Institute
Customer profileNamed customers7 records
Segments6 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Open Data Institute technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature4 records
Open Data Institute partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
14 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- SAPcoreSAP and ODI launched IDEA (Interchange for Data and Enterprise AI), a global multi-stakeholder program to define standards for AI-ready enterprise data across ERP ecosystems. The initiative targets governance, interoperability, and the gap between existing ERP systems designed for transactional integrity and the data requirements of modern AI workloads. Partners plan to develop reference architectures and patterns that help enterprises expose data to AI systems.
- ArupcorePart of consortium with WRAP, AHDB, and HESTIA to design, develop, and test Data Sharing Infrastructure (DSI) and governance for the UK's agri-food supply chain under the Food Infrastructure & Governance (FIG) project commissioned by Defra and FDTP.
- WRAPcorePart of consortium to design DSI for UK agri-food sector, aiming to improve environmental impact measurement, reduce administrative burdens on farmers, and accelerate digital innovation through tools like digital product passports.
- AHDBcorePart of consortium for agri-food sector DSI, working with Arup, WRAP, and HESTIA on data sharing infrastructure for UK food supply chain.
- HESTIAcorePart of consortium to design DSI for UK agri-food sector under the FIG project commissioned by Defra and FDTP.
- RochecorePartnership to map the policy landscape for secondary use of health data across Europe, developing frameworks and interactive tools for health data governance. The collaboration produced reports, country profiles, and a data governance playbook for healthcare leaders.
- ArupcoreCommercial partner in the ODI Partnership Programme, sharing a common vision of a collaborative, open and trustworthy future.
- BBCcoreCommercial partner in the ODI Partnership Programme.
- MicrosoftcoreCommercial partner in the ODI Partnership Programme.
- RefinitivcoreCommercial partner in the ODI Partnership Programme.
- Sopra SteriacoreCommercial partner in the ODI Partnership Programme.
- Defra and Food Data Transparency Partnership (FDTP)coreCommissioned the Food Infrastructure & Governance (FIG) project with consortium partners to establish evidence base for DSI that delivers public benefit and contributes to UK's net zero ambitions.
- CuebiqminorResearch partner commissioned to explore mobility data sharing initiatives during the Covid-19 pandemic, producing case studies and synthesis reports.
- The GovLabminorResearch partner with Cuebiq on Covid-19 mobility data research, jointly producing the synthesis report and case studies.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Open Data Institute competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- The GovLab: NYU-affiliated research lab focused on governance, data, and public-sector innovation. Directly comparable as a research-and-policy outfit working on data governance and institutional data practice, similar to ODI's mission.
- Open Data Charter: International non-profit coordinating open data standards and government adoption. Closely comparable mandate to ODI's open data and data stewardship work, including shared policy advocacy networks.
- World Wide Web Foundation: Tim Berners-Lee and Nigel Shadbolt's earlier non-profit advancing an open, accessible web. Shares leadership pedigree with ODI and overlapping mission around digital rights, open data, and internet governance.
- Data & Society: US-based research institute studying the social implications of data and automation. Directly comparable as an interdisciplinary research and policy outfit producing frameworks on data ethics and governance.
Broad incumbents
- Nesta: UK innovation foundation running applied research, pilots, and policy work on data, AI, and public services. Comparable as a larger UK-based innovation and consultancy organization that overlaps with ODI's research and policy remit.
- The Alan Turing Institute: UK's national institute for data science and AI, partnering with ODI on NHS Scotland data study groups. A larger, broader incumbent in the same data/AI research space that competes for government mindshare and grant funding.
Emerging players
- Connected by Data: Smaller UK non-profit working on civic engagement with data and data institutions. Shares ODI's mission around public-interest data governance but with a narrower advocacy focus.
- Inrupt: Commercial company founded by Tim Berners-Lee to commercialize Solid. Comparable because it operates in the same Solid ecosystem that ODI stewards, and the two organizations have an overlapping technical and standards agenda.
- Future of Privacy Forum: US-based think tank focused on data privacy and emerging technology governance. Comparable as a policy-and-research outfit producing frameworks on ethical data use, similar to ODI's Data Ethics Canvas work.
Regional players
- Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI): UK government advisory body on data ethics and AI, now part of DSIT. Comparable as a data-policy and ethics advisory body operating in the same UK policy ecosystem that ODI engages with.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Open Data Institute social profiles
Digital presenceOpen Data Institute financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Open Data Institute leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles11 records
Open Data Institute subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries1 record
Open Data Institute funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds6 records
Investors4 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Open Data Institute M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments2 records
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Open Data Institute
What does Open Data Institute do?
The ODI provides training, consultancy services, tools and guides that enable organisations to become more confident and capable in their stewardship and use of data. It also conducts inter-disciplinary research, advocates for data policy, stewards the Solid decentralised data framework, and runs a global membership network of businesses, governments and civil society.
Is Open Data Institute a public or private company?
Open Data Institute is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Open Data Institute founded?
Open Data Institute was founded in 2012. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Open Data Institute based?
Open Data Institute is headquartered in London, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does Open Data Institute make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Membership Program is the primary driver. The others are training and Learning Services, consultancy and Products and commercial Partnerships.
Who are Open Data Institute's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are The GovLab, Open Data Charter, World Wide Web Foundation and Data & Society. Broad incumbents are Nesta and The Alan Turing Institute. Emerging players are Connected by Data, Inrupt and Future of Privacy Forum. Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI) is listed as a regional player.
Does Open Data Institute have an API?
No public API is recorded for Open Data Institute.
What industry is Open Data Institute in?
Open Data Institute's product category is Open Data & Data Governance Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPADANAA, International Standards Development & Standardization Bodies, with a secondary code of BPADAMAJ, Economic Research, Statistics & Policy Advisory. Its NAICS code is 5416 and its SIC code is 8742.