Business models adopted by intermediaries in the use of open government data

Abstract

After the adoption of open data policies by governments around the world, new business models began to explore the databases opened and create new products and services that may or not generate revenue for its providers. From this scenario, this study aimed to understand the business models adopted by service providers that use open government databases or databases built from public data and data captured by tools resulting from these new products and services. Therefore, we analyzed seven cases of businesses awarded in prizes that had evaluation criteria such as innovation, technology and services to the population. This qualitative study aimed to identify evidences of phenomena relating to the use of open government databases, the participation of these service providers in the open government data value chain and features present in their business models that could be replicated in new cases. The main findings revealed that business models need to create databases that standardize and integrate the various data sources applied before using this data into their tools offered to users. Products and services were designed to assess the monitoring and supervision of public administration and contribute to an improvement in the use of public utility by the tool users. We also identified that business models linked to activities such as provision of utilities, building of groups around a common theme, socio economic development and social participation in public management.